CELEX: 51983PC0623
Language: en
Date: 1983-10-21
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) opening and providing for the administration of a Community preferential ceiling for certain petroleum products refined in Turkey and establishing Community supervision of imports thereof (1984) (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (83) 623
Vol. 1983/0228
 ---pagebreak--- Disclaimer
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In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983
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Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as
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In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom 1.
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Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L 43 vom 15.2.1983,
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 ---pagebreak--- C O M M IS S IO N          OF THE                EUROPEAN                     C O M M U N IT IE S
                                                                   COM( 8 3 )  6 23   fin a l
                                                                   B russels,     21 O c t o b e r 198 3
                                         Proposal      for    a
                               COUNCIL_REGULATION (EEC)
               opening    and p r o v i d i n g  fo r   the   a d m in is tra tio n    of
   a Community p r e f e r e n t i a l   c e ilin g   for    certain     petroleum products
        refin ed   in   Turkey   and e s t a b l i s h i n g  Community s u p e r v i s i o n
                             of    im ports      thereof       (1984)
                 (subm itted    to     the   Council       by t h e   Commi s si o n )
 COM( 8 3 ) 6 23  fin a l
 ---pagebreak---                    EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
As a consequence of the Accession of the next Member States and the
ensuring negotiations with Turkey for the purpose of adjusting her Associa­
tion Agreement with the Community and its Additional Protocol, the
Community signed at Ankara, on 30 June 1973, a supplementary Protocol
which will enter into force on ratification.
Pending entry into force of the Protocol the Community concluded an
Interim Agreement, intended to be valid only until the Protocol does enter
into force, in order to secure the application from 1 January 1974 of
certain provisions of the Protocol relating to trade in goods.
The Supplementary Protocol and the Interim Agreement provide inter alia
for the opening of an annual Community tariff quota of 340 000 tonnes for
certain petroleum products falling under Chapter 27 of the Common
Customs Tariff.
It is not possible to say at the moment whether the tariff measures laid
down by these Agreements in Turkey's favour should be granted for 1984 on
the basis of the Supplementary Protocol or of the Interim Agreement. The
proposed Regulation annexed hereto is based on the Interim Agreement and
 would therefore have to be amended if the Supplementary Protocol entered
 into force on 1 January 1984 the latest.
 The Commission is aware that this concession might be modified in the
 context of a future negotiation with Turkey. In the absence of a decision
 on this this proposal is an instrument which will allow respect of the
 engagements contracted by the Community.
 Therefore the Commission reserves the possibility of modifying this
 proposal during the procedure to adapt it, if necessary, to the final result
 of the negotiations.
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 2 -
2.  As a result of the decision by the Council of Association in June 1983 that
    Turkey should be treated not less favourably than the countries benefiting
    from generalised tariff preferences, the Commission and the Turkish
    authorities have studied the problem of giving equivalent tariff treatment
   to both the developing countries and Turkey.
   The Community tariff quotas opened in favour of the developing countries
   during the years 1971 to 1973 were converted with effect from 1 January
    1974 into Community ceilings, volumes being calculated by the usual
    method. For 1973 these volumes were fixed at the 1974 levels plus 12%,
   for 1976 they were fixed at the 1975 level plus 15%, for 1977 at the 1976
   level plus (for the most pose) 4.6%, for 1978, 1979 and 1980 at the 1977
   levels, for 1981 at the 1980 level plus 2%, for 1982 at the 1981 level plus
    10%, for 1983 at the 1982 level plus 5% and for 1984 at the 1983 level.
   When the problem had been studied, the Comission ultimately recognized
   that already for 1976, in view of the provisions of paragraph 4 of the Sole
   Article of Annex I to the Additional Protocol, the tariff quota of 340 000
   tonnes laid down in Turkey's favour should be converted into a Community
   ceiling with the volume increased provisionally in the proportions used for.
   The only purpose of the proposed Regulation is to open in case of these
   products for 1984 a Community ceiling fixed at 539 570 tonnes and to set
   up Community supervision of importations of these products.
