Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 laying down the trade arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products

(96/C 105/09)

COM(96) 49 final - 96/0039(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 15 February 1996)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 43 and 113 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 of 6 December 1993 (1) laid down the trade arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products;

Whereas following the entry into force of the Agreements resulting from the Uruguay Round multilateral negotiations, the Community negotiated various Agreements (hereinafter referred to as the 'GATT Agreements`); whereas several of those Agreements concern agriculture, particularly the Agreement on Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as 'the Agreement`); whereas under the Agreement the Community no longer applies variable levies to imports of agricultural products or variable components, whereas as a result a number of provisions of Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 have to be adapted to this new situation to make their meaning clear; whereas other provisions are now no longer applicable;

Whereas under certain preferential Agreements reductions are granted on the agricultural components within the framework of the Community's commercial policy, whereas these reductions are established with reference to the agricultural components applicable to non-preferential trade; whereas these reduced amounts must therefore be converted into national currency at the same rate as applied for conversion of the non-reduced amounts;

Whereas under certain preferential Agreements concessions are granted within quota limits relating to both agricultural and non-agricultural protection, or non-agricultural protection is subject to reductions as a consequence of such Agreements; whereas it is essential that the management of the non-agricultural part of protection should be subject to the same rules as for the agricultural part;

Whereas the Agreements that the Community has concluded in accordance with Article 228 of the Treaty concerning processed agricultural products provide for limits on the amounts which can be granted to agricultural products listed in the Agreement and exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex II to the Treaty; whereas this limit is expressed solely in the form of a global amount covering all exports in the form of such goods;

Whereas Article 11 of the Agreement lays down that the amount which can be granted to an agricultural product exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex II to the Treaty may not exceed the amount granted when this agricultural product is exported in the unaltered state; whereas on the other hand, in order to respect the undertakings laid down in terms of amounts, it may become necessary to reduce the rates of the refunds on exports in the form of goods not covered by Annex II to the Treaty; whereas these reductions should be fixed uniformly; whereas Article 5 of the Agreement provides for the application of additional customs duties in order to maintain a minimum level of protection against eventual adverse effects on the market which could result from the tariff system; whereas these additional duties also apply to certain sensitive goods not listed in Annex II to the Treaty,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 is hereby amended as follows:

1. In Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be replaced by the following:

'1. This Regulation determines the trade arrangements applicable to certain goods defined in Annex B to this Regulation.

2. For the pruposes of this Regulation:

- "agricultural products" shall mean products covered by Annex II to the Treaty,

- "goods" shall mean products not covered by Annex II to the Treaty and listed in Annex B.

3. For the purposes of application of certain preferential Agreements:

- "agricultural component" shall mean the part of the charge corresponding to the Community Customs Tariff duties on the agricultural products listed in Annex A or, where appropriate, the duties applicable to agricultural products originating in the countries concerned for the quantities of these agricultural products considered to have been used, as referred to in Article 13,

- "non-agricultural component" shall mean the part of the charge corresponding to the Common Customs Tariff duties, reduced by the agricultural component defined above,

- "basic products" shall mean certain agricultural products covered by Annex A to this Regulation or assimilated to those products or resulting from their processing, for which the duties published in the Common Customs Tariff serve to determine the agricultural component of the charge applicable to the goods.`

Paragraph 3 shall be renumbered paragraph 4.

2. Chapter 1 shall be replaced by the following:

'CHAPTER 1

Importation

Section 1

Trade with non-member countries

Article 2

1. Save where otherwise provided in this Regulation, the Common Customs Tariff duties shall apply to the goods listed in Annex B.

For the goods listed in Table 1 of Annex B, the charge shall consist of an ad valorem duty, designated the "fixed component", and a specific amount set in ECU, designated the "agricultural component".

For the goods listed in Table 2 of Annex B, the agricultural component of the charge shall be part of the single ad valorem duty applicable to imports of such goods.

2. Subject to Articles 10 and 10a, the levying of any customs duty or charge having equivalent effect other than the charge provided for in paragraph 1 shall be prohibited.

3. The general rules for interpretation of the combined nomenclature and the special rules for application of the nomenclature shall apply for the pruposes of classification of the products covered by this Regulation; the tariff nomenclature resulting from application of this Regulation shall be included in the Common Customs Tariff.

