Council Regulation (EC) No 416/2001 of 28 February 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 2820/98 applying a multiannual scheme of generalised tariff preferences for the period 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2001 so as to extend duty-free access without any quantitative restrictions to products originating in the least developed countries
Date: 2001-02-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: CCT duties, World Food Programme, developing countries, exemption from customs duties, generalised preferences, originating product, rice, sugar, tariff preference

1.3.2001

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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 416/2001

of 28 February 2001

amending Regulation (EC) No 2820/98 applying a multiannual scheme of generalised tariff prefer-
ences for the period 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2001 so as to extend duty-free access without any
quantitative restrictions to products originating in the least developed countries

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 133 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2820/98 of 21
December 1998 applying a multiannual scheme of
generalised tariff preferences for the period 1 July 1999
to 31 December 2001 (1) provides for more favourable
tariff treatment for the least developed countries.

The Community's multiannual scheme of generalised
tariff preferences has to be reviewed before the end of
2001 in order to decide what amendments are required
for the last phase of the ten-year period of the scheme
up to 2004.

At the Singapore ministerial conference in December
1996 the World Trade Organisation (WTO) member
countries pledged to carry out an action plan to improve
access to their markets for products originating in the
least developed countries.

On 2 June 1997 the Council, on the basis of a Commis-
sion communication of 16 April 1997, adopted conclu-
sions calling for the Singapore conclusions to be imple-
mented by granting least developed countries not party
to the Lomé Convention preferences equivalent to those
enjoyed by signatories and, in the medium term, duty-
free access for essentially all
least developed country
products.

(7)

(8)

(9)

will start a process which, by the end of multilateral
trade negotiations and at the latest 2005, will allow
duty-free access for essentially all products from all
LDCs, building on the level of the existing trade provi-
sions of the fourth ACP-EC Convention.

In the light of the real risk of the LDCs becoming
increasingly marginalised in the world economy, the
Community must go even further than these undertak-
ings and grant all products from LDCs, except arms and
munitions, duty-free access without quantitative restric-
tions immediately.

In the light of the fact that the arrangements for the
common organisation of the markets in sugar, rice and
bananas are currently being revised or are due to be
the Regulations regarding these reforms will
revised,
have to take account of duty-free access for the LDCs
from the outset when they establish new general import
arrangements.

Provision should be made for free access for bananas
through a process of progressive tariff elimination
starting on 1 January 2002 and which is to result in full
liberalisation on 1 January 2006, which is the date
envisaged for the entry into force of the rate of the
common customs tariff for fresh bananas established
under the procedure provided for in Article XXVIII of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade pursuant to
Council Regulation (EC) No 216/2001 of 29 January
2001 amending Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 on the
common organisation of the market in bananas (4).

Regulation (EC) No 602/98 (2) granted least developed
countries (LDCs) not party to the Lomé Convention
preferences equivalent to those enjoyed by signatories to
the Convention.

(10)

Provision should be made for free access for rice and
sugar through a process of progressive tariff elimination
starting in 2006, when the current financial perspectives
expire, and which is to result in full
liberalisation in
2009.

Article 37(9) of the Partnership Agreement between the
Members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States, of
the one part, and the European Community and its
Member States, of the other part, signed at Cotonou
(Benin) on 23 June 2000 and put into early application
by Decision No 1/2000 of the ACP-EC Council of Minis-
ters (3), states that, by the year 2000, the Community

(1) OJ L 357, 30.12.1998, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1763/1999 (OJ L 211, 11.8.1999, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 80, 18.3.1998, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 195, 1.8.2000, p. 46.

In order to provide effective market access following the
entry into force of this Regulation and until full liberali-
sation, duty-free tariff quotas should be opened for
increasing quantities of rice and raw sugar originating in
LDCs. The initial quantities of these global tariff quotas
for the LDCs should be based on their best export levels
to the Community in the recent past. In addition, a
significant growth factor should be immediately applied

(4) OJ L 31, 2.2.2001, p. 2.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

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liberalisation. Therefore,

and continue to be applied cumulatively every year until
full
the tariff quota for rice
should be opened at a level of 2 517 tonnes (husked-rice
equivalent), and the tariff quota for sugar shall be
opened at a level of 74 185 tonnes (white-sugar equiva-
lent). Imports of sugar under the ACP-EC Sugar Protocol
should be excluded from the above calculations so as to
uphold the viability of this protocol.

