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COM (83) 126 
 
 
 
Vol. 1983/ 0038 
  
 
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COM MISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
C0M(83) 126 final
Brussels, 15 March 1983
Proposal for a  
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a  
Community tariff quota for processing work in respect of  
certain textile products under Community outword  
processing traffic
(submitted to the Council by the Commission)
COM(83) 126 final

Cl h ' A  &i
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. In an Arrangement (1) concluded with the Swiss Confederation on 1  August  
1969, the European Economic Community undertook to open an annual duty­
free Community tariff quota of 1  870 000 units of account of added value for  
various kinds of processing work in respect of certain textile products under  
the outword-processing traffic arrangements between the Community and  
Switzerland.
Under the terms of the memorandum agreed at the time the Arrangement  
was made, this annual tariff quota is divided into three categories of  
processing, based on the quantities recorded under the former bilateral  
Agreements (concluded with Switzerland by France, Gemany and Italy), but  
taking into account the possibilities of extending it to Benelux countries.
On the basis of that division the total quota amount of 1  870 000 units of  
account is allocated, in accordance with certain amendments, as follows :
(i) 1  520 000 units of account for processing work on woven fabrics falling  
within Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs Tariff;
(ii) 123 000 units of account for twisting or throwing, re-twisting, cablin,  
texturizing (whether or not combined with other processing work) of  
yarn falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs Tariff;
(iii) 227 000 units of account for processing work on articles falling within  
headings Nos 58.04, 58.05, 58.07, 58.08, 58.09 and 60.01 of the Common  
Customs Tariff, subject to the setting up of a Community reserve of  
230 000 u.a. to be drawn from the above quotas, i.e. 160 000 u.a.,  
13 000 u.a. and 57 000 u.a. respectively.
2. The question whether this Arrangement should continue beyond 31 August  
1977 has been examined on several occasions, notably at the meeting of the  
EEC-Switzerland Joint Committee held on 3 November 1976, in regard to the  
quota amounts which should be adopted thenceforth, account being taken of
(1) O.3. No L 240, 24.9.1979

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the fact that the transitional period in the Free Trade Agreement concluded  
with Switzerland, under which textile products qualifying for Swiss origin  
status by reasons of the processing work they have undergone can enter duty­
free, expired on 1  July 1977.
The question was reconsidered at the meeting of Joint Committee held on 8  
May 1979 in order to examine, in the light of the experience gained and of the  
economic information available, the adaptation to be made to the  
Arrangement especially as regards the following points :  
reduction to be made to the total quota amount;  
division of this amount into three categories of processing;  
allocation of quotas among Member States.
With regard to the first three points raised, the Swiss delegation iaid stress  
on the retention of the Arrangements to its memorandum in their present  
form, but agree provisionally to the abolition of the division of the total  
quota amount of 1  870 000 EUA into the three categories of processing  
initially adopted and hence to the aggregation of the shares allotted to  
certain Member States.
3. The attached proposal for a Regulation therefore serves no other purpose  
than to open, in ECU the tariff quota provided for in the Arrangement in  
question for the period 1  September 1983 to 31 August 1984 and to allocate it  
among the Member States along the lines set out in the Memorandum covering  
the Arrangement, account being taken of the adaptations that have taken  
place meanwhile and of the need to ensure that all Member States share in  
the allocation of this tariff quota.

