ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (82)543
Vol.1982/0176

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(82)543 final
Brussels,21September 1982
Proposalfora
COUNCILREGULATION (EEC)
opening,allocating andprovidingfortheadministration ofaCommunity
tariffquotaforcertainplywoodsofconiferous specie^fallingwithin
headingNoex44.15oftheCommonCustomsTariff(1983)
(submittedtotheCouncilbytheCommission )
Ù
C0M(82)543final

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Atthe Last 6ATT negotiations the Community undertook toopen ,for
certain coniferous plywood /aslistcc Lselow .,ofheading ex44.15 of
the Common Customs Tariff ,aCommunity tariff quota atzero duty of
atotal volume of600,000 cubic metres .
Plywood ofconiferous species ,without .theaddition ofother
substances
-ofthickness greater than :8.5mm,thefaces ofwhich arenot
further prepared than the peel.ing process ,or
» '• *
-sanded ,andofathickness greater than 18,5 mm.
Inaddition Protocol No11tothe Act concerning the Conditions
I-
ofAccession and theAdjustments totheTreaties and the bilateral
exchange ofletters undertaken atthe start ,oftheGATT negotiations
foresee the Community opening .autonomous Community tariff quotas at -
;:ero duty for these products atvolumes tobedecided for each year
when i;tisestablished that allpossibilities ofsupply onthe
intended market oftheCommunity will beexhausted during theperiod
forwhich thequotas areopen ..
ThvT prwpegicMfegiftafcfon -concerns theCommunity tariff quotas in •
question tob*opened on1January 1983 andallocated among Member
States.' . ' ' '
The application ofProtocol No.11was dealt with atadvisory meetings
ofexperts from .theMember States held since 1975 ,atwhich itbecame
clear that taking into account thepossibilities ofsupply onthe
Community market ,which are infact somewhat limited although
increasing considerably ,andonthe basis ofestimated submitted
bytheMember States ,thetariff quotas inquestion could yet be
grouped under asingle quota .
The quota volume tobeopened for 1983 wasdiscussed bythe
"Economic Tariff Questions "group on26arid 27April1982.lt becair ."clear
from the discussion that :

-2-
a)third country import requirements estimated byMember States would
exceed 900 000 m3for 1983 ;atthe same time effective usemade of ,
quotas inthe Last three years was only 768 000 m3in1979 (onaquota
of810 000 m3),687500 m3in1980 (onaquota of700 000m3)and
600 000 m3in1981 (onaquota ofthe same volume ).
Neither agrowth inconsumption nor thepresent economic situation in
the construction sector justify theproposed increase ;
b)asStated' bytheproducing Member States ,there isarisk that
supplies tobeobtained ontheCommunity internal market may not
' used upin'1983 ,which maymake itdifficult toopen the
autonomous quota envisaged byProtocol No„11 ofthe Act ofAccession ;
c).Member States would interpret differently thequestion ofgranting
thebenefit ofquotas already opened for laminated panelsof
coniferous wood grooved andtongued before importation tofacilitate
assembly .. i.. ''* •.
.Ithasnotyetbeen possible toestablish theprecise volume ofsuch
.imports ,-whicteMttst,>%owever ,be"significant . ' ^
3.Generally /theCommission considers thai *>taking account ofthe
uncertain level ofconsumption and theneed forparallel growth­
* , *
inCommunity production andsupplies onfavourable terms touser
industries ,great care should betaken infixing thequota volume ,
soasnot toendanger themarket balance .
hw®r^thereforé J?ftpo xjuota fo#J983
totheGATT consolidated volume of600 000 m3,and toreview the
situation ,ifnecessary ,during theyear ;- *
4.Themethod ofadministration proposed isthesame asthat usually
adopted forautonomous Community tariff quotas andconsists basically
ofthefollowing : * ■
-the setting upofareserve of10,000 cubic metres ;
-theallocation ofthefirst tranche in .proportion totheneeds
expressed byMember States and inaccordance with theeffective
utilisation ofthe quotas opened forthe last three years ;
-thechaining ofimports against Membef States' shares asandwhen
theproducts areentered with thecustoms authorities forfree
circulation .1 y: *•'i*•: •.

