EN Official Journal of the European Communities L 80/1

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 602/98

of 9 March 1998

extending the coverage of Regulations (EC) No 3281/94 and No 1256/96 concerning Community schemes of generalised tariff preferences for the benefit of the least-developed countries

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 3281/94 of 19 December 1994 applying a four-year scheme of generalised tariff preferences (1995 to 1998) in respect of certain industrial products originating in developing countries (1) provides for more favourable tariff treatment for the least-developed countries;

Whereas Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1256/96 of 20 June 1996 applying multiannual schemes of generalised tariff preferences from 1 July 1996 to 30 June 1999 in respect of certain agricultural products originating in developing countries (2) likewise provides for more favourable tariff treatment for the least-developed countries;

Whereas at the Singapore ministerial conference in December 1996 the World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries pledged to carry out an action plan to improve access to their markets for products originating in the least-developed countries;

Whereas on 2 June 1997 the Council, on the basis of a Commission communication of 16 April 1997, adopted conclusions calling for the implementation of the Singapore conclusions in particular by granting least-developed countries not party to the Fourth ACP-EC Convention preferences equivalent to those enjoyed by signatories to that Convention;

Whereas equivalent treatment for industrial products means including the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme all products currently excluded from it but exempt from customs duties under the Fourth ACP-EC Convention;

Whereas agricultural products subject under the Fourth ACP-EC Convention to a tariff reduction but not to a tariff quota should be included in the scheme for the benefit of least-developed countries by applying one of the preferential rates of duty provided for in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1256/96, in line with the reduction accorded by the Fourth ACP-EC Convention,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Access to the arrangements provided for in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 3281/94 is hereby extended to the products listed in Annex I to this Regulation.

Article 2

The arrangements laid down in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1256/96 shall be supplemented by applying to the products listed in Annex II to this Regulation one of the preferential rates of duty specified in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1256/96, according to product sensitivity.

Article 3

The list of least-developed countries in Annex IV to Regulations (EC) Nos 3281/94 and 1256/96 is hereby amended as follows:

— in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 3281/94, ‘330 Angola’ shall be inserted after ‘328 Burundi’ and ‘391 Botswana’ and ‘817 Tonga’ shall be deleted,

— in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 1256/96, ‘391 Botswana’ and ‘817 Tonga’ shall be deleted.

Article 4

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply from 1 January 1998.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 9 March 1998. For the Council The President G. BROWN

(1) OJ L 348, 31. 12. 1994, p. 1, Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 998/97 (OJ L 144, 4. 6. 1997, p. 13).

(2) OJ L 160, 29. 6. 1996, p. 1, Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2448/96 (OJ L 333, 21. 12. 1996, p. 12).

