CELEX: 31977R2301
Language: en
Date: 1977-10-18 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 2301/77 of 18 October 1977 on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff (1978)

21 . 10 . 77                        Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 269/ 1
                                                            I
                                         (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                                  COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2301 /77
                                                  of 18 October 1977
              on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for
              certain plywoods of coniferous species falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the
                                            Common Customs Tariff ( 1978)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    quota should be divided into two tranches, the first
COMMUNITIES,                                                   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
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European          their initial shares ; whereas, in order to offer impor­
Economic Community, and in particular Article 28               ters some degree of security, the first tranche of the
and 1 1 3 thereof,                                             quota should be fixed at a relatively high level, or
                                                               about 96 % of its full amount ; whereas, on the basis
                                                               of Member States' estimates of their needs, the initial
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,             shares may be fixed as set out in Article 2 ;
Whereas, under Protocol 11 to the Act of Acces­
sion (l), the Community is required to open each year          Whereas Member States may use up their initial
nil duty Community tariff quotas for certain plywoods          shares at different rates ; whereas, to provide for this
of coniferous species falling within heading No ex             eventuality and to avoid disruption of supplies, any
44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff, the volume
                                                               Member State which has almost used up its initial
thereof to be decided annually when it is established          share   should   draw   an  additional  share  from  the
that all possibilities of supply on the internal market        reserve ; whereas, each time its additional share is
of the Community have been exhausted during the                almost used up, a Member State should draw an addi­
period for which the quotas are open ; whereas, in             tional share, and so on as many times as the reserve
view of the aforesaid possibilities of supply and on the       allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares
basis of forecasts of requirements made by the                 should be valid until the end of the quota period ;
Member States, the volume of the tariff quota to be            whereas this form of administration requires close
opened for 1978 may be fixed at 700 000 m3 ; whereas           collaboration    between    Member     States  and   the
the opening of the aforementioned tariff quota also            Commission, which latter must, in particular, be able
covers the commitment entered into by the Commu­               to keep a record of the extent to which the quota has
nity within the GATT to grant in respect of these              been used up and to inform the Member States accord­
products an annual duty-free tariff quota of 400 000           ingly ;
m3 ; whereas the abovementioned requirements do
not include imports to which other preferential tariff
arrangements may apply ; whereas, in view of the rela­
tively small quantities produced in the Community, it          Whereas if at a given date in the quota period a
is not necessary to apportion this amount between the          considerable quantity of a Member State's initial share
categories of plywood specified in the abovemen­               remains unused, it is essential that that Member State
tioned Protocol 1 1 ; whereas the fixing of the volume         should return a significant proportion to the reserve
at 700 000 m3 on the basis of provisional estimates            so as to avoid a part of the quota remaining unused in
does not exclude an adjustment during the quota                one Member State when it could be used in others ;
year ;
Whereas, to take more precise account of future                Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
trends in imports of the products concerned, the               Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
                                                               Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented
(!) OJ No L 73, 27. 3 . 1972, p. 170 .                         by the Benelux Economic Union, any measure
                                                                                                   4
 ---pagebreak--- No L 269/2                         Official Journal of the European Communities                            21 . 10 . 77
concerning the administration of the shares allocated         equal to 10 % of its initial share, rounded up as neces­
to that economic union may be carried out by any              sary to the next whole number.
one of its members,
                                                              2.     If, after its initial share has been exhausted,
                                                              90 % or more of the second share drawn by a
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                              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 1                             initial share, rounded up as necessary to the next
                                                             whole number.
 1 . For the period 1 January to 31 December 1978,
a Community tariff quota of 700 000 mJ shall be               3.     If, after its second share has been exhausted,
opened for the following products falling within              90 % or more of the third share drawn by a Member
heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff :            State has been used up, that Member State shall, in
                                                              the manner and to the extent provided in paragraph 1 ,
(a) plywood of coniferous species, without the addi­          draw a fourth share equal to the third.
     tion of other substances, of a thickness greater
     than 9 mm, the faces of which are not further           This procedure shall apply until the reserve is used
     prepared than the peeling process ;                      up .
(b) plywood of coniferous species, without the addi­
     tion of other substances, sanded, and of a thick­        4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and
     ness greater than 18-5 mm .                              3, Member States may draw lesser shares than those
                                                              specified therein if there are grounds for believing
2. Imports of the products in question may not be             that those specified may not be used in full. They
charged against this tariff quota if they are already free    shall inform the Commission of their reasons for
of customs duties under other preferential tariff arran­      applying this paragraph .
gements .
3. The Common Customs Tariff duty shall be                                              Article 4
totally suspended within the limits of the above quota.
                                                              Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be
                                                              valid until 31 December 1978 .
                        Article 2
 1.    The tariff quota referred to in Article 1 ( 1 ) shall                            Article 5
be divided into two tranches.
                                                              Member States shall return to the reserve, not later
2.     A first tranche of 670 000 m 3 shall be allocated      than 1 October 1978, the unused portions of their
among the Member States ; the shares, which subject           initial shares which, on 15 September 1978, are in
to Article 5 shall be valid until 31 December 1978 ,          excess of 20 % of the initial amounts. They may
shall be as follows :                                         return a greater portion if there are grounds for
                                      (cubic metres)          believing that such portion may not be used in full.
         Benelux                         125 900
         Denmark                         100 050              Member States shall notify the Commission, not later
        Germany                           86 200              than 1 October 1978, of the total quantities of the
         France                           17 200              products in question imported up to and including 15
         Ireland                          12 950              September 1978 and charged against the Community
         Italy                            25 850              quota and of any portion of their initial shares
         United Kingdom                  301 850              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 State's 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 1978 , 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 .
 ---pagebreak--- 21 . 10 . 77                         Official Journal of the European Communities                         No L 269/3
It shall ensure that the drawing which exhausts the            4. The extent to which a Member State has used up
reserve does not exceed the balance available and, to           its share shall be determined on the basis of imports
this end, shall notify the amount of that balance to            charged against that share in accordance with para­
the Member State making the last drawing.                      graph 3.
                          Article 7                                                    Article 8
1.    Member       States  shall   take    all    appropriate   At the Commission's request, Member States shall
measures     to   ensure  that   additional    shares  drawn    inform it of the imports actually charged against their
pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that             shares.
imports may be charged without interruption against
their aggregate shares of the Community quota.                                         Article 9
2. Member States shall ensure that importers of the             The Member States and the Commission shall co­
products in question established in their territory have        operate closely to ensure that this Regulation is
free access to the shares allocated to them .                   complied with.
3 . Member States shall charge imports of the                                          Article 10
products in question against their shares as and when
the products are entered with the customs authorities           This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
 for home use .                                                  1978 .
                This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                States .
                Done at Luxembourg, 18 October 1977.
                                                                            For the Council
                                                                              The President
                                                                               H. SIMONET