CELEX: 31973R2628
Language: en
Date: 1973-09-26 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 2628/73 of the Council of 26 September 1973 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain textile products originating in developing countries

29 . 9 . 73                        Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 272/ 1
                                                           I
                                        (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                              REGULATION (EEC) No 2628/73 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                of 26 September 1973
              opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for
                            certain textile products originating in developing countries
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    regarding International Trade in Cotton Textiles, the
COMMUNITIES,                                                   offer made by the Community lays down that the
                                                               preferences, in the form of duty-free ceilings
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                   ordinarily calculated according to the formula set out
                                                               in the preceding recital, will be granted to countries
European Economic Community;
                                                               enjoying generalized preferences which are signatories
                                                               to the Long-term Arrangement or possibly to those
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;            countries which undertake vis-a-vis the Community
                                                               commitments similar to those existing under that
                                                               Arrangement and for the duration of the said
Whereas, within the context of UNCTAD, the
                                                               Arrangement; whereas it is apparent that only
European Economic Community offered to grant                   imports from these countries are to form the basis
tariff preferences of finished and semi-finished
                                                               for calculating the abovementioned ceilings ; whereas,
products coming from developing countries ; whereas            with particular regard to the relation which Article
the preferential treatment proposed in that offer              6 of the said Long-term Arrangement establishes
covers, generally speaking, all finished and semi­             between cotton products and substitute products, it
finished industrial products by Chapter 25 to 99 of            appears justified in these circumstances and by virtue
the Brussels Nomenclature originating in developing            of the fact that a total suspension of customs duties
countries ; whereas the preference consists in the             is involved to include in the same scheme as that
granting of exemption from customs duties ; whereas            described above those substitute textile products
preferential imports ire effected up to the level of           given in the conditional list of partial and limited
ceilings calculated by value in respect of each product        reductions of customs duties deposited with GATT
on the basis of factors which are uniform for all the
                                                               by the Community during the last series of tariff
products ; whereas in order that the preferences               negotiations ; whereas, moreover, in view of the
granted to the most competitive developing country             special nature which trade in the products concerned
or    countries  should   be   restricted   and that   a
                                                               may have, it appears expedient wherever this is
substantial quota share should be reserved for the             justified by the particular sensitivity of the product
least competitive, preferential imports from any one           to determine in terms of tonnages the ceilings for
developing country in respect of a given product               the preferential imports of such product, taking due
should not, as a general rule, exceed 50% of the               account of deliveries carried out during 1968 by the
ceiling fixed for that product ;                              benefiting countries alone; whereas, moreover,
                                                               particularly in view of the high level of deliveries of
Whereas, in the offer made by the Community, the               the textiles in question to the Community by the
annual ceilings should ordinarily be calculated on             third countries concerned, it appears appropriate,
the basis of the total value for 1968 of cif imports           except in particular instances, to restrict preferential
from the countries benefiting from this scheme,                imports from any single benefiting country to 30°/o
excluding those already enjoying various preferential          of the ceiling laid down for each category of textile
tariff arrangements granted by the Community,                  products concerned;
increased by 5 °/o of the value of cif imports from
the other countries and from the countries already
enjoying such arrangements ;                                   Whereas the offer made by the Community includes
                                                               a clause stipulating that the Community drew up
Whereas, however, in respect of cotton textile                 the offer on the assumption that all the main
products covered by the Long-term Arrangement                 industrialized countries which are members of the
 ---pagebreak--- No L 272/2                          Official Journal of the European Communities'                              29 . 9. 73
OECD would participate in granting preferences and             above, the Community nature of the quotas can be
would make similar efforts in this direction ;                 respected by allocating the Community tariff quota
whereas, moreover, it is evident from the conclusions          among Member States ; whereas, moreover, to this
worked out in UNCTAD that this offer, while being              end and in the context of the utilization system, the
of a temporary nature, does not constitute a binding           actual charges against the quotas may relate only
commitment and, in particular, may be withdrawn                to products which are presented for customs
wholly or in part at a later date ; whereas this               clearance under cover of declarations that they have
