CELEX: 51997PC0608
Language: en
Date: 1997-11-20
Title: Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998)

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                             Brussels, 20.11.1997
                                             COM(97) 608 final
                              Proposal for a
                    COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)
temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff
                  duties on certain fishery products (1998)
                     (presented by the Commission)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                              EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. During the third quarter of this year, the Commission, assisted by the Economic Tariff
    Problems Group, has reviewed all the requests for temporary suspension of autonomous
    Common Customs Tariff duties presented to it by the Member States, including requests
    for extending suspensions at present in force.
 2. The attached proposal concerns a number of fishery products.
    For industrial and agricultural products, the proposal for a Regulation temporarily
    suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties is also being prepared.
3.  The requests for suspension relating to the above products were examined in the light of
    the criteria set out in the communication from the Commission to the Council and the
    Member States concerning autonomous tariff suspensions (see OJ C 235, 13.9.1989, p. 2).
    Following this review, the Commission considers that the suspension of duties is justified
    for the products listed in the Annex to the attached proposal for a Regulation.
4.  As can be seen from Article 1 of the above-mentioned proposal for a Regulation, the
    period of validity of the proposed measure is 12 months.
                                            d.
 ---pagebreak---                                            Proposal for a
                          COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No                  /97
                                        of             1997
      temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff
                            duties on certain fishery products (1998)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 28
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas the Community relies at present on imports from third countries for supplies of
certain fishery products; whereas it is in the interest of the Community to suspend partially or
totally the customs duties for these products; whereas, in order to avoid endangering the
prospects for developing the production of competitive products in the Community while
ensuring that the industries concerned receive the necessary supplies, it is advisable to adopt
these suspension measures only from 1 January to 31 December 1998,
Whereas it is for the Community to decide to suspend these autonomous duties,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                             Article 1
1. From 1 January to 31 December 1998 the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on
the products listed in the Annex are hereby suspended at the level indicated for each product.
2. Imports of these products shall qualify for the suspension referred to in paragraph 1 only
provided that the free-at-frontier price laid down by the Member States, in accordance with
Article 22 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92 of 17 December 1992 on the common
organisation of the market in fishery and aquaculture products, 1 is not lower than the reference
price fixed or to be fixed by the Community for the products or categories of products in
question.
                                             Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1998.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at        ,       1997
                                                              For the Council
                                                              The President
    OJ No L 388, 31.12.1992, p. 1, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1891/93 of 12.7.1993
    (OJNoL 172, 15.7.1993, p. 1).
 ---pagebreak---                                                       ANNEX
                                                                                                               Rate of
        CN code & TARIC                                      Description                                     autonomous
                                                                                                              duty (%)
0001     0302 65  20    Dogfish of the species Squalus           acanthias,    fresh, chilled or frozen
         0303 75  20
      ex0304  10  98 60
      ex0304  90  97 31
0002  ex0302 69 99 30   Sturgeons, fresh, chilled or frozen, for processing                    (a) (b)
      ex0303 79 96 30
0003  ex0302 69 99 40   Lump fish {Cyclopterus       lumpus)    with roe, fresh or chilled, for
                        processing (a)
0004  ex0302 69 99 50   Red Snapper {Lutjanus       purpureus),       fresh, chilled or frozen, for
      ex0303 79 96 40   processing      (a) (c)
0005  ex0302  70  00 11 Hard fish roes, fresh, chilled or frozen
