2001/359/EC: Decision No 1/2001 of the EU-Bulgaria Association Council of 26 March 2001 amending Protocol 4 to the Europe Agreement with Bulgaria concerning the definition of the concept of "originating products" and methods of administrative cooperation
Date: 2001-03-26
Institutions: EC–Bulgaria Association Council
Subjects: Bulgaria, administrative cooperation, association agreement (EU), originating product

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Official Journal of the European Communities

9.5.2001

DECISION No 1/2001 OF THE EU-BULGARIA ASSOCIATION COUNCIL

of 26 March 2001

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

(2001/359/EC)

THE ASSOCIATION COUNCIL,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Having regard to the Europe Agreement establishing an asso-
ciation between the European Communities and their Member
States, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria, of the
other part (1), signed in Brussels on 8 March 1993, and in
particular Article 38 of Protocol 4 thereto,

Whereas:

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

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 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 Bulgaria;’

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.

‘Article 7

Insufficient working or processing

2. Article 7 shall be replaced by the following:

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,

the following
1. Without prejudice to paragraph 2,
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;

(1) OJ L 358, 31.12.1994, p. 3.

(j) sifting,

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

classifying,

screening,

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

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(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;

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.’;

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

kinds;

5.

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

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

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

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

subparagraphs (a) to (n);

6. Article 30 shall be replaced by the following:

(p) slaughter of animals.

‘Article 30

2.
All operations carried out either in the Community or
in Bulgaria 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
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
the
materials which are identical and interchangeable,
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.

4.
This method is recorded and applied on the basis of
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,

Amounts expressed in euro

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

3.
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 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 five 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 equiva-
lent value.

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

the limits concerned in real

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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, 26 March 2001.

For the Association Council

The President

A. LINDH