CELEX: 51977PC0619
Language: en
Date: 1977-11-22
Title: Proposal for a REGULATION (EEC) OF THE COUNCIL opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for unwrought magnesium falling within subheading 77.01 A of the Common Customs Tariff (1978) (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (77) 619
Vol. 1977/0201
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concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique
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p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003
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In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic
Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as
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file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom 1.
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Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L 43 vom 15.2.1983,
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 ---pagebreak---        COMMISSION OF THE . EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                           COM(77)619 final.
                                                           Brussels . 22 November 1977 *
                                       Proposal for a
                               REGULATION" (EEC ) OP THE COUNCIL
               opening , allocating and providing for the administration of
            a Community tariff quota for unwrought magnesium falling within
                - subheading 77.01 A of the Common Customs Tariff ( 1978 )
                          ( submitted to the Council "by the Commission)
C 0" ( 77 ) 619 final .
 ---pagebreak---                                   EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
In an exchange of Letters with the Nordic Delegation , the Community
undertook to open at the beginning of each year a tariff quota for
unwrought magnesium falling within subheading 77.01 A of the Common
Customs Tariff ; the volume of this tariff quota is to be calculated in such
a way that any excess of Community requirements over Community production
of this product may be imported duty-free .
This proposal concerns the opening , allocation and administration of
the tariff quota for 1978 .
It has proved to be extremely hazardous to fix the tariff quota
volume in recent year owing to the impossibility of forecasting Community
consumption and production levels . For these reasons , the tariff quota
volume opened on 1 January each year has been fixed at a moderate level ,
calculated conservatively and mid-year adjustments based on more accurate
data and estimates have not been ruled out .
A preliminary examination after the " Tariff Economic Problems " group meeting of
27 September 1977 has revealed no evolution of the situation , that
acceptable forecasts can be made before 1978 and that the Community
magnesium market situation is largely identical now to the way it was
when the 1977 quota was opened up , with however some differences
a ) the Community production of extra-pure, unwrought magnesium could reach
    1500 metric tons in Italy , instead of the 500 tons suggested for 1977 ,
    the quantities available for export could also exist in France , without
    of being able to quantify them ;
b ) the Community production of magnesium in general could go up by 2 500
    metric tons in Italy compared to 1977 and reach 15 , 000 . metric tons ;
c ) Community consumption of magnesium could reach a new low , due to a decrease
    seen in certain Member States in 1977 .
 ---pagebreak--- Dans ces conditions , il est propose , pour le contingent tarifaire
à ouvrir le 1er janvier 1978 , de faire usage une nouvelle fois
de la méthode retenue ces dernières années , et de reconduire les
mesures adoptées par le Conseil pour l' année 1977 , en ce qui
concerne la fixation du volume global , sa subdivision entre les
trois qualités de magnésium et la répartition entre les Etats
membres .
                               é
 ---pagebreak---                                             Proposal for a
                                 COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC)
               opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
               quota for unwrought magnesium falling within subheading 77.01 A of the
                 i                       Common Customs Tariff ( 1978 )
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                               sium containing less than 99-8 % by weight of pure
COMMUNITIES,                                              magnesium (hereinafter called 'unwrought magnesium
                                                          in alloy') differ considerably ; whereas a distinction
                                                          should therefore be made between these three quali­
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European     ties and the quota volume under consideration should
Economic Community, and in particular Article 113         be divided between them :
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,        Whereas, taking into account an overall, provisional
                                                          quota volume of 5 500 tonnes , the following
                                                          quantities may be allocated to each quality of the
                                                          product in question : 600 tonnes for extra-pure
Whereas, in an exchange of letters dated 30 June          magnesium, 1 325 tonnes ^or unwrought magne­
1967, confirmed in an exchange of letters dated 16        sium not in alloy and 3 575 1 tonnes                  f°r
April 1973, the European Economic Community has           unwrought magnesium in alloy ; whereas these figures
undertaken, as regards unwrought magnesium falling        appear justified both by the former ratios of consump­
within tariff subheading 77.01 A, to open an annual       tion of these qualities to total consumption of magne­
Community tariff quota for a quantity such that           sium and by the supply possibilities for these realities
Community requirements for the said goods not             of magnesium within the Community ;
covered by Community production may be imported
duty free ;
                                                          Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota
Whereas, in order to establish the volume of the          should be ensured for all importers and the rate of
Community tariff quota, an assessment must be made        levy for the tariff quota should be applied consistently
of the total consumption by the user industries of the    to all imports until the quota is used up ; whereas, in
Member States during the quota year and of the            the light of the principles outlined above, a Commu­
Community production level for the same period ;          nity tariff arrangement based on an allocation between
whereas even a very rough assessment of total             the Member States would seem to preserve the