4. The detailed rules for application of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16.

Article 3 (*)

Article 4

1. Where the Common Customs tariff lays down a maximum charge, the charge provided for in Article 2 may not exceed this maximum.

Where the maximum charge referred to in the previous subparagraph may be applied only under specific conditions, these conditions shall be determined in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11 (1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (¹).

2. Where the maximum charge consists of an ad valorem duty plus an additional duty on various kinds of sugar, expressed as sucrose (AD S/Z), or on flour (AD F/M), such additional duty shall be that laid down in the Community Common Customs Tariff.

Article 5 (*)

Section 2

Preferential trade

Article 6

1. The agricultural component applicable in the framework of preferential trade shall be the specific amount fixed in the Community Common Customs Tariff.

However, where the country or countries concerned satisfy the requirements of Community legislation for processed products, adopt the same basic products as the Community, cover the same goods and use the same coefficients as the Community:

(a) this agricultural component may be determined on the basis of the quantities of basic products actually used if the Community has concluded a customs cooperation Agreement covering the establishment of such quantities;

(b) the duty applicable on importation of the basic product may be replaced by an amount established on the basis of the difference between agricultural prices in the Community and those in the country or region concerned, or by an amount offsetting a jointly established price for the region concerned;

(c) where application of point (b) results in amounts with little impact on the goods covered, this arrangement may be replaced by a system of flat rate amounts or rates.

2. The agricultural components, with any reductions, applicable to imports under a preferential Agreement shall be converted into national currency by applying the same exchange rate as applicable to non-preferential trade.

3. The ad valorem duties corresponding to the agricultural component of the charge for the goods in Table 2 of Annex B may be replaced by another agricultural component where provided for by a preferential agreement.

4. The detailed rules for applying this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16.

If necessary, these detailed rules shall cover in particular:

- completion and circulation of the documents necessary for granting these arrangements,

- the measures necessary to avoid diversions of trade,

- the list of basic products.

5. Where methods of analysing the agricultural products used are necessary, the methods specified for the agricultural products in question in the case of refunds on exports to third countries shall be used.

6. The Commission shall publish the charges resulting from application of these agreements.

Article 7

1. Where a preferential agreement provides for the reduction or phasing-out of the non-agricultural part of the charge, this shall be the fixed component in the case of the goods listed in Table 1 of Annex B.

2. Where a preferential Agreement provides for a reduction in the agricultural component, whether or not within the limits of a tariff quota, the detailed rules for determining and managing such reduced agricultural components shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16, provided the Agreement specifies:

- the products eligible for these reductions,

- the quantities of goods or value of any quotas to which these reductions apply or the method of calculating these quantities or values,

- the factors determining the reduction in the agricultural component.

3. The detailed rules necessary for initiating and managing reductions in the non-agricultural components of the charge shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16.

4. The Commission shall publish the charges resulting from application of these agreements.

(*) This Article is suppressed/repealed.

(¹) OJ No L 256, 7. 9. 1987, p. 1.`

3. Article 8 is replaced by the following:

'Article 8

1. On exportation of the goods, the agricultural products which have been used and which satisfy the conditions laid down in Article 9 (2) of the Treaty may, within the value limits deriving from the agreements concluded in accordance with Article 228 of the Treaty, qualify for refunds established pursuant to the Regulations on the common organization of the market in the sectors concerned.

No export refund may be granted on agricultural products, incorporated into goods, not covered by a common organization of the market providing for export refunds on products exported in the form of such goods.

2. The list of goods qualifying for such refunds shall be established, taking account of:

- the impact of the difference between the prices on the Community market and on the world market of the agricultural products used in their production,

- the need to cover this difference in whole or in part, to allow exportation of the agricultural products used in the goods concerned.

The list shall be drawn up pursuant to the Regulations on the common organization of the agricultural markets.

3. Refund rates for agricultural products exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex II to the Treaty shall be fixed in accordance with the same procedure as for the granting of refunds on the agricultural products concerned when they are exported in the unprocessed state.

In exceptional cases, however, where compliance with the agreements concluded in accordance with Article 228 of the Treaty or other commercial agreements requires a reduction in the level of refunds established under the procedure referred to in the above subparagraph, the rates of refund shall be reduced by the Commission in the case of exportation in the form of goods not covered by Annex II to the Treaty.

