CELEX: 51978PC0608
Language: en
Date: 1978-11-17
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) OPENING, ALLOCATING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF A COMMUNITY TARIFF QUOTA FOR UNWROUGHT MAGNESIUM FALLING WITHIN SUBHEADING 77.01 A OF THE COMMON CUSTOMS TARIFF. (Submitted by the Commission to the Council)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (78) 608
Vol. 1978/0235
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In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic
Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                             \
                                           COM(78)608 final
                                           Brussels , 17 November 1979
                   PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC )
             OPENING , ALLOCATING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION
             OF A COMMUNITY TARIFF QUOTA FOR UNWROUGHT MAGNESIUM
             FALLING WITHIN SUBHEADING 77.01 A OF THE COMMON CUSTOMS
                                  TARIFF .
               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council)
                          r~v:  v
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                                     i t
 COM(78 ) 608 final
 ---pagebreak---                      EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
In an exchange of letters with the Nordic Delegation , the Community
undertook to open at the beginning of each year a tariff quota for
unwrought magnesium falling within subheading 77.01 A of the Common
Customs Tariff ; the volume of this tariff quota is to be calculated
in such a way that any excess of Community requirements over Community
production of this product may be imported duty-free .
This proposal concerns the opning , allocation and administration of
the tariff quota for 1979 .
It is proved to be extremely hazardous to fix the tariff quota volume
in recent year owing to the impossibility of forecasting Community
consumption and production levels . For these reasons , the tariff quota
volume opened on 1 January each year has been fixed at a moderate level ,
calculated conservatively and mid-year adjustments based on more accurate
data and estimates have been ruled out .
A preliminary examination after the " Tariff Economic Problems" group
meeting of 22 September 1978 has revealed no evolution of the situation ,
that acceptable forecasts can be made before 1979 and that the Community
magnesium market situation is largely identical now to the way it was
when the 1978 quota was opened up .
In these circumstances , it is proposed once again to use the method
used in previous year for the tariff quota to be opened on 1 January
1979 and to repeat the measures adopted for 1978 by the Council for
fixing the total volume , its subdivision into three grades of magnesium
and its division between the Member States .
 ---pagebreak---                                               PROPOSAL FOP
                                COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
              opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
              quota for unwrought magnesium falling within subheading 77.01 A of the
                                        Common Customs Tariff ( 1979 )
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                             sium containing less than 99 -8 % by weight of pure
COMMUNITIES.                                            magnesium (hereinafter called 'unwrought magnesium
                                                        in alloy') differ considerably ; whereas a distinction
                                                        should therefore be made between these three quali­
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European   ties and the quota volume under consideration should
Economic Community, and in particular Article 113       be divided between them ;
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,       whereas, taking into account an overall, provisional
                                                        quota volume of 5 500 tonnes, the following quanti­
                                                        ties may be allocated to each quality of the product in
                                                        question : 600 tonnes for extra-pure magnesium,
Whereas, in an exchange of letters dated 30 June         1 325 tonnes for unwrought magnesium not in alloy
1967, confirmed in an exchange of letters dated 16      and 3 575 tonnes for unwrought magnesium in alloy ;
April 1973, the European Economic Community has         whereas these figures appear justified both by the
undertaken , as regards unwrought magnesium falling      former ratios of consumption of these qualities to
within tariff subheading 77.01 A, to open an annual      total consumption of magnesium and by the supply
Community tariff quota for a quantity such that '        possibilities for these qualities of magnesium within
Community requirements for the said goods not            the Community ;
covered by Community production may be imported
duty free ;
                                                         Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota
whereas, in order to establish the volume of the         should be ensured for all importers and the rate of-
Community tariff quota, an assessment must be made       levy for the tariff quota should be applied consistently
of the total consumption by the user industries of the   to all imports until the quota is used up ; whereas, in
Member States during the quota year and of' the          the light of the principles outlined above, a Commu­
Community production level for the same period ;         nity tariff arrangement based on an allocation between
whereas even a very rough assessment of total            the Member States would seem to preserve the
consumption and production for 1979 would be             Community nature of the quota ; whereas, to repre­
