2001/129/EC: Decision No 5/2000 of the EU-Slovenia Association Council of 22 December 2000 amending Protocol 4 to the Europe Agreement with Slovenia concerning the definition of the concept of "originating products" and methods of administrative cooperation
Date: 2000-12-22
Institutions: EC–Slovenia Association Council
Subjects: Slovenia, administrative cooperation, agreement (EU), association agreement, originating product

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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DECISION No 5/2000 OF THE EU-SLOVENIA ASSOCIATION COUNCIL

of 22 December 2000

amending Protocol 4 to the Europe Agreement with Slovenia concerning the definition of the
concept of ‘originating products’ and methods of administrative cooperation

(2001/129/EC)

THE ASSOCIATION COUNCIL,

Having regard to the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities
and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Slovenia, of the other part (1), signed in
Luxembourg on 10 June 1996, and in particular Article 38 of Protocol 4 thereto,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Some technical amendments are in order to correct anomalies between the different language
versions of the text.

The list of insufficient working and processing needs to be amended to ensure proper interpretation
and to take account of the need to include some operations not covered previously by this list.

The provisions for the temporary use of flat rates in cases where drawback is prohibited or
exemptions from customs duties are granted need to be prolonged until 31 December 2001.

The need has arisen to provide for a system of accounting segregation of originating and non-
originating materials, subject to authorisation by customs authorities.

The provisions concerning the amounts expressed in euro need to be revised in order to clarify the
procedure and to provide greater stability for the level of the amounts in national currencies.

To take account of the lack of production of a certain material within the countries concerned, a
correction should be made to the list of working and processing requirements which non-originating
materials have to fulfil to qualify for originating status,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Protocol 4 concerning the definition of originating products and methods of administrative cooperation is
hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 1(i) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(i) “added value” shall be taken to be the ex-works price minus the customs value of each of the
materials incorporated which originate in the other countries referred to in Articles 3 and 4 or,
where the customs value is not known or cannot be ascertained, the first verifiable price paid for the
materials in the Community or Slovenia;’

(1) OJ L 51, 26.2.1999, p. 3.

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2. Article 7 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 7

Insufficient working or processing

1. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, the following operations shall be considered as insufficient
working or processing to confer the status of originating products, whether or not the requirements of
Article 6 are satisfied:

(a) preserving operations to ensure that the products remain in good condition during transport and

storage;

(b) breaking-up and assembly of packages;

(c) washing, cleaning; removal of dust, oxide, oil, paint or other coverings;

(d) ironing or pressing of textiles;

(e) simple painting and polishing operations;

(f) husking, partial or total bleaching, polishing, and glazing of cereals and rice;

(g) operations to colour sugar or form sugar lumps;

(h) peeling, stoning and shelling, of fruits, nuts and vegetables;

(i) sharpening, simple grinding or simple cutting;

(j) sifting, screening, sorting, classifying, grading, matching (including the making-up of sets of

articles);

(k) simple placing in bottles, cans, flasks, bags, cases, boxes, fixing on cards or boards and all other

simple packaging operations;

(l) affixing or printing marks, labels, logos and other like distinguishing signs on products or their

packaging;

(m) simple mixing of products, whether or not of different kinds;

(n) simple assembly of parts of articles to constitute a complete article or disassembly of products into

parts;

(o) a combination of two or more operations specified in subparagraphs (a) to (n);

(p) slaughter of animals.

2.
All operations carried out either in the Community or in Slovenia on a given product shall be
considered together when determining whether the working or processing undergone by that product is
to be regarded as insufficient within the meaning of paragraph 1.’

3. The last sentence of Article 15(6), shall be replaced by the following:

‘The provisions of this paragraph shall apply until 31 December 2001.’

4. The following Article shall be inserted:

‘Article 20a

Accounting segregation

1. Where considerable cost or material difficulties arise in keeping separate stocks of originating and
non-originating materials which are identical and interchangeable, the customs authorities may, at the
written request of those concerned, authorise the “accounting segregation” method to be used for
managing such stocks.

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This method must be able to ensure that, for a specific reference-period, the number of products
2.
obtained which could be considered as “originating” is the same as that which would have been obtained
if there had been physical segregation of the stocks.

The customs authorities may grant such authorisation, subject to any conditions deemed appro-

3.
priate.

This method is recorded and applied on the basis of the general accounting principles applicable in

4.
the country where the product was manufactured.

5.
The beneficiary of this facilitation may issue or apply for proofs of origin, as the case may be, for
the quantity of products which may be considered as originating. At the request of the customs
authorities, the beneficiary shall provide a statement of how the quantities have been managed.

6.
The customs authorities shall monitor the use made of the authorisation and may withdraw it at
any time whenever the beneficiary makes improper use of the authorisation in any manner whatsoever
or fails to fulfil any of the other conditions laid down in this Protocol.’

5. In the first sentence of Article 22(1), the following shall be inserted after the term ‘exporter’:

‘hereinafter referred to as “approved exporter”,’

6. Article 30 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 30

Amounts expressed in euro

1.
For the application of the provisions of Article 21(1)(b) and Article 26(3) in cases where products
are invoiced in a currency other than euro, amounts in the national currencies of the countries referred
to in Articles 3 and 4, equivalent to the amounts expressed in euro, shall be fixed annually by each of
the countries concerned.

2.
A consignment shall benefit from the provisions of Article 21(1)(b) or Article 26(3) by reference to
the currency in which the invoice is drawn up, according to the amount fixed by the country concerned.

3.
The amounts to be used in any given national currency shall be the equivalent in that currency of
the amounts expressed in euro as at the first working day of October. The amounts shall be communi-
cated to the European Commission by 15 October and shall apply from 1 January the following year.
The European Commission shall notify all countries concerned of the relevant amounts.

4.
A country may round up or down the amount resulting from the conversion into its national
currency of an amount expressed in euro. The rounded-off amount may not differ from the amount
resulting from the conversion by more than 5 %. A country may retain unchanged its national currency
equivalent of an amount expressed in euro if, at the time of the annual adjustment provided for in
paragraph 3, the conversion of that amount, prior to any rounding-off, results in an increase of less that
15 % in the national currency equivalent. The national currency equivalent may be retained unchanged if
the conversion were to result in a decrease in that equivalent value.

5.
The amounts expressed in euro shall be reviewed by the Association Committee at the request of
the Community or Slovenia. When carrying out this review, the Association Committee shall consider
the desirability of preserving the effects of the limits concerned in real terms. For this purpose, it may
decide to modify the amounts expressed in euro.’

7. Annex II shall be amended as follows:

The entry for HS heading 5309 to 5311 shall be replaced by:

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‘5309 to 5311

Woven fabrics of other vegetable
textile fibres; woven fabrics of
paper yarn:

— Incorporating rubber thread

Manufacture from single yarn (1)

— Other

Manufacture from (1):
— coir yarn,
— jute yarn,
— natural fibres,
— man-made staple fibres not
carded or combed or other-
wise prepared for spinning,
— chemical materials or textile

pulp, or

— paper

or

raising,
resistance

Printing accompanied by at least
finishing
two preparatory or
scouring,
operations
(such as
heat
bleaching, mercerising,
calendering,
setting,
processing,
shrink
finishing, decatising,
permanent
impregnating, mending
and
burling) where the value of the
unprinted fabric does not exceed
47,5 % of the exworks price of
the product

(1) For special conditions relating to products made of a mixture of textile materials, see Introductory Note 5.’

This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption.

It is applicable from 1 January 2001.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 22 December 2000.

For the Association Council

The President

D. RUPEL