CELEX: 31973R3503
Language: en
Date: 1973-12-18 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 3503/73 of the Council of 18 December 1973 opening preferential tariffs for certain textile products originating in developing countries

28 . 12. 73                          Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 358/69
                              REGULATION (EEC) No 3503/73 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                   of 18 December 1973
               opening preferential tariffs for certain textile products originating in developing countries
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,                         ries to the long-term arrangement or possibly to those
                                                                   countries which undertake vis-a-vis the Community
                                                                   commitments similar to those existing under that
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­                arrangement and for the duration of the said arran­
 pean Economic Community;                                         gement; whereas the arrangement expired on 30 Sep­
                                                                   tember 1973 and was extended to 31 December 1973 ;
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;               whereas, it may, however, be anticipated that, on a
                                                                   transitional basis, the countries concerned thereby
                                                                   will adopt measures with equivalent aims, at least
 Having regard to the Opinion of the European Par­                 for 1974; whereas it is apparent that only imports
liament;                                                           from these countries are to form the basis for cal­
                                                                   culating the abovementioned ceilings ; whereas, with
 Whereas, within the context of UNCTAD, the Euro­                 particular regard to the link which Article 6 of the
pean Ecomomic Community offered to grant tariff                   said long-term arrangement establishes between
preferences on finished and semi-finished products                 cotton products and substitute products, it appears
coming from developing countries ; whereas the pre­               justified in these circumstances and by virtue of the
ferential treatment proposed in that offer covers,                fact that a total suspension of customs duties is in­
                                                                  volved to include in the same scheme as that described
generally speaking, all- finished and semi-finished in­           above those substitute textile products given in the
dustrial products covered by Chapters 25 to 99 of
the Brussels Nomenclature which originate in devel­               conditional list of partial and limited reductions of
oping countries ; whereas the preference consists in
                                                                  customs duties deposited with GATT by the Commu­
 the granting of exemption from customs duties ;                  nity during the last series of tariff negotiations ;
                                                                  whereas, moreover, in view of the special nature
whereas preferential imports are effected up to the
                                                                  which trade in the products concerned may have, it
level of ceilings calculated by value in respect of each          appears expedient to calculate in terms of tonnages
product on the basis of factors which are uniform                 the ceilings for preferential imports of such products ;
for all the products ; whereas, in order that the pref­
erences granted to the most competitive developing
country or countries should be restricted and that
a substantial share should be reserved for the least              Whereas the offer made by the Community includes
competitive, preferential imports from any one devel­              a clause stating that the Community drew up the
oping country in respect of a given product should                offer on the assumption that all the main industrial­
not, as a general rule, exceed 50% of the ceiling                  ized countries which are members of the OECD
 fixed for that product;                                           would participate in granting preferences and would
                                                                   make similar efforts in this direction; whereas, more­
                                                                   over, it is evident from the conclusions worked out
Whereas, in the offer made by the Community, the                  in UNCTAD that this offer, while being, of a tem­
annual ceilings should normally be calculated on the               porary nature, does not constitute a binding commit­
basis of the total value for 1968 of cif imports from              ment and, in particular, may be withdrawn wholly
the countries benefiting from this scheme, excluding               or in part at a later date; whereas this possibility
those already enjoying various preferential tariff                may be adopted inter alia with a view to remedying
arrangements granted by the Community (basic                      any unfavourable situations which might arise in the
amount) plus 5% of the value of cif imports from                  associated countries following the implementation
the other countries and from countries already                     of the generalized preference scheme;
enjoying such arrangements (additional amount);
Whereas, however, in respect of cotton textile pro­               Whereas, moreover, the Conference of Heads of
ducts covered by the long-term arrangement regar­                  State or of Government of the Member States and
ding international trade in cotton textiles, the offer            the States acceding to the European Communities
made by the Community lays down that the pref­                    held in Paris from 19 to 21 October 1972 invi­
erence, in the form of duty-free ceilings ordinarily               ted the Community institutions and Member States
calculated according to the formula set out in the                 progressively to adopt an overall policy of develop­