possibility may be adopted inter alia with a view to           been entered into consumption and which are
remedying any unfavourable situations which might              accompanied by a certificate of origin ;
arise in the associated countries following the
implementation of the generalized preference scheme ;          Whereas the application of the generally accepted
                                                               principles in respect of the allocation of the
Whereas tariff preferences have been applied as from           Community tariff quotas which have been opened
the second half of 1971 under the conditions set out
                                                               until now entails, under these circumstances and in
above; whereas application of the said preferences             view of the variety of the products concerned and in
has been confined, in respect of the cotton textiles           view of the specification of the benefiting countries,
and substitute textiles concerned above, to the first          calculations which are all the more problematic in
nine months of 1973 by Council Regulation (EEC)                that the statistical data required sometimes prove to
No 2763 /72 (*) of 19 December 1972 opening,                   be incomplete or not sufficiently accurate or
allocating and providing for the administration of             representative ; whereas the time required for these
Community tariff quotas for certain textile products '         calculations cannot be reconciled with the continuity
originating in developing countries, the Long-term             necessary for the application of the tariff preferences
Arrangement regarding International Trade in Cotton            concerned; whereas, under these conditions, it would
Textiles being due to expire on 30 September 1973 ;            be advisable still at this stage to adopt a fixed scale
whereas the said Arrangement has been prorogued                for allocating the Community tariff quotas concerned
until the end of 1973 ; and whereas these circum­              among the Member States ; whereas, using as a
stances betoken renewed application of the said                basis general economic criteria relating to external
preferences, pro rata temporis, for the last quarter           trade, the gross national product and population, the
of 1973 ;                                                      percentages for the initial shares of the Member
                                                               States in the quota amounts are as follows for the
Whereas it is expedient, therefore, in respect of the          quota year under consideration :
products referred to in Annex A which originate in
the countries listed in Annex B, that the Community
                                                                       Germany                          37-5 ®/o
should open for the last quarter of 1973 , duty-free
Community tariff quotas within the limits of the                       Benelux                          15-1 Vo
amounts, in metric tons given in respect of each of
these products ;
                                                                       France                           27-1 %
Whereas charges against each of these tariff quotas
must, in respect of the products originating in any                    Italy                            20-3 °/o
of the abovementioned countries, come within a
specified percentage of the amount of the quota ;
whereas the benefit of such tariff quotas should be            Whereas, without affecting the Community nature
reserved for products originating in the countries             of the tariff quotas under consideration, it appears
under consideration, the concept of 'originating               ppssible to provide at this stage for a utilization
products' being determined in accordance with the              scheme based on a single allocation among the
procedure laid down in Article 14 of Council                   Member States ; whereas, moreover, the allocation
Regulation (EEC) No 802/68 (2) of 27 June 1968                 set out by this Regulation in no way prejudices the
on the common definition of the concept of the                 possibility of adopting, following a limited
origin of goods ;                                              experimental period, the general method of allocation
                                                               of Community tariff quotas comprising the setting
Whereas it is necessary to ensure equal and                    up of a reserve share; whereas at the present
continuous access for all Community importers to               juncture it appears feasible that such allocation
the abovementioned quotas and the uninterrupted                could be made according to the percentages set out
                                                               in the table above ;
application of the rate laid down for those quotas
to all imports of the products concerned into all
Member States until those quotas are used up ;                 Whereas the percentages for the shares of the
whereas, having regard to the principles defined               Member States in the Community tariff quotas, in
                                                               view of the duration and amounts thereof, does not
                                                               appear in this instance to compromise the equal
(^ OJ No L 296, 30. 12 . 1972, p . 63 .                        access for Community importers to Community
(2) OJ No L 148, 28 . 6. 1968 , p . 1 .                        tariff quotas;
 ---pagebreak--- 29 . 9 . 73                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 272/3
 Whereas since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom               for each Member State, the amounts corresponding
 of the Netherlands and the Grand-Duchy of                       to the quantities given in column 5 of Annex A in
 Luxembourg are united in and represented by the                 respect of each category of products.
 Benelux Economic Union for the allocation of the
 tariff quotas concerned, any measure concerning the
 administration of the quota shares allocated to that
 Economic Union may be carried out by one of its                                         Article 3
 Members;
                                                                  1.   The Member States shall ensure free access to
 Whereas, since the tariff quotas concerned are valid            the quota shares which have been allocated to them for
 until 31 December 1973 , the system established could            importers of the products concerned who are
 be amended under the provisions of Protocol No                  established on their territory.
