ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(81)605
Vol.1981/0183

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
C0MC81)605final
Brussels*26October1981
Proposalfora
cnnwrnpfgiiiat-tdm(ppc
opening,allocating ancTbpcsvjcling fortheadministration ofaCommunit)
,\iUIt'.!/1,,/Xtariffquotafor/certainptjWqodVof coniferousspecies,fallingwithir
/«V Ç '■/*.v*
headingNoex44.15of.\theCommonCustomsTariff(1982 !
'Γ\■rî-'' *vc,VIrvo »\r is**/
;/-'V/■^
\* ',-
(submittedtotheCouncilbytheCommission
C0M(81)Ans-f-îna

C£3w \G^5
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Atthelast GATT negotiations theCommunity undertook toopen ,for .
certain coniferous plywood ,aslisted below ,ofheading ex44.15 of
theCommon Customs Tariff ,aCommunity tariff quota atzero duty of
atotal volume of600,000 cubic metres .
Plywood ofconiferous species ,without theaddition ofother
substances x
–ofthickness greater than -8.5mm,thefaces ofwhich arenot
further prepared than thepeeling process ,or ■ -'L
-sanded ,andofathickness greater than 18,5 mm. ,
Inaddition Protocol No11tothe Actconcerning the Conditions ' .
ofAccession andtheAdjustments totheTreaties and thebilateral ,
^exchange ofletters undertaken atthestart ,oftheGATT negotiations
foresee theCommunity opening autonomous Community tariff quotas at r
zero duty for -these products atvolumes tobedecided for each year
* •i .
when i£isestablished that allpossibilities ofsupply onthe
intended market ofthe Community will be -exhausted during theperiod
for which the quotas are open .
This proposed Regulation -concerns the Community tariff quotas in
question tobeopened on1January 1982 'and allocated among Member
States , • ■■ '*.■ • "'■■■' ■
Theapplication ofProtocol Nou11wasdealt with atadvisory meetings
ofexperts from .theMember States held since 1975 ,atwhich itbecame
clear that taking into account thepossibilities ofsupplyon the '
Community market ,which are infact somewhat limited although
increasing considerably ,andonthebasis ofestimated submitted -
bytheMember States ,thetariff quotas inquestion .could yetbe
grouped under asingle quota . '
Thequota volume tobeopened for1982 wasdiscussed bythe
"Economic Tariff Questions "group on16September 198?.Itbecame clear
from the discussion that : ■

a)importfromthirdcountriesthoughtnecessarybyMemberStateswoulc
exceed900,000m3for1982;itshouldbenotedthateffectiveuse
madeofquotasintheLastthreeyearswasonly590000m3in1977,
■696COOm3in1978:1768000m3in1979and.687000m3in1980;
.moreover,neither
increasedconsumption northepresenteconomicsituationinthe
construction sectorcanjustifytheproposedincrease;■
b)asstatedbytheproducing MemberStates,'thereisariskthat
suppliestobeobtainedontheCommunityinterna'lmarketmayhot
beusedupin1982,whichmaymakeitdifficulttoopenthe
autonomous quotaenvisaged byProtocol No11oftheActofAccession
c)MemberStateswouldinterpretdifferently thequestionofgranting '
thebenefitofquotasalreadyopenedforlaminatedpanelsof
coniferous woodgroovedandtongnedbefore -importation tofacilitate
assembly.
.Ithasnotyetbeenpossibletoestablishtheprecisevolumeofsuch
imports,whichmust,however,besignificant .
3.Generally,theCommission considersthat,takingaccountofthe
uncertainlevelofconsumption andtheneedforparallelgrowth-
inCommunityproduction andsuppliesonfavourable termstouser
industries,greatcareshouldbetakeninfixingthequotavolume,
soasnottoendangerthemarketbalance.
iIthasthereforebeendecidedtolimittheinitialquotafor1981
totheGATTconsolidated volumeof600000m3,andtoreviewthe
situation,ifnecessary,duringtheyear._ «
4.Themethodofadministration proposedisthesameasthatusually
adoptedforautonomous Communitytariffquotasandconsistsbasically
ofthefollowing:
-thesettingupofareserveof10,000cubicmetres;
-theallocationofthefirsttrancheinproportiontotheneeds
expressedbyMemberStatesandinaccordance withtheeffective
utilisation ofthequotasopenedforthelastthreeyears;
*■thechangingofimportsagainstMember4States'sharesasandwhen
theproductsareenteredwiththecustomsauthoritiesforfree
circulation . A

3-
White adecision onthe item shown atparagraph 2c)above isawaited
thecurrent proposal makes itpossible tocomply with undertakings'
made bytheCommunity andwith theprovisions oftheResolution of
27June 1974 .The Commission therefore reserves the power tochange
itsproposal asmatters develop ,soastoadapt.it ,if,necessary ,
tothe final outcome ofthe current discussions . ••