3. Adoption of precise common rules uniformy applied by the Member States
   will necessary if the ceilings system incorporating entitlement to reintro­
   duce the customs duties is to work successfully. These requirements can
   be met by setting up a Community system for supervising imports actually
   made from the partner country. Member States will accordingly require to
   take steps to ensure that statistical date for the whole of the Community
   can be collected rapidly. For this purpose importations will be counted
   only as the goods are actually entered with the customs authorities for free
   circulation.
 ---pagebreak--- Statistics will be compiled by each Member State at the end of each month
and will be forwarded to reach the Commission by the fifteenth day of the
following month in order to enable it to communicate to Member States by
telex an inclusive return of the imports system will call for the exercice of
careful attention by the relevant departments in the Member States and
for close cooperation between these departments and the Commission.
The following system will be adopted for setting off the mechanism for
reintroducing duties : when one of the inclusive monthly returns drawn up
by the Commission shows that 75% of the ceiling figure has been reached,
the Commission will inform the Member States and consultations may then
be held - particularly in the Group on Economic Tariff Problems- either at
the request of a Member State or on the initiative of the Commission. The
purpose of the consultations will be to consider whether or not to
recommence collecting customs duties at the third-country rate whn the
ceiling has actually been reached.
A monthly return will continue to be made for the product in question. If
 the Commission so requests, returns will be made every ten days by telex,
 within a time limit or 5 days.
 The Commission will thus be in a position to take quick action to restore by
 regulation customs duties on imports from the partner country until the
 end of the calendar year. Naturally, in such a case réintroduction of the
 duties would be effective from a date fixed by the regulation ending the
 duty reduction laid down.
 The proposed Regulation provides that the Council should delegate authori­
 ty to the Commission as regards application of the rules on ceilings and
 introduction of duties.
 ---pagebreak---                                       - k -
    The proposed Regulation only sketches a general framework for the
    exercice of these powers in order that the mechanism to be used can be
    flexibly and rapidly adjusted, in consultation with the Member States. It is
    precisely with this aim of optimum efficiency and rapidity that the
    proposed Regulation gives the Commission the task of reintroducing third
    country rate duties on imports of the goods in question from the partner
    country.
ANNEX : 1 Proposal for a Council Regulation.
 ---pagebreak---                                                    Proposal    for    a
                                      COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
               opening and providing for the administration of a Community preferential ceiling for certain
               petroleum products refined in Turkey and establishing Community supervision of imports
                                                       thereof ( 1 9 8 4 )
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                        Portugal, Syria, Tunisia or Turkey (3); whereas, as a
                                                                result, this Regulation applies to the Community of
                                                                Nine;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 113               Whereas the application of the ceiling requires that the
thereof,                                                        Community should be regularly informed of the trend of
                                                                imports of these products refined in Turkey; whereas
                                                                imports of these products should therefore be subject to a
                                                                system of supervision;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                Whereas this objective may be attained by means of an
                                                                administrative procedure based on setting off imports of
Whereas, pending the entry into force of the                    the products in question against the ceiling, at
Supplementary Protocol signed in Ankara on 30 June              Community level, as and when these products are
1973 containing the adjustments to be made to the               submitted to the customs authorities under cover of
Agreement establishing an association between the               declarations that they have been made available for free
European Economic Community and Turkey and to the               circulation; whereas this administrative procedure must
Additional Protocol (') consequent on the accession of          make provision for the réintroduction of the Common
new Member States, the Community has undertaken, in             Customs Tariff duty as soon as the said ceiling has been
an Interim Agreement (2) which runs only for a limited          reached at Community level;
period prior to the entry into force of this Supplementary
Protocol, which is applicable until 31 December 1974 but
which has been extended for 1984 in accordance with the         Whereas this administrative procedure requires close and
terms laid down in Article 13 thereof, to implement             very rapid cooperation between the Member State and the
certain provisions of the Supplementary Protocol relating       Commission, which must be able to monitor the amounts
to trade in goods; whereas under Article 6 of the Interim       set off against the ceiling and keep the Member States
Agreement amending the first paragraph of the Sole              informed thereof; whereas this cooperation must be all
Article of Annex 1 to the Additional Protocol, the              the closer to enable the Commission to take adequate
Community must totally suspend the customs duties               measures to reintroduce the Common Customs Tariff
applicable to certain petroleum products falling within         duty whenever the ceiling is reached,
Chapter 27 of the Common Customs Tariff, refined in
Turkey, within the limit of an annual Community tariff
quota of 340 000 tonnes; whereas, for the products
concerned, a provisional adjustment should be made to           HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
these tariff preferences, consisting essentially of
substituting for the Community tariff quota a                                            Article 1
Community ceiling which amounts, after successive
increases, to 539 570 tonnes, above which the customs
duties applicable to third countries may be                     1.     From 1 January to 31 December 1984 the Common
reintroduced;                                                   Customs Tariff duties shall, subject to Article 2, be totally
                                                                suspended in the Community of Nine for certain
                                                                petroleum products, referred to hereinafter and refined in
                                                                Turkey, within the limits of a Community ceiling of
Whereas, in accordance with Article 119 of the 1979 Act         539 570 tonnes.