Proposalfora
COUNCILREGULATION (EEC)
opening,allocatingandprovidingfortheadministration ofaCommunitytariff
quotaforcertainplywoodsofconiferousspecies,fallingwithinheadingNoex
44.15oftheCommonCustomsTariff(1983)
THECOUNCILOFTHEEUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES ,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishingtheEuropean
EconomicCommunity,andinparticularArticle113
thereof,
HavingregardtotheproposalfromtheCommission,
WhereastheCommunityhasundertakentoopenan
annualCommunitytariffquotaofatleast600000m3
forcertainplywoodsofconiferousspeciesfalling
withinheadingNoex44.15oftheCommonCustoms
Tariff;whereas,underProtocol11totheActofAcces­
sion('),theCommunityisrequiredtoopeneachyear
autonomousnildutyCommunitytariffquotasforthe
sameproductsthevolumethereoftobedecidedannu­
allywhenitisestablishedthatallpossibilitiesof
supplyontheinternalmarketoftheCommunityhave
beenexhaustedduringtheperiodforwhichthe
quotasareopen;whereastheconditionlaiddownby
thesaidProtocoldoesnotseemtobemetatthe
moment;whereas,inthesecircumstances ,itisappro­
priatetolimitoneselfinthefirststagetothecontrac­
tualvolumeof600000m3;whereasthefixingofthe
quotavolumeatthisleveldoesnotexcludemoreover
recoursetotheprovisionsoftheabovementioned
Protocol11duringthequotaperiod;
Whereas,totakemorepreciseaccountoffuture
trendsinimportsoftheproductsconcerned,the
quotashouldbedividedintotwotranches,thefirst
beingallocatedamongalltheMemberStatesandthe
secondheldasareservetocoverthesubsequent
requirementsofMemberStateswhichhaveexhausted
theirinitialshares;whereas,inordertoofferimpor­
terssomedegreeofsecurity,thefirsttrancheofthe
(')OJNoL73,27.3.1972,p.170.quotashouldbefixedatarelativelyhighlevel,or
about98%ofitsfullamount;whereas,onthebasis
ofMemberStates'estimatesfortheirneeds,theinitial
sharesmaybefixedassetoutinArticle2;
whereasMemberStatesmayuseuptheirinitial
sharesatdifferentrates;whereas,toprovideforthis
eventualityandtoavoiddisruptionofsupplies,any
MemberStatewhichhasalmostusedupitsinitial
shareshoulddrawanadditionalsharefromthe
reserve;whereas,eachtimeitsadditionalshareis
almostusedup,aMemberStateshoulddrawanaddi­
tionalshare,andsoonasmanytimesasthereserve
allows;whereastheinitialandadditionalshares
shouldbevaliduntiltheendofthequotaperiod;
whereasthisformofadministration requiresclose
collaboration betweenMemberStatesandthe
Commission ,whichlattermust,inparticularbeable
tokeeparecordoftheextenttowhichthequotahas
beenusedupandtoinformtheMemberStatesaccord­
ingly;
Whereasif,atagivendateinthequotaperiod,a
considerablequantityofaMemberState'sinitialshare
remainsunused,itisessentialthatthatMemberState
shouldreturnasignificantproportiontothereserve,
soastoavoidapartofthequotaremainingunusedin
oneMemberStatewhenitcouldbeusedinothers:
Whereas,sincetheKingdomofBelgium,the
KingdomoftheNetherlandsandtheGrandDuchyof
Luxembourgareunitedwithinandjointlyrepresented
bytheBeneluxEconomicUnion,anymeasure
concerningtheadministration ofthesharesallocated
tothateconomicunionmaybecarriedoutbyany
oneofitsmembers,

