CELEX: 51983PC0126
Language: en
Date: 1983-03-15
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for processing work in respect of certain textile products under Community outword processing traffic (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

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COM (83) 126
Vol. 1983/0038
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 ---pagebreak--- C O M M IS S IO N OF THE EU R O PEA N C O M M U N ITIES
                                                                      C0M(83) 126 final
                                                                      Brussels, 15 March 1983
                                             Proposal for a
                                      COUNCIL R E G U L A T I O N (EEC)
           open ing , a l l o cat in g and pr o v i d i n g for the a d mi nis tr ati on of a
             C o m m uni ty t a ri ff quota for p r o c e s s i n g work in respect of
                      certain te x t i l e p r o d u c t s un de r Community outword
                                          pr o c e s s i n g traffic
                        (submitted to the Council by the Commission)
 C O M (83) 126 final
 ---pagebreak---                                                               Cl h 'A&i
                         EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. In an Arrangement (1) concluded with the Swiss Confederation on 1 August
    1969, the European Economic Community undertook to open an annual duty­
    free Community tariff quota of 1 870 000 units of account of added value for
    various kinds of processing work in respect of certain textile products under
    the outword-processing traffic arrangements between the Community and
    Switzerland.
    Under the terms of the memorandum agreed at the time the Arrangement
    was made, this annual tariff quota is divided into three categories of
    processing, based on the quantities recorded under the former bilateral
    Agreements (concluded with Switzerland by France, Gemany and Italy), but
    taking into account the possibilities of extending it to Benelux countries.
    On the basis of that division the total quota amount of 1 870 000 units of
    account is allocated, in accordance with certain amendments, as follows :
    (i)   1 520 000 units of account for processing work on woven fabrics falling
          within Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs Tariff;
    (ii)  123 000 units of account for twisting or throwing, re-twisting, cablin,
          texturizing (whether or not combined with other processing work) of
          yarn falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs Tariff;
    (iii) 227 000 units of account for processing work on articles falling within
          headings Nos 58.04, 58.05, 58.07, 58.08, 58.09 and 60.01 of the Common
          Customs Tariff, subject to the setting up of a Community reserve of
          230 000 u.a. to be drawn from the above quotas, i.e. 160 000 u.a.,
          13 000 u.a. and 57 000 u.a. respectively.
2. The question whether this Arrangement should continue beyond 31 August
    1977 has been examined on several occasions, notably at the meeting of the
    EEC-Switzerland Joint Committee held on 3 November 1976, in regard to the
    quota amounts which should be adopted thenceforth, account being taken of
(1) O.3. No L 240, 24.9.1979
 ---pagebreak---                                          -  2  -
  the fact that the transitional period in the Free Trade Agreement concluded
  with Switzerland, under which textile products qualifying for Swiss origin
  status by reasons of the processing work they have undergone can enter duty­
  free, expired on 1 July 1977.
   The question was reconsidered at the meeting of Joint Com m ittee held on 8
   May 1979 in order to examine, in the light of the experience gained and of the
   economic     information    available,    the adaptation to  be   made to  the
   Arrangement especially as regards the following points :
          reduction to be made to the total quota amount;
          division of this amount into three categories of processing;
          allocation of quotas among Member States.
    With regard to the first three points raised, the Swiss delegation iaid stress
    on the retention of the Arrangements to its memorandum in their present
    form, but agree provisionally to the abolition of the division of the total
    quota amount of 1 870 000 EUA into the three categories of processing
    initially adopted and hence to the aggregation of the shares allotted to
    certain Member States.
3. The attached proposal for a Regulation therefore serves no other purpose
     than to open, in ECU the tariff quota provided for in the Arrangement in
     question for the period 1 September 1983 to 31 August 1984 and to allocate it
     among the Member States along the lines set out in the Memorandum covering
     the Arrangement, account being taken of the adaptations that have taken
      place meanwhile and of the need to ensure that all     Member States share in
      the allocation of this tariff q u o t a .