 23 annexed to the Act joined to the Treaty of
 Accession (1),                                                  2. The extent to which the quota shares of
                                                                 Member States have been actually used up shall be
                                                                 recorded on the basis of imports of the products
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                 in question which have been presented for customs
                                                                 clearance under cover of declarations that they have
                                                                 been entered into consumption, and which are
                          Article 1                              accompanied by a certificate of origin in accordance
                                                                 with the rules referred to in Article 1 (2).
 1 . From 1 October to 31 December 1973, the
 Common Customs Tariff duties on the products                    3.    An item of goods may qualify for a tariff quota
listed in Annex A shall be completely suspended                  if the certificate of origin referred to in paragraph 2
within the framework of Community tariff quotas                  is submitted before the date on which the levying of
 of volumes which shall be expressed in metric tons              duties is reintroduced.
 and which shall be indicated in respect of each
product in column 3 of such Annex.
2. These tariff quotas shall be enjoyed solely by                                        Article 4
products originating in the countries listed in Annex
B. However, those imports which already enjoy
                                                                 The Commission shall take all necessary measures
exemption from customs duties under other                        to ensure that the maximum amount referred to in
 preferential tariff arrangements granted by the
                                                                 Article 1 (3 ) is observed. When the charges, at
 Community may not be charged against these tariff
                                                                 Community level, of products originating in each of
quotas. For the purposes of the application of this              the countries listed in Annex B, against any one of
Regulation, the concept of originating products shall            the Community tariff quotas reach the maximum
be determined in accordance with the procedure                   amount laid down in column 4 of Annex A, the
 laid down in Article 14 of Regulation (EEC)
No 802/68 .
                                                                 Commission shall immediately notify the Member
                                                                 States of the date on which, as a result of this
                                                                 factor, the normal tariff is to be reintroduced in
3 . The amount to be charged in respect of each
                                                                 respect of the country in question. This notification
country referred to in paragraph 2 against each of
                                                                 shall be published in the Official Journal of the
the tariff quota amounts mentioned above shall                   European Communities.
be limited to the maximum amount given as a
percentage and in metric tons in column 4 of
Annex A in respect of each category of products.
                                                                                         Article 5
4. Any amendment to Annex B, in particular by
the addition of new countries enjoying tariff
preferences, may entail a corresponding adjustment               Member States shall . inform the Commission at
to the volumes of the quotas and to the maximum                  regular intervals of imports of the products in
amounts appearing in columns 3 and 4 of Annex A.                 question actually charged against their quota shares.
                         Article 2
                                                                                         Article 6
The Community tariff quotas referred to in Article
1 shall be allocated in quota shares which shall be,             Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
                                                                 closely to see that the provisions of the above
(x ) OJ Special Edition, 27. 3 . 1972, p. 178 .                  Articles are observed.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 272/4                      Official Journal of the European Communities                           29 . 9 . 73
                     Article 7                                                   Article 8
The above provisions may be amended under the
provisions of Protocol No 23 annexed to the Act            This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 October
joined to the Treaty of Accession.                         1973 .
            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
            States .
            Done at Brussels, 26 September 1973 .
