COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 14.11 1996 
COM(96)577 final 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 
temporarily suspending all or some of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff 
duties on certain fishery products (1997) 
(presented by the Commission) 

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 
1. During the third quarter of this year, the Commission, assisted by the Economic Tariff Problems 
Group, has reviewed all the requests for temporary suspension of autonomous Common Customs 
Tariff duties presented to it by the Member States, including requests for extending suspensions at 
present in force. 
2. The attached proposal concerns a number of fishery products. 
For industrial products, the proposals for Regulations temporarily suspending the autonomous 
Common Customs Tariff duties are also being prepared. 
3. The requests for suspension relating to the above products were examined in the light of the criteria 
set out in the communication from the Commission to the Council and the Member States concerning 
autonomous tariff suspensions (see OJ C 235, 13.9.1989, p. 2). 
Following this review, the Commission considers that the suspension of duties is justified for the 
products listed in the Annex to the attached proposal of Regulation. 
4. As seen from Article 1 of the above-mentioned proposal of Regulation, the period of validity of the 
proposed measure is 12 months. 
Ï 
' ^Proposal" fera 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No /96 
of 1996 
temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff 
duties on certain fishery products (1997) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 28 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Whereas the Community relies at present on imports from third countries for supplies of certain fishery 
products; whereas it is in the interest of the Community to suspend partially or totally the customs duties 
for these products; whereas, in order to avoid endangering the prospects for developing the production of 
competitive products in the Community while ensuring that the industries concerned receive the necessary 
supplies, it is advisable to adopt these suspension measures only from 1 January to 31 December 1997, 
Whereas it is for the Community to decide to suspend these autonomous duties, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
1. From 1 January to 31 December 1997 the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on the products 
listed in the Annex are hereby suspended at the level indicated for each product. 
2. Imports of these products shall qualify for the suspension referred to in paragraph 1 only provided that 
the free-at-frontier price laid down by the Member States, in accordance with Article 22 of 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92 of 17 December 1992 on the common organization of the market 
in fishery and aquaculture products,1 is not lower than the reference price fixed or to be fixed by the 
Community for the products or categories of products in question. 
Article 2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January Ï997. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 
Done at , 
For the Council 
The President 
1 OJ No L 388, 31.12.1992, p. 1, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1891/93 of 12.7.1993 (OJ No L 172, 
15.7.1993, p.l). 
IMJNEX 
CN code & TARIC Description 
0001 0302 65 20 
0303 75 20 
ex0304 10 98 60 
ex0304 90 97 31 Dogfish of the species Squalus acanthias, fresh, chilled or frozen Rate of 
autonomous 
duty (%) 
0002 ex0302 69 99 30 Sturgeons, fresh, chilled or frozen, for processing (a) (b) 
ex0303 79 96 30 
0003 ex0302 69 99 40 Lump fish (Cyclopterus lumpus) with roe, fresh or chilled, for 
processing (a) 
0004 ex0302 69 99 50 
ex0303 79 96 40 Red Snapper {Lutjanus purpureus), fresh, chilled or frozen, for 
processing (a) (c) 
0005 ex0302 70 00 11 
ex0302 70 00 91 Hard fish roes, fresh or chilled 
0006 ex0303 10 00 10 Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), frozen and headless, for the 
processing industry for manufacture into pastes or spreads (a) 
0008 ex0304 20 55 34 
ex0304 20 58 44 
ex0304 90 47 30 Fillets and meat of hake of the genus Merluccius, excluding the 
species Merluccius merluccius, Merluccius bilinearis and Merluccius 
hubbsi, in the form of industrial blocks, frozen, for processing 
(a) (b) 8.5 
0009 ex0304 20 85 10 
ex0304 90 61 10 Fillets and meat of Alaska pollack (Theragra chalcogramma), in the 
form of industrial blocks, frozen, for processing (a) (b) 8.5 
0010 ex0305 20 00 11 
ex0305 20 00 19 Hard fish roes, salted or in brine 
0011 ex0306 19 90 10 
ex0306 29 90 10 Krill for processing (a) 
0022 exl604 11 00 20 
exl604 20 10 20 Pacific salmon [Oncorhynchus spp.), for the processing industry for 
manufacture into pastes or spreads (a) 
0023 exl604 30 90 10 Hard fish roes, washed, cleaned of adherent organs and simply salted 
or in brine, for processing (a) 
0024 exl605 10 00 11 
exl605 10 00 19 Crabs of the species 'King' (Paralithod.es camchaticus), 'Hanasaki' 
{Paralithodes brevipes), 'Kegani' (Erimacrus isenbecki), 'Queen' and 
'Snow' (Chionoecetes spp.), 'Red' {Geryon quinquedens), 'Rough 
stone' {Neolithodes asperrimus), Lithodes antarctica, 'Mud' (Scylla 
serrata), 'Blue' [Portunus spp.), simply boiled in water and 
shelled, whether or not frozen, in immediate packings of a net 
content of 2 kg or more 
(a) Control of the use for this special purpose shall be carried out pursuant to the relevant Community 
provisions. 