highly unreliable since it is at present impossible to   sent as closely as possible the actual development of
estimate either the volume of unwrought magnesium        the market in the said goods, the allocation must
used in certain Member States in the year under          follow proportionately the requirements of the
consideration or the likely level of Community           Member States calculated both from statistics of
output ; whereas, in any case, it is unlikely that       imports from third countries during a representative
Community production will fully meet demand in the       reference period and from the economic outlook for
quota year ; whereas the annual quota volume must        the quota year in question ;
therefore be fixed at an appropriate level , probably
about 5 500 tonnes ; whereas this assessment is based
on conservative estimates and latei; adjustments are
not excluded ; whereas the duties to be applied by the   Whereas, however, the available statistics of imports
new Member States under the said tariff quota must        into the Member States from third countries which
comply with the relevant provisions of the Act of        did not benefit from an equivalent tariff preference
Accession ;                                              under any other preferential arrangements cover only
                                                         unwrought magnesium in alloy and unwrought magne­
                                                         sium riot in alloy ; whereas, during the last three years
Whereas the markets in magnesium containing               for which statistics are available, such imports repre­
99-95 % or more by weight of pure magnesium (here­       sented the following percentage of total imports of the
inafter called 'extra-pure magnesium'), in magnesium     said goods ; whereas, from the information at present
containing 99-8 % or more, but less than 99-95 % , by     to hand, it would seem that imports of extra-pure
weight of pure magnesium (hereinafter called              magnesium are effected almost wholly in the United
'unwrought magnesium not in alloy') and in magne-         Kingdom :
 ---pagebreak---                                                                  should be fixed at I 195 tonnes of i^nwrought magne­
                                     1975 1976          1977     sium not in alloy and 3 150 tonnes of unwrought
                                                                 magnesium in alloy, the balances being held as the
for extra-pure and                                               reserves ;                      '     *
unwrought magnesium
notBcnelux
         in alloy                   10-04 9' 86         20*45    Whereas; the initial shares may be used up mpre or
     Denmark                         o        0-06        0·06   less quickly ; whereas, therefore, in order to avoid
     Germany                        55      51-63       41 • 81  disrupting supplies, any Member State which has
     France                         18*18 rt0-90        14 » 76  almost used up one of its initial shares should draw a
     Ireland                         o        o           0      supplementary share from the relevant reserve ;
 •   Italy                           7*47 0<53            1 « 84 whereas this must be done by each Member State as
     United Kingdom                  9*31 27 * 02       21 « 08  each one of its supplementary shares is almost used
– for unwrought           magne*                                 up, as many times as the reserve allows ; whereas the
     sium in alloy :                                             initial and supplementary shares must be valid until
     Bénélux          j              1-88 0*39            0 '74  the end of the quota period ; whereas this form of
     Denmark                       ! o        0*80        1 « 07 administration requires close collaboration between
     Germany                        P6-23'P0-50         97-21    the Member States and the Commission, and the
     France                          o        0-82        0'50   Commission must be in a position to follow the
     Ireland                         o        0-65        0 * 30 extent to which the quota volume has been used up
     Italy                           1*08 0Ί3             0Ό9    and inform the Member States thereof ;
     United Kingdom                 10-81 6-71            0-09
                                                                 Whereas if, at a given date in the quota period, a
                                                                 Member State has a considerable quantity of one of its
Whereas in view of these factors and of market fore­             initial shares left over, it is essential that it should
casts for these products in 1979it is necessary in- the          return a significant proportion thereof to the relevant
case of extra-pure unwrought magnesium to allocate               reserve, to prevent a part of one or other quota volume
on an experimental basis the quota volume for this               from remaining unused in one Member State while it
quality to the Community reserve and to provide for              could be used in others ;
Member States which have requirements to be met to
be able to draw upon this reserve in appropriate quan­           Whereas,, since      the  Kingdom     of  Belgium , the
tities ; whereas it is necessary to fix for the other quali­      Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
ties of magnesium initial percentage shares at approxi­           Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented
mately the following levels :                                    by. the Benelux Economic Union, any measure
              '                  •               \               concerning the administration of the shares allocated
– for unwrought magnesium not in alloy :                         to that economic union may be carried out by. any
                                                                 one of its members,
