CELEX: 51987PC0102(01)
Language: en
Date: 1987-03-16
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ON THE OPENING, ALLOCATING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE COMMUNITY TARIFF QUOTA OF 42 600 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

1.4.87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 86/5
               Proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the opening, allocating and providing for the
               administration of the Community Tariff quota of 42 600 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(87) 102 final
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 18 March 1987)
                                                         (87/C 86/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           special factors, the Community nature of the tariff quota
                                                                   in question should be preserved by making provision for
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              requirements which may arise in these Member States;
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43 and              whereas, to this end, these Member States proceed to
 113 thereof,                                                      draw adequate shares from the Community reserve
                                                                   which has been set up; whereas, in order to reflect as
Having regard to the Act of Accession of Spain and                 closely as possible the actual trend of the market in
Portugal,                                                          question, the initial allocation must be made in pro-
                                                                   portion to the requirements of each of the Member
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                 States concerned, calculated in accordance with stati-
                                                                   stical data concerning imports from third countries
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parl-                 during a representative reference period and with
iament,                                                            economic prospects for the quota period in question;
Whereas       the    European     Economic       Community
undertook, within the framework of GATT, to open an                Whereas, since the animals in question belong to certain
annual Community tariff quota of 20 000 head at a duty             specific breeds which are not specified as such in the
of 6 % for heifers and cows, other than those intended             statistical nomenclatures of the Member States, no data
for slaughter, of certain mountain breeds, falling within          on imports provided by the Member States could be
subheading ex 01.02 A l l of the Common Customs                    considered to be sufficiently accurate and representative
Tariff; whereas eligibility for such quota is subject to           to be used as a basis for the allocation in question;
conditions to be determined by the competent authorities           whereas the extent to which Community tariff quotas for
of the Member State of destination; whereas, in an                 those animals in the Community have been exhausted
exchange of letters with Austria dated 21 July 1972, the           and the estimates made by certain Member States enable
Community undertook unilaterally to increase the size of           the requirements of each of them as regards imports
the tariff quota from 20 000 to 30 000 head and to lower           from third countries for the quota period envisaged to be
the quota duty from 6 to 4 % ; whereas, subsequently,              assessed as follows:
this quota was increased unilaterally to 38 000 head;
Whereas according to the exchange of letters dated 14                          Germany                   20 000  head
July 1986, which were adopted by the Council's Decision                        Greece                     3 000  head
of 15 September 1986 (') the volume of this tariff quota                       France                     1 800  head
was raised to 42 600 head as from 1 July 1986;                                 Italy                     16 000  head
                                                                   whereas in the absence of precise information, the needs
Whereas the abovementioned tariff quota for the period             of the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom, Ireland
1 July 1987 to 30 June 1988 should therefore be opened             and Spain may be assessed at 100, 50, 50 and 100 head
at a duty of 4 % in relation to a quantity of 42 600 head;         respectively;
Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure equal and
continuous access for all Community importers to the               Whereas, in order to take into account the possible trend
abovementioned        quota,    and    the     uninterrupted       of imports of the aforementioned animals into the said
application of the quota duties, to all imports of the             Member States, the quota amount of 42 600 head should
animals in question until the quota is exhausted;                  be divided into two parts, the first being allocated among
whereas, having regard to the principles defined above,            certain Member States, the second forming a reserve
the Community nature of the quota can be respected by              intended subsequently to cover the requirements of those
allocating the Community tariff quota among the                    Member States when their initial shares are exhausted
Member States; whereas possibilities for the use of such           and requirements which may arise within other Member
mountain breeds are, however, limited by special factors,          States; whereas, in order to ensure a certain degree of
both geographical and zootechnical; whereas certain                security for importers in the aforementioned Member
Member States do not have regions suitable for breeding            States, the first part of the Community quota should be
this kind of cattle; whereas, however, in view of such             determined at a level which, under the present circum-
                                                                   stances, may be approximately 76 % of the quota
0) OJ No L 328, 22. 11. 1986, p. 57.                               amount;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 86/6                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                    1.4.87
Whereas the initial shares of those Member States may                                          Article 2
be used up more or less rapidly; whereas, in order to
take this fact into account and avoid any break in                 Within the framework of the quota referred to in Article
continuity, it is important that that Member State having           1 (1), the Common Customs Tariff duty for the animals
used up almost the whole of its initial share should draw          referred to in the said paragraph shall be suspended at
an additional share from the reserve; whereas this must            4%.
be done by each of these Member States as and when
each of its additional shares is almost entirely used up,          Within the limits of this tariff quota, the Kingdom of
and repeated as many times as the reserve allows;                  Spain and the Portuguese Republic shall apply customs
whereas the initial and additional shares must be                  duties calculated in accordance with the relevant
available until the end of the quota period; whereas such          provisions in the Act of Accession.
method of administration calls for close cooperation
between Member States and the Commission, which
latter must, in particular, be able to observe the extent to                                   Article 3
which the quota amounts are used and inform Member
States thereof;                                                    1.    A first part of 32 500 head shall be allocated among
                                                                   the Member States listed below. The shares shall apply
                                                                   from 1 July 1987 to 30 June 1988 subject to Article 7,
Whereas if, at a specified date within the quota period, a         and shall be as follows:
considerable balance of the initial share of one or other
of the Member States is left over, it is essential that that                  Benelux                        100 head
State should return a considerable part of such balance                       Germany                     16 000 head
to the reserve in order that part of the Community tariff                     Greece                       2 600 head
quota should not remain unused in one Member State                            Spain                          100 head
while it could be used in others;                                             France                       1 600 head
                                                                              Ireland                         50 head
                                                                              Italy                       12 000 head
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom                            United Kingdom                  50 head
of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxem-
bourg are united within and jointly represented by the             2.    The second part of 10 100 head shall be held as a
Benelux Economic Union, any measure concerning the                 Community reserve.