preceding recital, will be granted to the countries               ment cooperation on a world wide scale comprising
enjoying generalized preferences which are signato­               in particular the improvement of generalized pref­
 ---pagebreak--- No L 358/70                              Official Journal of the European Communities                              28 . 12. 73
erences with the aim of achieving a steady increase                 Whereas such method of administration calls for
in imports of manufactures from the developing                      very close and particularly rapid cooperation be­
countries ;                                                         tween Member States and the Commission, which
                                                                    must, in particular, be able to observe the extent
                                                                    to which charges are made against the ceilings and
Whereas tariff preferences have been applied from                   maximum      amounts     and    inform   Member     States
the second half of 1971 under the conditions set                    thereof; whereas such cooperation should be particu­
out above and whereas these preferences should con­                 larly close in view of the need for the Commission
tinue to be applied throughout 1974;                                to be able to taken appropriate measures to re­
                                                                    introduce customs duties, either generally or indi­
                                                                    vidually, when any of the ceilings or maximum
Whereas, in accordance with Protocol No 22 to the
                                                                    amounts are reached,
Act of Accession (1), the generalized tariff preference
scheme will be applicable in the new Member States
from 1 January 1974;
Whereas, in respect of textile products, the complexity
of the measures to be implemented, combined with                    HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
the abovementioned aim of improving the generalized
preferences, can be overcome normally only by
means of a flat-rate increase of some 50% in the                                             Article 1
ceilings fixed for 1973 , the calculations for the addi­
tional amount of the ceilings having already been
made on the basis of 1970 figures ;
                                                                    1 . From 1 January to 31 December 1974 the Com­
                                                                    mon Customs Tariff duties and the tariff duties of
Whereas, in respect of the products listed in Annex A               the new Member States on the products listed in
originating in the countries listed in Annex B, the                 Annex A shall, subject to Article 2 and Article 4 (2)
Community should therefore allow, for each category                 be totally suspended.
of these products during 1974, duty-free imports
within the limits of the Community ceilings calcula­
ted in the manner set out above ; whereas the benefit               Ireland is authorized to apply customs duties equal
of such tariff exemption should be reserved for pro­                to the duties it applies in respect of the same products
                                                                    vis-a-vis Member States        other   than  the United
ducts originating in the countries under consideration,
the concept of 'originating products' being deter­                  Kingdom.
mined in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 14 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 802/
68 (2) of 27 June 1968 on the common definition of                  2. This suspension shall be enjoyed solely by pro­
the concept of the origin of goods ; whereas charges                ducts originating in the countries listed in Annex B.
against each of these ceilings must, as a general rule,             However, those imports which already enjoy exemp­
come within a maximum Community amount of                           tion from customs duties under other preferential
50% in respect of the products originating in any                   tariff arrangements granted by the Community shall
of the abovementioned countries ;                                   not be charged against the ceilings specified in para­
                                                                    graph 3 . For the purposes of this Regulation, the
Whereas, under these circumstances, these objectives                concept of originating products shall be determined in
may be reached by applying a method of adminis­                     accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
tration based on the charging, at Community level,                  14 of Regulation (EEC) No 802/68 .
against the abovementioned ceilings and maximum
amounts, of imports of the products concerned as
and when these products are presented for customs                   3 . Subject to the provisions of Article 2 and Article
clearance under cover of declarations that they have                4 (2 ) this suspension shall be granted, in respect of
been entered for home use and accompanied by a                      each category of products, within a Community ceil­
certificate of origin ; whereas this method of adminis­             ing which shall be equal to 150% of the amount
tration must make provision ,for the reintroduction                 obtained by adding together imports in 1968, expres­
of customs duties as soon as the said ceilings or                   sed in metric tons, of the products concerned from
maximum amounts are reached at Community level ;                    the countries listed in Annex B, excluding those al­
                                                                    ready enjoying various preferential tariff arrange­
                                                                    ments granted by the Community, and 5% of the
                                                                    tonnage of imports in 1970 from other countries
 (x) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972 , p. 14.                             and from countries already enjoying such arrange­
( 2) OJ No L 148 , 28 . 6. 1968 , p. 1 .                             ments .
