Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1981/94 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain products originating in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Tunisia and Turkey, and providing detailed rules for extending and adapting these tariff quotas
Date: 1996-07-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Mediterranean third countries, Morocco, customs duties, fruit vegetable, tariff quota

COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

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Brussels, 23.07.1996 
COM(96)  380  final 

96/0191  (ACC) 

Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 

amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1981/94 opening and providing for the 
administration of Community tariff quotas for certain products originating in 
Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, the West Bank and the 
Gaza Strip, Tunisia and Turkey, and providing detailed rules for extending and 
adapting these tariff quotas 

(presented by the Commission) 

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Council Regulation  (EC) No  1981/94 of 25 July  1994, opening and  providing  for  the 
administration  of  Community  tariff  quotas  for  certain  products  originating  in  the 
Mediterranean  countries,  as  last  amended  by  Commission  Regulation  (EC)  No 
1099/96  of  19  June  1996,  established  in  its  Annex  IV  the  tariff  quotas  granted  to 
certain products originating in Morocco under the cooperation agreement between that 
country and the Community. 

As a result of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, the reference price 
arrangements  stipulating  payment  of a countervailing  charge  on the  import  of  certain 
fruit  and vegetables has been replaced by a system of specific customs duties linked to 
the entry price. 

Negotiations  have  been  held  with  Morocco  with  a  view  to  sign  an  association 
agreement  containing,  inter alia, provisions  relating to  the  adjustment  of the  existing 
concessions.  This  agreement  includes  arrangements  on  the  quantities  of  tomatoes, 
courgettes,  artichokes,  cucumbers, clémentines and oranges eligible for  a reduction in 
the entry price and on an adjustment  to the tariff quotas for  flowers.  It  was agreed in 
the Council to implement these concessions at the earliest possible opportunity without 
waiting for  the conclusion  of the  agreement  by the  Community  and  its ratification  by 
the Member States. 

Council  Regulation  (EC)  No  3057/95  of  22  December  1995  amending  Regulation 
(EC) N°  1981/94 brought  these  concessions into  application from  1 November  1995. 
A quantity of 5 000 tonnes of tomatoes, equivalent to the quota for October, could not 
be taken into account when this regulation was adopted because the date of approval 
of the measure was out of step with the period during which these imports are made. 

It  is therefore  necessary  to  complete the Council's political undertaking,  by  amending 
Regulation (EC) N° 1981/94. 

For  the  sake  of  efficiency  and the timely  publication  of  regulations  implementing  the 
tariff  quotas  provided  in the  new Euro-Mediterranean  Agreements,  it  is proposed  to 
authorize  the  Commission  to  make,  on the  advice  of the  Customs  Code  Committee, 
any adaptation  of Regulation (EC) N°  1981/94 made necessary by the entry into  force 
of the new agreements. 

This is the purpose of the present proposal for a regulation. 

1 

Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (ECi 

amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1981/94 opening and providing for the 
administration of Community tariff quotas for certain products originating in Algeria, 
Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 
Tunisia and Turkey, and providing detailed rules for extending and adapting these tariff 
quotas 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Whereas  Council  Regulation  (EC) No  1981/94  of  25  July  94  opening  and  providing  for  the 
administration of Community tariff  quotas for  certain products originating  in Algeria, Cyprus, 
Egypt,  Israel,  Jordan,  Malta,  Morocco,  the  West  Bank  and  the  Gaza  Strip,  Tunisia  and 
Turkey,  and  providing  detailed  rules  for  extending  and  adapting  these tariff  quotas, '  as  last 
amended  by  Commission  Regulation  (EC) No  1099/96,2  opens  in  its  Annex  IV  Community 
tariff  quotas for certain products originating in Morocco as provided for under the cooperation 
agreements between the Community and that country; 

Whereas,  as  a  result  of  the  Uruguay  Round  of  multilateral  trade  negotiations,  the  reference 
price arrangements stipulating payment of a countervailing charge on the import of certain fruit 
and vegetables  have been  replaced by a  system of  specific  customs  duties  linked  to the entry 
price; 

Whereas,  the  negotiations  held  with  Morocco  resulted  in  the  conclusion  of  an  association 
agreement  containing,  inter  alia,  provisions  relating  to  the  adjustment  of  the  existing 
concessions; whereas this  agreement  contains  specific  provisions  relating  to the  quantities  of 
tomatoes, courgettes,  artichokes, cucumbers, clémentines and  oranges  eligible  for  a  reduction 
in the entry price and relating to an adjustment  to the tariff  quotas for  flowers;  whereas  it has 
been  decided  in  the  Council  to  implement  these  concessions  as  early  as  possible,  without 
waiting  for  the  conclusion  of  the  agreement  by  the  Community  and  its  ratification  by  the 
Member States; 