HASADOPTEDTHISREGULATION :
Article1
1.Duringtheperiodfrom1Januaryto31
December198^.aCommunitytariffquotaof600000
rn3shallbeopenedforthefollowingproductsfalling
withinheadingNoex44.15oftheCommonCustoms
Tariff:
(a)plywoodofconiferousspecies,withouttheaddi­
tionofothersubstances,ofathicknessgreater
than8-5mm,thefacesofwhicharenotfurther
preparedthanthepeelingprocess;
(b)plywoodofconiferousspecies,withouttheaddi­
tionofothersubstances,sanded,andofathick­
nessgreaterthan18-5mm.
2.Importsoftheproductsinquestionmaynotbe
chargedagainstthistariffquotaiftheyarealreadyfree
ofcustomsdutiesunderotherpreferentialtariffarran­
gements.
3.TheCommonCustomsTariffdutyshallbe
totallysuspendedwithinthelimitsoftheabovequota.
Withinthelimitsofthistariffquota,Greeceshall
applydutiescalculatedinaccordancewiiththerele­
vantprovisionssetoutinthe1979ActofAccession.
Article2
1.ThetariffquotareferredtoinArticle1(1)shall
bedividedintotwotranches.
2.Afirsttrancheof590000m3shallbeallocated
amongtheMemberStates.MemberStates'shares
which,subjecttoArticle5,shallbevaliduntil31
December198,shallbeasfollows:
Benelux
Denmark
Germany
Greece
France
Ireland
Italy
UnitedKingdom 221jfU
3.ThesecondtrancheoHflOOOm}shallconstitute
thereserve.
Article3
1.If90%ormoreofaMemberStatesinitialshare
asfixer;.Article2(2),orofthatshareminusany
portionrtlun.edtothereservewhereArticle5has
beena;hasbeenusedup,thatMemberState
shallforthwith,bynotifyingtheCommission ,drawa(cubicmetres)
161300
59830
100600
50
14040
7500
25310
221370secondshare,totheextentthatthereservesopermits,
equalto10%ofitsinitialshare,roundedupasneces­
sarytothenextwholenumber;
2.If,afteritsinitialsharehasbeenexhausted,
90%ormoreofthesecondsharedrawnbya
MemberStatehasbeenusedup,thatMemberState
shall,inthemannerandtotheextentprovidedin
paragraph 1,drawathirdshareequalto5%ofits
initialshare,roundedupasnecessarytothenext
wholenumber.
3.If,afteritssecondsharehasbeenexhausted,
90%ormoreofthethirdsharedrawnbyaMember
Statehasbeenusedup,thatMemberStateshall,in
themannerandtotheextentprovidedinparagraph 1,
drawafourthshareequaltothethird.
Thisprocedureshallapplyuntilthereserveisused
up.
4.Bywayofderogationfromparagraphs 1,2and
3,MemberStatesmaydrawlessersharesthanthose
specifiedthereiniftherearegroundsforbelieving
thatthosespecifiedmaynotbeusedinfull.They
shallinformtheCommissionoftheirreasonsfor
applyingthisparagraph.
Article4
AdditionalsharesdrawnpursuanttoArticle3shallbe
validuntil31December1983.
Article$
MemberStatesshallreturntothereserve,notlater
than1October1983,theunusedportionsoftheir
initialshareswhich,on15September1983,arein
excessof20%oftheinitialamounts.Theymay
returnagreaterportioniftherearegroundsfor
believingthatsuchportionmaynotbeusedinfull.
MemberStatesshallnotifytheCommissionnotlater
than1Ocotber1983,ofthetotalquantitiesofthe
productsinquestionimportedupto15September
1983andchargedagainsttheCommunityquotaand
ofanyportionoftheirinitialsharesreturnedtothe
reserve.
Article6
TheCommissionshallkeepanaccountoftheshares
openedbytheMemberStatespursuanttoArticles2
and3and,assoonasithasbeennotified,shallinform
eachStateoftheextenttowhichthereservehasbeen
usedup.
ItshallinformtheMemberStates,notlaterthan5
October1983,oftheamountstillinreserveafter
amountshavebeenreturnedtheretopursuantto
Article5.

Itshallensurethatthedrawingwhichexhauststhe
reservedoesnotexceedthebalanceavailableand,to
thisend,shallnotifytheamountofthatbalanceto
theMemberStatemakingthelastdrawing.
Article7
1.MemberStatesshalltakeallappropriate
measurestoensurethatadditionalsharesdrawn
pursuanttoArticle3areopenedinsuchawaythat
importsmaybechargedwithoutinterrutionagainst
theiraggregatesharesoftheCommunityquota.
2.MemberStatesshallensurethatimportersofthe
productsinquestion have
freeaccesstothesharesallocatedtothem.
3.MemberStatesshallchargeimportsofthe
productsinquestionagainsttheirsharesasandwhen
theproductsareenteredwiththecustomsauthorities
forfreecirculation .4.TheextenttowhichaMemberStatehasusedup
itsshareshallbedeterminedonthebasisofimports
chargedagainstthatshareinaccordancewithpara­
graph3.
Article8
AttheCommissionsrequest,MemberStatesshall
informitoftheimportsactuallychargedagainsttheir
shares.
Article9
MemberStatesandtheCommissionshallcooperate
closelytoensurethatthisRegulationiscomplied
with.
Article10
ThisRegulationshallenterintoforceon1January
1983.
ThisRegulationshallbebindinginitsentiretyanddirectlyapplicableinallMember
States.
DoneatBrussels,
FortheCouncil
ThePresident