 ---pagebreak--- 28 . 12 . 73                          Official Journal of the European Communities                         No L 358 /71
4. Subject to the provisions of Article 2 and Article            for home use, and provided that they are accom­
4 (2), within each ceiling thus calculated, charges of           panied by a certificate of origin pursuant to the rules
products originating in any one of the countries listed          referred to in Article 1 (2).
in Annex B should not exceed a Community maxi­
mum amount equivalent to 50% of this ceiling with                2. Goods may be charged against a ceiling or maxi­
the exception of certain products for which the maxi­            mum amount only if the certificate of origin referred
mum amount shall be reduced to the percentage                    to above is presented before the date on which the
shown in Annex A.
                                                                 levying of duties is reintroduced.
5 . Any amendment to Annex B, in particular by the               3 . The extent to which the ceilings and maximum
addition of new countries enjoying tariff preferences,           amounts have been actually filled shall be determined
may entail a corresponding adjustment to the Com­                at Community level on the basis of the imports
munity ceilings and the maximum amounts referred                 charged in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2.
to in paragraphs 3 and 4.
                        Article 2                                                         Article 4
1 . As soon as the ceilings calculated in accordance
with the provisions of Article 1 (3 ), which are laid            1 . The Commission, in close cooperation with the
down for Community imports of products orig­                     Member States, shall take all necessary measures to
inating in all of the countries referred to in Article           ensure that the above provisions are applied.
1 (2) are reached at Community level, the levying
of customs duties on imports of the products in                  2. The Commission shall reintroduce the levying of
question from all the countries concerned may at                 customs duties in respect of all the countries referred
any time be reintroduced until the end of the period             to in Article 1 (2) or. in respect of any one of them
referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 1 ( 1 ).        by means of a Regulation in the conditions laid
                                                                 down in Article 2 ( 1 ) and (2).
2. As soon as the maximum amounts calculated in
accordance with the provisions of Article 1 (4) which
are laid down for Community imports of products                                           Article 5
originating in each of the countries referred to in
Article 1 (2) are reached for any one of these coun­
tries at Community level, the levying of the customs             Member States shall inform the Commission at re­
duties on imports of the products in question from               gular intervals of imports of the products in question
the country concerned may at any time be reintro­                actually charged against the Community ceilings and
duced until the end of the period referred to in the             maximum amounts laid down in Article 1 (3 ) and (4).
first subparagraph of Article 1 ( 1 ).
                        Article 3                                                         Article 6
1 . Imports of the products in question shall be
actually charged against the Community ceilings and              This   Regulation     shall enter into   force   on   1
maximum amounts as and when the goods are entered                January 1974.
             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
             States .
             Done at Brussels , 18 December 1973 .
                                                                                     For the Council
                                                                                       The President
                                                                                    J. CHRISTENSEN
 ---pagebreak--- No L 358 /72                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                                     2.8 . 12 . 73
                                                                     ANNEX A
                 List of products originating in developing countries to which the generalized tariff
                                          preferences for certain textile products will apply (a)
                              CCT
               Order
                            heading                                                Description
                                No
                                              CHAPTER 54
                   1             54.05        Woven fabrics of flax or of ramie
                                              CHAPTER 55
                   2             55.05        Cotton yarn, not put up for retail sale :
                                              A. Multiple or cabled, finished, in balls or on cards , reels, tubes or
                                                  similar supports, of a weight (including support) not exceeding
                                                  900 g
                 3                            B. Other :
                                                   I. Measuring, per single yarn, 120 000 m or more per kg
                   4             55.06        Cotton yarn, put up for retail sale
                   5             55.07        Cotton gauze
                   6            55.08         Terry towelling and similar terry fabrics, of cotton
                                 55.09        Other woven fabrics of cotton :
                                              A. Containing 85 % or more by weight of cotton :
                                                  ex I. Of a width of less than 85 cm :
                   7                                        — Other than raw cotton (x)
                   8                          B. Other
                                              CHAPTER 56
                                 56.05        Yarn of man-made fibres (discontinuous or waste), not put up for
                                              retail sale :
                   9                          B. Of regenerated textile fibres
                                 56.07        Woven fabrics of man-made fibres (discontinuous or waste) :
                 10                           B. Of regenerated textile fibres
             (a) Products qualifying, under the ordinary arrangements, for exemption or total temporary suspension of the Common
                  Customs Tariff duty are only token entries as regards the Member States of the Community as originally constituted,
                  whereas the exemption or suspension is directly and fully applicable by the new Member States under these arrange­
                 ments, except for Ireland, which is authorized to apply customs duties equal to the duties it applies in respect of the same
                  products vis -il -vis Member States other than the United Kingdom.
             f1) For products falling within subheading No 55.09 A ex I (other than raw cotton), the maximum Community amount
                 referred to in Article 1 (4) of this Regulation is reduced to 30% .