ANNEX I LIST OF PRODUCTS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 1 (1) CN code Description (1) (2) Salt (including table salt and denatured salt) and pure sodium chloride, whether or not in aqueous solution or containing added anti-caking or free-flowing agents; sea water: 2501 00 31 — for chemical transformation (separation of Na from Cl) for the manufacture of other products (2), 2501 00 51 — denatured or for industrial uses (including refining) other than the preservation or preparation of foodstuffs for human or animal consumption (2), 2501 00 91 — salt suitable for human consumption, 2501 00 99 — other 2503 00 90 Sulphur of all kinds, other than sublimed sulphur, precipitated sulphur and colloidal sulphur, except crude or unrefined sulphur 2516 12 10 Granite merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape, of a thickness not exceeding 25 cm 2516 22 10 Sandstone merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (incuding square) shape, of a thickness not exceeding 25 cm 2516 90 10 Porphyry, syenite, lava, basalt, gneiss, trachyte and other similar hard rocks, merely cut, by sawing or otherwise, into blocks or slabs of a rectangular (including square) shape, of a thickness not exceeding 25 cm 2518 20 00 Calcined dolomite 2518 30 00 Agglomerated dolomite, including tarred dolomite 2530 40 00 Natural micaceous iron oxides 2804 61 00 2804 69 00 Silicon 2805 11 00 2805 19 00 Alkali metals 2805 21 00 2805 22 00 Alkaline-earth metals 2805 30 Rare-earth metals, scandium and yttrium, whether or not intermixed or interalloyed 2805 40 10 Mercury in flasks of a net content of 34,5 kg (standard weight), of a fob value per flask not exceeding ECU 224 2818 20 00 Aluminium oxide other than artificial corundum 2818 30 00 Aluminium hydroxide ex 2844 30 11 Crude cermets, waste and scrap of uranium depleted in U 235 2844 30 19 Uranium depleted in U 235; alloys, dispersions, ceramic products and mixtures, containing uranium depleted in U 235 or compounds of this product (excluding cermets) ex 2844 30 51 Crude cermets, waste and scrap of thorium 2845 10 00 Heavy water (deuterium oxide) 2845 90 10 Deuterium and compounds thereof; hydrogen and compounds thereof, enriched in deuterium; mixtures and solutions containing these products 2905 43 00 Mannitol 2905 44 D-glucitol (sorbitol) 3201 20 00 Wattle extract 3201 90 20 Sumach, valonea, oak or chestnut extract ex 3201 90 90 Tanning extracts of eucalyptus ex 3201 90 90 Tanning extracts derived from gambier and myrobalan fruits ex 3201 90 90 Other tanning extracts of vegetable origin 3502 11 90 Egg albumin, dried (e.g. in sheets, scales, flakes, powder) 3502 19 90 Other (egg albumin) 3502 20 91 Milk albumin (lactalbumin), dried (e.g. in sheets, scales, flakes, powder) 3502 20 99 Other (milk albumin) 3502 90 70 Other albumins 3505 10 10 Dextrins 3505 10 90 Other modified starches, other than esterified or etherified 3505 20 Glues 3809 10 Finishing agents, dye carriers to accelerate the dyeing or fixing of dyestuffs and other products and preparations, of a kind used in the textile, paper, leather or like industries, not elsewhere specified or included; with a basis of amylaceous substances 3824 60 Sorbitol other than that of subheading 2905 44 4104 10 91 Other skin leather, not further prepared than tanned 4105 11 91 Other skin leather, not split 4105 11 99 Other skin leather, split 4105 12 Sheep or lamb skin leather, without wool on, other than leather of heading No 4108 or 4109, tanned or retanned but not further prepared, whether or not split, otherwise pre-tanned 4105 19 Other sheep or lamb skin leather, without wool on 4106 11 90 Other goat or kid skin leather, without hair on, other than leather of heading No 4108 or 4109, tanned or retanned but not further prepared, whether or not split, vegetable pre-tanned, other than of Indian goat or kid 4106 12 00 Other goat or kid skin leather, without hair on, other than leather of heading No 4108 or 4109, tanned or retanned but not further prepared, whether or not split, otherwise pre-tanned 4106 19 00 Other goat or kid skin leather, without hair on 4107 10 10 Leather of swine, without hair on, other than leather of heading No 4108 or 4109, not further prepared than tanned 4107 29 10 Reptile skin leather, other than vegetable pre-tanned, not further prepared than tanned 4107 90 10 Leather of other animals, without hair on, not further than tanned 4403 10 10 Poles of coniferous wood, injected or otherwise impregnated to any degree, not less than 6 m or more than 18 m in length and with a circumference at the butt end of more than 45 cm but not more than 90 cm 4501 Natural cork, raw or simply prepared; waste cork; crushed, granulated or ground cork 5001 00 00 Silkworm cocoons suitable for reeling 5002 00 00 Raw silk (not thrown) 5105 Wool and fine or coarse animal hair, carded or combed (including combed wool in fragments) 5203 00 00 Cotton, carded or combed Non-alloy pig iron containing by weight 0,5 % or less of phosphorus 7201 10 11 — containing by weight not less than 0,4 % of manganese and 1 % or less of silicon (ECSC) 7201 10 19 — containing by weight not less than 0,4 % of manganese and more than 1 % of silicon (ECSC) 7201 10 30 — containing by weight not less than 0,1 % but less than 0,4 % of manganese 7201 20 00 Non-alloy pig iron containing by weight more than 0,5 % of phosphorus 7201 50 90 Alloy pig iron; spiegeleisen: other than containing by weight not less than 0,3 % but not more than 1 % of titanium and not less than 0,5 % but not more than 1 % of vanadium 7203 Ferrous products obtained by direct reduction of iron ore and other spongy ferrous products, in lumps, pellets or similar forms; iron having a minimum purity by weight of 99,94 %, in lumps, pellets or similar forms 7204 50 90 Remelting scrap ingots, other than of alloy steel 7206 Iron and non-alloy steel in ingots or other primary forms, excluding iron of heading No 7203 7218 10 00 Stainless steel in ingots or other primary forms (ECSC) 7224 10 00 Other alloy steel in ingots or other primary forms (ECSC) 7601 Unwrought aluminium: not alloyed 7602 00 19 Other aluminium waste and scrap (including factory rejects) Unwrought lead: 7801 10 00 Refined lead 7801 91 00 Lead, other than refined, containing by weight antimony as the principal other element 7801 99 91 Lead alloys 7801 99 99 Other 7901 Unwrought zinc 7903 Zinc dust, powders and flakes 8101 10 00 Tungsten powders 8101 91 Unwrought tungsten, including bars and rods obtained simply by sintering, wate and seval 8102 10 00 Molybdenum powders 8102 91 Unwrought molybdenum, including bars and rods obtained simply by sintering; waste and scrap 8103 10 Unwrought tantalum including bars and rods obtained simply by sintering; waste and scrap, powders 8104 11 00 Unwrought magnesium, containing at least 99,8 % by weight of magnesium 8104 19 00 Other 8107 10 Unwrought cadmium; waste and scrap; powders 8108 10 Unwrought titanium; waste and scrap; powders 8109 10 Unwrought zirconium; waste and scrap; powders 8110 00 11 Unwrought antimony; powders 8110 00 19 Waste and scrap 8111 00 11 Unwrought manganese; powders 8111 00 19 Waste and scrap 8112 20 31 Unwrought chromium; powders other than chromium alloys containing more than 10% by weight of nickel 8112 20 39 Waste and scrap 8112 30 20 Unwrought germanium; powders 8112 30 40 Waste and scrap 8112 40 11 Unwrought vanadium; powders 8112 40 19 Waste and scrap 8112 91 10 Hafnium (celtium) 8112 91 31 Unwrought niobium (columbium), unwrought rhenium; powders 8112 91 39 Waste and scrap 8112 91 50 Waste and scrap 8112 91 81 Indium 8112 91 89 Gallium, thallium Cermets: 8113 00 20 — unwrought cermets 8113 00 40 — waste and scrap (1) Notwithstanding the rules for the interpreation of the combined nomenclature, the wording for the description of the products is to be considered as having no more than indicative value, the preferential scheme being determined, within the context of this Annex, by the coverage of the CN codes. Where ex CN codes are indicated, the preferential scheme is to be determined by application of the CN code and corresponding description taken together. (2) The entry under this subheading is subject to conditions laid down in the relevant Community provisions.