Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998)
Date: 1997-11-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: CCT duties, fishery product, free-at-frontier price, import policy, suspension of customs duties

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 20.11.1997 
COM(97) 608 final 

Proposal  for  a 

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) 

temporarily  suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs  Tariff 
duties on certain fishery products (1998) 

(presented  by the Commission) 

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1.  During  the  third  quarter  of this  year,  the  Commission,  assisted  by  the  Economic  Tariff 
Problems  Group, has reviewed  all  the requests  for  temporary  suspension  of  autonomous 
Common  Customs Tariff  duties presented to it by the Member  States, including  requests 
for extending suspensions at present in force. 

2.  The attached proposal concerns a number of fishery products. 

For  industrial  and  agricultural  products,  the  proposal  for  a  Regulation  temporarily 
suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties is also being prepared. 

3.  The requests  for  suspension  relating to the above products were examined  in the  light of 
the  criteria  set  out  in  the  communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  the 
Member States concerning autonomous tariff suspensions (see OJ C 235, 13.9.1989, p. 2). 

Following this review, the Commission considers that the suspension of duties is justified 
for the products listed in the Annex to the attached proposal for a Regulation. 

4.  As  can  be  seen  from  Article  1 of  the  above-mentioned  proposal  for  a  Regulation,  the 

period of validity of the proposed measure is 12 months. 

d. 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 

/97 

of 

1997 

temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff 
duties on certain fishery products (1998) 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 28 
thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Whereas  the  Community  relies  at  present  on  imports  from  third  countries  for  supplies  of 
certain fishery  products; whereas it is in the interest of the Community to suspend partially or 
totally  the  customs  duties  for  these  products;  whereas,  in  order  to  avoid  endangering  the 
prospects  for  developing  the  production  of  competitive  products  in  the  Community  while 
ensuring  that the industries  concerned  receive  the necessary  supplies, it is advisable  to adopt 
these suspension measures only from  1  January to 31 December 1998, 

Whereas it is for the Community to decide to suspend these autonomous duties, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 

1. From  1  January  to  31 December  1998 the  autonomous  Common  Customs Tariff  duties  on 
the products listed in the Annex are hereby suspended at the level indicated for each product. 

2.  Imports  of these products  shall  qualify  for  the  suspension  referred  to  in paragraph  1 only 
provided  that  the free-at-frontier price  laid  down  by the  Member  States,  in  accordance  with 
Article 22  of  Council Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92  of  17 December  1992  on  the  common 
organisation of the market in fishery  and aquaculture products, 1  is not lower than the reference 
price  fixed  or  to  be  fixed  by  the  Community  for  the  products  or  categories  of  products  in 
question. 

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1  January  1998. 

Article 2 

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

Done at 

, 

1997 

For the Council 
The President 

OJ  No  L  388,  31.12.1992,  p.  1,  as  last  amended  by  Regulation (EEC) No  1891/93  of  12.7.1993 
(OJNoL  172, 15.7.1993, p. 1). 

ANNEX 

CN  code  & TARIC 

Description 

Rate of 
autonomous 
duty (%) 

0001 

0302 65 20 
0303 75 20 
ex0304 10 98 60 
ex0304  90 97 31 

0002 

ex0302 69 99 30 
ex0303 79 96 30 

Dogfish of the species  Squalus 

acanthias, 

fresh, chilled or frozen 

Sturgeons, fresh, chilled or frozen, for processing 

(a) (b) 

0003 

ex0302 69 99 40 

Lump fish  {Cyclopterus 
processing  (a) 

lumpus)  with  roe, fresh or chilled, for 

0004 

ex0302 69 99 50 
ex0303 79 96 40 

Red Snapper  {Lutjanus 
processing 

(a) (c) 

purpureus), 

fresh, chilled or frozen, for 

0005 

ex0302 70 00 11 
ex0302 70 00 31 
ex0302 70 00 41 
ex0302 70 00 91 
ex0303 80 90 10 
ex0303 80 90 19 

Hard  fish roes, fresh, chilled or frozen 

0006 

ex0303 10 00 10 

Pacific salmon  {Oncorhynchus 
frozen and headiest, for the 
spp.), 
processing  industry for manufacture  into pastes or spreads  (a) 

0008 

ex0304 20 85 10 
ex0304  90 61 10 

Fillets and meat of Alaska pollack  [Theragra 
form of industrial blocks, frozen, for processing 

chalcogramma),  in the 
(a) (b) 

