CELEX: 51995PC0169
Language: en
Date: 1995-05-10
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) Laying down the rates of duty to be applied on 4801 Newsprint in rolls or sheets following the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                              Brussels, 10.05.1995
                                              COM(95) 169 final
                                              95/0112 (ACC)
                              Proposal for a
                     COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)
Laying down the rates of duty to be applied on 4801 Newsprint in rolls or sheets
following the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden.
                      (presented by the Commission)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak--- COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL PROPOSING
THE ADOPTION OF A REGULATION ALLOWING THE ACCELERATION OF
AGREED DUTY REDUCTIONS TO 0 % ON IMPORTS OF NEWSPRINT
1. Pursuant to the Act of Accession, the three acceding Member States have applied the
     European Community's Common Customs Tariff as of 1 January 1995, with some
     exceptions4. This has lead to the raising of certain tariffs applied by them. In some
     cases the acceding Member States had to raise their tariff above a level which they had
     agreed before in GATT not to exceed (so-called "tariff bindings").5
2. This is allowed in GATT under Art. XXIV, which is the provision whiclrallows the
     creation of inter alia customs unions. However, in some cases, the customs union
   , must - under Art. XXIV para. 6 of the GATT - offer compensation, which may take
     the form of reductions of duties on either the same, or on other tariff lines.6
3. Canada has requested the EU to give compensation immediately. Failing agreement
     Canada has announced retaliatory measures involving increases in duties on certain
     products mainly originating from the Community (including vodka and lead crystal
     glassware).
4. Therefore, in order to avid these retaliatory measures, it is proposed to make some
     acceleration on an autonomous basis of the phased duty reductions to 0% already
     agreed in the Uruguay Round on imports of newsprint into the Community. This
     would result in the 0% rate being achieved on 1 January 2002.
5. For their reasons the Commission proposed to the Council to adopt the Regulation
     contained with Annex to this Communication.
4
  E.g Art. 99 and Art 101
'Compare Art. II of the GATT.
6
 GATT 1994 Understanding on Art. XXIV para. 5.
                                                                                             1
 ---pagebreak---                      PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION
 Laying down the rates of duty to be applied on 4801 Newsprint in rolls or sheets
following the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden.
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, in particular Article
 113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
 — Whereas, pursuant to Article 2 of the Act concerning their conditions of accession to
    the Community, Austria, Finland and Sweden have applied the Common Customs
    Tariff as of 1 January 1995,
 — Whereas following the authorisation by the Council at its meeting on 8 February 1995
    to open negotiations under Article XXIV, paragraph 6, of the General Agreement on
    Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), in order to resolve instances where applications
    of the Common Customs Tariff by the new Member States leads to modification or
    withdrawal of tariff concessions previously granted by them;
 — Whereas the application of the Common Customs Tariff by the new Member States
    has lead to a reduction of some import duties and increase of some other duties;
 — Whereas, pending the conclusion of a global agreement from negotiations between
    the Community and third countries it is appropriate to apply autonomous measures
    designed to alleviate the adverse impact on certain exports by third countries
    following enlargement;
 — Whereas the measures to be applied are without prejudice to the results of the ongoing
    negotiations under Article XXIV: 6 and do not prejudge the intention of the
    Community to conclude an agreement which takes into account the global impact of
    enlargement on trade with third countries;
 — Whereas in this context, it is appropriate to accelerate on an autonomous basis the
    reduction in duty to 0% already foreseen on 4801 Newsprint in rolls or sheets;
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION
Article 1
The autonomous rates of duty on 4801 Newsprint in rolls or sheets shall be as set out in
the Annex to this Regulation.
Article 2
This regulation shall enter into force the day following its publication in the Official
Journal.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States
Done at Brussels                                                For the Council
                                                                                              i>
 ---pagebreak--- ANNEX
CN Code 1995                                Duty rate reduced to
4801 00.10
Newsprint, in rolls or sheets, mentioned in 4.2 % *
the additional note 1 to chapter 48
4801 00.90
Newsprint, in rolls or sheets, other than   5.3% *
that mentioned in the additional note 1 to
chapter 48
 * On 1 January of the following years the duty shall be reduced to:
 1996-4.0%
 1997 - 3.0%
 1998-2.4%
 1999-1.8%
 2000-1.2%
 2001-0.6%
 2002 - 0.0%
                                                                     4
 ---pagebreak--- FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Section 1 Financial Implications
1. Proposal for a Council Regulation providing some acceleration of the phased
   reduction to 0% a newsprint already agreed to by the Community in the Uruguay
   Round.
2. Budget heading: (loss of revenue: non known).
3. Legal basis: Article 113
4. Description: The application of the Common External Tariff duty rates by the 3 new
   Member Stales from 1 January 1995 has resulted in increases in duly payments on
   imports from third countries beyond levels previously in force.
   The proposed regulation would avoid the retaliatory measures announced by Canada
   involving large increases in duties of certain exports by the Community (including
   vodka and lead crystal glassware)
5. Type of revenue: Loss of revenue for duties paid on third country imports.
6. Change in level of revenue:
   It is estimated that the loss of revenue will be in the order of 16 MECU. This covers
    the last 7 months of 1995 and the period 1996 to 2003. This figure is calculated by
   taking the sum of duty collected normally paid on imports of newsprint (over and
   above the duty free quota) and deducting from lliis figure the sums that would be
   actually collected on the basis of the duty rates indicated in the annex.
PM.     Sections 2 and 3 do not seem applicable.
h:\GBRESOLDOC
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                             COM(95) 169 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                            02
                                     Catalogue number : CB-CO-95-214-EN-C
                                                              ISBN 92-77-88978-0
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg