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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(79)692
Vol.1979/0237

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(79)692 final.
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Proposalfora
COUNCILREGULATION (EEC)
ontheopening,allocationandadministration ofa,Communitytariffquota
forcertainplywoodsofconiferousspecies,fallingwithinheadingNoex
44.15oftheCommonCustomsTariff(firsthalfof1980)
(submittedtotheCouncilbytheCommission )
C0M(79)692final.

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Atthelast GATT negotiations theCommunity undertook toopen ,
forcertain coniferous plywood ,aslisted below ,ofheading .
-ex44.15 oftheCommon Customs Tariff ,aCommunity tariff quota
a.tzero <Juty ofatotal volume of600,000 cubic metres .
Plywood ofconiferous species ,without theaddition ofother
substances -
-ofthickness greater than 8.5mm,thefaces ofwhich arenot
further prepared than thepeeling process ,or
S
-sanded ,and ofathickness greater than 18.5 mm.
Inaddition Protocol :No11totheActconcerning theConditions
ofAccession and theAdjustments totheTreaties and the
bilateral exchange ofletters undertaken atthestart ofthe
GATT negotiations foresee theCommunity opening autonomous Com-^-
munity tariff quotas atzero duty forthese products atvolumes
tobedecided foreach year when itisestablished that all
possibilities ofsupply ontheintended market oftheCommunity
will beexhausted during theperiod forwhich thequotas are
open . ' v
This proposed Regulation concerns theCommunity tariff quotas
inquestion tobeopened onJJanuary 1980 andallocated among
Member States , - '• "
This matter was' dealt with atadvisory meetings ofexperts from
:theMember States held since 1975 ,atwhich itbecame clear that
taking into account thepossibilities ofsupply ontheCommunity
market ,which areinfact somewhat limited although increasing
considerably ,andonthebasis ofestimated submitted bythe
Member States ,thetariff quotas inquestion could yetbegrouped
under asingle quota of£00,000 "cubic .metres for1980 ,which is-
theextent ofuseforecast forthe1979 quota .

-2-
However ,inorder toresolve thetechnical difficulties which
result from increased flow ofimports towards theend ofthe
calendat year ,itisproposed tomove thestarting date for
thequota to 1July ofeach year ,and thus toopen on JJanuary
1980 atariff quota for thefirst half of1980 andon 1July
1980 atariff quota ,covering afull year ,upto30June 1981 .
Thevolume ofthetariff quota -for thefirst half of1980 has
prosisionally been setathalf thevolume envisaged forthe
whole year ,that is400,000 cubic metres .Itistobeunder *-
stood that this volume fixed onthebasic ofprovisional
estimates ,remains ofcourse subject toareexamination of
thesituation during thequota period .
*
Themethod ofadministration proposed isthe same asthat
usually adopted forautonomous Community tariff quotas and
consists basically ofthefollowing : -
-thesetting upofareserve of25,000 cubic metres ;
-theallocation ofthefirst tranche inproportion tothe
needs expressed byMember States ;
-thecharing ofimports against Member States' shares asand
when theproducts areentered -with thecustoms authorities
for free circulation .
This method ofadministration which was moreover used since
1975 ,hasbeen discussed inthecourse ofthemeetings ofthe
"Economic tariff problems "group of24April and44September
1979 ,with Member States' experts ,whoconsidered that itcould
bemaintained for 1980 ,

