CELEX: 51981PC0210
Language: en
Date: 1981-04-29
Title: DRAFT COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain eels falling within subheading ex 03.01 A II of the Common Customs Tariff (1 July 1981 to 30 June 1982) (presented by the Commission to the Council)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (81) 210
Vol. 1981/0077
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 ---pagebreak---  COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                                 COM(81)210 final
                                                                 Brussels , 29th April 1981
                           DRAFT COUNCIL REGULATION                 ( EEC )
             opening , allocating and providing for the administration
             of a Community tariff quota for certain eels falling within
             subheading ex 03.01 A II of the Common Customs Tariff
             (1 July 1981 to 30 June 1982 )
                   ( presented by the Commission to the Council )
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COM ( 81 ) 210 final
 ---pagebreak---                           Explanatory memorandum
  In recent years, eel fishing has been prohibited or has become impossible
  in certain Community production centres owing to pollution of the waters.
  Efforts have been made to increase production in other centres in order to
  compensate at least for the losses of the quantities available. Despite
  these efforts, it has been observed that Community production has
  remained insufficient to supply the demands of the Member States' fish
  processing industries.
  This situation prompted the Council -on a proposal from the Commission-
  to open from 1971 a duty-free Community tariff guota for certain fresh
  eels live or dead, chilled or frozen, falling within subheading ex 03.01 A II
  of the Common Customs Tariff .                                 >     *
  The situation of the eel market was reexamined at a meeting of the
  Working Party on Economic Tariff Problems held on 29 January 1981 .
  At that meeting it emerged that ;the supply situation had not undergone
. any appreciable change and consequently it seemed advisable to envisage
  a prorogation of the tariff measures currently in force by 'opening an
  annual tariff quota for the period from 1 July 1981 to 30 June 1982. The
  volume of this tariff quota could be fixed at 7 ,400 tonnes, this
  corresponding broadly to the stated requirements of the Member States
  for imports from third countries. Any subsequent requirements could be
  covered by a decision to increase the v quota volume following a
  reexamination of the situation.
  As    regards   the   subdivision of    the above-mentioned volume         of
  7 400 tonnes , a first instalment of 5 920 tonnes is allocated among the
  Member States in proportion to requirements. The balance of 1 480 tonnes
  will constitute the Community reserve.                    .       * .     . :
  This is the objective of the attached draft.
 ---pagebreak---   The'question was also raised concerning the basis on which the customs
  duties must be calculated on imports from Greece of eels, which are
 subject to the tariff quota, during the period when this quota is opened.
 In this, connexion, it is appropriate to reiterate that customs duties on
 imports between the Community of the Nine and the Hellenic Republic
are determined by Article 25 of the 1979 Act of Accession ancf are
 conditional upon the basic duty defined in Article 24 as being the duty
 actually applied on 1 July 1980 .
On that date, moreover , the Community of the Nine totally suspended the
 Common Customs Tariff duty, within the limits of an erga omnes
Community tariff quota of 7 400 tonnes, no part of , which was reserved
for the benefit of any third country, including Greece.
With regard to the eels in question, it follows that the basic duty to be
used in application of Article 25 is to be determined by the zero duty
applicable within the limits of the tariff quota opened in 1980 until this
quota has been totally used up, and by the residual duties actually applied
on 1 July 1980 in each Member State , after this quota has been used up.
                                      χ
Accordingly, the duty on imports of such eels from Greece will be (i) zero
duty until a tariff quota of a volume equivalent to that opened in 1980,
viz. 7 400 tonnes, has been used up, and (ii) the residual duty applicable on
 1 July 1980 in each Member State, reduced by 10 96, after this quota has
been used up.
Invoking the provisions of Article 26 is therefore not justified at present.
The question would be reconsidered if the quota volume were to be
increased during the year.                       .         .
However , as the provisions of the Act of Adhesion are directly applicable,
   /
no precisions on the tariff regime in force inside the Community should
figure in the text of the Regulation on this tariff quota.
 ---pagebreak--- 3. The customs duties applicable in Greece on import from the Community
   of Nine, are determined conforming to the same provisions of the Act of
   Adhesion corresponding, without prejudice to the application           of
   Article 27, to the duties applicable on 1 July 1980;
U. As concerns the duty applicable in Greece in the context of this tariff
   quota the Regulations forsee that the duty is fixed in application of the
   provisions of the Act of Adhesion.