In order to ensure adequate management of the liberali-
sation for sugar and rice, both the tariff elimination and
the tariff quotas should be applied on the basis of the
respective marketing years. The detailed rules necessary
for implementing the tariff quotas should be decided
upon by the Commission in accordance with the proce-
dure laid down in Article 32 of Regulation (EC) No
2820/98.

(11)

(12)

(13)

The special arrangements provided for in this Regulation
with regard to market access for the least developed
countries should be maintained for an unlimited period
of time and not be subject to the periodic renewal of the
Community's scheme of generalised preferences. Conse-
quently, the date of expiry of the Community's current
scheme should not apply to those arrangements nor, to
the extent that they are applied in conjunction with
them, to the other relevant provisions of Regulation (EC)
No 2820/98.

Technical amendments are needed to define more
closely the scope of the provisions on the special drug
prevention support measures in the light of the changes
relating to the LDCs.

It is necessary to add to the reasons for the possible
provisional
suspension of preferences, allowing the
Commission to react swiftly when the Community's
financial
interests are at stake, massive increases in
imports of products originating in the LDCs in relation
to their usual levels of production and export capacity,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

2. Article 6 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 6

1. Without prejudice to paragraphs 2 to 4, Common
Customs Tariff duties on all products of Chapters 1 to 97,
except those of Chapter 93, originating in the least devel-
oped developing countries listed in Annex IV, shall be
entirely suspended.

Common Customs Tariff duties on the products of CN
2.
code 0803 00 19 shall be reduced by 20 % annually starting
on 1 January 2002. They shall be entirely suspended as
from 1 January 2006.

3.
Common Customs Tariff duties on the products of
tariff heading 1006 shall be reduced by 20 % on 1
September 2006, by 50 % on 1 September 2007 and by
80 % on 1 September 2008. They shall be entirely
suspended as from 1 September 2009.

4.
Common Customs Tariff duties on the products of
tariff heading 1701 shall be reduced by 20 % on 1 July
2006, by 50 % on 1 July 2007 and by 80 % on 1 July
2008. They shall be entirely suspended as from 1 July 2009.

5.
Until Common Customs Tariff duties are entirely
suspended in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs
3 and 4, a global tariff quota at zero duty shall be opened
for every marketing year for products of tariff heading 1006
and subheading 1701 11 10 respectively, originating in the
least developed developing countries listed in Annex IV. The
initial tariff quotas for the marketing years 2001/2002 shall
be equal to 2 517 tonnes, husked rice equivalent, for prod-
ucts of tariff heading 1006 and 74 185 tonnes, white sugar
for products of subheading 1701 11 10. For
equivalent,
each of the following marketing years, the quotas shall be
increased by 15 % in relation to the quotas of the previous
marketing year.

6.
The Commission shall decide the implementation of
the provisions referred to in paragraph 5 in accordance with
the procedure laid down in Article 32.

Article 1

7.
The Commission shall, in close cooperation with the
Member States, carefully monitor imports of rice, bananas
and sugar.

Regulation (EC) No 2820/98 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 1(2) shall be amended as follows:

‘2. Without prejudice to Article 6, this Regulation shall
apply to the products falling within Chapters 1 to 97 of the
Common Customs Tariff, excluding Chapter 93, which are
listed in Annex I. It shall apply only to the products listed in
Annex VII on the conditions laid down in Article 7.’;

Member States or any interested natural or legal persons
shall inform the Commission, without delay, of any circum-
stances of which they are aware that could justify the adop-
tion of a measure to suspend preferences. Where the
Commission finds that there is sufficient evidence to estab-
lish that the conditions for temporary suspension of the
preferences are met, all appropriate measures will be taken
as quickly as possible.’;

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3. Article 7 shall be replaced by the following:

6. Article 29(4) shall be amended as follows:

‘Article 7

For the countries listed in Annex V, Common Customs
Tariff duties shall be suspended in their entirety on the
industrial products listed in Annex I falling within Chapters
25 to 97 of the Common Customs Tariff, excluding Chapter
93, and on the agricultural products listed in Annex VII,
without prejudice to the procedure described in Article
31(3).’;

4. Article 22(1)(d) shall be amended as follows:

‘(d) fraud or failure to provide administrative cooperation as
required for the verification of certificates of origin
form A, or massive increases in imports into the
Community of products originating in the countries
listed in Annex IV in relation to their usual levels of
production and export capacity.’;

5.

in Article 28:

— the following paragraph shall be inserted:

‘2.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 22 and
paragraph 1 above, given the particular sensitivity of
products of tariff headings 1006 and 1701, and CN
if imports of these products cause
code 0803 00 19,
serious disturbance to the Community markets and their
regulatory mechanisms, the Commission may suspend
the preferences provided by this Regulation for the
products concerned in accordance with the procedure
set out below.’