8.5 

0009 

ex0305 20 00 11 
ex0305 20 00 19 

Hard  fish roes, salted or in brine 

0010 

ex0306 19 90 10 
(;x0306 2 9 90 10 

Krill  for processing  (a) 

0022 

exl604  11 00 20 
exl604 20 10 20 

Pacific salmon  (Oncorhynchus 
manufacture  into pastes or spreads  (a) 

spp.), 

for the processing  industry for 

0023 

exl604  30 90 10 

Hard  fish roes, washed, cleaned of adherent organs and simply salted 
or in brine, for processing  (a) 

0024 

exl605 10 00 11 
exl605 10 00 19 

Crabs of the species  'King'  (Paralithodes 
brevipes), 
{Paralithodes 
'Snow'  (Chionoecetes 
stone'  (Neolithodes 
serrata), 
shelled, whether or not frozen, in immediate packings of a net 
content of 2 kg or more 

spp.),  'Red'  (Geryon  quinquedens),  'Rough 
Lithodes  antarctica, 
simply boiled  in water and 

camchaticus), 
isenbecki) 

'Kegani'  (Erimacrus 

'Blue'  [Portunus 

asperrimus), 

'Mud' 

spp.), 

'Hanasaki' 
,  "Queen' and 

(Scylla 

0025 

exl605  10 00 92 
exl605  10 00 94 

Crabs of the species  Paralomis 

granulosa 

<f 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

Control  of  the use  for  this  special  purpose  shall be  carried  out 
pursuant  to  the  relevant  Community  provisions. 
The  suspension  shall  apply  to  fish  intended  to  undergo  any  operation 
unless  they  are  intended  to  undergo  exclusively  one  or more  of  the 
following  operations: 
-  cleaning,  gutting,  tailing,  heading, 
-  cutting  (excluding  filleting  or  cutting  of  frozen  blocks), 
-  sampling,  sorting, 
-  labelling, 
-  packing, 
-  chilling, 
-  freezing, 
-  deep  freezing, 
-  thawing,  separation. 
The  suspension  is not  allowed  for products  intended,  in  addition,  to 
undergo  treatment  (or operations)  qualifying  for  suspension  where  such 
treatment  (or operations)  is  (are)  carried  out  at  retail  or  catering 
level.  The  suspension  of  customs  duties  shall  apply  only  to  fish 
intended  for human  consumption. 
However,  the  suspension  is not  allowed  where processing  is  carried  out 
by  retail  or  catering  undertakings. 

r 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT 

1.  Budget heading involved: Chapter 12 Article 120 

2.  Title of operation: Proposal  for a Council Regulation temporarily  suspending  all or some 
of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998). 

3.  Legal basis: Article 28 of the EC Treaty. 

4.  Objective: Suspension of the CCT duties for the above products. 

5.  Measures  aimed  at  prevention  and  protection:  Checks  on  the  end-use  of  some  of  the 
products  covered  by  this  Council  Regulation  will  be  carried  out  in  accordance  with 
Articles 291 to 304 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions 
for the implementation of the Community Customs Code. 

6.  Cost: 

By  contrast  with  the  previous  year  (for  which  the  cost  of  the  entire  operation  was 
estimated at ECU 38 565 000 ), it is now proposed that: 

-  one  product  be  removed  from  the  list  of  suspensions,  i.e.  "fillets  and  meat  of  hake" 
(CN headings 0304 20 55  10, 0304 20 58  10 and 0304 90 47 30) because the normal rate 
of duty will be some 9% from  1  January  1998 whereas, so far, the suspended rate has been 
10%; and 

- a suspension on "Paralomis granulosa crabs" be added. 

The result of the current estimate of revenue foregone, which takes into account the most 
recent known EUROSTAT statistics (1995), is a gain of ECU  1 100 000 in respect of the 
product  deleted from  the list,  and  a loss of ECU 33 000 in respect  of the added  product, 
i.e. an overall decrease of ECU 1  067 000 in the amount of duty not collected. 

Estimated cost of this operation (1 January  1998-31 December 1998) 

The  amount  of  duty  foregone  as  a  result  of  the  proposed  measure  may  therefore  be 
estimated  at ECU 37 498 000, which is down ECU  1 067 000 from  the recorded ECU 38 
565  000  foregone  in  respect  of  the  previous  measure  (1  January  1997  to 31 December 
1997). 

& 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(97) 608 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

03  02 

Catalogue number  :  CB-C0-97-626-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-27682-0 

Office  for Official  Publications of the European Communities 

L-2985 Luxembourg 

1-