Council Regulation (EC) No 1973/2002 of 5 November 2002 amending Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 on the protection against subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Community
Date: 2002-11-05
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: World Trade Organisation, countervailing charge, export subsidy, import policy, third country

(1)

(2)

(3)

L 305/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

7.11.2002

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1973/2002

of 5 November 2002

amending Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 on the protection against subsidised imports from countries
not members of the European Community

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 133 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

Article 28(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 specifies
that, in case of use of facts available, the information
used are to be checked by reference to information from
a number of sources. It is considered useful to specify
that such sources can, where appropriate, also pertain to
data concerning the world market or other representa-
tive markets.

(5)

is considered appropriate in the interests of

It
legal
certainty to provide that these amendments should apply
as soon as possible to all new investigations,

By Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 (1), the Council adopted
common rules for protection against subsidised imports
from countries which are not members of the European
Community.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

is measured.

It is prudent

Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 sets forth
certain guidelines for the calculation of the benefit to the
recipient, including the market benchmark against which
the amount of benefit
to
provide for a clarification as to what rules should be
followed in cases where a market benchmark does not
exist in the country concerned. In such a situation the
benchmark should be determined by adjusting the terms
and conditions prevailing in the country concerned on
the basis of actual factors available in that country. If
this is not practicable because, inter alia, such prices or
costs do no exist or are unreliable, then the appropriate
benchmark should be determined by resorting to terms
and conditions in other markets.

are

non-countervailable.

Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 provides that
certain subsidies for environment, research and regional
development
Furthermore,
Article 10(5) and (6) of that Regulation state that investi-
gations may be initiated in order to determine whether
subsidies have such non-countervailable status, and that
investigations are not to be initiated if they relate to
certain non-countervailable subsidies. The corresponding
provisions in the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and
Countervailing Measures were due to expire on 31
December 1999 unless
the WTO
decided otherwise. No such decision has been taken and
therefore the relevant provisions do not apply anymore.
Accordingly, it is necessary to assess whether the provi-
sions on non-countervailable subsidies in Regulation
(EC) No 2026/97 should be maintained. In this respect,
major trading partners of the Community no longer
apply these provisions in their countervailing investiga-
tions.
In view of this, and in order to maintain the
balance of rights and obligations under the said WTO
Agreement,
it is considered appropriate to repeal the
provisions of Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 relating to
non-countervailable subsidies.

the Members of

(1) OJ L 288, 21.10.1997, p. 1.

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 2026/97 is hereby amended as follows:

1. In Article 6(d), the following text shall be added:

‘If there are no such prevailing market terms and conditions
for the product or service in question in the country of
provision or purchase which can be used as appropriate
benchmarks, the following rules shall apply:

(i) the terms and conditions prevailing in the country
concerned shall be adjusted, on the basis of actual costs,
prices and other factors available in that country, by an
appropriate amount which reflects normal market terms
and conditions; or

(ii) when appropriate, the terms and conditions prevailing
in the market of another country or on the world
market which are available to the recipient shall be
used.’

2. Article 4 and Article 10(5) and (6) shall be repealed.

3. In Article 28(5), the following sentence shall be added:

‘Such information may include relevant data pertaining to
the world market or other representative markets, where
appropriate.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that
of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Commu-
nities.

It shall apply to all investigations initiated pursuant to Regula-
tion (EC) No 2026/97 after the date of entry into force of this
Regulation.

7.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 305/5

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

Done at Brussels, 5 November 2002.

For the Council

The President

T. PEDERSEN