Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) Laying down the rates of duty to be applied on 4801 Newsprint in rolls or sheets following the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden
Date: 1995-05-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: customs duties, enlargement of the Union, newspaper, paper

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  10.05.1995 
COM(95)  169  final 

95/0112  (ACC) 

Proposal  for  a 

COUNCIL  REGULATION  (EC) 

Laying down the rates of duty to be applied on 4801  Newsprint  in rolls or sheets 
following the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden. 

(presented  by  the  Commission) 

COMMUNICATION  FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL  PROPOSING 
THE ADOPTION OF A REGULATION  ALLOWING  THE ACCELERATION  OF 
AGREED DUTY REDUCTIONS  TO 0 % ON IMPORTS OF NEWSPRINT 

1.  Pursuant to the Act of Accession, the three acceding Member States have applied the 
European Community's Common Customs Tariff as of  1 January  1995, with some 
exceptions4.  This has lead to the raising of certain tariffs applied by them.  In some 
cases the acceding Member States had to raise their tariff above a level which they had 
agreed before in GATT not to exceed (so-called  "tariff bindings").5 

2.  This is allowed in GATT under Art. XXIV, which is the provision whiclrallows the 

creation of inter alia  customs unions.  However, in some cases, the customs union 
,  must - under Art. XXIV para. 6 of the GATT - offer compensation, which may take 

the form of reductions of duties on either the same, or on other tariff lines.6 

3.  Canada has requested the EU to give compensation immediately.  Failing agreement 
Canada has announced retaliatory measures involving increases in duties on certain 
products mainly originating from the Community (including vodka and lead crystal 
glassware). 

4.  Therefore,  in order to avid these retaliatory measures, it is proposed to make some 

acceleration on an autonomous basis of the phased duty reductions to 0% already 
agreed in the Uruguay Round on imports of newsprint into the Community.  This 
would result in the 0% rate being achieved on  1 January 2002. 

5.  For their reasons the Commission proposed to the Council to adopt the Regulation 

contained with Annex to this Communication. 

4E.g  Art. 99 and Art 101 
'Compare Art. II of the GATT. 
6GATT 1994 Understanding on Art. XXIV para. 5. 

1 

PROPOSAL  FOR  A COUNCIL  REGULATION 

Laying  down  the  rates  of  duty  to  be  applied  on  4801  Newsprint  in  rolls  or  sheets 
following the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden. 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN  UNION 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community,  in  particular  Article 
113  thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

—  Whereas, pursuant to  Article  2  of the Act  concerning  their conditions  of  accession  to 
the  Community,  Austria,  Finland  and  Sweden  have  applied  the  Common  Customs 
Tariff as of  1 January  1995, 

—  Whereas following the authorisation by the Council at its meeting on  8 February  1995 
to open  negotiations  under Article  XXIV,  paragraph 6,  of the General  Agreement  on 
Tariffs and Trade  1994 (GATT  1994), in order to resolve instances where applications 
of  the  Common  Customs  Tariff  by the  new  Member  States  leads  to  modification  or 
withdrawal of tariff concessions previously granted by them; 

—  Whereas  the  application  of  the  Common  Customs  Tariff  by  the  new  Member  States 

has lead to a reduction of some import duties and increase of some other duties; 

—  Whereas,  pending  the  conclusion  of  a  global  agreement  from  negotiations  between 
the  Community  and  third  countries  it  is  appropriate  to  apply  autonomous  measures 
designed  to  alleviate  the  adverse  impact  on  certain  exports  by  third  countries 
following  enlargement; 

—  Whereas the measures to be applied are without prejudice to the results of the ongoing 
negotiations  under  Article  XXIV: 6  and  do  not  prejudge  the  intention  of  the 
Community  to  conclude  an agreement  which  takes  into  account  the  global  impact  of 
enlargement on trade with third countries; 

—  Whereas  in  this  context,  it  is  appropriate  to  accelerate  on  an  autonomous  basis  the 

reduction in duty to 0% already foreseen on 4801  Newsprint in rolls or sheets; 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION 

Article 1 

The autonomous  rates of duty on 4801  Newsprint  in rolls or sheets  shall be as  set out  in 
the Annex to this Regulation. 

Article 2 

This  regulation  shall  enter  into  force  the  day  following  its  publication  in  the  Official 
Journal. 

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

Done at Brussels 

For the Council 

i> 

ANNEX 

CN Code 1995 

Duty rate reduced to 

4801  00.10 
Newsprint, in rolls or sheets, mentioned in  4.2 %  * 
the additional note  1  to chapter 48 

4801  00.90 
Newsprint, in rolls or sheets, other than 
that mentioned in the additional note 1  to 
chapter 48 

5.3%  * 

*  On 1  January of the following years the duty shall be reduced to: 

1996-4.0% 
1997 - 3.0% 
1998-2.4% 
1999-1.8% 
2000-1.2% 
2001-0.6% 
2002 - 0.0% 

4 

FINANCIAL  STATEMENT 

Section  1 Financial Implications 

1.  Proposal for a Council Regulation providing some acceleration of the phased 

reduction to 0% a newsprint already agreed to by the Community in the Uruguay 
Round. 

2.  Budget heading: (loss of revenue: non known). 

3.  Legal basis: Article 113 

4.  Description: The application of the Common External Tariff duty rates by the 3 new 
Member Stales from  1  January  1995 has resulted in increases in duly payments on 
imports from third countries beyond levels previously in force. 

The proposed regulation would avoid the retaliatory measures announced by Canada 
involving large increases in duties of certain exports by the Community (including 
vodka and lead crystal glassware) 

5.  Type of revenue: Loss of revenue for duties paid on third country imports. 

6.  Change in level of revenue: 

It is estimated that the loss of revenue will be in the order of  16 MECU.  This  covers 
the last 7 months of 1995 and the period  1996 to 2003.  This figure is calculated by 
taking the sum of duty collected  normally paid on imports of newsprint (over and 
above the duty free quota) and deducting from lliis figure the sums that would be 
actually collected on the basis of the duty rates indicated in the annex. 

PM.  Sections 2 and 3 do not seem applicable. 

h:\GBRESOLDOC 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(95) 169  final 

DOCUMENTS 

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Catalogue number  : CB-CO-95-214-EN-C 

ISBN 92-77-88978-0 

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