CELEX: 51985PC0021(01)
Language: en
Date: 1985-02-04
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) ON THE OPENING, ALLOCATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE COMMUNITY TARIFF QUOTA OF 38 000 HEAD OF HEIFERS AND COWS, OTHER THAN THESE INTENDED FOR SLAUGHTER, OF CERTAIN MOUNTAIN BREEDS FALLING WITHIN SUBHEADING EX 01.02 A II OF THE COMMON CUSTOMS TARIFF

20. 2.85                            Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 48/7
              Proposal for a Council Regulation on the opening, allocation and administration of the
              Community tariff quota of 38 000 head of heifers and cows, other than those intended for
              slaughter, of certain mountain breeds falling within subheading ex 01.02 A II of the
                                                Common Customs Tariff
                                                   COM(85) 21 final
                           (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 5 February 1985)
                                                      (85/C 48/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                     Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure equal
COMMUNITIES,                                                    and continuous access for all Community importers
                                                                to the abovementioned quota, and the uninterrupted
                                                                application of the quota duties, to all imports of the
                                                                animals in question until the quota is exhausted;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                    whereas, having regard to the principles defined
European Economic Community, and in particular                  above, the Community nature of the quota can be
Articles 43 and 113 thereof,                                    respected by allocating the Community tariff quota
                                                                among the Member States; whereas possibilities for
                                                                the use of such mountain breeds are, however, limited
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              by     special    factors,  both    geographical    and
                                                                zootechnical; whereas the Benelux countries and
                                                                Denmark do not have regions suitable for breeding
                                                                this kind of cattle; whereas, however, in view of such
Having regard to the opinion of the European                    special factors, Community nature of the tariff quota
Parliament,                                                     in question should be preserved by making provision
                                                                for requirements which may arise in the Member
                                                                States; whereas, to this end, these Member States
                                                                may proceed to draw adequate shares from the
Whereas the European Economic Community
                                                                Community reserve which has been set up, whereas,
undertook, within the framework of GATT, to open
                                                                in order to reflect as closely as possible the actual
an annual Community tariff quota of 20 000 head at
                                                                trend of the market in question, the initial allocation
a duty of 6 % for heifers and cows, other than those
                                                                must be made in proportion to the requirements of
intended for slaughter, of certain mountain breeds,
                                                                each of the Member States concerned, calculated in
falling within subheading ex 01.02 A II of the
                                                                accordance with statistical data concerning imports
Common Customs Tariff; whereas eligibility for such
                                                                from third countries during a representative reference
quota is subject to conditions to be determined by the
                                                                period and with economic prospects for the quota
competent authorities of the Member State of
                                                                period in question;
destination; whereas, in an exchange of letters with
Austria dated 21 July 1972, the Community has
undertaken unilaterally to increase the size of the
tariff quota from 20 000 to 30 000 head and to lower
                                                                Whereas, since the animals in question belong to
the quota duty from 6 to 4 % ; whereas, subsequently,
                                                                certain specific breeds which are not specified as such
this quota was increased unilaterally to 38 000 head;
                                                                in the statistical nomenclatures of the Member States,
whereas the abovementioned tariff quota for the
                                                                no data on imports provided by the Member States
period 1 July 1985 to 30 June 1986 should therefore
                                                                could be considered to be sufficiently accurate and
be opened at a duty of 4 % in relation to a quantity
                                                                representative to be used as a basis for the allocation
of 38 000 head;
                                                                in question; whereas the extent to which Community
                                                                tariff quotas for those animals in the Community
                                                                have been exhausted and the estimates made by
Whereas, under Articles 2 and 64 (2) (b) of the 1979            certain Member States enable the requirements of
Act of Accession, Greece is obliged to apply the                each of them as regard imports from third countries
Regulation of the common agricultural policy since              for the quota period envisaged to be assessed as
1 January 1981, and to apply in its enitrety from that          follows:
date, the duty in the Common Customs Tariff to the
animals in question; whereas it is therefore necessary
to meet import requirements from third countries                        Germany                     20 000  head
which might arise in that Member State; whereas                         Greece                        2 000 head
within the framework of this tariff quota the duty to                   France                        1 800 head
be applied by Greece is also 4 % ;                                      Italy                        14 000 head
 ---pagebreak--- No C 48/8                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                20.2.85
whereas in the absence of precise information, the             respect of imports from third countries of cows and
needs of the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom             heifers, other than those intended for slaughter, of
and Ireland may be assessed at 100, 50 and 50 head             the following mountain breeds; grey, brown, yellow
respectively;                                                  and mottled Simmental breed and mottled Pinzgau
                                                               breed, falling within subheading ex 01.02 A II of the
Whereas, in order to take into account the possible            Common Customs Tariff.
trend of imports of the aforementioned animals into
the said Member States, the quota amount of 38 000
head should be divided into two parts, the first being         2.     For the purposes of this Regulation, the
allocated among certain Member States, the second              abovementioned cows and heifers shall be considered
forming a reserve intended subsequently to cover the           not intended for slaughter if they are not slaughtered
requirements of those Member States when their                 within four months following the date of their impor-
initial shares are exhausted and requirements which            tation.
may arise within other Member States; whereas, in
order to ensure a certain degree of security for               Derogations may, however, be granted in the event of
importers in the aforementioned Member States, the             an act of God duly attested by a local authority certi-
first part of the Community quota should be                    ficate setting out the reasons for the slaughter.
determined at a level which, under the present
circumstances, may be approximately 79 % of the                 3.    The said quota shall be administered              in
quota amount;                                                   accordance with the following Articles.