— in consequence, current paragraphs 2 to 7 shall be

‘4.
Save as otherwise provided in the Annexes, with
respect to products falling within Chapters 1 to 24, wher-
ever customs duties comprise an ad valorem duty plus one or
the preferential reduction shall be
more specific duties,
limited to the ad valorem duty. However, the exemption
from customs duties provided for in Article 6 shall also
apply to the specific duties. Where the customs duties
comprise an ad valorem duty with a minimum and a
maximum duty, the preferential reduction shall also apply
to that minimum and maximum duty. Where they comprise
more than one specific duty, the preferential reduction shall
apply to all of these.’;

7. the following paragraph shall be added to Article 35:

‘3.
The date of 31 December 2001, referred to in para-
graph 2, shall not apply to the special market access
arrangements for the least developed developing countries
provided for in Article 6 nor, to the extent that they are
to the
applied in conjunction with those arrangements,
provisions of Article 1(5) and (6), and of Titles III,
IV
and V.’;

8. Annex VII shall be replaced by the text which appears in the

Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

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

renumbered 3 to 8;

It shall apply from 5 March 2001.

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

Done at Brussels, 28 February 2001.

For the Council

The President

A. LINDH

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ANNEX

‘ANNEX VII

CN code

Description of goods

Live horses, other than pure-bred animals:

0101 19 90

– Other horses

0104 20 10

Live goats, pure-bred breeding animals (1)

0106 00 10

Live domestic rabbits

0106 00 20

Live pigeons

0205 00

Meat of horses, asses, mules or hinnies, fresh, chilled or frozen

Edible offal, fresh, chilled or frozen:

0206 80 91

– of horses, asses, mules or hinnies

0206 90 91

0208

Other meat and edible meat offal, fresh, chilled or frozen, except products of 0208 90 50

CHAPTER 3 (2)

FISH AND CRUSTACEANS, MOLLUSCS AND OTHER AQUATIC VERTEBRATES

0407 00 90

Birds' eggs,

in shell, fresh, preserved or cooked, other than poultry eggs

0409 00 00

Natural honey

0410 00 00

Edible products and animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included

CHAPTER 5

OTHER PRODUCTS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN, NOT ELSEWHERE SPECIFIED OR INCLUDED

CHAPTER 6 (3)

LIVE TREES AND OTHER PLANTS; BULBS, ROOTS, AND THE LIKE; CUT FLOWERS AND
ORNAMENTAL FOLIAGE

0701

Potatoes, fresh or chilled

0706 90 30

Horseradish (Cochlearia armoracia), fresh or chilled

ex 0707 00 05

Cucumbers fresh or chilled, from 16 May to 31 October

0708

Leguminous vegetables, shelled or unshelled, fresh or chilled

Other vegetables, fresh or chilled:

ex 0709 20 00

– Asparagus, from 1 October to 31 January

0709 30 00

– Aubergines (egg-plants)

0709 40 00

– Celery, other than celeriac

0709 51 30

– Chanterelles

0709 60 10

– Sweet peppers

0709 60 99

– Other

0709 90 70

– Courgettes

0709 90 90

– Other

ex 0710

Vegetables (uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water), frozen, except products of
0710 80 10

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CN code

ex 0711

Description of goods

Vegetables provisionally preserved (for example, by sulphur dioxide gas, in brine, in sulphur
water or in other preservative solutions), but unsuitable in that state for immediate consump-
tion, except products of 0711 20 10 and 0711 20 90

Dried vegetables, whole, cut, sliced, broken or in powder, but not further prepared:

0712 20 00

– Onions

0712 30 00

– Mushrooms and truffles

0712 90 05

– Potatoes, whether or not cut or sliced, but not further prepared

0712 90 30

– Tomatoes

0712 90 50

– Carrots

ex 0712 90 90

– Other, excluding olives

0713

Dried leguminous vegetables, shelled, whether or not skinned or split

0803 00 90

Bananas,

including plantains, dried

0804 10 00

Dates, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes and mangosteens, fresh or dried