of Accession, the Council adopted Regulation (EEC) No
3555/80 of 16 December 1980 determining the
arrangements to be applied with regard to imports into          2.     The petroleum products to which paragraph 1
Greece, originating in Algeria, Israel, M alta, Morocco,        applies are the following:
(l) OJ No L 293, 29. 12. 1972, p. 4.
(l ) OJ No L 277, 3. 10. 1973, p. 2.                            (3) OJ No L 382, 31. 12. 1980, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak---                                                     -    2  -
    CCT
   heading                                                 Description
     No
   27.10         Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals other than crude; preparations
                 not elsewhere specified or included, containing not less than 70 % by weight of petroleum
                 oil or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of
                 the preparations:.
                 A. Light oils:
                      HI. For other purposes
                 B. Medium oils:
                      HI. For other purposes
                 C. Heavy oils:                                                                 '■     ^
                        I. Gas oils:
                           c) For other purposes
                       11. Fuel oils:
                           c) For other purposes
                      III. Lubricating oils, other oilst
                           c) To be mixed in accordance with the terms o f Additional N o te-7 to this
                              chapter (a)
                           d) For other purposes
   27.11         Petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons:
                 B. Other:
                        1. Commercial propane and commercial butane:
                           c) For other purposes
                                                                                                         f
   27.12         Petroleum jelly:
                 A. Crude:
                      III. For other purposes
                 B. Other
   27.13         Paraffin wax, micro-crystalline wax, slack wax, ozokerite, lignite wax, peat wax and
                 other mineral waxes, whether or not coloured:
                 B. Other:
                        I. Crude:
                           c) For other purposes
                       11. Other
   27.14         Petroleum bitumen, petroleum coke and other residues of petroleum oils or of oils
 «               obtained from bituminous minerals:
                C. Other
(a) Entry under thi» subheading in »ubject to condition» to be determined'· by the competent
     authoritici.
 ---pagebreak--- 3.     Imports of the petroleum products referred to in        duties applicable to third countries until the end of the
paragraph 1 shall be subject to Community                      calendar year.
supervision.
4.     Imports of the products shall be set off against the                            Article 3
ceiling as and when they are submitted to the customs
authorities under cover of a declaration that they have        Member States shall forward to the Commission not later
been made available for free circulation.                      than the 15th day of each month a statement of the
                                                               imports effected during the preceding month. If the
5.     The extent to which the ceiling has been used shall     Commission so requests, they shall forward this
be determined at Community level on the basis of the           statement, in respect of 10-day periods, within five clear
imports set off against it in the manner defined in            days of the expiry of each such 10-day period.
paragraph 4.
6.     Member States shall inform the Commission at the                                 Article 4
intervals and within the time limits specified in Article 3 of
any imports effected in accordance with the above              The Commission shall take all necessary measures for the
rules.                                                         implementation of this Regulation in close cooperation
                                                               with the Member States.
                          Article 2
                                                                                        Article 5
As soon as the ceiling referred to in Article 1(1) has been
reached at Community level, the Commission may issue a         This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
Regulation reintroducing the Common Customs Tariff              1984.
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States.
              Done at Brussels,
                                                                               For the Council
                                                                                The President