Commission Regulation (EC) No 2629/1999 of 13 December 1999 establishing rules for the management and distribution of textile quotas established for the year 2000 under Council Regulation (EC) No 517/94
Date: 1999-12-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: import policy, management, market-sharing agreement, quantitative restriction, textile product, third country

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14. 12. 1999

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2629/1999

of 13 December 1999

establishing rules for the management and distribution of textile quotas established for the year
2000 under Council Regulation (EC) No 517/94

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

quantities which can be allocated to each operator by
that method;

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 517/94 of 7
March 1994 on common rules for imports of textile products
from certain third countries not covered by bilateral agree-
ments, protocols or other arrangements, or by other specific
Community import rules (1), as last amended by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 2542/1999 (2), and in particular Articles
17(3), 17(6) and 21(2) and 3 thereof,
in conjunction with
Article 25(3) thereof,

(1) Whereas the Council, through Regulation (EC) No 517/
94, established quantitative restrictions on imports of
certain textile products originating in certain third coun-
tries and envisaged, in Article 17(2), that these quotas
would be allocated in chronological order of receipt of
notifications from the Member States according to the
principle of first come, first served;

(2) Whereas Article 17(3) of Regulation (EC) No 517/94
stipulates that it is possible, in certain circumstances, to
make use of allocation methods which differ from the
method based exclusively on the chronological order of
receipt of notifications from Member States, as well as to
envisage the division of the quotas into tranches or to
set aside part of a specific quantitative limit exclusively
for applications which are backed up by proof of the
results of previous imports;

(3) Whereas it is advisable, in order not to affect unduly the
continuity of trade flows, to adopt rules for management
the quotas established for 2000
and distribution of
under Regulation (EC) No 517/94 before the quota year
begins;

(4) Whereas the measures contained in Commission Regula-
tion (EC) No 2650/98 (3) establishing rules for the
management and distribution of textiles quotas estab-
lished for the year 1999 pursuant to Regulation (EC) No
517/94 proved to be satisfactory;

(5) Whereas in order to satisfy the greatest possible number
of operators it therefore seems appropriate to make the
‘first come, first served’ allocation method based on the
chronological order of receipt of the notifications from
Member States more flexible by placing a ceiling on the

(6) Whereas efforts should nevertheless be made to guar-
antee a degree of continuity in trade; whereas this
consideration and the desirability of efficient quota
administration make it appropriate for operators to be
allowed to make their
import authorisation
application for 2000 equivalent to the quantity (for each
textile category and each third country) which they
imported in 1999;

initial

(7) Whereas for optimum use of the quantities it is appro-
priate to envisage that each operator, after 50 % utilisa-
tion of a licence, can introduce a new request for a
licence, not
a predetermined quantity,
provided quantities are available in the quotas;

exceeding

(8) Whereas it is appropriate for the sake of sound adminis-
tration to make import authorisations valid for nine
months from the date of issue and to stipulate that the
Member States can issue licences only after being noti-
fied of the Commission's decision and only if an oper-
ator can prove the existence of a contract and certify
(except where specifically provided otherwise) that he
has not already been allocated a Community import
authorisation under this Regulation for the categories
and countries
competent
concerned; whereas
national authorities are however authorised, in response
to importers' applications, to extend by three months
and up to 31 March 2001 licences of which at least
50 % has been used by the application date;

the

(9) Whereas in order to obviate any potential problems
caused by the possible impact of a millenium bug on
computer systems the import authorisations shall start
to be allocated in December 1999;

(10) Whereas the measures contained in this Regulation are
in accordance with the opinion expressed by the
Committee established by Regulation (EC) No 517/94,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

(1) OJ L 67, 10.3.1994, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 307, 2.12.1999, p. 14.
(3) OJ L 335, 10.12.1998, p. 43.

This Regulation specifies certain rules concerning the manage-
ment of quantitative quotas established by Regulation (EC) No
517/94 and applicable for 2000.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Article 2

Article 4

The quotas referred to in Article 1 and shown in Annexes IIIB
and IV to Regulation (EC) No 517/94 shall be allocated on a
‘first come, first served’ basis according to the chronological
order of receipt by the Commission of Member States' notifica-
tions of applications from individual operators, for amounts
not exceeding the maximum quantities per operator stipulated
in the Annex hereto.

These maximum quantities shall not, however, apply to opera-
tors able to prove to the competent national authorities when
making their first application for 2000 that they imported, for
given categories, given third countries and under
import
licences granted to them for 1999, more than the maximum
In the case of such
quantities specified for each category.
operators, the competent authorities may authorise imports of
no more than the quantities imported in 1999 for given third
countries and given categories, provided that enough quota is
available.

Article 3

Any importer who has used 50 % or more of the amount
allocated to him through a licence under this Regulation may
make a further application for a licence, for the same category
and country of origin,
for amounts not exceeding the
maximum quantities laid down in the Annex hereto, provided
that enough of the quota is available.

The requests for import authorisations can be submitted to the
Commission as of 20 December 1999 at 10 a.m., Brussels
time. Import authorisations shall be valid for nine months from
the date of issue, but not earlier than 1 January 2000, and in
no case later than 31 December 2000. On licences issued
before 1 January 2000,
the
the competent authorities of
Member States will
indicate in box 13 (further particulars):
‘This license is valid from 1 January 2000.’

At the importer's request, the competent national authorities
may, however, grant a three-month extension for licences
which are at least 50 % used up at the time of the request. The
extension must in no case last beyond 31 March 2001.

The competent authorities of the Member States shall
issue
authorisations only after being notified of the Commission's
decision and only if an operator can prove the existence of a
contract and, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 3,
certify in writing that he has not already been allocated a
Community import authorisation under this Regulation for the
categories and countries concerned.

Article 5

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 2000.

Article 4 shall apply as from 20 December 1999.

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

Done at Brussels, 13 December 1999.

For the Commission

Pascal LAMY

Member of the Commission

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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ANNEX

Maximum amounts referred to in Article 2

Country concerned

Category

Unit

Maximum amount

North Korea

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

24

26

27

28

29

31

36

37

39

59

61

68

69

70

73

74

75

76

77

78

83

87

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

kilograms

pairs

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

kilograms

pieces

kilograms

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

2 500

2 500

5 000

5 000

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Country concerned

Category

Unit

Maximum amount

Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Croatia

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

109

117

118

142

151A

151B

161

1

2

2a

3

5

6

7

8

9

15

16

67

1

2

2a

3

5

6

7

8

9

15

16

67

1

2

2a

3

5

6

7

8

9

15

16

67

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

kilograms

pieces

pieces

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

kilograms

pieces

pieces

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

kilograms

pieces

pieces

pieces

pieces

kilograms

pieces

pieces

kilograms

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

20 000

20 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

20 000

20 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

20 000

20 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000

5 000