Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) Amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of 29 December 1994 in order to prolong certain tariff quotas with respect to Austria, Finland and Sweden
Date: 1995-06-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: CCT duties, EU Member State, GATT, enlargement of the Union, import, tariff quota

COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  13.06.1995 
COM(95) 267 final 

95/0143 (ACC) 

Proposal  for  a 

COUNCIL  REGULATION  (EC) 

Amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of 
29 December 1994 in order to prolong certain tariff quotas with respect to Austria, 
Finland and Sweden 

(presented  by the  Commission) 

COMMUNICATION  FROM THE  COMMISSION  TO THE  COUNCIL 

Pursuant  to  the  Act  of  Accession,  the  three  acceding  Member  states  have  applied  the 
European  Community's  Common  Customs Tariff,  with  some exceptions1.  This  has led  to 
the  raising  of  certain  tariffs  applied  by  them.  In  some  cases  the  acceding  Member  States 
even  had  to  raise  their  tariff  above  a level  which  they  had  agreed  before  in  GATT  not  to 
exceed  (so-called  "tariff  bindings").2 

This  is  permitted  in  GATT  under  Art.  XXIV,  which  is  the  provision  which  allows  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 other tariff  lines.3 

The  United  States  of  America  requested 
the  EC  to  give  at  least  a  part  of  this 
compensation  immediately  as  of  1  January  1995,  because  the  negative  effect  of  the 
raising  of  some  customs  tariffs  affecting  their  exports  to  new  Member  States  would  also 
be  felt  immediately  as of  that  date. 

Therefore,  in  order  to  avoid  unnecessary  trade  disputes,, it  was  decided  by  the  Council 
(Regulation  (EC)  No  3361/94 of  29 December  1994) to allow  the  new  Members  States  to 
provisionally  apply  their  former  lower  tariffs  to  quotas  on  certain  products,  which  are  of 
importance  to the US, until  the end  of June  1995. 

Pending  the  conclusion  of  a  global  agreement  from  the  Art.  XXIV:6  negotiations  and 
without  prejudice  to the results  of  these  negotiations,  the Commission  propose  to  prolong 
the  previous  interim  arrangement,  the  same  quotas  with  the  same  duty  rates  for  the 
products  in question,  for  a further  six mounths  until  31.12.1995. 

For  these  reasons,  the  Commission  propose  to  the  Council  to  adopt  the  regulation 
contained  in the annex  of this  Communication. 

1 E.g. Art. 99 and Art. 101. 
Compare Art. II of the GATT. 
3GATT 1994 Understanding on Art. XXTV para. 5. 

3 
PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 

Amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of 
29 December 1994 in order to prolong certain tariff  quotas with respect to 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 Council  Regulation  (EC) No 3361/94  of  29 December  1994* opening 
tariff  quotas with respect to Austria, Finland and Sweden, 

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,  the  Council  at  its  meeting  on  8  February  1995  has  authorised  the 
Commission  to  open  negotiations  under  Article  XXIV,  paragraph  6,  of  the  General 
Agreement on Tariffs  and Trade  1994 (GATT 1994); 

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

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

—  Whereas it is appropriate for the Community to provide temporary relief to its trading 
partners  for  the  most  serious  cases  in  which  there  is  an  increase  in  import  duties; 
whereas, therefore, certain customs duties have been reduced on an autonomous basis 
during the period  1  January to 30 June  1995; 

—  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  as these  negotiations  are  not  yet  completed,  it  is  appropriate  to  extend  the 
application  of Council Regulation  (EC) No 3361/94 of 29 December  1994 in order to 
provide for the period of  1  July to 31 December  1995, the same quotas with the same 
duty rates for the same products. 

* As corrected in O.J. L 68 of 28 March  1995 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION 

Article 1 

The dates  1  January to 30 June  1995 in Article  1  of  Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 
of 29 December  1994 opening tariff  quotas  with  respect  to  Austria, Finland  and  Sweden 
are replaced by 1  July to 31 December  1995. 

Article 2 

This regulation shall enter into force on  1  July 1995. 

This regulation shall be binding in it s entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

Done at Brussels 

For the Council 

y 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT 

Section 1: Financial implications. 

1.  Proposal for a  Council  Regulation amending Council  Regulation  (EC) No 3361/94 
of 29 December  1994 in order to prolong certain tariff  quotas with respect to Austria, 
Finland and Sweden. 

2.  Budget heading: (loss of revenue: not known). 

3.  Legal basis: Article  113 EC. 

4.  Description: The immediate application  of the Common External Tariff  duty rates by 
the  three  new  Member  States  resulted,  from  1 January  1995,  in  increases  in  duty 
payments  on certain  imports  from  third  countries  beyond  levels  previously  in  force. 
The proposed  Regulation  would prolong for  a further  six months certain tariff  quotas 
with respect to Austria, Finland and Sweden provided for  in Council  Regulation  (EC) 
No  3361/94  of  29  December  1994  at  the  duty  levels  previously  applied.  The 
intention  is,  pending  the  conclusion  of  the  ongoing  negotiations  between  the 
Community  and  third  countries  under  Article  XXIV:6 of  the General  Agreement  on 
Tariffs  and Trade  1994 (GATT  1994), to diminish  the  most  serious  adverse  impacts 
on trade which would otherwise become a matter of dispute in WTO. 

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

6.  Change in level of revenue: It is estimated that the loss will be around  160 MECUs 
covering  the  last  six  months  of  1995  (the  Regulation  will  only  be  in  force  until  31 
December).  This  figure  is calculated  by taking the sum of the CET duty  collections 
normally  paid on the quota values/amounts  specified  in the annex  to the  Regulation, 
and deducting from  this figure the sums that will actually be collected, as specified  in 
the same annexes. 

PM. Sections 2 and 3 do not seem applicable. 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(95) 267 final 

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