0804 30 00

0804 40 00

Citrus fruit, fresh or dried:

ex 0805 20

– Mandarins (including tangerines and satsumas); clementines, wilkings and similar citrus

hybrids, from 15 May to 15 September

0805 30 90

– Limes (Citrus aurantifolia)

0805 40 00

Grapefruit

0805 90 00

– Other

Melons (including watermelons) and papaws (papayas), fresh:

0807 11 00

– Watermelons

0807 19 00

– Other melons

0809 20 05

Sour cherries (Prunus cerasus), fresh

0809 40 90

Sloes

Other fruit, fresh:

0810 20

0810 30

Raspberries, blackberries, mulberries and loganberries

Black-, white- or redcurrants and gooseberries

– Fruits of the genus Vaccinium:

0810 40 30

– – Fruit of the species Vaccinium myrtillus

0810 40 50

– – Fruit of the species Vaccinium macrocarpon and Vaccinium corymbosum

0810 40 90

– – Other

0810 50 00

– Kiwifruit

0810 90 85

– – Other

0811

Fruit and nuts, uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water, frozen, whether or not
containing added sugar or other sweetening matter

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CN code

0812

Description of goods

Fruit and nuts, provisionally preserved (for example, by sulphur dioxide gas,
in
sulphur water or in other preservative solutions), but unsuitable in that state for immediate
consumption

in brine,

Fruit, dried, other than that of heading Nos 0801 to 0806:

0813 10 00

– Apricots

0813 20 00

– Prunes

0813 30 00

– Apples

– Other fruit:

0813 40 10

– – Peaches,

including nectarines

0813 40 30

– – Pears

0813 40 50

– – Papaws (papayas)

0813 40 95

– – Other

Mixtures of nuts or dried fruits of this chapter:

0813 50 12

– Fruit salads of dried fruit, other than that of heading Nos 0801 to 0806

0813 50 15

0813 50 19

ex 0813 50 31

– Mixtures exclusively of coconut, Brazil nuts, cashew nuts, areca (or betel) nuts or colanuts

ex 0813 50 91

– Mixtures of dried guavas, mangoes and mangosteens, papaws, tamarind, cashew apples,

jackfruit,

lychees or sapodillo plums

0901 12 00

Coffee, not roasted, decaffeinated

0901 21 00

Coffee, roasted

0901 22 00

0901 90 90

Coffee substitutes containing coffee

0904 20 10

Sweet peppers, dried, neither crushed nor ground

0910 40 13

Thyme, other than wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum), neither crushed nor ground

0910 40 19

Thyme, crushed or ground

0910 40 90

Bay leaves

0910 91 90

Mixtures of spices, crushed or ground

0910 99 99

Other spices, crushed or ground

ex 1008 90 90

Quinoa

1105

Flour, meal, powder, flakes, granules and pellets of potatoes

Flour, meal and powder:

1106 10 00

– Of the dried leguminous vegetables of heading No 0713

1106 30

– Of the products of Chapter 8

ex CHAPTER 12

OIL SEEDS AND OLEAGINOUS FRUITS; MISCELLANEOUS GRAINS, SEEDS AND FRUIT;
INDUSTRIAL AND MEDICINAL PLANTS; STRAW AND FODDER excluding sugar beet and
sugar cane falling within subheadings 1212 91 and 1212 92

CHAPTER 13

GUMS, RESINS AND OTHER VEGETABLE SAPS AND EXTRACTS

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CN code

Description of goods

Lard stearin, lard oil, oleostearin, oleo-oil and tallow oil, not emulsified or mixed or otherwise
prepared, excluding lard stearin and oleostearin for industrial uses

1503 00 19

1503 00 90

ex 1504

1505

1507

1508

1511

1512

1513

1514

1515

1516

1517

Fats and oils and their fractions, of fish or marine mammals, whether or not refined, but not
chemically modified, excluding products of ex 1504 30 00 (whale oil or sperm oil)

Wool grease and fatty substances derived therefrom (including lanolin)

Soya-bean oil and its fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified

Ground-nut oil and its fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified

Palm oil and its fraction, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified

Sunflower-seed, safflower or cotton-seed oil and fractions thereof, whether or not refined, but
not chemically modified

Coconut (copra), palm kernel or babassu oil and fractions thereof, whether or not refined, but
not chemically modified

