CELEX: 31978S2292
Language: en
Date: 1978-09-29 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision No 2292/78/ECSC of 29 September 1978 extending and amending Decision No 1525/78/ECSC establishing a system for the lodging of deposits

No L 275/90                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              30 . 9 . 78
                                   COMMISSION DECISION No 2292/78 /ECSC
                                                  of 29 September 1978
                extending and amending Decision No 1525/78/ECSC establishing a system for
                                                 the lodging of deposits
 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                    be lodged for the fines liable to be imposed under
 COMMUNITIES,                                                      Article 64 of the Treaty. This deposit may take the
                                                                   form, depending on the case, either of a deposit in
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             cash or of an undertaking on the part of the
 Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article               exporter to pay such deposit, secured by a
 86 and the first paragraph of Article 95 thereof,                 guarantee from a bank established in the Member
 Whereas by Decision No 1525/78/ECSC of 30 June                    State in which the deposit is payable and selected
 1978 (*) the Commission established a system for the              from a list drawn up by agreement between the
 lodging of deposits in cases of the provisional esta­             Commission and the Member States (hereinafter
 blishment of an infringement of Commission Deci­                  referred to as a "bank guarantee".'
 sions fixing minimum prices for certain steel
 products ;
                                                                                        Article 3
 Whereas the Decisions fixing minimum prices for
 certain steel products and imposing an obligation to          Article 2 shall be replaced by the following text :
 draw up' certificates of conformity remain in force
 until 31 December 1978 ; whereas the reasons for                  Article 2
 which the Commission established this deposit
                                                                   1.    The evidence shall be considered sufficient
 system still apply ;
                                                                   within the meaning of Article 1 (2) in all cases
 Whereas this system should therefore be extended for              where :
 two months subject to certain adjustments better                  — there is no certificate of conformity accom­
 designed to ensure that the basic principles of the                   panying the goods,
 Community and the rights of those concerned are not
 affected ; whereas it is important to recall the duty of          — the prices stated in the certificates do not
 Member States to ensure, in applying this Decision,                   accord with the invoiced prices,
 that the free movement within the Community of the                — the weights stated in the certificates and
 products concerned is not impeded ; whereas in                        invoices do not accord with the actual weights,
 certain cases it may be acceptable for the deposit to
 consist in an undertaking on the part of the exporter             — the certificate of conformity has one or more
 to pay the deposit, secured by a guarantee from a bank                essential elements missing.
 established in the Member State in which the deposit
 is payable and selected from a list drawn up by agree­            2. (a) In the cases referred to in paragraph 1 the
 ment between the Commission and the Member                                competent authorities of the Member States
 States ;                                                                  shall immediately require a cash deposit to
                                                                           be lodged.
With the unanimous assent of the Council and after
                                                                      (b) The Member States may however submit
consulting the Consultative Committee,                                     the matter to the Commission within 24
                                                                           hours after the date on which the goods and
 HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :                                               the relevant prescribed documents are
                                                                           presented. The Commission shall forthwith
                         Article 1                                         approach the undertakings and dealers
                                                                           referred to in the first sentence of Article 1
Subject to the following amendments, the provisions                        (2) in order to establish whether or not a
of Decision No 1525/78/ECSC governing the lodging                          fine should be imposed. If the Commission
of deposits shall apply until 30 November 1978 .                           fails to take such a decision within seven
                                                                           working days after the matter has been
                         Article 2                                         submitted to it, the national administration
                                                                           concerned shall be deemed to have been
Article 1 ( 1 ) shall be replaced by the following text :                  instructed to require payment of a cash
     Article 1                                                             deposit.
     1.    Subject to the conditions hereinafter laid                 (c) If a Member State does not apply the provi­
     down, the Commission may require a deposit to                        sions laid down in subparagraphs (a) or (b)
                                                                          within the stipulated time limits, it shall
(») OJ No L 178, 1 . 7. 1978, p. 90.                                      release the goods forthwith.
 ---pagebreak--- 30 . 9 . 78                          Official Journal of the European Communities                         No L 275/91
     3.      Where there is sufficient evidence, other                                  Article 5
     than that provided for in paragraph 1 , to presume
     an infringement, the lodging of a deposit may be           Article 6 shall be replaced by the following text :
     required by a national administration only on the               Article 6
     instruction of the Commission .
                                                                    If a fine is imposed by the Commission within 30
     This instruction must be requested by the appro­               working days following the lodging of the deposit,
     priate national administration within 24 hours                 the amount of the latter or the amount recovered
     after presentation of the goods and the relevant               under the bank guarantee shall be paid to the
     prescribed documents. If the Commission requires               Community's account and set off against the
     a deposit, the party concerned may choose the                  amount of the fine. In any other case, the amount
     form thereof.                                                  in question shall forthwith be refunded to the
     In the absence of such an instruction from the
                                                                    party concerned or, in the case of a bank
                                                                    guarantee, released.'
     Commission within four working days after
     receipt of the request by the Member State in ques­
                                                                                        Article 6
     tion, no deposit shall be required and the goods
     shall be released.
                                                                A new Article as follows is added :
     4.      The deposit shall be lodged with the compe­            'Article 6a
     tent national authorities on behalf of the Commu­
     nity.                                                          When implementing this Decision, the Member
                                                                    States shall ensure that the free movement of iron
     5. The party concerned shall have free disposal                and steel products within the Community is not
     of the goods before the expiry of the periods laid             obstructed. They shall in particular comply with
     down in paragraph 3, provided that the deposit                 the time limits prescribed for requests and notifica­
     has been lodged.'                                              tions to the Commission and for the requiring and
                                                                    repayment of deposits and release of guarantees.'
                           Article 4
                                                                                        Article 7
The following words shall be added to Article 3 (2) :
     '. . . or, in the case of a bank guarantee, to release     This Decision shall enter into force on 1 October
     it. It shall state the reasons for its decision .'         1978 .
                  This Decision shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                  States.
                  Done at Brussels, 29 September 1978 .
                                                                          For the Commission
                                                                           fctienne DAVIGNON
                                                                      Member of the Commission