PROPOSAL FORA
COUNCILREGULATION (EEC)
opening,allocatingandprovidingfortheadministrationofaCommunitytariffquotafor
certainplywoodsofcrniferousspecies,foilingwithinheadingNoex44.15ofthe
CommonCustomsTariff(T982).
THECOUNCILOFTHEEUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES ,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishingthe
EuropeanEconomicCommunity,andinparticular
Article113thereof, i
HavingregardtotheproposalfromtheCommission,
WhereastheCommunityhasundertakentoopenan
annualCommunitytariffquotaofatleast600000mJ
forcertainplywoodsofconiferousspeciesfalling
withinheadingNoex44.15oftheCommonCustoms
Tariff;whereas,underProtocol11tothe1972Act
ofAccessior>theCommunityisrequiredtoopen,
eachyearautonomousnildutyCommunitytariff
quotasforthesameproducts,thevolumethereofto
bedecidedannuallywhenitisestablishedthatall,
possibilitiesofsupplyontheinternalmarketofthe
Communityhavebeenexhaustedduringtheperiod
forwhichthequotasareopen;whereasthecondition
laiddownbythesaidProtocoldoesnotseemtobe
metatthemoment;whereas,inthesecircumstances ,
itisappropriatetolimitoneselfinthefirst'stageto
thecontractualvolumeof600000mJ;whereasthe.
fixingofthequotavolumeatthisleveldoesnot'
excludemoreoverrecoursetotheprovisionsofthe
abovementioned Protocol11duringthequotaperiod;
Whereas,totakemorepreciseaccountoffuture
trendsinimportsoftheproductsconcerned,the
quotashouldbedividedintotwotranches,thefirst
beingallocatedamongalltheMemberStatesandthe
secondheldasareservetocoverthesubsequent
•requirementsofMemberStateswhichhaveexhaustedtheirinitialshares;whereas,inordertooffer
importerssomedegreeofsecurity,thefirsttrancheof
thequotashouldbefixedatarelativelyhighlevel,or
about98%ofitsfullamount;whereas,onthebasis
ofMemberStates'estimatesfortheirneeds,theinitial
sharesmaybefixedassetoutinArticle2;
WhereasMemberStatesmayuseuptheirinitial
sharesatdifferentrates;whereas,toprovideforthis
eventualityandtoavoiddisruptionofsupplies,any
MemberStatewhichhasalmostusedupitsinitial
shareshoulddrawanadditionalsharefromthe
reserve;whereas,eachtimeitsadditionalshareis
almostusedup,aMemberStateshoulddrawan
additionalshare,andsoonasmanytimesasthe
reserveallows;whereastheinitialandadditional
sharesshouldbevaliduntiltheendofthequota
period;whereasthisformofadministration requires
closecollaboration betweenMemberStatesandthe
Commission,whichlattermust,inparticularbeable
tokeeparecordoftheextenttowhichthequotahas
beenusedupandtoinformtheMemberStates
accordingly;
Whereasif,atagivendatein.thequotaperiod,a
considerablequantityofaMemberState'sinitial
shareremainsunused,itisessentialthatthatMember
Stateshouldreturnasignificantproportiontothe
reserve,soastoavoidapartofthequotaremaining
unusedinoneMemberStatewhenitcouldbeusedin
others;
Whereas,sincetheKingdomofBelgium,the
KingdomoftheNetherlandsandtheGrandDuchy
ofLuxembourg areunitedwithinandjointly
representedbytheBeneluxEconomicUnion,any
measureconcerningtheadministration oftheshares
allocatedtothateconomicunionmaybecarriedout
byanyoneofitsmembers,

