CELEX: 51980PC0818
Language: en
Date: 1980-12-08
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species, falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff (1981) (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (80) 818
Vol. 1980/0259
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                    COM(80 ) 818 final
                                                    Brussels , 8 December 1980
                              Proposal for a
                         COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC )
opening , allocating and providing for the administration of a Community
tariff quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species , falling within
        heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff ( 1981 )
              ( submitted to the Council by the Commission )
 ---pagebreak---                                  EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
 1 . At the Last GATT negotiations the Community undertook to open , for
       certain coniferous plywood , as Listed below , of heading ex 44.15 of
       the Common Customs Tariff , a Community tariff quota at zero duty of
       a total volume of 600,000 cubic metres .
       Plywood of coniferous species , without the addition of other
       substances                                    '
       - of thickness greater than 8.5 mm , the faces of which are not
          further prepared than the peeling process , or    ,
       - sanded , and of a thickness greater than 18,5 mm .
       In addition Protocol No 11 to the Act concerning the Conditions
       of Accession and the Adjustments to the Treaties and the bilateral
       exchange of Letters undertaken at the start \ of the GATT negotiations
       foresee the Community opening autonomous Community tariff quotas at
       zero duty for these products at volumes to be decided for each year
       when it is established that all possibilities of supply on the
       intended market of the Community will be exhausted during the period
       for which the quotas are open .
                                  <.           .   •               \
2 . This proposed Regulation concerns the Community tariff quotas in
       question to be opened on 1 January 1981 and allocated among Member
       States .             •                    ,
       The application of Protocol No , 11 was dealt with at advisory meetings
       of experts from the Member States held since 1975 , at which it became
    * clear that taking into account the possibilities of . supply on the .*
       Community market , which are in fact somewhat limited although
     . increasing considerably , and on the basis of estimated submitted
       by the Member States , the tariff quotas in question could yet be
       grouped under a single quota .
       The quota volume to be opened for 1981 was discussed by the
       " Economic Tariff Questions " group on 9 September 1980 . It became clear
       from the discussion that :
 ---pagebreak--- a ) imports from third countries thought necessary by Member States would
    exceed 900 000 m3 for 1981 ; it should be noted that effective use
    made of quotas in the last three years was only 590 000 m3 in 1977 ;
    696 000 m3 in 1978 and 768 000 m3 in 1979 ; moreover , neither
    increased consumption nor the present economic situation in the
    construction sector can justify the proposed increase ;
b ) as stated by the producing Member States , there isN a risk that
    supplies to be obtained on the Community interna'l market may not
    be used up in 1981 , which may make it difficult to open the
    autonomous quota envisaged by Protocol No 11 of the Act of Accession
                                                                         «
c ) Member States would interpret differently the question of granting '
    the benefit of quotas already opened for laminated panels of
    coniferous wood grooved and tongned before importation to facilitate
    assembly .
    It has not yet been possible to establish the precise volume of such
    imports , which must , however , be significant .
3 . Generally, the Commission considers that , taking account of the
    uncertain level of consumption and the need for parallel growth
    in Community production and supplies on favourable terms to user
    industries , great care should be taken in fixing the quota volume ,
    so as not to endanger the market balance .
    It has therefore been decided to limit the initial quota for 1981
    to the GATT consolidated volume of 600 000 m3 , and to review the
    situation , if necessary , during the year .
4 . The method of administration proposed is the same as that usually
    adopted for autonomous Community tariff quotas and consists basically
    of the following :
    - the setting up of a reserve of 30,000 cubic metres ;
    - the allocation of. the first tranche in proportion to the needs
      expressed by Member States ;
    - the charing of imports against Member States * shares as and when
      the products are entered with the customs authorities for free
      ci rculation .
 ---pagebreak--- While a decision on the item shown at paragraph 2 c ) above is awaited ,
the current proposal makes it possible to comply with undertakings
made by the Community and with the provisions of the Resolution of
27 June 1974 . The Commission therefore reserves the power to change
its proposal as matters develop / so as to adapt^ it , if necessary ,
to the final outcome of the current discussions .