Proposalfora
COUNCILREGULATION (EEC)
ontheopening,allocationandadministration ofaCommunitytariffquotafor
certainplywoodsofconiferousspeciesfallingwithinheadingNoex44.15ofthe
CommonCustomsTariff(1sthalfof1980)
THECOUNCILOFTHEEUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES ,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishingtheEuropean
h.cir.omicCommunity ,andinparticularArticles28
amii3thereof,
HavingregardtotheproposalfromtheCommission,
WhereastheCommunityhasundertakentoopenanannualCommunitytariff
quotanotexceeding600,000m3forcertainconiferousplywoodofheadingex
44.15oftheCommonCustomsTariffandwhereas,underProtocol11tothe
ActofAccession(1),theCommunityisrequiredtoopeneachyearnilduty
autonomousCommunitytariffquotasforthatproduct^thevolumethereof
tobedecidedannuallywhenitisestablishedthatallpossibilities of
supplyontheinternalmarketoftheCommunityhavebeenexhaustedduring
theperiodforwhichthequotasareopen;whereas,inviewofthe
aforesaidpossibilities ofsupplyandonthebasisofforecastsof
requirements madebytheMemberStates,thevolumeofthetariffquotato
beopenedfor1980maybefixedat£00,000m3;whereastheabovementioned
requirements donotincludeimportstowhichotherpreferentialtariff
arrangements mayapply;whereas,inviewoftherelativelysmall
quantitiesproducedintheCommunity,itishotnecessarytoapportionthis
amountbetweenthecategoriesofplywoodspecifiedintheconsolidation or
theabovementioned Protpcol11;whereastoresolvecertaininternal
technicalproblemsitispreferabletomovethedateofthestartofquota
periodto1Julyofeachyear,thusbeginningbyopeningatariff
quotaforthefirsthalfof1980onJJanuary1980andthengoingontoop-en
on1July1980anewtariffquotaforaperiodofoneyearupto30
June1981;whereasonthisbasisthevolumeofthequotaforthefirsthalf
of1980shouldbeprovisionally fixedathalftheannualvolume,thatis
400,000m3jwhereasthefixingofthevolumeat400,000m3onthebasisof
provisionalestimatesdoesnotexcludeanadjustmentduringthequota
period:
(1)OJNoL73,27.3.1972,p.170.

-2-
whereas,totakemorepreciseaccountoffuture
trendsinimportsoftheproductsconcerned,the
quotashouldbedividedintotwotranches,thefirst
beingallocatedamongalltheMemberStatesandthe
secondheldasareservetocoverthesubsequent
requirements ofMemberStateswhichhaveexhausted
theirinitialshares;whereas,inordertoofferimpor­
terssomedegreeofsecurity,thefirsttrancheofthe
quotashouldbe"fixedatarelativelyhighlevel,or
about94%ofitsfullamount;whereas,onthebasis
ofMemberStates'estimatesoftheirneeds,theinitial
sharesmaybe-fixedassetoutinArticle2;
WhereasMemberStatesmayuseuptheirinitial
sharesatdifferentrates;whereas,toprovideforthis
eventualityandtoavoiddisruptionofsupplies,any
MemberStatewhichhasalmostusedupitsinitial
shareshoulddrawanadditionalsharefromthe
reserve;whereas,eachtimeitsadditionalshareis
almostusedup,aMemberStateshoulddrawanaddi­
tionalshare,andsoonasmanytimesasthereserve
allows;whereastheinitialandadditionalshares
shouldbevaliduntiltheendofthequotaperiod;
whereasthisformofadministration requiresclose
collaboration ,betweenMemberStatesandthe
Commission ,whichthelattermust,inparticular,be
abletokeeparecordoftheextenttowhichthequota
hasbeenusedupandtoinformtheMemberStates
accordingly ;
Whereasif,atagivendateinthequotaperiod,a
considerablequantityofaMemberState'sinitialshare
remainsunused,itisessentialthatthatMemberState
shouldreturnasignificantproportiontothereserve,
so'astoavoidapartofthequotaremainingunusedin
oneMemberStatewhenitcouldbeusedinothers;
Whereas,sincetheKingdomofBelgium,the
KingdomoftheNetherlandsandtheGrandDuchyof
Luxembourgareunitedwithinandjointlyrepresented
bytheBeneluxEconomicUnion,anymeasure
concerningtheadministration ofthesharesallocated
tothateconomicunionmaybecarriedoutbyany
oneofitsmembers,
HASADOPTEDTHISREGULATION :
Article1
1.Fortheperiod1Januaryto30June1980,
aCommunitytariffquotaof400000"m3shallbe
openedforthefollowingproductsfallingwithin
headingNoex44.15oftheCommonCustomsTariff:
(a)plywoodofconiferousspecies,withouttheaddi­
tionofothersubstances,ofathicknessgreater
than8.5mm ,thefacesofwhicharenotfurther
preparedthanthepeelingprocess;
(b)plywoodofconiferousspecies,withouttheaddi­
tionofothersubstances,sanded,andofathick­
nessgreaterthan18*5mm.