HASADOPTEDTHISREGULATION :
Article1
1.Duringtheperiodfrom.1Januaryto31
December19f2,aCommunitytariffquotaof600000
m1shallbeopenedforthefollowingproductsfalling
withinheadingNoex44.15oftheCommonCustoms
tTariff:
(a)plywoodofconiferousspecies,withoutthe
additionofothersubstances,ofathicknessgreater
than8*5mm,thefacesofwhicharenotfurther
preparedthanthepeelingprocess;
(b)plywoodofconiferousspecies,withoutthe
additionofothersubstances,sanded,andofa'
thicknessgreaterthan18-5mm.
2.Importsoftheproductsinquestionmaynotbe
chargedagainstthistariffquotaiftheyarealready
freeofcustomsdutiesunderotherpreferentialtariff
arrangements .
3.TheCommonCustomsTariffdutyshallbe
totallysuspendedwithinthelimitsoftheabovequota.
Withinthelimitsofthistariffquota,Greeceshall
applydutiesCalculatedinaccordancewiththe
relevantprovisionssetbutinthe1979Actof
Accession .
Article2anyportionreturnedtothereservewhereArticle5
hasbeenapplied,hasbeenusedup,thatMember
Stateshallforthwith,bynotifyingtheCommission,
drawasecondshare,totheextentthatthereserveso
permits,equalto10%ofitsinitialshare,roundedup
asnecessarytothenextwholenumber.
2.If,afteritsinitialsharehasbeen'exhausted,
90%ormoreofthesecondsharedrawnbya
MemberStatehasbeenusedup,thatMemberState
shall,inthemannerandtotheextentprovidedin
paragraphJ,drawathirdshareequalto5%ofits
initialshare,roundedupasnecessarytothenext
wholenumber.
3.If,afteritssecondsharehas.beenexhausted,
90%ormoreofthethirdsharedrawnbyaMember
Statehasbeenusedup,thatMemberStateshall,in
themannerandtotheextentprovidedinparagraph
1,drawafourthshareequaltothethird.
Thisprocedureshallapplyuntilthereserveisused
up.
4.Bywayofderogationfromparagraphs 1,2and
3,MemberStatesmaydrawlessersharesthanthose
specifiedthereiniftherearegroundsforbelieving
thatthosespecifiedmaynotbeusedinfull.They
shallinformtheCommissionoftheirreasonsfor
applyingthisparagraph.
1.•ThetariffquotareferredtoinArticle1(1)shall
bedividedintotwotranches.
2.Afirsttrancheof590000mJshallbeallocated
amongtheMemberStates.MemberStates'shares
which,subjecttoArticle5,shallbevaliduntil
31December19i2,shallbeasfollows:
■incubicmetres
Bénéluxjr
Denmârfc
Germany
Greece
France
Ireland
Italy
UnitedKingdom170687"
62186
83.013
59
17.759
5605
24249
226442
3.Thesecondtrancheof10000mJshallconstitute
thereserve.
Article3
1.If90%ormoreofaMemberState'sinitial
shareasfixedinArticle2(2),orofthatshareminusArticle4
AdditionalsharesdrawnpursuanttoArticle3shallbe
validuntil31December 1982
Article5
MemberStatesshallreturntothereserve,notlater
than1October19$g^theunusedportionsoftheir
initialshareswhich,on15September198£^arein
excessof20%oftheinitialamounts.Theymay
returnagreaterportioniftherearegroundsfor
.believingthatsuchportionmaynotbeusedinfull.
MemberStatesshallnotifytheCommission,notlater
than1October1982,ofthetotalquantitiesofthe
productsinquestionimportedupto15September
1982ar>dchargedagainsttheCommunityquotaand
ofanyportionoftheirinitialsharesreturnedtothe
reserve.

-3
Article6
TheCommission ">hallkeepanaccountoftheshares
openedbytheMemberStatespursuanttoArticles2
and3and,assoonasithasbeennotified,shall
informeachStateoftheextenttowhichthereserve
hasbeenusedup. '
ItshallinformtheMemberStates,notlaterthan
5October1982,oftheamountstillinreserveafter
amountshavebeenreturnedtheretopursuantto
Article5.
Itshallensurethatthedrawingwhichexhauststhe„
reservedoesnotexceedthebalanceavailableand,to
thisend,shallnotifytheamountofthatbalanceto
theMemberStatemakingthelastdrawing.
Article7
1.MemberStatesshalltakeallappropriate
measurestoensurethatadditionalsharesdrawn
pursuanttoArticle3areopenedinsuchawaythat
importsmaybechargedwithoutinterruptionagainst
theiraggregatesharesoftheCommunityquota.
2.MemberStatesshallensurethatimportersofthe
productsinquestionestablishedintheirterritoryhave
freeaccesstothesharesallocatedtothem.3.MemberStatesshallchargeimportsofthe
productsinquestionagainsttheirsharesasandwhen
theproductsareenteredwiththecustomsauthorities
forfre^circulation .
4.TheextenttowhichaMemberStatehasused
upitsshare,shallbedeterminedonthebasisof
importschargedagainstthatshareinaccordancewith
paragraph3.
Article8
AttheCommission'srequest,MemberStatesshall
informitoftheimportsactuallychargedagainsttheir
shares.
Article9
MemberStatesandtheCommissionshallcooperate
closelytoensurethatthisRegulationiscomplied
with.
Article10
ThisRegulationshallenterintoforceon1January
1982.\
ThisRegulationshallbebindinginits.entiretyanddirectlyapplicableinallMember
States.
.^ v
DoneatBrussels,1980 -•
" FortheCouncil
ThePresident