 ---pagebreak---                                                            Draft
                                   COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
              opening , allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
              quota for certain eels falling within subheading ex 03.01 A II of the Common
                                    Customs Tariff (1 July 1981 to 30 June 1983.)                          ,
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    rupted access to the abovementioned quota and unin­
 COMMUNITIES,.                                    '      '      terrupted application of the rate laid down for that
                                                               quota to all imports of the products concerned into all
                                                               Member States until the quota has been used up ;
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European         whereas, in the light of these principles, the Commu­
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 28              nity nature of the quota can be respected by allocating
 thereof,                                                      the tariff quota among the Member States listed
                                                               below ; whereas statistics available for these products
 Having regard to the draft Regulation submitted by            do not give a clear picture of the market situation for
the Commission,                                                them ; whereas, therefore, it is not possible to allocate
                                                               the quota among the Member States on the b-ofsis of
                                                               import trends for the relevant products over the past
Whereas eel fishing has been prohibited or has                 few years ; whereas, however, according to the esti­
become impossible in certain Community production              mates put forward by the Member States, initial shares
centres ; whereas this has led to a drop in Community          may be fixed at the quantities set out in Article 2 ;
production of eels in general and particularly of fresh
eels (live or .dead), chilled or frozen, falling within
subheading ex 03.01 A il of the Common Customs                 Whereas, in order to take into account import trends
Tariff, intended for processing by curing or skinning          for the products concerned, the quota amount should
enterprises or for use in the industrial manufacture of        be divided into two instalments, the first instalment ,
products falling within heading No 16.04 thereof ;             being allocated, and the second forming a reserve
whereas the processing industries in the Community'            intended subsequently to cover the requirements of
consequently depend to a large extent on imports for           the Member States which have used up their initial
their supplies of eels ; whereas, from 1 July 1984 to 30       shares ; whereas, in order to ensure a certain degree of
June 1982, the application of the autonomous                   security for importers, the first instalment of the
Common Customs Tariff duty should therefore be                 Community tariff quota should be fixed at a level
suspended totally on imports of the relevant products          which, under present circumstances, may be approxi­
up to an appropriate quantitative limit ; whereas the          mately 80 % of the quota amount ;
introduction of a Community measure of this nature
is unlikely to harm Community production ;                     Whereas the initial shares may be used up at different
                                                               rates ; whereas, in order to take this fact into account
Whereas current demand not met by Community                    and to avoid any break in continuity, any Member
production which must therefore be met by imports              State which has almost used up its total initial share
can be estimated at 7 400 tonnes for the period 1 July         should draw an additional share from the reserve ;
 1980 to 30 June 1981 ; whereas a tariff quota for the        "Whereas this must be done by each Member State as
                                                              and when each       of its additional shares    is almost
relevant types of eel should therefore be opened for
this period on the conditions set out above ; whereas         entirely used up, and repeated as many times as the
the fixing of the quota volume at this level does not,        reserve allows ; whereas the initial additional shares
however, prevent its readjustment during the quota            must be valid until the end of the quota period ;
period ; •                    '                               whereas this method of administration requires close
                                                              cooperation between Member States and the Commis­
                                                              sion, which must be able to keep account of the
Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure to all        extent to which the quota amount has been used up
importers in the Member States equal and uninter­             and to inform the Member States accordingly ; •
 ---pagebreak---                                                    - 2 -
    Whereas' if, at a given date in the quota period, a
    considerable b.il.mcc remains in one or other Member
    State it is essential , to prevent a part of the Commu­
    nity tariff quota from remaining unused in one
    Member State while it could be used in others, that
    that Member State should return a significant propor­
    tion thereof to the reserve ; *
                                            \
   Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
    Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
   Luxembourg arc united within and jointly represented
   by the Benelux Economic Union, any measure
   concerning the administration of the shares allocated
   to that economic union may be carried out by any
   one of its members,
   HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                              Article I
   1.     During the period 1 July 198-f to 30 June 1982,
   a Community tariff quota of 7 400 tonnes shall be
   opened lor fresh eels (live or dead) chilled or frozen,  1
   falling within subheading ex 03.01 A II of the
   Common Customs Tariff, intended for processing by
   curing or skinning enterprises or for use in the indus­
   trial manufacture of products falling within heading         -   '
   No 16.04 of the Common Customs Tariff. .
   Control of the use for this special . purpose shall be
   carried out pursuant to the relevant Community provi­
   sions.                                                 ' /
                                                                  -     .