 ---pagebreak--- 28 . 12. 73                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                             No L 358 /73
                             CCT
             Order
               No           heading                                              Description
                              No
                                               CHAPTER 58
               11              58.04           Woven pile fabrics and chenille fabrics (other than terry towelling
                                               or similar terry fabrics of cotton falling within heading No 58.05)
               12              58.10           Embroidery, in the piece, in strips or in motifs
                                               CHAPTER 60
                               60.01           Knitted or crocheted fabric, not elastic or rubberized :
               13
                                            j B. Of man-made fibres
                                            [    C. Of other textile materials
               14         ex 60.02             Gloves , mittens and mitts, knitted or crocheted , not elastic or rubber­
                                               ized, of cotton i1)
                               60.04           Under garments, knitted or crocheted, not elastic or rubberized :
               15                              A. Of cotton (2)
                               60.05           Outer garments and other articles, knitted or crocheted, not elastic
                                               or rubberized :
                                                     A. Outer garments and clothing accessories :
                16                                      ex II. Other, of cotton (2)
                                                 ex B. Other, of cotton (2)
                               60.06           Knitted or crocheted fabric and articles thereof, elastic or rubberized
                                               (including elastic knee-caps and elastic stockings) :
                17                             A. Fabric
                                               CHAPTER 61
                           ex 61.03            Men's and boys' under garments, including collars, shirt fronts and
                                               cuffs :
                18                             — Of cotton fabric i1)
                19         ex 61.04            Women's, girls' and infants' under garments, of cotton fabric
                               61.05           Handkerchiefs :
                20                             — Of cotton fabric
                21                             — Of fabrics other than cotton
            (x) For products falling within heading Nos 60.02 (of cotton) and ex 61.03 (of cotton), the maximum Community amount
                 referred to in Article 1 (4) of this Regulation is reduced to 30% .
            (a) For products falling within subheading Nos 60.04 A, 60.05 A ex II, 60.05 ex B (of cotton fabric), and 62.03 B I ex b)
                 (of cotton fabric), the maximum Community amount referred to in Article 1 (4) of this Regulation is reduced to 30% ■
 ---pagebreak--- No L 358/74                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                               28 . 12. 73
                              CCT
             Order
               No           heading                                           Description
                               No
                                              CHAPTER 62
                               62.01          Travelling rugs and blankets :
                                              B. Other :
               22                                 I. Of cotton
                               62.03          Sacks and bags, of a kind used for the packing of goods :
                                              B. Of other textile materials :
                                                    I. Used :
                                                       ex b) Other :
               23                                             — Of cotton i1)
                                                   ex II. Other :
                                                          — Of cotton
                24             62.04           Tarpaulins, sails, awnings , sunblinds, tents and camping goods
            (*) For products falling within subheading Nos 60.04 A, 60.05 A ex II, 60.05 ex B (of cotton fabric), and 62.03 B I ex b)
                 (of cottton fabric), the maximum Community amount referred to in Article 1 (4) of this Regulation is reduced to 30% .
 ---pagebreak--- 28 . 12. 73                       Official Journal of the European Communities                               No L 358/75
                                                      ANNEX B
            List of developing countries benefiting under generalized tariff preferences for certain textile
                                                       products
                                                Afghanistan
                                                Argentina
                                                Bangladesh
                                                Colombia
                                                Egypt, Arab Republic of
                                                El Salvador
                                                India
                                                Indonesia
                                                Jamaica
                                                Korea (South )
                                                Malaysia
                                                Mexico
                                                Pakistan
                                                Philippines
                                                Thailand