PROPOSAL FOR A
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff  
quota for processing work in respect of certain textile products under  
Community outward-processing traffic
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES,
i
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 113 
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas, on 1  August 1969, the Community 
concluded an arrangement with Switzerland on proces­
sing traffic in textiles ;  whereas under that arrangement 
the Community undertook to open, on 1  September of 
every year, an annual duty-free Community tariff 
quota for processed goods of 1  870 000 units of 
account of added value, apportioned as follows :
(a) 1  650 000 units of account for processing work on 
woven fabrics falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of 
the Common Customs Tariff ;
(b) 143 000 units of account for the twisting or 
throwing, cabling and texturizing (whether or not 
combined with other processing work) of yarns 
falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common 
Customs Tariff ;
(c) 77 000 units of account for processing work on 
products falling within heading Nos 58.04, 58.05, 
58.07, 58.08, 58.09 and 60.01 of the Common 
Customs Tariff ;
Whereas, in order to facilitate administration of this 
tariff quota, it was decided no longer to allocate a 
quota, provisionally, to each of the above three catego­
ries of processing ; whereas the quota in question 
should therefore be opened for the period 1  September 
1983 to 31 August 198 4>ccording to the procedure 
provided for under the above arrangement, as 
amended and in compliance with the provisions of 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 2779/78 of 23November 1978 on the procedure for applying the 
European unit of account (EUA) to legal acts adopted 
in one customs sphere ('), and in particular Article 2 
thereof, and the provisions of Council Regulation 
(EEC/Euratom) No 3308/80 of 16 December 1980 on 
the replacement of the European unit of account by 
the ECU in Community legal instruments f) ;
Whereas provision should be made in particular to 
ensure equal and continuous access for those 
concerned with this quota and consistent application 
of the rate of duty, prescribed for the said quota until 
the quota is exhausted, to all goods re-imported into 
any of the Member States and which have received one 
or other of the treatments listed above ; whereas, in the 
light of these principles, arrangements for the utiliza­
tion of the quota based on an allocation among the 
Member States would seem to be consistent with the 
Community character of the said quota ; whereas it 
therefore seems advisable to make the allocation on 
the basis of the amount of the traffic under the 
previous bilateral Agreements, but without precluding 
participation by Member States not previously involved 
in such traffic ;
Whereas, to safeguard the Community character of the 
quota, provision should be made to meet requirements 
which may arise in those Member States permitting 
them to draw adequate amounts from the Community 
reserve;
Whereas, to take account of possible developments in 
the traffic in question in the various Member States, 
the total quota volume of 1  870 000 ECU should be 
divided into two instalments, the first being allocated 
among certain Member States and the second held as a
(') O j No L 333, 30. 11. 1978, p. 5. 
(2 ) OJ No L 345, 20. 12. 1980, p. 1.

-2  -
reserve to cover the subsequent requirements of 
Member States when one of their initial shares has 
been exhausted, and also requirements which may 
arise in certain Member States in respect of processing 
work for which no initial share of the quota was allo­
cated ; whereas, in order to give the parties concerned 
in each Member State some degree of certainty, it 
would seem appropriate to fix the first instalment of 
the Community quota at a relatively high level, 
namely 1  640 000 ECU ;
Whereas the Member States may exhaust their initial 
shares at different rates ; whereas to avoid disruption of 
supplies on this account, it should be provided that 
any Member State which has almost used up one of its 
initial shares should draw an additional share from the 
reserve ; whereas, each time its additional share is 
almost exhausted, a Member State should draw a 
further share, and so on, as many times as the reserve 
allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares 
should be valid until the end of the quota period ; 
whereas this form of administration requires close 
collaboration between the Member States and the 
Commission, and the Commission must be in a posi­
tion to keep account of the extent to which the quota 
has been used up and to inform the Member States 
accordingly ;
Whereas, if at a given date during the quota period a 
considerable quantity of a Member State’s initial share 
remains unused, it is essential, to prevent a part of the 
Community tariff quota from remaining unused in 
one Member State while it could be used in others, 
that such State should return a significant percentage 
thereof to the corresponding reserve ;
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the 
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of 
Luxembourg are united in and jointly represented by 
the Benelux Economic Union, all transactions concer­
ning the administration of the shares allocated to that 
economic union may be carried out by any one of its 
members,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
Article 1
1. From 1  September 1983 to 31 August 1984 a 
Community tariff quota of 1  870 000 ECU of value 
added shall be opened in respect of goods resulting 
from processing work as provided for in the arrange­
ment with Switzer'and on processing traffic in textiles 
as follows:(a) processing work on woven fabrics falling within 
Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs Tariff;
(b) twisting or throwing, cabling and texturizing 
(whether or not combined with other processing 
work) of yarns falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of 
the Common Customs Tariff;
(c) processing work on products falling within the
following headings of the Common Customs 
Tariff: \
58.04 Woven pile fabrics and chenille fabrics 
(other than terry towelling or similar terry 
fabrics of cotton falling within heading No
55.08 and fabrics falling within heading No 
58.05);
58.05 Narrow woven fabrics, and narrow fabrics 
(bolduc) consisting of warp without weft 
assembled by means of an adhesive, other 
than goods falling within heading No 
58.06;
58.07 Chenille yarn (including flock chenille 
yarn), gimped yarn (other then metallized 
yam of heading No 52.01 and gimped 
horsehair yam); braids and ornamental 
trimmings in the piece; tassels, pompons 
and the like;
58.08 Tulle and other net fabrics (but not inclu­
ding woven, knitted or crocheted fabrics), 
plain (a);
58.09 Tulle and other net fabrics (but not inclu­
ding woven, knitted or crocheted fabrics), 
figured ; hand or mechanically made lace, in 
the piece, in strips or in motifs;
60.01 Knitted or crocheted fabric, not elastic or 
rubberized.
2. For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a) ‘processing work’  means :
— for the purposes of paragraph 1  (a) and (c): 
bleaching, dyeing, printing, flocking, impregna­
ting, dressing and other work which changes 
the appearance or quality of the goods, without 
however changing their nature,
— for the purposes of paragraph 1  (b):  twisting or 
throwing, cabling and texturizing, whether or 
not combined with reeling, dyeing or other 
work which changes the appearance, quality or 
finish of the goods, without however changing 
their nature;
(b) ‘ value added’  means the difference between the 
value for customs purposes as defined in Commu­
nity Regulations on this subject at the time of 
re-importation and the value for customs purposes 
as it would be if the products were re-imported in 
the state in which they were exported.

