Commission Regulation (EC) No 950/2002 of 3 June 2002 amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 560/2002 imposing provisional safeguard measures against imports of certain steel products
Date: 2002-06-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: customs duties, import, iron and steel product, protective clause, tariff quota

L 145/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

4.6.2002

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 950/2002

of 3 June 2002

amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 560/2002 imposing provisional safeguard measures
against imports of certain steel products

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 of 22
December 1994 on common rules for imports and repealing
Regulation (EC) No 518/94 (1), as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 2474/2000 (2),

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 519/94 of 7
March 1994 on common rules for imports from certain third
countries and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 1765/82, (EEC)
No 1766/82 and (EEC) No 3420/83 (3), as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 1138/98 (4),

the previous conditions of trade within the tariff quotas.
Therefore, taking into account the need to pursue unhin-
dered access to the benefit of the tariff quotas, whilst at
the same time taking account of the need to ensure
payment of customs debts arising upon exhaustion of
the tariff quotas, the Commission considers it desirable
to remove the requirement for customs authorities to
take security in relation to those products until 75 % of
the initial volume of the relevant tariff quotas has been
used.

(3)

To achieve this objective, it is necessary that the tariff
quotas are treated as non-critical within the meaning of
Article 308c of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 until 75 %
of the initial volume of the relevant tariff quota has been
used, thereby removing the requirement for security to
be taken up to that point,

After consultations with the Advisory Committee established
under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 and Regulation
(EC) No 519/94 respectively,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Commission Regulation No (EC) 560/2002 (5) estab-
lishes tariff quotas in relation to certain steel products, in
excess of which additional duties require to be paid. In
terms of Article 3 of that Regulation, those tariff quotas
are to be managed in accordance with Articles 308a,
308b and 308c of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
2454/93 (6), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
444/2002 (7), the effect of which is inter alia to require
customs authorities to take security to ensure payment
of customs debts in respect of those products.

Experience gained during the validity of the measure
indicates that
this is giving rise to an unnecessary
administrative burden in relation to the importation of
such products, given that the tariff quotas are at the
early stages of utilisation. In these circumstances, the
requirement to give security could also be considered to
contradict the aim of the measures which is to maintain

Article 1

Commission Regulation No (EC) 560/2002, Article 3,
amended as follows:

is

1. By inserting before the second sentence thereof,

the

following:

‘However, for the purposes of Article 248 of Regulation
(EEC) No 2454/93, each tariff quota shall be considered to
be non-critical within the meaning of Article 308c of that
Regulation until 75 % of the initial volume of that tariff
quota has been used.’

2. In the second sentence thereof, by inserting the word ‘provi-

sion’ between the words ‘This’ and ‘may’.

(1) OJ L 349, 31.12.1994, p. 53.
(2) OJ L 286, 11.11.2000, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 67, 10.3.1994, p. 89.
(4) OJ L 159, 3.6.1998, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 85, 28.3.2002, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 68, 12.3.2002, p. 11.

Article 2

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

4.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 145/13

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

Done at Brussels, 3 June 2002.

For the Commission

Pascal LAMY

Member of the Commission