consumption and production for 1978 would be              Community nature of the quota ; whereas, to repre­
highly unreliable since it is at present impossible to    sent as closely as possible the actual development of
estimate either the volume of unwrought magnesium         the market in the said goods, the allocation must
used in certain Member States in the year under           follow proportionately the requirements of the
consideration or the likely level of Community            Member States calculated both         from statistics of
output ; whereas, in any case, it is unlikely that        imports from third countries during a representative
Community production will fully meet demand in the        reference period and from the economic outlook for
quota year ; whereas the annual quota volume must         the quota year in question ;
therefore be fixed at an appropriate level, probably
about 5 500 tonnes J         whereas this assessment is
based on conservative estimates and later adjustments
are not excluded :                                        Whereas, however, the available statistics of imports
                                                          into the Member States from third countries which
                                                          did not benefit from an equivalent tariff preference
                                                          under any other preferential arrangements cover only
                                                          unwrought magnesium in alloy and unwrought magne­
                                                          sium not in alloy ; whereas, during the last three years
Whereas the        markets  in magnesium     containing   for which statistics are available, such imports repre­
 99-95 % or more by weight of pure magnesium (here­       sented the following percentages of total imports of
 inafter called 'extra-pure magnesium'), in magnesium     the said goods ; whereas, from the information at
 containing 99-8 % or more, but less than 99-95 % by      present to hand, it would seem' that imports of extra-
 weight of pure magnesium (hereinafter called             pure magnesium are effected almost wholly in the «
 'unwrought magnesium not in alloy') and in magne­        United Kingdom :
 ---pagebreak---       – for ttn wrought magnesium
            not in alloy :            1973       1974         1975
                                                                          of security, the first tranches should be fixed at 1 1 95
                                                                           ^tonnes of unwrought magnesium not in alloy and
           Bénélux                    6-55     23-18          004         3 150 tonnes of unwrought magnesium in alloy,
           Denmark                    0          0            0           the balances being held as the reserves ;
           Germany                  69-93      52-96        5500
           France                     9-39       71 1        8-8          Whereas the initial shares may be used up more or
           Ireland                    0-01       001         0
                                                                          less quickly ; whereas, therefore, in order to avoid
           Italy                      3-06      2-21         7-47
                                                                          disrupting supplies, any Member State which has
           United Kingdom           11-06      14-53         9-31
                                                                          almost used up one of its initial shares should draw a
                                                                         supplementary share from the relevant reserve ;
                                                                         whereas this must be done by each Member State as
          for unwrought magnesium in alloy :                             each one of its supplementary shares is almost used
                                     1973       1974         19 75
                                                                         up, as many times as the reserve allows ; whereas the
          Bénélux                    318        1-72         1-88
                                                                         initial and supplementary shares must be valid until
          Denmark                    0          0            0
                                                                         the end of the quota period ; whereas this form of
          Germany                   93-23      94-26       96-23
                                                                        administration requires close collaboration between
          France                     0            •57        0
                                                                        the Member States and the Commission, and the
          Ireland                    0-01       0            0
                                                                        Commission must be in a position to follow the
          Italy                     3-56       2-05         1 -08       extent to which the quota volume has been used up
          United Kingdom            002        0-39         0-81
                                                                        and inform the Member States thereof ;
                                                                        Whereas if, at a given date in the quota period, a
                                                                        Member State has a considerable quantity of one of its
                                                                       initial shares left over, it is essential that it should
   Whereas, in view of these factors and of market fore­               return a significant proportion thereof to the relevant
   casts for these products in 1978i it is necessary in the            reserve, to prevent a part of one or other quota volume
   case of extra-pure unwrought magnesium to allocate                  from remaining unused in one Member State while it
   on an experimental basis the quota volume for this                  could be used in others ;
  quality to the Community reserve and to provide for
  Member States which have requirements to be met to                   Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
  be able to draw upon this reserve in appropriate quan­               Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
  tities , whereas it is necessary to fix for the other quali­         Luxembourg are jointly represented by the Benelux
  ties of magnesium initial percentage shares at approxi­             Economic Union, any measure concerning the admin­
  mately the following levels :                                       istration of the shares allocated to that economic
                                                                      union may be carried out by any one of its members
     - Benelux
         for unwrought magnesium not in alloy .
