CELEX: 31975R2876
Language: en
Date: 1975-10-29 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 2876/75 of the Council of 29 October 1975 on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species, falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff (1976)

12 . 11.75                            Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 292/ 1
                                                              I
                                           (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                                REGULATION (EEC) No 2876/75 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                     of 29 October 1975
              on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for certain
              plywoods of coniferous species, falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common
                                                   Customs Tariff ( 1976)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,                         Whereas, to take more precise account of future
                                                                  trends in imports' of the products concerned, the
                                                                  quota should be divided into two tranches, the first
                                                                  being allocated among all the Member States and
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            the second held as a reserve to cover the subsequent
 Economic Community, and in particular Articles 28               requirements of Member States which have exhausted
 and 113 thereof;                                                 their initial shares ; whereas, in order to offer
                                                                 importers some degree of security, the first tranche of
                                                                 the quota should be fixed at a relatively high level, or
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;              about 97% of its full amount; whereas, on the basis
                                                                 of Member States' estimates of their needs, the
Whereas, under Protocol No 11 to the Act of                       initial shares may be fixed as set out in Article 2 ;
Accession (*), the Community is required to open
each year nil duty Community tariff quotas for
certain plywoods of coniferous species falling within            Whereas Member States may use up their initial
heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs                        shares at different rates ; whereas, to provide for this
Tariff, the volume thereof to be decided annually                eventuality and to avoid disruption of supplies, any
when it is established that all possibilities of supply          Member State which has almost used up its initial
on the internal market of the Community have been                share should draw an additional share from             the
exhausted during the period for which the quotas                 reserve; whereas, each time its additional share is
are open; whereas, in view of the aforesaid possi­               almost used up, a Member State should draw a
bilities of supply and on the basis of forecasts of              further additional share, and so on as many times
requirements made by the Member States, the vol­                 as the reserve allows ; whereas the initial and
ume of the tariff quota to be opened for 1976 may                additional shares should be valid until the end of
be fixed at 635 000 m3 ; whereas the opening of the              the quota period ; whereas this form of administration
aforementioned tariff quota also covers the commit­              requires close collaboration between Member States
ment entered into by the Community within the                    and the Commission, which latter must, in particular,
GATT to grant in respect of these products an                    be able to keep a record of the extent to which the
annual duty-free tariff quota of 400 000 m8; whereas             quota has been used up and to inform the Member
the abovementioned requirements do not include                   States accordingly ;
imports to which other preferential tariff arrange­
ments may apply; whereas, in view of the
relatively small quantities produced in the Com:
munity, it is not necessary to apportion this amount             Whereas if, at a given date in the quota period, a
between the categories of plywood specified in the               considerable quantity of a Member State's initial share
                                                                 remains unused, it is essential that that Member
abovementioned Protocol No 11 ;
                                                                 State should return a significant proportion to the
                                                                 reserve, so as to avoid a part of the quota remaining
                                                                 unused in one Member State when it could be used
C ) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972, p. 170.                           in others ;
 ---pagebreak---  No L 292/2                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              12. 11 . 75
 Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom                                                  /« cubic metres
 of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
                                                                       Benelux                           85 000
 Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented
 by the Benelux Economic Union, any measure                            Denmark                           74 800
 concerning the administration of the shares allocated
 to that Economic Union may be carried out by any                      Germany                          100 000
 one of its members,                                                   France                            20 000
                                                                       Ireland                           10 000
                                                                       Italy                             25 000
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                       United Kingdom                   300 000 .
                                                              3 . The second tranche of 20 200 m3 shall constitute
                          Article 1                            the reserve.
 1 . During the period 1 January to 31 December
                                                                                        Article 3
 1976, a Community tariff quota of 635 000 m3 shall
 be opened for the following products falling within
 heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs                     1 . If 90% or more of a Member State's initial share
 Tariff :
                                                               as fixed in Article 2 (2), or of that share minus any
                                                              portion returned to the reserve where Article 5 has
 ( a) plywood of coniferous species, without the               been applied, has been used up, that Member State
      addition of other substances, of a thickness             shall forthwith, by notifying the Commission, draw
      greater than 9 mm, the faces of which are not            a second share, to the extent that the reserve so
      further prepared than the peeling process ;             permits, equal to 10% of its initial share, rounded
                                                               up as necessary to the next whole number.
 (b) plywood of coniferous species, without the
      addition of other substances, sanded, and of a
      thickness greater than 18*5 mm.                         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, in
2. Imports of the products in question may not be             the manner and to the extent provided in paragraph
charged against this tariff quota if they are already         1 , draw a third share equal to 5% of its initial share,
free of customs duties under other preferential tariff        rounded up as necessary to the next whole number.
 arrangements .
                                                              3 . If, after its second share has been exhausted,
3 . The Common Customs Tariff duty shall be                   90% or more of the third share drawn by a Member
totally suspended within the limits of the above              State has been used up, that Member State shall, in
quota.                                                        the manner and to the extent provided in para­
                                                              graph 1 , draw a fourth share equal to the third.
4. New Member States shall apply duties calculated            This procedure shall apply until the reserve is used
in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act         up .
of Accession to imports within the limits of the above
quota .
                                                              4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2, and
                                                              3 , Member States may draw lesser shares than those
                         Article 2
                                                              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
1 . The tariff quota referred to in Article 1 ( 1 ) shall     applying this paragraph.
be divided into two tranches .
                                                                                       Article 4
2 . A first tranche of 614 800 m3 shall be allocated
among the Member States. Member States' shares
which, subject to Article 5 , shall be valid until            Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall
31 December 1976, shall be as follows :                       be valid until 31 December 1976.
 ---pagebreak--- 12.11.75                          Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 292/3
                       Article 5                                                    Article 7
                                                             1 . Member States shall take all appropriate measures
Member States shall return to the reserve, not later
                                                             to ensure that additional shares drawn pursuant to
than 1 October 1976, the unused portions of their            Article 3 are opened in such a way that imports may
initial shares which, on 15 September 1976, are in
excess of 20% of the initial amounts. They may
                                                             be charged without interruption against their
                                                             aggregate shares of the Community quota.
return a greater portion if there are grounds for
believing that such portion may not be used in full.         2. Member States shall ensure that importers of the
                                                             products in question established in their territory
Member States shall notify the Commission, not               have free access to the shares allocated to them.
later than 1 October 1976, of the total quantities of
the products in question imported up to and                  3 . Member States shall charge imports of the
                                                             products in question against their shares as and when
including 15 September 1976 and charged against the          the products are entered with the customs authorities
 Community quota and of any portion of their initial         for home use .
 shares returned to the reserve.
                                                             4. The extent to which a Member State has used
                                                              up its share shall be determined on the basis of
                        Article 6                             imports charged against that share in accordance
                                                              with paragraph 3 .
 The Commission shall keep an account of the shares                                  Article 8
 opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles
 2 and 3 and, as soon as it has been notified, shall          At the Commission's request, Member States shall
 inform each State of the extent to which the reserve         inform it of the imports actually charged against
 has been used up.                                            their shares.
                                                                                     Article 9
 It shall inform the Member States, not later than
 5 October 1976, of the amount still in reserve after
 amounts have been returned thereto pursuant to               Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
 Article 5 .                                                   closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied
                                                               with.
 It shall ensure that the drawing which exhausts the                                 Article 10
 reserve does not exceed the balance available and,
 to this end, shall notify the amount of that balance          This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
  to the Member State making the last drawing.                 1976.
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States.
              Done at Luxembourg, 29 October 1975.
                                                                                 For the Council
                                                                                  The President
                                                                                  G. MARCORA