      ex0302  70  00 31
      ex0302  70  00 41
      ex0302  70  00 91
      ex0303  80  90 10
      ex0303  80  90 19
0006  ex0303 10 00 10   Pacific salmon {Oncorhynchus          spp.),     frozen and headiest, for the
                        processing industry for manufacture into pastes or spreads (a)
0008  ex0304 20 85 10   Fillets and meat of Alaska pollack [Theragra chalcogramma),                  in the          8.5
      ex0304 90 61 10   form of industrial blocks, frozen, for processing                    (a) (b)
0009  ex0305 20 00 11   Hard fish roes, salted or in brine
      ex0305 20 00 19
0010  ex0306 19 90 10   Krill for processing        (a)
      (;x0306 2 9 90 10
0022  exl604 11 00 20   Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus          spp.),     for the processing industry for
      exl604 20 10 20   manufacture into pastes or spreads               (a)
0023  exl604 30 90 10   Hard fish roes, washed, cleaned of adherent organs and simply salted
                        or in brine, for processing (a)
0024  exl605 10 00 11   Crabs of the species 'King' (Paralithodes              camchaticus),     'Hanasaki'
      exl605 10 00 19    {Paralithodes   brevipes),     'Kegani' (Erimacrus isenbecki) , "Queen' and
                         'Snow' (Chionoecetes spp.),         'Red' (Geryon quinquedens),         'Rough
                        stone' (Neolithodes asperrimus),             Lithodes antarctica,      'Mud' (Scylla
                         serrata),   'Blue' [Portunus      spp.),     simply boiled in water and
                         shelled, whether or not frozen, in immediate packings of a net
                         content of 2 kg or more
 0025  exl605 10 00 92   Crabs of the species Paralomis              granulosa
       exl605 10 00 94
                                                         <f
 ---pagebreak--- (a) Control of the use for this special purpose shall be carried out
    pursuant to the relevant Community provisions.
(b) The suspension shall apply to fish intended to undergo any operation
    unless they are intended to undergo exclusively one or more of the
    following operations:
    - cleaning, gutting, tailing, heading,
    - cutting (excluding filleting or cutting of frozen blocks),
    - sampling, sorting,
    - labelling,
    - packing,
    - chilling,
    - freezing,
    - deep freezing,
    - thawing, separation.
    The suspension is not allowed for products intended, in addition, to
    undergo treatment (or operations) qualifying for suspension where such
    treatment (or operations) is (are) carried out at retail or catering
    level. The suspension of customs duties shall apply only to fish
    intended for human consumption.
(c) However, the suspension is not allowed where processing is carried out
    by retail or catering undertakings.
                                     r
 ---pagebreak---                                    FINANCIAL STATEMENT
1. Budget heading involved: Chapter 12 Article 120
2.    Title of operation: Proposal for a Council Regulation temporarily suspending all or some
      of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998).
3.    Legal basis: Article 28 of the EC Treaty.
4.    Objective: Suspension of the CCT duties for the above products.
5.   Measures aimed at prevention and protection: Checks on the end-use of some of the
     products covered by this Council Regulation will be carried out in accordance with
     Articles 291 to 304 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions
     for the implementation of the Community Customs Code.
6.   Cost:
     By contrast with the previous year (for which the cost of the entire operation was
     estimated at ECU 38 565 000 ), it is now proposed that:
    - one product be removed from the list of suspensions, i.e. "fillets and meat of hake"
     (CN headings 0304 20 55 10, 0304 20 58 10 and 0304 90 47 30) because the normal rate
     of duty will be some 9% from 1 January 1998 whereas, so far, the suspended rate has been
     10%; and
   - a suspension on "Paralomis granulosa crabs" be added.
     The result of the current estimate of revenue foregone, which takes into account the most
     recent known EUROSTAT statistics (1995), is a gain of ECU 1 100 000 in respect of the
     product deleted from the list, and a loss of ECU 33 000 in respect of the added product,
     i.e. an overall decrease of ECU 1 067 000 in the amount of duty not collected.
     Estimated cost of this operation (1 January 1998-31 December 1998)
     The amount of duty foregone as a result of the proposed measure may therefore be
     estimated at ECU 37 498 000, which is down ECU 1 067 000 from the recorded ECU 38
     565 000 foregone in respect of the previous measure (1 January 1997 to 31 December
      1997).
                                                &
 ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                            COM(97) 608 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                     03 02
                                    Catalogue number : CB-C0-97-626-EN-C
                                                             ISBN 92-78-27682-0
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
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