WRITTEN QUESTION E-0282/03 by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Customs regime for tahini imports to Poland.
Date: 2003-02-07
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Combined Nomenclature, Greece, Poland, customs duties, retroactivity of a law, tariff barrier, trade dispute

C 222 E/178

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

18.9.2003

Reply

(13 May 2003)

In accordance with Article 31 paragraph 2 of the Statute of the ESCB and the ECB and subject to Article 23
thereof (fulfilment of external obligations of national central banks), operations in foreign reserve assets
remaining with the national central banks after the obligatory transfers of such assets to the ECB for the
purposes of the monetary policy of the Community, are subject to approval by the ECB in order to ensure
their consistency with the exchange rate and monetary policies of the Community.

(2003/C 222 E/205)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0282/03

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Customs regime for tahini imports to Poland

(7 February 2003)

Greece exports to the Polish market a product with the commercial name of ‘tahini’. On the basis of its
production process, this product comes under customs category 12.08 and, under this category, the
import duty from Greece into Poland amounts to 9 % of its customs value. Poland’s Ministry of Economic
Affairs has classified the product in customs category 20.08, catapulting the import duty up to 35 % of its
customs value, and has imposed retrospective duty for all imports of the product over the past three years.

This decision by the Polish Government is directly detrimental, making Greek exports of the product
prohibitive in practice and causing irreparable damage to the exporters being asked to pay retrospective
duty covering a three-year period. In view of this:

1. Can it be valid to impose retroactively increased duties on the import of tahini, given that changes
must be based on the principle of ‘legitimate expectation’ and given the need for a secure basis on
which to do business?

2. Could the Customs Code Committee deliver an opinion readjusting the duty on imports of tahini into

Poland to 9 %?

Answer given by M. Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(18 March 2003)

1.
Yes, under Community legislation and in the absence of valid Binding Tariff Information (BTI) issued
by the Community’s customs administration it is possible to change the classification of a product and to
recover the import duty unless regulations concerning the protection of goodwill are applied. Polish
customs legislation is similar to the Community’s and therefore the same principles apply in Poland.

No Poland is not yet a Community Member so the Customs Code Committee’s decisions are not
2.
applicable in that country. Even if this Committee admitted that the product in question should be
classified under customs heading 12.08 of
the Nomenclature annexed to the Convention on the
Harmonised System (HS), the matter can only be resolved by bilateral agreement between the Community
and Poland in conformity with Article 10.1 of the Convention on HS to which Poland and the Community
are contracting parties.

If agreement cannot be reached, the matter could be settled by a decision of the HS Committee of the
the HS

3.
World Customs Organisation in accordance with the ‘dispute settlement’
Convention.

in Article 10.2 of

4.
However, note that in view of the procedures to be followed, any decision by the HS Committee
cannot be taken until after Poland’s accession to the Union. The Commission can then examine the
possibility of raising this issue bilaterally with Poland.