CELEX: 31976R2720
Language: en
Date: 1976-10-25 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 2720/76 of 25 October 1976 on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for certain eels falling within subheading ex 03.01 A II of the Common Customs Tariff (first half of 1977)

No L 313 / 16                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                 15 . 11.76
                                       COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC) No 2720/76
                                                      of 25 October 1976
                on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for
                certain eels falling within subheading ex 03.01 A II of the Common Customs Tariff
                                                       (first half of 1977)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure to all
                                                                     importers in the Member States equal and
                                                                     uninterrupted access to the abovementioned quota
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                        and uninterrupted application of the rate laid down
 European Economic Community, and in particular                      for that quota to all imports of the products
 Article 28 thereof,                                                  concerned into all Member States until the quota
                                                                      has been used up ; whereas, in the light of these
                                                                      principles, the Community nature of the quota can
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   be respected by allocating the tariff quota among
                                                                      the Member States listed below ; whereas statistics
                                                                      available for these products do not give a clear
 Having regard to the opinion of the European                        picture of the market situation for them ; whereas,
 Parliament ('),                                                     therefore, it is not possible to allocate the quota
                                                                     among the Member States on the basis of import
                                                                     trends for the relevant products over the past few
 Whereas eel fishing has been prohibited or has                      years ; whereas , however, according to the estimates
 become impossible in certain Community production                   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 II of the Common
 Customs Tariff, intended for curing or skinning or
 for use in the industrial manufacture of products                   Whereas, in order to take into account import trends
 falling within heading No 16.04 ; whereas the                       for the products concerned, the quota amount
 processing industries in the Community consequently                 should be divided into two tranches, the first
depend to a large extent on imports for their supplies               tranche being allocated, and the second forming a
 of eels ; whereas from 1 January 1977 to 30 June                    reserve intended subsequently to cover the
 1977 the application of the autonomous Common                       requirements of the Member States which have used
 Customs Tariff duty should therefore be suspended                   up their initial shares ; whereas, in order to ensure
 totally on imports of the relevant products up to                   a certain degree of security for importers, the first
an appropriate quantitative limit ; whereas, within                  tranche of the Community tariff quota should be
this limit, the new Member States should apply                       fixed at a level which, under present circumstances,
customs duties as provided in the Act of                             mav be approximately 85% of the quota amount ;
Accession (2); whereas the introduction of a
Community measure of this nature is unlikely to
harm Community production ;
                                                                     Whereas the initial shares may be used up at different
Whereas current demand not met by Community                          rates ; whereas, in order to take this fact into account
production , ^vhich must therefore be met by imports,                and to avoid any break in continuity, any Member
can be estimated at 3 100 metric tons for the first                  State which has almost used up its total initial share
half of 1977 ; whereas a tariff quota for the relevant               should draw an additional share from the reserve ;
types of eel should therefore be opened for this                     whereas this must be done by each Member State as
period on the conditions set out above ;                             and when each of its additional shares is almost
                                                                     entirely used up, and repeated as many times as the
                                                                    reserve allows ; whereas the initial additional shares
                                                                     must be valid until the end of the quota period ;
{>) OJ No C 259, 4. 11 . 1976, p . 37.                               whereas this method of administration requires close
(2) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972, p . 14.                               cooperation between Member States and the
 ---pagebreak--- 15 . 11 . 76                        Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 313/ 17
Commission, which must be able to keep account                                                          (metric tons)
of the extent to which the quota amount has been                       Benelux                              1 080
used up and to inform the Member States                                Denmark                                360
accordingly ;
                                                                        Germany                               900
                                                                        France                                 36
Whereas, if at a given date in the quota period a                       Ireland                                  4
considerable balance remains in one or other Member
                                                                        Italy                                  45
State, it is essential, to prevent a part of the
Community tariff quota from remaining unused in                         United Kingdom                        225
one Member State while it could be used in others,
that that Member State should return a significant
                                                               2. The second tranche of 450          metric   tons  shall
proportion thereof to the reserve ;                   /
                                                               constitute the reserve.