                                                                         For the Council
                                                                           The President
                                                                          I. N0RGAARD
 ---pagebreak--- 29 . 9 . 73                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                       No L 272/5
                                                            ANNEX A
                List of products subject to zero-duty Community tariff quotas under the Generalized Tariff
                                   Preferences granted in favour of certain developing countries
                                                                              Maximum amount per
                                                                    Quota             country
 Order       CCT                                                   amount               (4)                 Share of quota amounts
            heading                   Description                                                         allocated to Member States
  No                                                             (in metric
              No                                                    tons)                                       (in metric tons)
                                                                                            in metric
                                                                                in %>         tons
              (1)                         (2)                         (3)                                              (5)
     1        55.05   Cotton yarn, not put up for retail
                      sale :
                      B. Other
                          II. Not specified :
                              Single, measuring per kg:
                              — 14 000 m or less                    189 .         30             57   Germany :                   70-87
                                                                                                      Benelux :                    28-54
                                                                                                      France :                    51-22
                                                                                                      Italy :                      38-37
     2                        — more than 14 000 m and              712           30           214    Germany :                  267-00
                                  up to 40 000 m                                                      Benelux:                   107-51
                                                                                                      France :                   192-95
                                                                                                      Italy :                    144-54
     3                        — more than 40 000 m and up           245           30             73   Germany :                    91-88
                                  to 80 000 m                                                         Benelux :                    36-99
                                                                                                      France :                     66-39
                                                                                                      Italy :                      49-74
     4                        — More than 80 000 m and                35          30             10   Germany :                    13-12
                                  up to 120 000 m                                                     Benelux :                      5-28
                                                                                                      France :                       9-49
                                                                                                      Italy:                        7-11
     5         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
                                  — Unbleached                       127           30            38   Germany :                    47-62
                                                                                                       Benelux:                    19-18
                                                                                                      France :                     34-42
                                                                                                      Italy:                       25-78
      6                       II. Other
                                  — Unbleached, of a width
                                      of:
                                      — 85 cm to 115 cm              637           30           191    Germany :                 238-87
                                                                                                       Benelux :                   96-19
                                                                                                       France :                   172-63
                                                                                                       Italy:                     129-31
      7                               — More than 115 cm             387           30           116    Germany :                  145-12
                                          and up to 165 cm                                             Benelux :                    58-44
                                                                                                       France :                   104-88
                                                                                                       Italy:                       78-56
      8                                — More than 165 cm            125           30             37   Germany :                    46-87
                                                                                                       Benelux :                    18-88
                                                                                                       France :                     33-87
                                                                                                       Italy:                       25-38
      9                            — Not specified                     52          30             16   Germany :                    19-50
                                                                                                       Benelux :                      7-85
                                                                                                       France :                     14-09
                                                                                                       Italy:                       10-56
 ---pagebreak--- No L 272/6                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                       29 . 9 . 73
                                                                     Maximum amount per
                                                            Quota            country
 Order   CCT                                                                                       Share of quota amounts
                                                           amount              (4)
  No    heading                 Description               (in metric                             allocated to Member States
          No                                                                                           (in metric tons)
                                                             tons)                 in metric
                                                                      in ®/o          tons
          (1)                       (2)                       (3 )                                            (5)
  10      56.05 Yarn of man-made fibres
                (discontinuous or waste), not put u{
                for retail sale :
                B. Of regenerated textile fibres              60        30              18   Germany :                    22-50
                                                                                             Benelux :                      9-06
                                                                                             France :                     16-26
                                                                                             Italy :                      12-18
  11      56.07 Woven fabrics of man-made fibres
                ( discontinuous or waste):
                B. Of regenerated textile fibres              60        30              18   Germany :                    22-50
                                                                                             Benelux :                     9-06
                                                                                             France :                     16-26
                                                                                             Italy :                      12-18
  12   ex 60.03 Stockings, under stockings, socks,
                ankle-socks, sockettes and the like,
                knitted or crocheted, not elastic noi
                rubberized :
                — Of cotton                                   27        30               8   Germany :                    10-12
                                                                                             Benelux :                     4-08
                                                                                             France :                      7-32
                                                                                             Italy :                       5-48
  13      62.02 Bed linen, table-linen, toilet linen and
                kitchen linen ; curtain and other fur­
                nishing articles :
                — In woven fabrics of cotton                  35        30              10   Germany :                    13-13
                                                                                             Benelux :                     5-28
                                                                                             France :                      9-48
                                                                                             Italy :                       7-11
  14            — Other                                       14        30               4   Germany :                     5-25
                                                                                             Benelux :                     2-12
                                                                                             France :                      3-79
                                                                                             Italy :                       2-84
 ---pagebreak--- 29 . 9 . 73                      Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 272/7
                                                      ANNEX B
            List of developing countries benefiting under the Generalized Tariff Preferences for certain
                                                   textile products
                                             Afghanistan
                                             Argentina
                                             Bangladesh
                                             Colombia
                                             Egypt, Arab Republic of
                                             El Salvador
                                             India
                                             Jamaica
                                             Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
                                             Mexico
                                             Pakistan
                                             Philippines
                                             Thailand