CELEX: 32020R1588
Language: en
Date: 2020-06-25 00:00:00
Title: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1588 of 25 June 2020 amending Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing volume thresholds for tantalum or niobium ores and concentrates, gold ores and concentrates, tin oxides and hydroxides, tantalates and carbides of tantalum

30.10.2020   
               
               
                  EN
               
               
                  Official Journal of the European Union
               
               
                  L 360/1
               
            
         COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2020/1588
         of 25 June 2020
         amending Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing volume thresholds for tantalum or niobium ores and concentrates, gold ores and concentrates, tin oxides and hydroxides, tantalates and carbides of tantalum
         THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
         Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
         Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 laying down supply chain due diligence obligations for Union importers of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (1), and in particular Article 1(4) thereof,
         Whereas:
         
                     (1)
                  
                  
                     Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 contains a list of minerals and metals within the scope of that Regulation and sets out certain annual import volume thresholds with regard to those minerals and metals.
                  
               
                     (2)
                  
                  
                     In accordance with Article 1(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/821, that Regulation does not apply to Union importers where their annual import volume of each of the minerals or metals concerned is below the thresholds set out in Annex I to that Regulation. Those thresholds are set at a level that ensures that no less than 95 % of the total volumes imported into the Union of each mineral and metal is subject to the obligations of Union importers set out in that Regulation.
                  
               
                     (3)
                  
                  
                     At the time the Regulation was adopted in 2017, there were no sufficiently disaggregated Combined Nomenclature codes with regard to five of the specific minerals and metals listed in Annex I. As a result, the import data with regard to those minerals and metals were not available and five volume thresholds in Annex I are therefore still to be established.
                  
               
                     (4)
                  
                  
                     Pursuant to Article 1(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/821 the Commission is to establish the volume thresholds that remains to be set out in Annex I by adopting a delegated act, in accordance with Articles 18 and 19 of Regulation (EU) 2017/821 in order to amend Annex I. If feasible, the delegated act should be adopted by 1 April 2020 but no later than 1 July 2020.
                  
               
                     (5)
                  
                  
                     Regulation (EU) 2017/821 created five new Integrated Tariff of the European Communities (‘TARIC’) subdivisions corresponding to the five minerals and metals with thresholds that are yet to be established, with respect to which the customs authorities of the Member States have collected customs data since the Regulation entered into force in June 2017.
                  
               
                     (6)
                  
                  
                     Pursuant to Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2017/821 the Commission is to rely on the import information for each Union importer provided by the Member States for the previous two years, hence for 2018 and 2019.
                  
               
                     (7)
                  
                  
                     Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 should therefore be amended accordingly,
                  
               HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
         
            Article 1
            Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Delegated Regulation.
         
         
            Article 2
            This Delegated Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
         
         
            This Delegated Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
            Done at Brussels, 25 June 2020.
            
               
                  For the Commission
               
               
                  The President
               
               Ursula VON DER LEYEN
            
         
         
            (1)  OJ L 130, 19.5.2017, p. 1.
      
      
         
            ANNEX
            Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 is amended as follows:
            
                        (1)
                     
                     
                        in ‘Part A: Minerals’, the table is amended as follows:
                        
                                    (a)
                                 
                                 
                                    row three is replaced by the following:
                                    
                                                ‘Tantalum or niobium ores and concentrates
                                             
                                             
                                                Ex26159000 
                                             
                                             
                                                10
                                             
                                             
                                                100 000 ’
                                             
                                          
                              
                                    (b)
                                 
                                 
                                    row four is replaced by the following:
                                    
                                                ‘Gold ores and concentrates
                                             
                                             
                                                Ex26169000 
                                             
                                             
                                                10
                                             
                                             
                                                4 000 000 ’
                                             
                                          
                              
                  
                        (2)
                     
                     
                        in ‘Part B: Metals’, the table is amended as follows:
                        
                                    (a)
                                 
                                 
                                    row two is replaced by the following:
                                    
                                                ‘Tin oxides and hydroxides
                                             
                                             
                                                Ex28259085 
                                             
                                             
                                                10
                                             
                                             
                                                3 600 ’
                                             
                                          
                              
                                    (b)
                                 
                                 
                                    row five is replaced by the following:
                                    
                                                ‘Tantalates
                                             
                                             
                                                Ex28419085 
                                             
                                             
                                                30
                                             
                                             
                                                30’
                                             
                                          
                              
                                    (c)
                                 
                                 
                                    row seven is replaced by the following:
                                    
                                                ‘Carbides of tantalum
                                             
                                             
                                                Ex28499050 
                                             
                                             
                                                10
                                             
                                             
                                                770’