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3. Within this tariff quota, the Common Customs 
Tariff duties shall be totally suspended.
Within the same limits, Greece shall apply customs 
duties calculated in accordance with the provisions of 
the 1979 Act of Accession and of the protocols 
concluded by reason of that accession.
4. Re-imports of products, resulting from this 
processing work may not be charged to the tariff quota 
if they are already free of customs duties under other 
preferential tariff arrangements.same conditions, draw a fourth share equal to the 
third.
This process shall continue to apply until the reserve 
is exhausted.
4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, 
a Member State may draw shares lower than those 
specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for 
believing that those specified may not be used in full. 
Any Member State applying this paragraph shall 
inform the Commission of its grounds for so doing.
Article 2
1. The tariff quota referred to in Article 1  (1) shall 
be divided into two instalments.
The first instalment, 1  640 000 ECU, shall be allocated 
as set out below among· the Member States listed in 
the above arrangement; the shares, subject to Article 
6, shall be valid from 1  September 1983 to 31 August 
198 4:
(ECU)
Benelux 20 000
Germany 1  080 000
France 520 000
Italy 20 000
2. The second instalment, which amounts to 
230 000 ECU, shall constitute a Community reserve.Article 5
Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 4 shall be 
valid until 31 August 1984·.
Article 6
The Member States referred to in Article 2 (1) shall, 
not later than 1  July 1984 return to the reserve the 
unused portion of their initial share which, on 15 June 
1984, is in excess of 20 % of the initial amount. They 
may return a greater portion if there are grounds for 
believing that it may not be used in full.
Member States shall, not later than 1  July 1984 notify 
the Commission of the total quantities of the product 
in question re-imported up to and including 15 June 
1984 and charged against the Community quota and 
of any portion of their initial quota returned to the 
reserve.
Article 3
If an importer notifies an imminent re­
importation of the products in question  
in a Member State and requests the bene­
fit of the quota, the Member State con­
cerned shall inform the Commission and  
draw an amount corresponding to these  
requirements to the extent that the  
available balance of the reserve per­
mits this.
Article 4
1. If a Member State has used 90 % or more of its 
initial share as fixed in Article 2 (1), or that share 
minus any portion returned to the reserve pursuant to 
Article 6, it shall forthwith, by notifying the Commis­
sion, draw a second share, to the extent that the rele­
vant reserve so permits, equal to 10 % of its initial 
share, rounded up as necessary to the next whole 
number.
2. If a Member State, after exhausting its initial 
share, has used 90 % or more of the second share 
drawn by it, that Member State shall, in accordance 
with the conditions laid down in paragraph 1, draw a 
third share equal to 5 % of its initial share.
3. If a Member State, after exhausting its second 
share, has used 90 % or more of the third share drawn 
by it, that Member State shall in accordance with theArticle 7
The Commission shall keep an account of the shares 
opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2, 3 
and 4 and shall, as soon as the information reaches it, 
inform each Member State of the extent to which the 
reserve has been used up.
It shall, not later than 5 July 1984, inform the 
Member States of the amounts still in reserve 
following any return of shares pursuant to Article 6.
It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting this 
reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not exceed 
the balance available, and to this end shall notify the 
amount of that balance to the Member State making 
the last drawing.
Article 8
1. Member States shall take all appropriate measures 
to ensure that additional shares drawn pursuant to 
Article 4 are opened in such a way that re-importation 
may be charged without interruption against their 
accumulated shares of the Community tariff quota.
2. , Every Member State shall ensure that all persons
involved in the processing 
traffic have free access to the shares allocated to it.

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3. The extent to which a Member State has used up 
its shares shall be determined on the basis of the value 
added, as established when upon re-importation the 
products concerned are entered with the customs 
authorities for free circulation.
'  Article 9
At the request of the Commission, the Member States 
shall inform it of any re-irnporiations of the products 
in question actually charged against their share.Article 10
Member States and the Commission shall cooperate 
closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied with.
Article 11
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1  September
158.3.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable. in all Member 
States.
Done at Brussels, 198!·?7 « · · J·
For the Council  
The President