      Bénélux                                   .  16-74
      Denmark                                       004
      Germany                                      67-80
      France                                        3*34          HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
      Ireland   *       ~                           0-04
      Italy                               '         0-33
      United Kingdom                               11-71                                  Article I
– for umvrouvht magnesium in alloy :                              1 . From 1 January to 31 December 1979, a
      Bénélux                                       2*1 2
                                                                  Community' tariff quota of 5 500 tonnes shall be
      Denmark                                       0-03
                                                                 opened in the Community for unwrought magnesium
                                                                  falling within subheading 77.0 1 A of the Common
      Germany                                      96*50         Customs Tariff.                                    '
      France                                        0*03
      Ireland                                       0-02
                                                                  2.      The volume of the tariff quota shall be divided
      Italy                                 .       0-80    '    as follows :
      United Kingdom                                0-50
                                                                 (a) 600 tonnes for unwrought magnesium containing
Whereas, - in order to take more accurate account of                . 99-95 % or more by weight of pure magnesium
 future import trends for unwrought magnesium not in                   ('extra-pure magnesium'), intended for the nuclear
 alloy and in alloy, the total quota volume for these                  industry. Control of the use for this special
 qualities should be divided into two tranches, the first              purpose shall be effected pursuant to the relevant
 being allocated among the Member States and the                       Community provisions ;
 second held as a reserve to cover at a later date the            (b) 1 325 tonnes for unwrought magnesium
 requirements of Member States who have used up                        containing 99-8 % or more, but less than
 their initial shares ; whereas, in order to guarantee                 99-95 %, by weight of pure magnesium
 importers some degree of security, the first tranches                 ("unwrought magnesium not in alloy') ;
 ---pagebreak--- (c) 3 575 tonnes for unwrought magnesium                       reserve where Article 6 is applied, has been used up,
      containing less than 99-8 % by weight of pure            that Member State shall without delay, by notifying
      magnesium ('unwrought magnesium in alloy').              the Commission, draw a second share equal to 10 %
3.       Imports of the said goods shall not be counted      ■ of its initial share, where necessary rounded off
under the tariff quota if they are already free of             upwards to the next unit, in so far as permitted by the
                                                               amount of the reserve.
customs duties under other preferential tariff treat­
ment.                                                          2.      If, after one or other of its initial shares has been
4. Within the tariff quota the Common Customs                  used up, 90 % or more of the second share drawn by
Tariff duties shall be totally suspended .
                                                               a Member State has been used up, that Member State
                                                               shall , in accordance with the conditions laid down in
                                                                paragraph 1 , draw a third share equal to 5 % of its
                           Article 2
                                                                initial share, where necessary rounded off upwards to
 1.     The volume of 600 tonnes referred to in Article         the next unit.
 1 (2) (a), allocated to extra-pure unwrought magnesium         3.     If, after one or other of its second shares has
intended for the nuclear industry, shall be allotted to         been used up, 90 % or more of the third share drawn
the Community reserve.                                          by a Member State has been used up, that Member
2. If in a Member State a need is felt for extra-pure           State shall , in accordance with the same conditions,
unwrought magnesium, that State shall draw, to the              draw a fourth share equal to the third.
extent permitted by the amount of the reserve, a suffi­        This process shall continue to apply until the reserves
cient share of the reserve thus set up.                         are used up.
                           Artide 3                             4.     Notwithstanding paragraphs 1 , 2 and 3, a
                                                                Member State may draw shares lower than those fixed
 1 . A first tranche of each of the volumes provided            in these paragraphs if there are grounds for believing
for in Article 1 (2) (b) and (c), which amounts to 1 195        that those fixed might not be used up. It shall inform
tonnes for unwrought magnesium not in alloy and                 the Commission of its reasons' for applying this para­
3 150 tonnes for magnesium in alloy shall be divided            graph .
among the Member States. The shares, which are valid
up to 31 December 1979subject t0 Article 6, amount                                        Article S
to the following quantities :
                                                                Supplementary shares drawn pursuant to Article 4
(a) for unwrought magnesium not in alloy :                      shall be valid until 31 December 1979 .