Whereas, the initial shares of those Member States
may be used up more or less rapidly; whereas, in                                         Article 2
order to take this fact into account and avoid any
break in continuity, it is important that that Member          Within the framework of the quota referred to in
State having used up almost the whole of its initial           Article 1 (1), the Common Customs Tariff duty for
share should draw an additional share from the                  the animals referred to in the said paragraph shall be
reserve; whereas this must be done by each of these             suspended at 4 %.
Member States as and when each of its additional
shares is almost entirely used up, and repeated as                                       Article 3
many times as the reserve allows; whereas the initial
 and additional shares must be available until the end          1.     A first part of 30 000 head shall be allocated
 of the quota period; whereas such method of                    among the Member States listed below. The shares
 administration calls for close cooperation between             shall apply from 1 July 1985 to 30 June 1986 subject
 Member States and the Commission, which latter                 to Article 7, and shall be as follows:
 must, in particular, be able to observe the extent to
which the quota amounts are used and inform                              Benelux                         100 head
 Member States thereof;                                                  Germany                      16 000 head
                                                                         Greece                        2 100 head
 Whereas if, at a specified date within the quota                        France                        1 700 head
 period, a considerable balance of the initial share of                  Ireland                          50 head
 one or other of the Member States is left over, it is                   Italy                        10 000 head
 essential that that State should return a considerable                  United Kingdom                   50 head
 part of such balance to the reserve in order that part
 of the Community tariff quota should not remain                2.     The second part of 8 000 head shall be held as a
 unused in one Member State while it could be used in           Community reserve.
 others;
 Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the                                              Article 4
 Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy                 If an importer notifies an imminent importation of the
 of Luxembourg are united within and jointly                     animals in question in Denmark and requests the
 represented by the Benelux Economic Union, any                 benefit of the quota, the Member State concerned
 measure concerning the administration of the shares             shall inform the Commission and draw an amount
 allocated to that economic union may be carried out             corresponding to these requirements to the extent
 by any one of its members,                                      that the available balance of the reserve permits this.
 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                                                         Article 5
                         Article 1
                                                                 1.    If 90 % or more of the initial quota share of
 1.    During the period 1 July 1985 to 30 June 1986,            one of the Member States referred to in Article 3, or
 a Community tariff quota of 38 000 head shall be                of that share less the amount returned to the reserve,
 opened within the European Economic Community in                where Article 7 has been applied, has been used up,
 ---pagebreak--- 20.2.85                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 48/9
that Member State shall immediately, by notifying the          with Articles 3, 4 and 5 and shall inform each of them
Commission, draw a second share in so far as the               of the extent to which the reserve has been exhausted
reserve permits, equal to 10 % of its initial share,           as soon as it receives the notifications.
rounded off upwards, if necessary, to the next unit.           The Commission shall, not later than 5 March 1986,
                                                               notify Member States of the amount in the reserve
2.     If, after the initial share has been exhausted,
                                                               after the return of shares pursuant to Article 7.
90 % or more of the second share drawn by one of
these Member States has been used up, that Member              The Commission shall ensure that any drawing which
State shall, in accordance with paragraph 1,                   exhausts the reserve is limited to the balance available
immediately draw a third share equal to 5 % of its             and, to this end, shall specify the amount thereof to
initial share, rounded off upwards, if necessary, to the       the Member State making the last drawing.
next unit.
                                                                                        Article 9
3.     If, after the second share has been exhausted,
90 % or more of the third share drawn by one of                Member States shall take all measures necessary to
these Member States has been used up, that Member              ensure that when additional shares are drawn
State shall, in accordance with paragraph 1, draw a            pursuant to Article 4 or 5 it is possible for imports
fourth share equal to the third.                               to be counted without interruption against their
The same method shall be applied until the reserve is          accumulated shares of the Community quota.
exhausted.
                                                                                        Article 10
4.     By way of derogation from paragraphs 1, 2 and
3, each of these Member States may draw shares                 1.     Member States shall take all measures necessary
lower than those fixed in these paragraphs if there are        to ensure that access to the tariff quota in question is
reasons to consider that such shares might not be              restricted to cattle as specified in Article 1(1) and (2).
exhausted. They shall inform the Commission of the
                                                               2.    They shall ensure free access to the shares
grounds which led them to apply this paragraph.
                                                               allocated to them for importers.
                         Article 6                             3.    The extent to which the shares of the Member
The additional shares drawn in pursuance of Article 5          States have been used up shall be recorded on the
shall apply until 30 June 1986.                                basis of imports submitted for customs clearance
                                                               under cover of declarations that they have been made
                         Article 7                             available for free cirulation.
Member States shall return to the reserve, not later           4.    Where import documents are used for the
than 1 March 1986, the unused portion of their initial         administration of the quota, they shall be sent to the
share in excess, on 15 February 1986 of 5 % of the             issuing body as soon as possible and at all events on
initial amount. They may return a larger quantity if           their expiry.
there are reasons to consider that such quantity may
not be used.                                                                            Article 11
However, amounts for which import certificates have            On request by the Commission, Member States shall
been issued but not used shall not be returned to the          inform it of imports actually charged against their
reserve.                                                       shares.
The Member States shall, not later than 1 March                                         Article 12
1986 notify the Commission of the total imports of
the animals in question effected, up to 15 February            Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
1986 inclusive, and charged against the tariff quota,          closely to ensure that the provisions of this Regu-
the amounts referred to in the second subparagraph             lation are observed.
and, where appropriate the proportion of their initial
share that they return to the reserve.                                                  Article 13
                         Article 8                             This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 1985.
The Commission shall keep accounts of the amounts              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
of the shares opened by Member States in accordance            directly applicable in all Member States.