 ---pagebreak---                                                      P R OP OSA L FOR A
                                    COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
               opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
               quota for processing work in respect of certain textile products under
                                       Community outward-processing traffic
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                      November 1978 on the procedure for applying the
 COMMUNITIES,                                                     European unit of account (EUA) to legal acts adopted
             i                                                   in one customs sphere ('), and in particular Article 2
                                                                 thereof, and the provisions of Council Regulation
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European           (EEC/Euratom) No 3308/80 of 16 December 1980 on
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 113               the replacement of the European unit of account by
 thereof,                                                        the ECU in Community legal instruments f) ;
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                 Whereas provision should be made in particular to
                                                                 ensure equal and continuous access for those
Whereas, on 1 August 1969, the Community                         concerned with this quota and consistent application
concluded an arrangement with Switzerland on proces­             of the rate of duty, prescribed for the said quota until
sing traffic in textiles ; whereas under that arrangement        the quota is exhausted, to all goods re-imported into
 the Community undertook to open, on 1 September of              any of the Member States and which have received one
every year, an annual duty-free Community tariff                 or other of the treatments listed above ; whereas, in the
quota for processed goods of 1 870 000 units of                  light of these principles, arrangements for the utiliza­
account of added value, apportioned as follows :                 tion of the quota based on an allocation among the
                                                                 Member States would seem to be consistent with the
(a) 1 650 000 units of account for processing work on            Community character of the said quota ; whereas it
     woven fabrics falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of           therefore seems advisable to make the allocation on
     the Common Customs Tariff ;                                 the basis of the amount of the traffic under the
                                                                 previous bilateral Agreements, but without precluding
(b) 143 000 units of account for the twisting or                 participation by Member States not previously involved
     throwing, cabling and texturizing (whether or not           in such traffic ;
     combined with other processing work) of yarns
     falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common
     Customs Tariff ;
                                                                 Whereas, to safeguard the Community character of the
(c) 77 000 units of account for processing work on               quota, provision should be made to meet requirements
     products falling within heading Nos 58.04, 58.05,           which may arise in those Member States permitting
     58.07, 58.08, 58.09 and 60.01 of the Common                 them to draw adequate amounts from the Community
     Customs Tariff ;                                            reserve;
Whereas, in order to facilitate administration of this
tariff quota, it was decided no longer to allocate a             Whereas, to take account of possible developments in
quota, provisionally, to each of the above three catego­         the traffic in question in the various Member States,
ries of processing ; whereas the quota in question               the total quota volume of 1 870 000 ECU should be
should therefore be opened for the period 1 September            divided into two instalments, the first being allocated
1983 to 31 August 198 4>ccording to the procedure                among certain Member States and the second held as a
provided for under the above arrangement, as
amended and in compliance with the provisions of                 (') O j No L 333, 30. 11. 1978, p. 5.
Council Regulation (EEC) No 2779/78 of 23                        (2) O J No L 345, 20. 12. 1980, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak---                                                          -2 -
reserve to cover the subsequent requirements of               (a) processing work on woven fabrics falling within
Member States when one of their initial shares has                 Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs Tariff;
been exhausted, and also requirements which may               (b) twisting or throwing, cabling and texturizing
arise in certain Member States in respect of processing            (whether or not combined with other processing
work for which no initial share of the quota was allo­             work) of yarns falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of
cated ; whereas, in order to give the parties concerned            the Common Customs Tariff;
in each Member State some degree of certainty, it
would seem appropriate to fix the first instalment of         (c) processing work on products falling within the
the Community quota at a relatively high level,                     following headings of the Common Customs
namely 1 640 000 ECU ;                                             Tariff:                                    \
                                                                    58.04 Woven pile fabrics and chenille fabrics
Whereas the Member States may exhaust their initial                         (other than terry towelling or similar terry
shares at different rates ; whereas to avoid disruption of                  fabrics of cotton falling within heading No
supplies on this account, it should be provided that                         55.08 and fabrics falling within heading No
any Member State which has almost used up one of its                         58.05);
 initial shares should draw an additional share from the
 reserve ; whereas, each time its additional share is               58.05 Narrow woven fabrics, and narrow fabrics
 almost exhausted, a Member State should draw a                              (bolduc) consisting of warp without weft
 further share, and so on, as many times as the reserve                      assembled by means of an adhesive, other
 allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares                          than goods falling within heading No
 should be valid until the end of the quota period ;                         58.06;
 whereas this form of administration requires close                  58.07 Chenille yarn (including flock chenille
 collaboration between the Member States and the                             yarn), gimped yarn (other then metallized
 Commission, and the Commission must be in a posi­                           yam of heading No 52.01 and gimped
 tion to keep account of the extent to which the quota                       horsehair yam ); braids and ornamental
 has been used up and to inform the Member States                            trimmings in the piece; tassels, pompons
 accordingly ;                                                               and the like;
                                                                     58.08 Tulle and other net fabrics (but not inclu­
 Whereas, if at a given date during the quota period a                        ding woven, knitted or crocheted fabrics),
 considerable quantity of a Member State’s initial share                      plain (a);
 remains unused, it is essential, to prevent a part of the
  Community tariff quota from remaining unused in                    58.09 Tulle and other net fabrics (but not inclu­
  one Member State while it could be used in others,                          ding woven, knitted or crocheted fabrics),
  that such State should return a significant percentage                      figured ; hand or mechanically made lace, in
  thereof to the corresponding reserve ;                                      the piece, in strips or in motifs;
                                                                     60.01 Knitted or crocheted fabric, not elastic or
                                                                              rubberized.
  Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
  Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
   Luxembourg are united in and jointly represented by          2.     For the purposes of this Regulation:
   the Benelux Economic Union, all transactions concer­
   ning the administration of the shares allocated to that      (a) ‘processing work’ means :
   economic union may be carried out by any one of its
   members,                                                           — for the purposes of paragraph 1 (a) and (c):
                                                                          bleaching, dyeing, printing, flocking, impregna­
                                                                          ting, dressing and other work which changes
                                                                          the appearance or quality of the goods, without
                                                                          however changing their nature,
   HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                                      — for the purposes of paragraph 1 (b): twisting or
                                                                          throwing, cabling and texturizing, whether or
                                                                          not combined with reeling, dyeing or other
                                                                          work which changes the appearance, quality or
                                                                          finish of the goods, without however changing
                           Article 1
                                                                          their nature;
    1.   From 1 September 1983 to 31 August 1984 a               (b) ‘value added’ means the difference between the
    Community tariff quota of 1 870 000 ECU of value                  value for customs purposes as defined in Commu­
    added shall be opened in respect of goods resulting               nity Regulations on this subject at the time of
    from processing work as provided for in the arrange­              re-importation and the value for customs purposes
    ment with Switzer'and on processing traffic in textiles           as it would be if the products were re-imported in
    as follows:                                                       the state in which they were exported.