4. For agricultural products exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex II to the Treaty, refunds shall be granted only upon request and upon presentation of a corresponding refund certificate.

5. Compliance with the limits deriving from the Agreements concluded in accordance with Article 228 of the Treaty shall be ensured on the basis of refund certificates issued for the periods referred to therein.

6. The common rules for implementing the refund arrangements referred to in this Article, including those necessary to ensure compliance with the value limits deriving from the Agreements concluded within the framework of Article 228 of the Treaty, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16. They shall take into account the particular nature of the goods not covered by Annex II to the Treaty and the need to lay down effective and practicable administrative rules. They shall include:

(a) provisions concerning the issuing and period of validity of refund certificates;

(b) provisions relating to the redistribution of non-allocated or unused refund amounts.

7. Where the arrangements for the direct offsetting referred to in Article 6 (1) (b) are established within the framework of a preferential Agreement, the amounts payable on exports to the country or countries concerned by the Agreement shall be determined jointly and on the same basis as the agricultural component of the charge under the conditions laid down in the Agreement.

These amounts shall be established in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16. The implementing rules which may be necessary pursuant to this paragraph, and in particular measures to ensure that goods declared for export under a preferential arrangement are not in fact exported under a non-preferential arrangement or vice versa, shall be adopted by the same procedure.

Where methods of analysing the agricultural products used are necessary, the methods specified for the agricultural products in question in the case of refunds on exports to third countries shall be used.`

4. The following Article 10a shall be added after Article 10:

'Article 10a

1. In order to prevent or counteract adverse effects on the Community market which may result from imports of certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products, listed in Annex C to this Regulation, importation at the rate of duty provided for in the Common Customs Tariff of one or more of such goods shall be subject to the payment of an additional import duty if the conditions set out in Article 5 of the Agreement have been fulfilled unless the imports are unlikely to disturb the Community market or where the effect would be disproportionate to the intended objective.

2. The trigger prices below which an additional import duty may be imposed shall be those forwarded to the World Trade Organization by the Community.

The trigger quantities which must be exceeded in order for an additional import duty to be imposed shall be determined, inter alia, on the basis of imports into the Community in the three years preceding that in which the adverse effects referred to in paragraph 1 arise or seem likely to arise.

3. The import prices to be taken into consideration when imposing an additional import duty shall be determined on the basis of the cif import prices of the consignment concerned.

4. The datailed implementing rules shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16.

These rules shall cover in particular:

(a) the goods to which additional import duties are applied under Article 5 of the Agreement;

(b) the other criteria necessary for application of paragraph 1 in accordance with Article 5 of the said Agreement.`

5. In Article 12, paragraph 1 shall be deleted. Paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

'3. The Commission shall adapt this Regulation or Regulations adopted pursuant thereto to any amendments to the combined nomenclature.`

6. The text of Article 13 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 13

1. This Article shall apply to all preferential trade for which determination of the agricultural component of the charge, possibly reduced under the conditions laid down in Article 7, is not based on the actual content referred to in Article 6 (1) (a) and/or for which the basic amounts are not based on the price differences referred to in Article 6 (1) (b).

2. The characteristics of the basic products and the quantities of the basic products to be taken into account shall be those laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1294/94 (*).

Any amendments to be made to this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16.

(*) OJ No L 141, 4. 6. 1994, p. 12.`

7. In Article 14, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

'1. The threshold or thresholds below which the agricultural components established in accordance with Articles 6 and 7 shall be fixed at zero may be laid down in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16. The non-application of these agricultural components may be made subject to special conditions, in accordance with the same procedure, in order to avoid creating artificial trade flows.`

8. Article 18 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 18

The measures necessary to adapt this Regulation to amendments made to the Regulations on the common organization of the market in agricultural products in order to maintain the existing arrangements shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 16.`

9. In Annex B, the titles under 'Table 1` and 'Table 2` shall be deleted.

10. The Annex to this Regulation is hereby added as Annex C to Regulation (EEC) No 3448/93.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

However, Article 1 (3) shall be applicable from 16 October 1996.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

(1) OJ No L 318, 20. 12. 1993, p. 18.

ANNEX

'ANNEX C

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