 ---pagebreak---                                                      PROPCSAl   F<~)R A
                                       COUNCIL REGULATION : EEC)
                    opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
                    quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species, falling within heading No ex
                                        44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff ( 1981 )
   THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                Whereas Member States may use up their initial
  COMMUNITIES ,                                               shares at different rates ; whereas, to provide for this
                                                              eventuality and to avoid disruption of supplies, any
  Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                Member State which has almost used up its initial
                                                              share    should draw   an   additional  share  from  the
  European Economic Community , and in particular
                                                              reserve ; whereas , each time • its additional share is
  Article 113 thereof,
                                                              almost used up, a Member State should draw an addi­
                                                              tional share, and so on as many times as the reserve
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commi ssion ,         allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares
                                                              should be valid until the end of the quota period ;
 Whereas the Community has undertaken to open an              whereas this form of administration requires close
                                                              collaboration   between     Member     States > and  the
  annual Community tariff quota of at least 600 000
 m3 for certain plywoods of coniferous species                Commission, which latter must, in particular, be able
                                                              to keep a record of the extent to which the quota has
  falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common            been used up and to inform the Member States accord­
 Customs Tariff;                                              ingly ;
                                                         (1
 Whereas , under Protocol 11 to the Act of Accession /
  the Community is required to open each year autono­         Whereas if, at a given date in the quota period, a
 mous nil duty Community tariff quotas for the same           considerable quantity of a Member State's initial share
                                                              remains unused, it is essential that that Member State
 products , the volume thereof to be decided annually         should return a significant proportion to the reserve,
 when it is established that all possibilities of             so as to avoid a part of the quota remaining unused in
  supply on the internal market of the Community have         one Member State when it could be used in others :
 been exhausted during the period for which the quotas
 are open ; whereas it appears that the condition
                                                              Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
 imposed by that Protocol is not currently met ; whereas      Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
 the limit at this first stage should therefore be            Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented
  set at the contractual volume of 600 000 cubic              by the Benelux Economic Union, any measure
 metres ; whereas fixing the quota volume at that             concerning the administration of the shares allocated
 level does not , moreover , exclude possible re­             to that economic union may be carried out by any
 course during the quota period to the provisions             one of its members,
 of Protocol No 11 :
Whereas, to take more precise account of future
.trends in imports of the products concerned, the             HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
quota should be divided into two tranches, the first
being allocated among all the Member States and the
second held as a reserve to cover the subsequent
requirements of Member States which have exhausted                                    Article Î
their initial shares ; whereas, in order to offer impor­
ters some degree of security, the first tranche of the
quota should be fixed at a relatively high level, or          1 . . During the period from 1 January to 31
about 95<y0 0f ;£s fun amount ; whereas, on the basis         December 1981 , a Community tariff quota of600 000
of Member States estimates of their needs, the initial        m3 shall be opened for the following products falling
shares may be fixed as set out in Article 2 ;                 within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs
                                                              Tariff :
( ' ) OJ No L 73, 27. 3. 1972, p. 170.
                                                              (a) plywood of coniferous species, without the addi­
                                                                   tion of other substances, of a thickness greater
                                                                   than 8-5 mm, the faces of which are not further
                                                                   prepared than the peeling process ;
 ---pagebreak---    (b) plywood of coniferous species, without the addi­                 If, after its second share has been exhausted,
       tion of other substances, sanded, and of a thick­           90% or more of the third share drawn by a Member
       ness greater than 18-5 mm .                                State has been used up, that Member State shall, in
                                                                  the manner to the extent provided in paragraph 1 ,
   2. Imports of the products in question may not be~             draw « fourth share equal to the third.
  charged against this tariff quota if they are already free • This procedure shall apply until the reserve is used
  of customs duties under other preferential tariff arran­       up.
  gements.
