2001/237/EC: Decision No 2/2001 of the EU-Slovakia Association Council of 22 February 2001 amending Protocol 4 to the Europe Agreement with Slovakia concerning the definition of the concept of "originating products" and methods of administrative cooperation
Date: 2001-02-22
Institutions: EC–Slovakia Association Council
Subjects: Slovakia, administrative cooperation, originating product

24.3.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

L 85/27

DECISION No 2/2001 OF THE EU-SLOVAKIA ASSOCIATION COUNCIL

of 22 February 2001

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

(2001/237/EC)

THE ASSOCIATION COUNCIL,

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

Having regard to the Europe Agreement establishing an asso-
ciation between the European Communities and their Member
States, of the one part, and the Slovak Republic, of the other
part (1), signed in Luxembourg on 4 October 1993, and in
particular Article 38 of Protocol 4 thereto,

Whereas:

‘(i) “added value” shall be taken to be the ex-works price
minus the customs value of each of the materials incor-
porated 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 the Slovak
Republic;’

(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-origin-
ating 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) OJ L 359, 31.12.1994, p. 2.

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 veget-

ables;

(i) sharpening, simple grinding or simple cutting;

(j) sifting,

grading,
sorting,
matching; (including the making-up of sets of articles);

classifying,

screening,

(k) simple placing in bottles, cans,

flasks, bags, cases,
boxes, fixing on cards or boards and all other simple
packaging operations;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

24.3.2001

(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;

The customs authorities shall monitor the use made of
6.
the authorisation and may withdraw it at any time when-
ever the beneficiary makes improper use of the author-
isation 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’:

(o) a combination of two or more operations specified in

subparagraphs (a) to (n);

‘hereinafter referred to as “approved exporter”,’;

(p) slaughter of animals.

6. Article 30 shall be replaced by the following:

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

‘Article 30

Amounts expressed in euro

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

following:

‘The provisions of
December 2001.’;

this paragraph shall apply until 31

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 so-called “accounting segregation”
method to be used for managing such stocks.

This method must be able to ensure that, for a specific
2.
reference period, the number of products 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,

3.
subject to any conditions deemed appropriate.

This method is recorded and applied on the basis of
4.
the general accounting principles applicable in the country
where the product was manufactured.

The beneficiary of this facilitation may issue or apply
5.
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 beneficiary shall
provide a statement of how the quantities have been
managed.

the customs authorities,

For

the application of

the provisions of Article
1.
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.

The amounts

to be used in any given national
3.
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 communicated to the Euro-
pean 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 per cent. 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 per cent
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 the Slovak Republic. 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.’;

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7. Annex II shall be amended as follows:

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

‘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
bleaching, mercerising,
heat
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 ex-works 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 February 2001.

For the Association Council

The President

A. LINDH