Rape, colza or mustard oil and fractions thereof, whether or not refined, but not chemically
modified

Other fixed vegetable fats and oils (including jojoba oil) and their fractions, whether or not
refined, but not chemically modified

Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, partly or wholly hydrogenated, inter-ester-
ified, re-esterified or elaidinised, whether or not refined, but not further prepared

Margarine; edible mixtures or preparations of animal or vegetable fats or oils or of fractions of
different fats or oils of this chapter, other than edible fats and oils or their fractions of heading
No 1516

1518 00

Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, boiled, oxidised, dehydrated, sulphurised,
blown, polymerised by heat in vacuum or in inert gas or otherwise chemically modified,
excluding those of heading No 1516; inedible mixtures or preparations of animal or vegetable
fats or oils or of fractions of different fats or oils of this chapter, not elsewhere specified or
included

1521 90 99

Beeswax and other insect waxes, whether or not refined or coloured, other than raw

Degras; residues resulting from the treatment of fatty substances or animal or vegetable waxes:

1522 00 10

– Degras

1522 00 91

– Oil foots and dregs; soapstocks

Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal or blood

1602 20 11

1602 20 19

1602 41 90

1602 42 90

1602 49 90

1602 50 31

1602 50 39

1602 50 80

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CN code

Description of goods

1602 90 31

1602 90 41

1602 90 69

1602 90 72

1602 90 74

1602 90 76

1602 90 78

1602 90 98

1603 00 10

1604 (4)

1605

1702 50 00

1702 90 10

1704 (5)

Extracts and juices of meat, fish or crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, in
immediate packings of a net content of less than 20 kg

Prepared or preserved fish; caviar and caviar substitutes prepared from fish eggs

Crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, prepared or preserved

Chemically pure fructose

Chemically pure maltose

Sugar confectionery (including white chocolate), not containing cocoa

CHAPTER 18

COCOA AND COCOA PREPARATIONS

CHAPTER 19

PREPARATIONS OF CEREALS, FLOUR, STARCH OR MILK, PASTRYCOOKS' PRODUCTS

CHAPTER 20

PREPARATIONS OF VEGETABLES, FRUIT, NUTS OR OTHER PARTS OF PLANTS

ex CHAPTER 21

ex CHAPTER 22

MISCELLANEOUS EDIBLE PREPARATIONS, excluding sugar syrups falling within subheadings
2106 90 30, 2106 90 51, 2106 90 55 and 2106 90 59

BEVERAGES, SPIRITS AND VINEGAR, excluding products
2204 10 11 to 2204 30 10, 2206 00 10, 2208 40, 2208 90 11 and 2208 90 19

falling within subheadings

Bran, sharps and other residues, whether or not in the form of pellets derived from the sifting,
milling or other working of cereals or of leguminous plants:

2302 50 00

– Of leguminous plants

Preparations of a kind used in animal feeding:

2309 10 90

2309 90 91

2309 90 93

2309 90 95

2309 90 97

– Dog or cat food put up for retail sale, other than containing starch, glucose, glucose syrup,
maltodextrine or maltodextrine syrup falling within subheadings 1702 30 51 to 1702 30 99,
1702 40 90, 1702 90 50 and 2106 90 55 or milk products

– Other

– – Beet-pulp with added molasses

– – Premixtures

– – Other

CHAPTER 24

TOBACCO AND MANUFACTURED TOBACCO SUBSTITUTES

(1) Entry under this subheading is subject to conditions laid down in the relevant Community provisions.
(2) The duty is 3,6 % for shrimps of CN code 0306 13.
(3) For cut flowers of CN code 0603, the conditions laid down by Article 28(1) are deemed to be fulfilled when the quantities put into free
circulation with preferential benefit in any year exceed the volume of imports from one of those countries into the Community
corresponding to the figure half-way between the highest and the average quantity for the last four years for which statistics are available.
(4) For prepared and preserved tuna of CN codes 1604 14 11, 1604 14 18, 1604 14 90, 1604 19 39 and 1604 20 70, the examination of
the conditions laid down by Article 29(1) shall be carried out for a particular country when the quantities put into free circulation with
preferential benefit, originating in that country, exceed the average annual quantity of its exports to the Community of the products
concerned over the last three years.

(5) The specific duty for products falling within CN codes 1704 10 91 and 1704 10 99 shall be limited to 16 % of the customs value.’