                 ■                               (tonnes)
      Bénélux                                     200                                     Article 6
      Denmark                                        0-5
                                                                Member States shall return to the reserve, not later
      Germany                                     810
      France                                        40          than I October 1979, the unused portion of their
      Ireland                                        0-5        initial shares which, on 15 September 1979, is in
                                                                excess of 20 % of the initial amount. They may return
   • Italy                                           4
      United Kingdom                              140           a greater portion if there are grounds for believing
                                                                that such portion may not be used in full.
(b) for unwrought magnesium in alloy :                          Member States shall, not later than 1 Octoberl 979,,
                                                 (tonnes)        notify the Commission of the total imports of the
      Bénélux                                         67         products concerned effected under the Community
      Denmark                                           1     - quotas up to and including 15 September 1979 and,
      Germany                                     3 040          where appropriate, the proportion of each of their
       France                                           )        initial shares that they are returning to each of the
       Ireland                             <   "        1 =      reserves.
       Italy                                          25
       United Kingdom                                  15                                  Article 7
                                                                 The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
 2.      The second tranches, of 130 tonnes and 425              opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2, 3
  tonnes respectively, shall ■ be held as Community              and 4 and shall , as soon as it has been notified, inform
  reserves .                                                     each State of the extent to which the reserve has been
                                                                 used up.
                           Article 4
                                                                  It shall inform the Member States, not later than J
  1.      If 90% or more of one of a Member States               October 1979 . of the amount still in reserve after
  initial shares as specified in Article 3 ( 1 ), or of that     amounts have been returned thereto pursuant to
                                                                 Article 6.
  share minus the portion returned to the relevant
 ---pagebreak--- It shall ensure that the drawing which uses up a                                       Article 9
reserve is limited to the balance available, and to this
end shall specify the amount thereof to the Member          , Upon a request from the Commission, Member States
State making the last drawing.                                shall inform it of imports actually charged against
                                                              their shares.
                         Article 8
1.     Member States shall take all measures necessary                    '
                                                                                           .
                                                                                       Article 10
to ensure that supplementary shares drawn pursuant                                      r ic e lu
to Article 4 are opened in such a way that imports
may be charged without interruption against their '           The Member States and the Commission shall coop­
accumulated shares in the Community quota.                    erate closely in order to ensure that this Regulation
                                                                                                         1          is
                                                   . .    ,   observed.              '   ,
2. Member States shall ensure that importers esta­
blished in their territory have free access to the shares
allocated to them.                                                   ~                 Article
                                                                                       Article 11
                                                                                               il                   ^
3.     The extent to which a Member State has used up                                                1
                                                                                                     i
its shares shall be determined on the basis of the quan-      This Regulation shall enter into force oon 1 January
tities of the said goods entered for home use.               -1979
                                                              1979 ..
     *                                .
               This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
               States.
                                       '· ·             Ί       -»
               Done at Brussels,                                   ,
                                                              ,           For the Council
             '                                                         '  . The President
 ---pagebreak--- FICHE FINANCIERE                                              Date s                    <
1 . Ligne budgétaire concernée : Chap . 12 art . 120
2 . Base juridique : Art . 113 du traité
3 . Intitulé de la mesure tarifaire : Proposition de règlement du Conseil
      portant ouverture , répartition et mode de gestion du contingent tarifaire
       communautaire de magnésium brut (année 1979 )
4 . Objectif :       Assurer le respect des engagements contractés par la
       Communauté .      -                                       ^
S. Mode de calcul :                                                          f
    - N° du T.D.C.                    : 77,Cil A
  . - Volume du/d^6 contingenté)/^ 5 . ^00 tonnes
    - Droits à appliquer        - ■ : 0 %
    - Droits du T.D.C.                s 8 Z < 1 / 6% de Norvège dans Com . originaire )
6 . Perte de recettes :
       Non allié s Norvège ,      1 1.692.500 UCE à 1,6%       -          27.080 UCE
                     Autres pays * ' 1.857.200 UCE à 8%        -         148.576' UCE
       Allié      ir Norvège      ! 4.961.179 UCE à 1,6%       ■           79.379 UCE
                   * Autres pays *     701.621 UCE a 8%        -           56.130 UCE
                                                                     . . 311 - 165 UCE
                                                           Arrondi à     311.000 UCE