Proposal for a Council Regulation temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous common customs tariff duties on certain fishery products (2000)
Date: 1999-11-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: CCT duties, fishery product, import

EN

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 22.11.1999
COM(1999) 610 final

Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous common customs tariff duties on
certain fishery products (2000)

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

During the third quarter of this year, the Commission, assisted by the Economic Tariff
Questions 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.

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.

Requests for suspension relating to the above products were examined in the light of the
criteria set out in the communication from the Commission concerning autonomous tariff
suspensions and quotas (see OJ C 128, 25.4.1998, 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.

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.

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Proposal for a

COUNCIL REGULATION

temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous common customs tariff duties on
certain fishery products (2000)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

The Community relies at present on imports from third countries for supplies of
certain fishery products; it is in the interest of the Community to suspend partially or
totally the customs duties for these products; in order to avoid endangering the
prospects for developing the production of competitive products in the Community
is
while ensuring that the industries concerned receive the necessary supplies,
advisable
to
from 1 January
31 December 2000.

suspension measures

adopt

these

only

to

it

(2)

It is for the Community to decide to suspend these autonomous duties.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article1

1.
From 1 January to 31 December 2000 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 products1, is not lower than the
reference price fixed or to be fixed by the Community for the products or categories of
products in question.

1

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

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Article 2

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

It shall apply with effect from 1 January 2000.

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

Done at Brussels,

For the Council
The President

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ANNEX

CN code & TARIC

Description

Rate of
autonomous
duty (%)

0001

0002

0003

0004

0005

0006

0007

0008

0009

0022

0023

0024

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

ex0302 69 99 30
ex0303 79 99 10

ex0302 69 99 40

ex0302 69 99 50
ex0303 79 99 20

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

ex0303 10 00 10

ex0304 20 85 10
ex0304 90 61 10

ex0305 20 00 11
ex0305 20 00 18
ex0305 20 00 20

ex0306 19 90 10
ex0306 29 90 10

ex1604 11 00 20
ex1604 20 10 20

ex1604 30 90 10

ex1605 10 00 11
ex1605 10 00 19

Dogfish of the species Squalus acanthias, fresh, chilled or frozen

Sturgeons, fresh, chilled or frozen, for processing (a) (b)

Lump fish (Cyclopterus lumpus) with roe, fresh or chilled, for processing
(a)

Red snapper (Lutjanus purpureus), fresh, chilled or frozen, for processing
(a) (c)

Hard fish roes, fresh, chilled or frozen

Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus
processing industry for manufacture into pastes or spreads (a)

frozen and headless,

spp.),

for

the

6

0

0

0

0

0

Fillets and meat of Alaska pollack (Theragra chalcogramma), in the form
of industrial blocks, frozen, for processing (a) (b)

3.5

Hard fish roes, salted or in brine

Krill for processing (a)

Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), for
manufacture into pastes or spreads (a)

the processing industry for

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

Crabs of the species “King” (Paralithodes camchaticus), “Hanasaki”
(Paralithodes brevipes), “Kegani” (Erimacrus isenbecki), “Queen” and
“Snow” (Chionoecetes spp.), “Red” (Geryon quinquedens), “Rough stone”
(Neolithodes asperrimus), Lithodes antarctica, “Mud” (Scylla serrata),
“Blue” (Portunus spp.), simply boiled in water and shelled, whether or not
frozen, in immediate packings of a net content of 2 kg or more

0

0

0

0

0

0

0025

ex1605 10 00 92
ex1605 10 00 94

Crabs of the species Paralomis granulosa

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(a)

(b)

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.

(c)

However, the suspension is not allowed where processing is carried out by retail or
catering undertakings.

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FINANCIAL STATEMENT

1.

TITLE OF OPERATION

Proposal for a Council Regulation temporarily suspending some or all of the
autonomous common customs tariff duties on certain fishery products (2000).

2.

BUDGET HEADING(S) INVOLVED

Chapter 12 Article 120.

3.

LEGAL BASIS

Article 26 of the EC Treaty.

4.

DESCRIPTION OF OPERATION

Suspension of the common customs tariff duties for the above products.

7.

FINANCIAL IMPACT

In comparison with the previous year (for which the cost of the entire operation was
estimated at 42 426 000 EUR), it is proposed to reduce autonomous duties on “fillets
and meat of Alaska pollack (Theragra chalcogramma), in the form of industrial
blocks, frozen, for processing (a) (b)” (Taric codes ex 0304 20 85 10 and ex 0304 90
61 10) from 4 % to 3,5 % for the period 1.1 to 31.12.2000.

The current estimate, which takes into account the most recent known EUROSTAT
statistics (1998), induce an increase of uncollected customs duties of 1 074 000 EUR.

The uncollected customs duties generated by the proposed action may therefore be
estimated at 42 426 000 + 1 074 000 = 43 500 000 EUR for the period 1.1 to
31.12.2000.

8.

FRAUD PREVENTION MEASURES

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.

7