2.Importsoftheproductsinquestionmaynotbe
chargedagainstthistariffquotaiftheyarealreadyfree
"ofcustomsdutiesunderotherpreferentialtariff
arrangements .
3.TheCommonCustomsTariffdutyshallbe
totallysuspendedwithinthelimitsoftheabovequota.
Article2
1.ThetariffquotareferredtoinArticle1(1)shall
bedividedintonvotranches.
2.Afirsttrancheof375000mJshallbeallocated
amongtheMemberStates.MemberStates'shares,
whichsubjecttoArticle5shallbevaliduntil30
June19£0,shallbeasfollows:
Bénélux
Denmark
Germany
France
Ireiand
Italy
UnitedKingdom 350
3.Thesecondtrancheo£5000m3shallconstitute
thereserve.
Article3
1.It90%ormoreofaMemberState'sinitialshare
asfixedinArticle.2(2),orofthatshareminusany
portionreturnedtothereservewhereArticle5has
beenapplied,hasbeenusedup,thatMemberState
shallforthwith,bynotifyingtheCommission,drawa
secondshare,totheextentthatthereservesopermits,
equalto10%ofitsinitialshare,roundedupasneces­
sarytothenextwholenumber.
2.If,afteritsinitialsharehasbeenexhausted,
90%ormoreofthesecondsharedrawnbya
MemberStatehasbeenusedup,thatMemberState
shall,inthemannerandtotheextentprovidedin
paragraphI,drawathirdshareequalto5%ofits
initialshare,roundedupasnecessarytothenext
wholenumber.
3.If,afteritssecondsharehasbeenexhausted,
90%ormoreofthethirdsharedrawnbyaMember
Statehasbeenusedup,thatMemberStateshall,in
themannerandtotheextentprovidedinparagraph1,
drawaiourthshareequaltothethird.
Thisprocedureshallapplyuntilthereserveisused
up.
4.Bywayofderogationfromparagraphs 1,2and
3,MemberStatesmaydrawlessersharesthanthosespecified-thereiniftherearegroundsforbelieving
thatthosespecifiedmaynotbeusedinfull.They
shallinformtheCommission oftheirreasonsfor
applyingthisparagraph.
Article4
AdditionalsharesdrawnpursuanttoArticle3shallbe
validuntil30June1930.
Article5
MemberStatesshallreturntothereserve,notlater
than1Jlay1^30^unusedportionsoftheirinitialshareswhich,on15AprilIS®3,arein
excessof20%oftheinitialamounts.Theymay
returnagreaterportioniftherearegroundsfor
believingthatsuchportionmaynotbeusedinfull.
MemberStatesshallnotifytheCommission,notlater
thani>!av1%?,ofthetotalquantitiesofthe
productsinquestionimporteduptoandincluding15
an<*chargedagainsttheCommunity
quotaandofanyportionoftheirinitialshares
returnedtothereserve.
Article6
TheCommissionshallkeepanaccountoftheshares
openedbytheMemberStatespursuanttoArticles2
and3and,assoonasithasbeennotified,shallinform
eachStateoftheextenttowhichthereservehasbeen
-usedup.
ItshallinformtheMemberStates,notlaterthan5
Hay193Q,oftheamountstillinreserveafter
amountshavebeenreturnedtheretopursuantto
Article5.
Itshallensurethatthedrawingwhichexhauststhe
reservedoesnotexceedthebalanceavailableand,to
thisend,shallnotifytheamountofthatbalanceto
theMemberStatemakingthelastdrawing.
Article7
1.MemberStatesshalltakeallappropriate
measurestoensurethatadditionalsharesdrawn
pursuanttoArticle3areopenedinsuchawaythat
importsmaybechargedwithoutinterruptionagainst
theiraggregatesharesoftheCommunityquota.
2.MemberStatesshallensurethatimportersofthe
productsinquestionestablishedintheirterritoryhave
freeaccesstothesharesallocatedtothem.
3.MemberStatesshallchargeimportsofthe
productsinquestionagainsttheirsharesasandwhen
theproductsareenteredwiththecustomsauthorities
forfreecirculation .cubicmetres
115463
49752
47775
7950
6750
7950-
139350

4.TheextenttowhichaMemberStatehasusedup
itsshareshallbedeterminedonthebasisofimports
chargedagainstthatshareinaccordancewithpara­
graph3.
Article8
AttheCommissionsrequest,MemberStatesshall
informitoftheimportsactuallychargedagainsttheir
shares.' Article9
MemberStatesandtheCommissionshalleooperaf-
closelytoensurethatthisRegulationiscomplied
with.'
Article10
ThisRegulationshallenterintoforceon1January
1980.
·■** -
ThisRegulationshallbebindinginitsentiretyanddirectlyapplicableinallMember
States.
Doneat
FortheCouncil
ThePresident