CELEX: 51995PC0267
Language: en
Date: 1995-06-13
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) Amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of 29 December 1994 in order to prolong certain tariff quotas with respect to Austria, Finland and Sweden

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                 Brussels, 13.06.1995
                                                 COM(95) 267 final
                                                 95/0143 (ACC)
                                  Proposal for a
                        COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)
              Amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of
29 December 1994 in order to prolong certain tariff quotas with respect to Austria,
                              Finland and Sweden
                         (presented by the Commission)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak--- COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL
Pursuant to the Act of Accession, the three acceding Member states have applied the
European Community's Common Customs Tariff, with some exceptions1. This has led to
the raising of certain tariffs applied by them. In some cases the acceding Member States
even had to raise their tariff above a level which they had agreed before in GATT not to
exceed (so-called "tariff bindings").2
This is permitted in GATT under Art. XXIV, which is the provision which allows the
creation of inter alia customs unions. However in some cases, the customs union must -
under Art. XXIV para. 6 of the GATT - offer compensation, which may take the form of
reductions of duties on other tariff lines.3
The United States of America requested the EC to give at least a part of this
compensation immediately as of 1 January 1995, because the negative effect of the
raising of some customs tariffs affecting their exports to new Member States would also
be felt immediately as of that date.
Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary trade disputes,, it was decided by the Council
(Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of 29 December 1994) to allow the new Members States to
provisionally apply their former lower tariffs to quotas on certain products, which are of
importance to the US, until the end of June 1995.
Pending the conclusion of a global agreement from the Art. XXIV:6 negotiations and
without prejudice to the results of these negotiations, the Commission propose to prolong
the previous interim arrangement, the same quotas with the same duty rates for the
products in question, for a further six mounths until 31.12.1995.
For these reasons, the Commission propose to the Council to adopt the regulation
contained in the annex of this Communication.
1
  E.g. Art. 99 and Art. 101.
Compare Art. II of the GATT.
3
  GATT 1994 Understanding on Art. XXTV para. 5.
 ---pagebreak---                                                 3
                   PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)
                     Amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of
 29 December 1994 in order to prolong certain tariff quotas with respect to Austria,
                                   Finland and Sweden.
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, in particular Article
 113 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of 29 December 1994* opening
tariff quotas with respect to Austria, Finland and Sweden,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
— Whereas, pursuant to Article 2 of the Act concerning their conditions of accession to
     the Community, Austria, Finland and Sweden have applied the Common Customs
     Tariff as of 1 January 1995;
— Whereas, the Council at its meeting on 8 February 1995 has authorised the
     Commission to open negotiations under Article XXIV, paragraph 6, of the General
     Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994);
— Whereas the application of the Common Customs Tariff by the new Member States
     has led to a reduction of some import duties and increase of some other duties;
— Whereas it is appropriate for the Community to provide temporary relief to its trading
     partners for the most serious cases in which there is an increase in import duties;
     whereas, therefore, certain customs duties have been reduced on an autonomous basis
     during the period 1 January to 30 June 1995;
 — Whereas, pending the conclusion of a global agreement from negotiations between
     the Community and third countries it is appropriate to apply autonomous measures
     designed to alleviate the adverse impact on certain exports by third countries
     following enlargement;
 — Whereas the measures to be applied are without prejudice to the results of the
      ongoing negotiations under Article XXIV:6 and do not prejudge the intention of the
      Community to conclude an agreement which takes into account the global impact of
      enlargement on trade with third countries;
 — Whereas as these negotiations are not yet completed, it is appropriate to extend the
      application of Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94 of 29 December 1994 in order to
      provide for the period of 1 July to 31 December 1995, the same quotas with the same
      duty rates for the same products.
 * As corrected in O.J. L 68 of 28 March 1995
 ---pagebreak--- HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION
Article 1
The dates 1 January to 30 June 1995 in Article 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94
of 29 December 1994 opening tariff quotas with respect to Austria, Finland and Sweden
are replaced by 1 July to 31 December 1995.
Article 2
This regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 1995.
This regulation shall be binding in it s entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels                                                         For the Council
 ---pagebreak---                                         y
                               FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Section 1: Financial implications.
1. Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3361/94
   of 29 December 1994 in order to prolong certain tariff quotas with respect to Austria,
   Finland and Sweden.
2. Budget heading: (loss of revenue: not known).
3. Legal basis: Article 113 EC.
4. Description: The immediate application of the Common External Tariff duty rates by
   the three new Member States resulted, from 1 January 1995, in increases in duty
   payments on certain imports from third countries beyond levels previously in force.
   The proposed Regulation would prolong for a further six months certain tariff quotas
   with respect to Austria, Finland and Sweden provided for in Council Regulation (EC)
   No 3361/94 of 29 December 1994 at the duty levels previously applied. The
    intention is, pending the conclusion of the ongoing negotiations between the
   Community and third countries under Article XXIV:6 of the General Agreement on
   Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), to diminish the most serious adverse impacts
   on trade which would otherwise become a matter of dispute in WTO.
5. Type of revenue: Loss of revenue from duties paid on third country imports.
6. Change in level of revenue: It is estimated that the loss will be around 160 MECUs
   covering the last six months of 1995 (the Regulation will only be in force until 31
    December). This figure is calculated by taking the sum of the CET duty collections
    normally paid on the quota values/amounts specified in the annex to the Regulation,
    and deducting from this figure the sums that will actually be collected, as specified in
    the same annexes.
PM. Sections 2 and 3 do not seem applicable.
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                   ISSN 0254-1475
                                                            COM(95) 267 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
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                                     Catalogue number : CB-CO-95-293-EN-C
                                                             ISBN 92-77-90459-3
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