 ---pagebreak---                                                          - 3-
3. Within this tariff quota, the Common Customs             same conditions, draw a fourth share equal to the
Tariff duties shall be totally suspended.                   third.
Within the same limits, Greece shall apply customs          This process shall continue to apply until the reserve
duties calculated in accordance with the provisions of      is exhausted.
the 1979 Act of Accession and of the protocols
concluded by reason of that accession.                      4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1, 2 and 3,
                                                            a Member State may draw shares lower than those
4. Re-imports of products, resulting from this              specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for
                                                            believing that those specified may not be used in full.
processing work may not be charged to the tariff quota
if they are already free of customs duties under other      Any Member State applying this paragraph shall
preferential tariff arrangements.                           inform the Commission of its grounds for so doing.
                                                                                     Article 5
                          Article 2
                                                            Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 4 shall be
1. The tariff quota referred to in Article 1 (1) shall      valid until 31 August 1984·.
be divided into two instalments.
                                                                                     Article 6
The first instalment, 1 640 000 ECU, shall be allocated
as set out below among· the Member States listed in         The Member States referred to in Article 2 (1) shall,
the above arrangement; the shares, subject to Article       not later than 1 July 1984 return to the reserve the
6, shall be valid from 1 September 1983 to 31 August        unused portion of their initial share which, on 15 June
 198 4 :                                                     1984, is in excess of 20 % of the initial amount. They
                                             (ECU)           may return a greater portion if there are grounds for
                                                            believing that it may not be used in full.
          Benelux                           20 000
          Germany                        1 080 000           Member States shall, not later than 1 July 1984 notify
          France                           520 000           the Commission of the total quantities of the product
          Italy                             20 000           in question re-imported up to and including 15 June
                                                             1984 and charged against the Community quota and
2. The second instalment, which amounts to                   of any portion of their initial quota returned to the
 230 000 ECU, shall constitute a Community reserve.          reserve.
                          Article 3                                                  Article 7
If an importer no t i f i e s an imminent re­                The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
im po rta ti on of the pr o d u c t s in q u es tio n        opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2, 3
in a Me mb er State and requ est s the b e n e ­             and 4 and shall, as soon as the information reaches it,
fit of t h e quota, the Me mber State co n ­                 inform each Member State of the extent to which the
                                                              reserve has been used up.
ce rned shall inform t h e Co m m i s s i o n and
draw an amount c o r r e s p o n d i n g to these             It shall, not later than 5 July 1984, inform the
r e q u i re me nts to the extent that the                    Member States of the amounts still in reserve
a v a i lab le b a l a n c e of the re serve p e r ­          following any return of shares pursuant to Article 6.
mits this.
                                                              It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting this
                          Article 4                           reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not exceed
                                                              the balance available, and to this end shall notify the
 1.     If a Member State has used 90 % or more of its        amount of that balance to the Member State making
 initial share as fixed in Article 2 (1), or that share       the last drawing.
 minus any portion returned to the reserve pursuant to
 Article 6, it shall forthwith, by notifying the Commis­                              Article 8
 sion, draw a second share, to the extent that the rele­
 vant reserve so permits, equal to 10 % of its initial         1. Member States shall take all appropriate measures
 share, rounded up as necessary to the next whole              to ensure that additional shares drawn pursuant to
  number.                                                      Article 4 are opened in such a way that re-importation
                                                               may be charged without interruption against their
  2. If a Member State, after exhausting its initial           accumulated shares of the Community tariff quota.
 share, has used 90 % or more of the second share
 drawn by it, that Member State shall, in accordance           2. , Every Member State shall ensure that all persons
 with the conditions laid down in paragraph 1, draw a                                      involved in the processing
  third share equal to 5 % of its initial share.               traffic have free access to the shares allocated to it.
  3. If a Member State, after exhausting its second
  share, has used 90 % or more of the third share drawn
  by it, that Member State shall in accordance with the
 ---pagebreak---                                                       - 4-
3. The extent to which a Member State has used up                                   Article 10
its shares shall be determined on the basis of the value
added, as established when upon re-importation the           Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
products concerned are entered with the customs              closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied with.
authorities for free circulation.
            '           Article 9                                                   Article 11
At the request of the Commission, the Member States
shall inform it of any re-irnporiations of the products      This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 September
in question actually charged against their share.            158.3.
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable. in all Member
              States.
              Done at Brussels,7  «··    198!·?
                                             J·
                                                                         For the Council
                                                                           The President