CELEX: 31975D0478
Language: en
Date: 1975-07-10 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 10 July 1975 authorizing Ireland to take protective measures under Article 135 of the Act concerning the conditions of accession and the adjustments to the Treaties, in respect of footwear with uppers of leather falling within subheading 64.02 A of the Common Customs Tariff

9 . 8 . 75                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No L 212/ 17
                                                        COMMISSION DECISION
                                                               of 10 July 1975
              authorizing Ireland to take protective measures under Article 135 of the Act concerning
              the conditions of accession and the adjustments to the Treaties, in respect of footwear
              with uppers of leather falling within subheading 64.02 A of the Common Customs Tariff
                                                     (Only the English text is authentic)
                                                                 (75/478/EEC)
              THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
              Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community ;
              Having regard to the Act concerning the conditions of accession and the adjustments to
              the Treaties, and in particular Article 135 thereof;
              Having regard to the application by Ireland of 24 June 1975 thereof;
              Whereas production, imports and exports of footwear have evolved in recent years as
              follows :
                                                       Footwear with uppers of leather
                                                                                                             (1 000 pairs)
                                                                         Third                     Other
                                                           Total                        UK                      Total
                        Year              Production                    country                     EEC
                                                          imports       imports       imports     imports      exports
                      1969                    7 772         (282)         ( 14)         ( 188 )      (80)      (1 776)
                      1970                    6 982         (587)         (40)          (441 )     ( 106)      (1 602)
                      1971                    6 472       (1 089)         (48 )         (798 )     (243 )      (1 970)
                      1972                    6 602       (1 410)             (i )
                      1973                    6115         1775           139          1532          104       (2 503 )
                      1974                    5 890        2126           137          1769         220         2 934
                      1975
                 Jan.—March)                  1318           570           35            445          90         (633 )
              (') Statistics not available .
              ( ) Estimate .
              Source : Irish statistics .
Whereas, according to the Irish application, the                            the Agreement between Ireland and the United
situation deteriorated seriously in the first months of                     Kingdom establishing a free trade area ; whereas total
1975 ; whereas the employment situation is now very                         exports increased fairly regularly over the same
serious ; whereas of the 5 000 persons employed in                          period but have sagged in the early months of 1975
the sector in 1973, approximately 1 000 have since                          as a consequence of the effects of the contraction of
lost their jobs and 30 % of the current workforce are                       external demand;
currently on short-time;
                                                                            Whereas the difficulties in this sector appear to stem
Whereas production has continued to decline in                              essentially from an industrial structure ill-adapted to
general since 1969, while imports have regularly                            international competition and in particular to that
increased; whereas, as can be seen from the above                           from highly industrialized countries towards which
table, such imports come predominantly from the                             Ireland has been and is obliged to dismantle her
United Kingdom by reason of the level of tariff                             tariff and quota protection ; whereas the footwear
dismantlement achieved by the two countries under                           industry in Ireland is made up of numerous small
 ---pagebreak--- No L 212/ 18                         Official Journal of the European Communities                             9. 8 . 75
units, often less well equipped and organized than             drawn up by the Irish Government and examined,
might be, producing too wide a range of products for           that is to say until 31 December 1975 ; whereas the
a very limited domestic market, which was set up               rate of duty applicable to footwear originating in
initially in the shelter of a very high level of tariff        third countries and put into free circulation in the
and quota protection ; whereas this situation is               United Kingdom or imported from any Member
compounded by the economic recession, which has                State should be that applicable under the provisions
brought about not only a reduction in domestic                 of Article 31 and 32 of the Act of Accession, namely
demand but also a contraction of the traditional               21-6 %,
external outlets of the industry ;
                                                               HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Whereas in order to stimulate domestic demand
depressed by the general economic recession the Irish                                    Article 1
Government has recently abolished value-added tax
on footwear; whereas this measure is insufficient to            1 . Ireland is hereby authorized to apply until 31
overcome the difficulties in question ;                        December 1975 a rate of duty of 10 °/o to imports
                                                               from and originating in the United Kingdom of
Whereas the Commission by Decision No 75/202/                  footwear with uppers of leather falling within
EEC of 13 March 1975 instituted a system of                     subheading 64.02 A of the Common Customs Tariff.
retrospective control of imports of shoes into the             2. For the purposes of the preceding paragraph,
Community from third countries ; whereas in                    the concept of origin shall, in accordance with
pursuance of a suggestion from the Commission, on              Article 48 of the Act concerning the conditions of
12 June 1975 the Irish Government introduced                    accession and the adjustments to the Treaties, be as
national surveillance under Article 9 of Council
                                                                defined in respect of such goods in the Agreement
Regulation No 1439/74/EEC of 4 June 1974 on                    between Ireland and the United Kingdom establishing
imports of footwear falling within CCT subheading               a free trade area signed on 14 December 1965, and
64.02 A; whereas the data which will thus be                    in the Agreements thereto.
collected will be of particular utility in following the
 development of the sector in question ;
                                                                                         Article 2
Whereas the requisite conditions exist in Ireland, in
particular as regards raw materials and skilled                 1 . Ireland       shall    notify    the   Commission
labour, for the maintenance and development of a                immediately of the measures taken in application of
                                                                Article 1 .
footwear industry, especially in leather footwear;
whereas in such circumstances the Commission is                 2.    Ireland shall inform the Commission of the
ready to re-examine the situation in close                      development of the situation in the sector concerned
 cooperation with the Irish Government; whereas this            and shall forward to the Commission a plan for the
 re-examination should be carried out in the light of           reorganization of the footwear industry which it
 a plan for the reorganization of the industry in               intends to have drawn up by 1 October 1975.
Ireland which the Irish Government is to submit to
the Commission before 1 October 1975 ; whereas in
the context of such re-examination the Commission                                        Article 3
 will consider the mobilization of all means at its
                                                                1.    The Commission shall review the present
 disposal, and in particular those available in the             Decision not later than 1 November 1975 .
 social and regional fields, to support the
 reorganization of the footwear industry in Ireland ;           2. Without prejudice to the review provided for in
                                                                the preceding paragraph, the Commission may
 Whereas the factors described above which affect the           amend or revoke the present Decision if it finds that
 footwear industry are likely to bring about a                  the conditions which led to its adoption have
 worsening of the already serious difficulties which            changed or that its effects prove to be more
 are liable to persist in the sector;                           restrictive than its purpose requires.
 Whereas until the re-examination referred to above                                      Article 4
 takes place it is necessary by way of interim
 protective measure to authorize Ireland to apply a             This Decision is addressed to Ireland.
 rate of duty of 10 °/o to leather footwear imported
 from and originating in the United Kingdom, the                Done at Brussels, 10 July 1975.
 concept of origin being as defined in the provisions
 of the Agreement between Ireland and the United                                          For the Commission
 Kingdom establishing a free trade area ; whereas such                                         The President
 authorization must be limited to the period during
 which the reorganization plan for the sector is to be                                   Francois-Xavier ORTOLI