administration of the shares allocated to that economic
union may be carried out by any one of its members,
                                                                                               Article 4
                                                                   If an importer notifies an imminent importation of the
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                       animals in question in a Member State not participating
                                                                   in the initial allocation and requests the benefit of the
                                                                   quota, the Member State concerned shall inform the
                                                                   Commission and draw an amount corresponding to these
                          Article 1
                                                                   requirements to the extent that the available balance of
1.    During the period 1 July 1987 to 30 June 1988 a              the reserve permits this.
Community tariff quota of 42 600 head shall be opened
within the European Economic Community in respect of
imports from third countries of cows and heifers, other                                        Article 5
than those intended for slaughter, of the following                1.    If 90 % or more of the initial quota share of one of
mountain breeds; grey, brown, yellow and mottled                   the Member States referred to in Article 3, or of that
Simmental breed and mottled Pinzgau breed, falling                 share less the amount returned to the reserve, where
within subheading ex 01.02 A l l of the Common                     Article 7 has been applied, has been used up, that
Customs Tariff.                                                    Member State shall immediately, by notifying the
                                                                   Commission, draw a second share in so far as the reserve
                                                                   permits, equal to 10 % of its initial share, rounded off
2.     For the purposes of this Regulation, the                    upwards, if necessary, to the next unit.
abovementioned cows and heifers shall be considered not
intended for slaughter if they are not slaughtered within
four months following the date of their importation.               2.    If, after the initial share has been exhausted, 90 %
                                                                   or more of the second share drawn by one of these
                                                                   Member States has been used up, that Member State
Derogations may, however, be granted in the event of an            shall, in accordance with paragraph 1, immediately draw
act of God duly attested by a local authority certificate          a third share equal to 5 % of its initial share, rounded
setting out the reasons for the slaughter.                         off upwards, if necessary, to the next unit.
3.    The said quota shall be administered in accordance            3.   If, after the second share has been exhausted, 90 %
with the following Articles.                                        or more of the third share drawn by one of these
 ---pagebreak--- 1.4.87                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 86/7
Member States has been used up, that Member State                  The Commission shall ensure that any drawing which
shall, in accordance with paragraph 1, draw a fourth               exhausts the reserve is limited to the balance available
share equal to the third.                                          and, to this end, shall specify the amount thereof to the
                                                                   Member State making the last drawing.
The same method shall be applied until the reserve is
exhausted.                                                                                     Article 9
4.      By way of derogation from paragraphs 1, 2 and 3,           Member States shall take all measures necessary to
each of these Member States may draw shares lower                  ensure that when additional shares are drawn pursuant
than those fixed in these paragraphs if there are reasons          to Articles 4 or 5 it is possible for imports to be counted
to consider that such shares might not be exhausted.               without interruption against their accumulated shares of
They shall inform the Commission of the grounds which              the Community quota.
led them to apply this paragraph.
                                                                                              Article 10
                            Article 6
                                                                    1.    Member States shall take all measures necessary to
The additional shares drawn in pursuance of Article 5              ensure that access to the tariff quota in question is
shall apply until 30 June 1988.                                    restricted to cattle as specified in Article 1(1) and (2).
                                                                   2.     They shall ensure free access to the shares allocated
                            Article 7
                                                                   to them for importers.
Member States shall return to the reserve, not later than
 1 March 1988, the unused portion of their initial share in         3.    The extent to which the shares of the Member
excess, on 15 February 1988, of 5 % of the initial                  States have been used up shall be recorded on the basis
amount. They may return a larger quantity if there are              of imports submitted for customs clearance under cover
reasons to consider that such quantity may not be used.             of declarations that they have been made available for
                                                                    free circulation.
However, amounts for which import certificates have
been issued but not used shall not be returned to the               4.    Where import documents are used for the
                                                                    administration of the quota, they shall be sent to the
reserve.
                                                                    issuing body as soon as possible and at all events on their
                                                                    expiry.
The Member States shall, not later than 1 March 1988,
 notify the Commission of the total imports of the
 animals in question effected, up to 15 February 1988                                          Article 11
 inclusive, and charged against the tariff quota, the
 amounts referred to in the second subparagraph and,                On request by the Commission, Member States shall
 where appropriate the proportion of their initial share            inform it of imports actually charged against their shares.
 that they return to the reserve.
                                                                                               Article 12
                             Article 8
                                                                     Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
                                                                     closely to ensure that the provisions of this Regulation
 The Commission shall keep accounts of the amounts of
                                                                     are observed.
 the shares opened by Member States in accordance with
 Articles 3, 4 and 5 and shall inform each of them of the
  extent to which the reserve has been exhausted as soon                                       Article 13
  as it receives the notifications.
                                                                     This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 1987.
  The Commission shall, not later than 5 March 1988
  notify Member States of the amount in the reserve after            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
  the return of shares pursuant to Article 7.                        directly applicable in all Member States.