WRITTEN QUESTION E-0869/01 by Jorge Hernández Mollar (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Potato import quota.
Date: 2001-03-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Morocco, application of EU law, data processing, import (EU), potato, tariff quota

C 340 E/110

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.12.2001

the Commission, as required under the Treaty(cid:146)s State aid rules? Does the Commission believe that any
decision by the Irish Government to approve such an increase should be postponed until such time as the
Commission has had the opportunity to examine the proposal and taken a decision to authorise
a proportionate increase, if that were found to be consistent with Treaty rules?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(18 June 2001)

As pointed out by the Honourable Member, the Member of the Commission responsible for Competition
indicated in 2000 that the Commission concluded that the complaint lodged against the payment of
a television licence fee to RTE deserved further in-depth analysis.

Public service broadcasting is a very complex area where the Commission has to reach a balanced solution
that will guarantee both the Member State(cid:146)s right to provide public service broadcasting and the right of
private operators to fair competition. In order to ensure certainty for all operators the Commission is
actively working on a draft of a Commission Communication, which will hopefully be presented soon. The
Communication will set out the principles the Commission will adhere to in applying Articles 87, 88 and
Article 86 (ex Articles 92, 93 and 90), paragraph 2 of the EC Treaty to state funding of public service
broadcasting. This will clarify the Commission(cid:146)s policy in this highly complex area, allowing an assessment
of the cases in full transparency.

With a view to assuring an even handed approach, priority has been given to preparing this
Communication and deepen the case analysis in a comparative perspective. The analysis of complaints in
this field, including the complaint about the licence fee to RTE, will be finalised after the adoption of the
Communication.

The Commission thanks the Honourable Member for the information on the application of RTE for an
increase of 71 % in the current licence fee. The Commission is closely following these developments. With
regard to the questions on the obligation to notify the Commission of an increase in the licence fee, the
Commission would like to refer to Article 88(3) EC where the obligations are laid down for Member States
to notify the Commission of new aid or alterations to existing aid. In this respect the Commission would
also like to draw attention to the Judgement of the Court of Justice in the Namur-Ducroire case (1). In this
case the Court ruled that (cid:145)Article 93(3) [now article 88(3)] of the Treaty is to be interpreted as meaning that
enlargement, in circumstances such as those described in the referred judgement, of the field of activity of
a public establishment which is in receipt of aid granted by the State under legislation predating the entry
into force of the Treaty cannot, where it does not affect the system of aid established by that legislation, be
regarded as constituting the granting or alteration of aid which is subject to the obligation of prior
notification and the prohibition on putting aid into effect laid down by that provision(cid:146).

(1)

Judgement of the Court of Justice of 9 August 1994 in case C-44/93 (Namur-Ducroire) (cid:129) Jurisprudence 1994,
p. I-3829.

(2001/C 340 E/127)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0869/01

by Jorge HernÆndez Mollar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 March 2001)

Subject: Potato import quota

The agreement between the EU and the Kingdom of Morocco sets at 120 000 tonnes the quota of potatoes
exported to the EU that is subject to zero duty (i.e. tariff exemption).

Intrastat data cannot be accessed in real time, and thus it is impossible to tell whether the quota has been
exceeded and the corresponding duty therefore applied.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 340 E/111

In view of the aforementioned facts, what procedures does the Commission have in place to ensure the
real-time monitoring of imports of potatoes and other products which arrive from third countries on given
dates and enjoy tariff exemption under preferential agreements?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(7 June 2001)

As indicated by the Honourable Member, the Association Agreement between the Community and the
Kingdom of Morocco provides in its Protocol 1 for import into the Community of new potatoes
originating from Morocco from 1 December to 30 April with exemption of customs duties. This tariff
concession applies within the limit of a tariff quota of 120 000 tonnes.

Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 747/2001 of 9 April 2001 (1) providing for the management of
Community tariff quotas and of reference quantities for products eligible for preferences by virtue of
agreements with certain Mediterranean countries and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 1981/94 (2)
and (EC) No 934/95 (3) provides that this tariff quota is to be managed by the Commission following the
chronological order of dates of acceptance of customs declarations. This system of management of tariff
quotas is defined within Articles 308a to 308c of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down
provisions for the implementation of the Community Customs Code.

According to these provisions, Member States communicate to the Commission all valid requests to benefit
from a tariff quota, taking into account the data from each to the customs presented declaration for release
for free circulation. To the extent that the balance of the relevant tariff quota so permits, the Commission
grants an allocation of the requested quantity. Priority is established in accordance with the chronological
order of dates of acceptance of declarations for release for free circulation. If the quantities requested for
drawing from a tariff quota are greater than the balance available, the allocation is made on a pro rata basis
with respect to the requested quantities. So, the Commission ensures that the initial volume of the tariff
quota is not exceeded.

With a view to greater transparency, the Commission(cid:146)s database for management of tariff quotas is, as
a part of the Tariff Data Dissemination System, available on the Europa server of the Commission at the
following address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/dds/es/home.htm.

It displays the balances of each tariff quota applicable in the present year and in the past two years. This
information is daily updated as a result of the tariff quota allocations which take place every working day.

(1) OJ L 109, 19.4.2001.
(2) Council Regulation No 1981/94 of 25 July 1994 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff
quotas for certain products originating in Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip, Tunisia and Turkey, and providing detailed rules for extending and adapting these tariff quotas
(OJ L 199, 2.8.1994).

(3) Council Regulation (EC) No 934/95 of 10 April 1995 establishing a Community statistical surveillance in the
framework of reference quantities for a certain number of products originating in Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Israel,
Tunisia, Syria, Malta, Morocco and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (OJ L 96, 28.4.1995).

(2001/C 340 E/128)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0872/01

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(22 March 2001)

Subject: European works councils

On 17 May 1996 the Samu Auchan group, which is based in France, has operations in Spain, Italy,
Luxembourg, and Portugal, and employs some 37 000 people, concluded an agreement with a number of
French trade unions with a view to drawing up the (cid:145)Auchan European Works Council Agreement(cid:146), which
was deposited with the Lannoy Industrial Tribunal (conseil des prud(cid:146)hommes) on 28 May 1996.