                                                         16-74
        Denmark                                            0-04       HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION •
        Germany                                         67-80
        France                                             3-34
        Ireland                                                                                  Artide I
                                                         . 0-04
        Italy                                              0-33
        United Kingdom                                                1.       From 1 January until 31 December 197' 8
                                                        11-71
                                                                     Community tariff quota of 5 500 "tonnes shall c
     ■ for tin wrought magnesium in alloy :                          opened in the Community for unwrought magnesium
        Benelux                                           2-12       falling within subheading 77.01 A of the Common
       Denmark                                                       Customs Tariff.
                                                          0-03
       Germany                                        . 96-50
       France                                             003
                                                                     2.       The volume of the tariff quota shall be divided
       Ireland                                                       as follows :
                                                         0-02
       Italy                                             0-80       (a) 600 tonnes                 for unwrought magnesium
       United Kingdom                                    0-50               containing 99-95 % or more by weight of pure
                                                                            magnesium ('extra-pure magnesium'), intended for
Whereas, in order to take more accurate account of                          the nuclear industry, under customs or equivalent
                                                                            administrative control ( ' );
future import trends for unwrought magensium not in
alloy, the total quota volume for these qualities should            (b) 1 325 tonnes                for unwrought magnesium
be divided into two tranches, the first being allocated                    containing not less than 99-8 % or more, but less
among the Member States and the second held as a                           than 99 9.5 %, by weight of pure magnesium
reserve to cover at a later date the requirements of                       ('unwrought magnesium not in alloy');
Member States who have used up their initial shares ;              ( ) Tlu- allocation of this quota is subject to condicions to k-
whereas, in order to guarantee importers some degree                      dctcrmincd bv the competent authorities      'ft® Control of
                                                                        the use of products destined for a pres­
                                                                        cribed end use shall be carried out
                                                                        in accordance with the Community provisions
                                                                   • adopted for this purpose .
 ---pagebreak--- (c) 3 575 "tonnes . for unwrought magnesium                                          Article 4
     containing less than 99-8 % by weight of pure
     magnesium ('unwrought magnesium in alloy').           1.     If 90% or more of one of a Member State's
                                                           initial shares as specified in Article 3 ( 1 ), or of that
 3.     Imports of the said goods shall not be counted     share minus the portion returned to the relevant
 under the tariff quota if they are already free of        reserve where Article 6 is applied, has been used up,
 customs duties under other preferential tariff treat­     that Member State shall without delay, by notifying
 ment .
                                                           the Commission, draw a second share equal to 10 %
                                                           of its initial share, where necessary rounded off
 4. Within the tariff quota the Common Customs             upwards to the next unit, in so far as permitted by the
Tariff duties shall be totally suspended.                  amount of the reserve .
                                                           2.     If, after one or other of its initial shares has been
                                                           used up, 90 % or more of the second share drawn by
                                                           a Member State has been used up, that Member State
                                                           shall , in accordance with the conditions laid down in
                          Article 2                        paragraph 1 , draw a third share equal to 5 % of its
                                                           initial share, where necessary rounded off upwards to
 1.     The volume of 600       "tonnes    referred to in  the next unit.
 Article 1 (2) (a), allocated to extra-pure unwrought
 magnesium intended for the nuclear industry, shall be     3.     If, after one or other of its second shares has
 allotted to the Community reserve.                        been used, up 90 % or more of the third share drawn
                                                           by a Member State has been used up, that Member
 2. If in a Member State a need is felt for extra-pure     State shall, in accordance with the same conditions,
 unwrought magnesium , that State shall draw, to the       draw a fourth share equal to the third.
 extent permitted by the amount of the reserve, a suffi­
 cient share of the reserve thus set up.                   This process shall continue to apply until the reserves
                                                           are used up.