                                                                 4.    By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and
  3. The Common Customs Tariff duty shall be                     3, Member States may draw lesser shares than those
  totally suspended within the limits of the above quota.        specified therein if there are grounds for believing
 Within the limits" of this tariff quota , that those_ specified may not be used in full. They
 Greece shall apply duties calculated                            shall inform the* Commission of their reasons for
 in accordance with the relevant pro­                            applying this paragraph. ■
 visions in the Act of Accession of
Greece ( 1 ).
                                                                                           Article 4
                           Article 2
                                                                 Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be
 1.     The tariff quota referred to in Article 1 ( 1 ) shall    valid until 31 December 1981...
 be divided into two tranches.
2. , A first tranche of 570 000 m 5 shall be allocated                                     Article 5
among the Member States. Member States' shares
which, subject to Article 5, shall be valid until 31
December 1981, shall be as follows :                             Member States shall return to the reserve, ndt later
                                                                 than 1 October 1981 , the unused portions of their
                               in cubic metres                   initial shares which, on 15 September 1981 , are in
                                                                 excess of 20 % of the initial amounts. They may
 Bénélux                             141 360
                                                                 return a greater portion if there are grounds for
 Denmark                              63 897                     believing that such portion may not be used in full.
 Germany                              99 579 ^
 Greece                                   285                    Member States shall notify the Commission, not later
 France                           -   15 390 ,                    than 1 October 1 981 , of the total quantities of the
 Ireland                              12 882                      products in question imported up to and including 15
 Italy                                21 489                     September 1981 , and charged against the Community
 United Kingdom                      215 118                     quota and of any portion of their initial share^
                                                                  returned to the reserve.
3.     The second tranche of 30 000 m 3 shall constitute                                   Article 6
the reserve.                       '                    ■
                                                                 The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
                                                                 opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2
                           Article 3                             and 3 and, as soon as it has been notified, shall inform
                                                                 each State of the extent to which the reserve has been
1.     If 90 % or more of a Member States initial share          used up.
as fixed in Article 2 (2), or of that share minus any
portion returned to the reserve where Article 5 has              It shall inform the Member States, not later than 5
been applied, has been used up, that Member State                October 1981, of the amount still in reserve after
shall forthwith, by notifying the Commission, draw a           . amounts have been returned thereto pursuant to
second share, to the extent that the reserve so permits,         Article 5.
equal to 10 % of its initial share, rounded up as neces­
sary to the next whole number.                                   It shall ensure that . the drawing which exhausts the
                                                                 reserve does not exceed the balance available and, to
2.      If, after its initial share has been exhausted,          this end, shall notify the amount of that balance to
90 % or more of the second share drawn by a                      the Member State making the last drawing.
Member State has been used up, that Member State
shall, in the manner and to the extent provided in
paragraph 1 , draw a third share equal to 5% of its                                        Article 7
initial share, rounded up as necessary to the next
whole number.
                                                                 1.    Member       States  shall   take    all    appropriate
                                                                 measures    to   ensure   that   additional    shares  drawn
                                                                 pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that
                                                                 imports may be charged without interruption against
 ( 1 ) 0J No L 291 of 19.11.1979 , p. 17                         their aggregate shares of the Community quota.
 ---pagebreak---                                                          -ν
2.    Member States shall ensure that importers of the                            Article 8
products in question established in their territory have    At the Commission s request, Member States shall
free access to the shares allocated to them .
                                                            inform it of the imports actually charged against their
                                                            shares.
3.    Member States shall charge imports of the
products in question against their shares as and when                             Article 9
the products are entered with the customs authorities       Member States , and the Commission shall cooperate
for free circulation.                                       closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied
                                                            with .
4. The extent to which a Member State has used up
its share shall be determined on the basis of imports                             Article 10
charged against that share in accordance with para­         This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
graph 3.                                                    1981-
             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States.
             Done at Brussels,
                                                                       For the Council
                                                                         The President