   2. Within the limits of this tariff quota, the
   Common Customs Tariff duty shall be totally
   suspended.
Within these limits, Greece shall apply duties calculated in accordance with
the relevant provisions laid down in the 1979 Act of Accession.
                               Article 2
     1 ." A first instalment of 5 9%o tonnes of this
     Community tariff quota shall be allocated among the      \
     Member States. Member States' shares, which, subject
     to Article 5, shall be valid from I July 1984 to 30
    June 1982. shall consist of the following amounts :
 ---pagebreak---                                              - 3 -
                                                           (tonnes)
Bénélux                                                       2 708
Denmark                                                         881
Germany                                                       2 015
Greece                                                            3
France                                                           57
Ireland                                                           3
Italy                                                             4
United Kingdom                                                  249
2.     The second instalment of 1 USO tonnes shall constitute the reserve .
                          Article 3
  1.   If 90 % or more of a Member State s initial share
 as fixed in Article 2 ( 1 ), or of that share minus any
 portion returned to the reserve where Article 5 has
 been applied, has been used up, that Member State
 shall forthwith, by notifying the Commission, draw a
 second share, to the extent that the reserve so permits,
 equal to 1 5 % of its initial share, rounded up as neces­
 sary to the next whole number.
 2.    If, after its initial share has been exhausted,
 90 % or more of the second share drawn by a
 Member State has been used up, that Member State
 shall forthwith, by notifying the Commission, draw a
 third share equal to 7-5 % of its initial share, rounded
 up as necessary to , the next whole number, to the
 extent that the reserve so permits.
 3 . ' If, after its second share has been exhausted,
 90 % or more of the third share drawn by a Member
 State has been used up, that Member State shall, in
 the manner provided in paragraph 2, draw a fourth
 share equal to the third .
 This procedure shall apply until the reserve is used
 up.
 4.    By way of derogation from paragraphs I , 2 and
 3, Member States may draw lesser shares than those
 specified therein if there are grounds for believing
 that those specified may not be used in full . They
 shall inform the Commission of their reasons for
 applying this paragraph.
 ---pagebreak---                                                 Artide 4
                    ..S"™,;,1 1rjrzr"""" " A"icie 3                         "*
                                               Article S
             ^ Member States shall return to the reserve not later
                   than 1 May 1982., the unused portions of their initial
                   sha res wh.ch on 15 Apri! 198j> are in excess of 20 %
                   of the initial amounts. They may return a greater
                   portion   .f there are grounds for believing that such
                   portion may not be used in full .
  Member States
             ates shall notify the Commission, not later            2.    Member States shall ensure that importers of the
  than 1 May  ay 198%
                    198i, of the total quantities of the            products in question established in their territory have
  products inv question imported, up to and including               free access to the shares allocated to them .
  15 April 1 98
              98J.J- and charged against the Community
  quota and of  of anyany portion
                            portion of  of their
                                            their initial
                                                    initial shares
                                                            shares  3-    Member States shall charge imports of the
  returned to> the
                the reserve
                      reserve..                                     products in question against their shares as and when
                                                                    the products are entered with the customs authorities
                              A .• /. ^                             for free circulation.
                             Article 6
  The Commission shall keep an account of the shares                4.    The extent to which a Member State has used up
                                                                    its share shall be determined on the basis of the
  opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2
  and 3 and, as soon as-'it has been notified, shall inform         imports charged against that share in accordance with
> each State of the extent to which the reserve has been            paragraph 3.                    >     ,
  used up.
  It shall inform the Member States, not later than 5                                      Article 8
  May 1982 of the amount still in reserve after amounts
  have been returned thereto pursuant to Article 5.                 At the Commission s request, Member States shall
                                                                     inform it of the imports actually charged against their
  It shall ensure that the drawing which exhausts the               shares.
  reserve does not exceed the balance available, and to
  this end shall notify the amount of that balance to the                                  Article 9
  Member State making the last drawing.
                                                                    Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
                             Article 7                              closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied
                                                                    with.
   1.   Member       States     shall    take   all    appropriate
  measures    to    ensure    that    additional    shares  drawn
  pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that                                      Article 10
  imports may be charged without interruption against              !
  their aggregate shares of the Community quota.                    This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 198-f.
                This Regulation shall be. binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                 States.         -
                                                                                                      » -
                 Done at
                                                     -                          For the Council
                                                                                  The President