                          Artide 3
                                                           4.     Notwithstanding paragraphs 1 , 2 and 3, a
 1 . A first tranche of each of the volumes provided       Member State may draw shares lower than those fixed
 for in Article 1 (2) (b) and (c), which amount to 1 1 95  in these paragraphs if there are grounds for believing
"tonnes         for unwrought magnesium not in alloy       that those fixed might not be used up. It shall inform
 and 3 150 "tonnes for magnesium in alloy shall be         the Commission of its reasons for applying this para­
 divided among the Member States. The shares, which        graph.
 are valid up to 31 December 1978 , subject to Article
 6, amount to the following quantities :
                                                                                     Article 5
 (a) for unwrought magnesium not in alloy :
                                            ("' tonnes -'  Supplementary shares drawn pursuant to Article 4
     Bénélux                                        200    shall be valid until 31 December 197 8 .
      Dcnmark                                         0-5
     Germany                                        810
      France                                         40                              Article 6
      Ireland                                         0-5
      Italy                                           4
                                                           Member States shall return to the reserve, not later
      United Kingdom                                140
                                                           than 1 October 197$ the unused portion of their
 (b) for unwrought magnesium in alloy :                    initial shares which, on 15 September 1978, is in
                                           (("> tonnes)    excess of 20 % of the initial amount. They may return
      Bénélux                                          67  a greater portion if there are grounds for believing
      Denmark                                            1 that such portion may not be used in full.
      Germany                                       3 040
      France                                             I Member States shall, not later than 1 October 197' 8
      Ireland                                            1  notify the Commission of the total imports of the
      Italy                                            25   products concerned effected under the Community
      United Kingdom                                    15 quotas up to and including 15 September 1978 and,
                                                           where appropriate, the proportion of each of their
  2.    The second tranches, of 130 and 425 tonnes          initial shares that they are returning to each of the
  respectively, shall be held as Community reserves.        reserves .
 ---pagebreak---                         Article 7                            2. Member States shall ensure that importers esta­
                                                             blished in their territory have free access to the shares
The Commission shall keep an account of the shares           allocated to them .
opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2, 3
and 4 and shall , as soon as it has been notified , inform   3. The extent to which a Member State has used up
each State of the extent to which the reserve has been       its shares shall be determined on the basis of the quan­
used up.                                                     tities of the said goods entered for home use.
It shall inform the Member States, not later than 5
October 197 8 of the amount still in reserve after .                                  Article 9
amounts have been returned thereto pursuant to               Upon a request from the Commission, Member States
Article 6.
                                                             shall inforrri it of imports actually charged against
It shall ensure that the drawing which uses up a             their shares.
reserve is limited to the balance available and to this
end shall specify the amount thereof to the Member                                   Article 10
State making the last drawing.
                                                             The Member States and the Commission shall co­
                        Article 8                            operate closely in order to ensure that this Regulation
                                                             is observed .
I. Member States shall take all measures necessary
to ensure that supplementary shares drawn pursuant                                   Article II
to Article 4 are opened in such a way that imports
may be charged without interruption against their            This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
accumulated shares in the Community quota.                    1978 .
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States.
              Done at Brussels,
                                                                          For the Council
                                                                           The President
 ---pagebreak--- FICHE FINANCIERE                                                    Date :   13.10.77
 1 . Ligne budgétaire concernée : Chap . 12 art . 120
2 . Base juridique : Art . 113 du traité               -
3 . Intitulé de la mesure tarifaire ;              Proposition de règlement du Conseil
        portant ouverture , répartition et mode de gestion du contingent tarifaire
        communautaire de magnésium brut (année 1978)
4 . Objectif :        Assurer le respect des engagements contractés par la
        Communauté .
5 . Mode de calcul :
     - N° du T.D.C.                       : 77,0il A
     - Volume du/djèfi contingent (Jafif /i 5 . $00 tonnes
     - Droits à appliquer                 : .0 %
     - Droits du T.D.C.                   : 8 % (3 % de Norvège dans Com . originaire)
6 . Perte de recettes :
        Non allie : Norvège         : 1.037.334       UCE à 3 %                31 . 120  UCE
                                    :   1.728.891       UCE à 8 Z   -         138.31 1 • UCE
                      Autres pays
        Allié                       : 2.398.432         UCE à 3 %   -          71.953    UCE
                   t- Norvège
                      Autres pays   s   1.809.343       UCE à 8 %   -        144 , 747   UCE
                                                                           ■ 386 ' 131 UCE
                                                                Arrondi à    386.000     UCE