Whereas  Council  Regulation  (EC) N°  3057/95  of  22  December  19953 amending  Regulation 
(EC) N°  1981/94, brought these concession into application; whereas when that regulation was 
being  adopted  it  was  impossible to take  account  of  a  quantity  of  5  000 tonnes  of tomatoes, 
which is equivalent to the quota for October, because the date of approval of the measure was 
out of step with the period when these imports are made; whereas Regulation (EC) N°  1981/94 
should therefore be amended so as to abide by Council's political undertaking; 

1  OJ No L 199, 02.08.1994, p. 1. 
2  OJ No L 146, 20.06.1996, p. 8. 
3  OJ No L 326, 30.12.1995, p. 3. 

3 

Whereas  for the sake of efficiency  and the timely publication of regulations  implementing the 
tariff  quotas  provided  in the new  Euro-Mediterranean  agreements,  it  should be  provided  that 
the Commission can make, on the advice of the Customs  Code Committee, any adaptation  of 
regulation  (EC) N°  1981/94 made necessary  by the entry  into force  of these new  agreements 
between the Community and the countries in question, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article  1 

Regulation (EC) N°  1981/94 shall be amended as follows: 

1.  The text of Article 6 (1) (c) is replaced by the following text: 

"the  necessary  adaptations  arising  from  the  conclusion  of  agreements,  protocols  or 
exchanges  of  letters  between  the  Community  and  the  countries  referred  to  in  this 
regulation; and 

2.  The fourth indent of Article 6 (2) is deleted. 

3.  In Annexe IV on the Community tariff  quotas for  certain products  originating in Morocco, 

order N° 09.1189 is inserted as follows: 

CN code 

Order 
No 

Taric 
sub 
division 

Description 

09.1189 

0702 00 40 

Tomatoes, fresh or chilled: 
- From 1  to 31 October 

Rate 
of duty 
(%) 

Quota 
volume per 
year or 
indicated 
period 
(in tonnes) 
5 000 

(5X6) 

a 

At the end of the  table relating to  Morocco,  the first indent  of footnote  (5)  shall be 
replaced by the following: 

"—  ECU 492/tonne for tomatoes, from 1  October to 31 December 1996 and 
ECU484/tonneinl997". 

Article 2 

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

It shall apply from 1  October 1996. 

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

Done at 

For the Council 
The President 

FINANCIAL  STATEMENT 

1. 

Budget  headine  involved 

Chapter  12, Article  120 

2. 

3. 

Legal  basis  Article  113 of the  Treaty 

Title of  operation 

Proposal  for  a  Council  Regulation  amending  Regulation  (EC)  No  1981/94 
opening  and  providing  for  the  administration  of  Community  tariff  quotas  for 
certain  products  originating  in  Algeria,  Cyprus,  Egypt,  Israel,  Jordan,  Malta, 
Morocco,  West  Bank  and  the  Gaza  Strip,  Tunisia  and  Turkey,  and  providing 
detailed  rules for  extending  and adapting these tariff  quotas 

4 

Objective 

Advanced  implementation  as  authorized  by  the  General  Affairs  Council  of  10 
November  1995,  of  certain  provisions  of  the  agricultural  part  of  the  future  Euro-
Mediterranean  between  the  Community  and  Morocco,  with  a  view  to  allowing 
Morocco to maintain its traditional exports of tomatoes during October. 

5. 

Financial details 

The purpose  of this  measure  is to  maintain,  for  tomatoes  imported  from  Morocco  to 
the European Union in October, the arrangements applicable to imports of this product 
before  the  results  of the  Uruguay  Round  of  multilateral  made negotiations  entrained 
into fore. 

CN code : 

0702 00 40 

Quota duty rate : 

CN duty : 

to  CN  duty,  but 
identical 
taking 
a 
account 
conventional entry price above 
which  the  additional  specific 
duty is reduced to zero 

of 

16,8% plus additional  specific 
duty linked to the entry price 

The  application  of  this  regulation  entails  no  additional  loss  of  revenue  in 
comparison  with the agreement  with Morocco. 

6.  Anti-fraud measures 

Provisions on the management of tariff quotas provide the necessary measures to prevent 
and protect against frauds and irregularities. 

& 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(96) 380  final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

02  11  03 

Catalogue number  : CB-CO-96-380-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-07347-4 

Office for Official  Publications of the European Communities 

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