(b) The suspension shall apply to fish intended to undergo any operation unless they are intended to 
undergo exclusively one or more of the following operations: 
- cleaning, gutting, tailing, heading, 
- cutting (excluding filleting or cutting of frozen blocks), 
- sampling, sorting, 
- labelling, 
- packing, 
- chilling, 
- freezing, 
- deep freezing, 
- thawing, separation. 
The suspension is not allowed for products intended, in addition, to undergo treatment (or operations) 
qualifying for suspension where such treatment (or operations) is (are) carried out at retail or 
catering level. The suspension of customs duties shall apply only to fish intended for human 
consumption. 
) 
(c) However, the suspension is not allowed where processing is carried out by retail or catering 
undertakings. 
sT 
FINANCIAL STATEMENT 
1. Budget heading involved : Chapter 12 Article 120 
2. Title of operation : Proposal for a Council Regulation temporarily suspending all or some of the 
autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1997). 
3. Legal basis : Article 28 of the EC Treaty. 
4. Objective: Suspension of the CCT duties for the above products. 
5. Measures aimed at prevention and protection: Checks on the end-use of some of the products 
covered by this Council Regulation will be carried out in accordance with Articles 291 to 304 of 
Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of the 
Community Customs Code. 
6. Cost : 
In relation to the previous year (for which the cost of the entire operation had been estimated at 
ECU 39 000 000), the following is proposed: 
- two products should be removed from the list of suspensions (CN 03038000 and 16053030) because 
for these products the customs duties were suspended definitively under the negotiations on 
Article XXIV.6 of the GATT; 
- the rate of the duty for "fillets and meat of hake" should be changed from 10% to 8.5%. 
It is difficult to estimate the cost owing to the lack of recent Community statistics and the accession 
of three new Member States for which no economic details are at present available. 
However, the present estimate, taking into account: 
- the most recent known EUROSTAT statistics (1994); 
- the period of validity of this Regulation (1.1.1997/31.12.1997); 
- the presence of three new Member States, the impact of which is estimated at about 15%, produces 
an increase of ECU 880 000, corresponding to the products removed from the list, and a loss of 
ECU 445 000 corresponding to the 1.5% decrease in the rate of duty for "fillets and meat of hake". 
This represents a ECU 435 000 reduction of duties not collected. 
Estimated cost of the present operation (1.1.1997/3112.1997). 
The uncollected duties generated by the proposed operation can therefore be estimated as costing 
ECU 38 565 000, i.e. ECU 435 000 less than ECU 39 000 000 not collected under the previous 
operation (1 1.1996/31.12.1996). 
REMARK 
The increase from the removal of the two products mentioned above applies only to this operation 
since the customs duties are always suspended under another operation. Seen overall, the 
amendments to the existing regulation would bring a total loss of revenue of ECU 445 000. 
€ 
•»HKn\>: :"'V'M •:-.. ISSN0254-1475 
COM(96) 577 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 02 03 01 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-96-577-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-11513-4 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
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