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom                                      Article 3
of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg are united within and jointly
represented by the Benelux Economic Union, any                 1 . If 90% or more of a Member State's initial share
measure concerning the administration of the shares            as fixed in Article 2 ( 1 ), or of that share minus any
allocated to that economic union may be carried out            portion returned to the reserve where Article 5 has
by any one of its members,                                     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 15% of its initial share, rounded
                                                               up as necessary to the next whole number.
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                               2. If, after its initial share has been exhausted, 90%
                         Article 1                             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
1 . During the period 1 January to 30 June 1977, a             third share equal to 7-5% of its initial ishare, rounded
Community tariff quota of 3 100 metric tons shall              up as necessary to the next whole number, to the
be opened for fresh eels (live or dead) chilled or             extent that the reserve so permits .
frozen, falling within subheading ex 03.01 A II of
the Common Customs Tariff, intended for curing
or skinning or for use in the industrial manufacture           3 . If, after its second share has ibeen exhausted, 90%
of products falling within heading No 16.04, under             or more of the third share drawn by a Member
conditions to be determined by the competent                   State has been used up, that Member State shall, in
authorities .                                                  the manner provided in paragraph 2, draw a fourth
                                                               share equal to the third.
2. Within the limits of this tariff quota, the Common
Customs Tariff duty shall be totally suspended.                This procedure shall apply until the reserve is used
                                                               up .
3 . The new Member States shall apply duties                   4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and
calculated in accordance with the relevant provisions          3, Member States may draw lesser shares than those
of the Act of Accession within this quota.                     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
                         Article 2
                                                               applying this paragraph.
1 . A first tranche of 2 650       metric  tons  of  this
                                                                                         Article 4
Community tariff quota shall be allocated among
the Member States. Member States' shares, which,
subject to Article 5 , shall be valid from 1 January to        Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall
30 June 1977, shall consist of the following amounts :         be valid until 30 June 1977.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 313/ 18                      Official Journal of the European Communities                               15. 11 . 76
                       Article 5                              Article 3 are opened in such a way that imports may
                                                              be charged without interruption against their
Member States shall return to the reserve, not later          aggregate shares of the Community quota.
than 1 May 1977, the unused portions of their
initial shares which, on 15 April 1977, are in excess        2. Member States shall ensure that importers of the
of 20% of the initial amounts. They may return                products in question established in their territory
a greater portion if there are grounds for believing          have free access to the shares allocated to them.
that such portion may not be used in full.
                                                              3 . Member States shall charge imports of the
Member States shall notify the Commission, not                products in question against their shares as and when
later than 1 May 1977, of the total quantities of             the products are entered with the customs
the products in question imported up to and                   authorities for home use.
including 15 April 1977, and charged against the
Community quota and of any portion of their initial
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 the
                                                              imports charged against that share in accordance
                       Article 6                              with paragraph 3 .
The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles                                     Article 8
2 and 3 and, as soon as it has been notified, shall
inform each State of the extent to which the reserve
has been used u>p.                                           At the Commission's request, Member States shall
                                                             inform it of the imports actually charged against
                                                             their shares.
It shall inform the Member States, not later than
5 May 1977, of the amount still in reserve aifter
amounts have been returned thereto pursuant to
Article 5 .                                                                          Article 9
It shall ensure that the drawling which exhausts the         Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
reserve does not exceed the balance available, and           closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied
to this end shall notify the amount of that balance          with.
to the Member State making the last drawing.
                       Article 7                                                     Article 10
1 . Member States shall take all appropriate measures        This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
to ensure that additional shares drawn pursuant to           1977.
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States.
              Done at Luxembourg, 25 October 1976.
                                                                          For the Council
                                                                           The President
                                                                     A.P.L.M.M. van der STEE