CELEX: 31977R0523
Language: en
Date: 1977-03-14 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 523/77 of 14 March 1977 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for preserved pineapples, other than in slices, half slices or spirals, originating in developing countries

21 . 3 . 77                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             No L 73/33
                                        COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 523/77
                                                      of 14 March 1977
                 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota
                 for preserved pineapples, other than in slices, half slices or spirals, originating in devel­
                                                        oping countries
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            that Regulation, and, in respect of products which
                                                                    are subject to the single customs duty, of a reduction
                                                                    in such duty ; whereas preferential imports of the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                        products concerned could be effected without
European Economic Community, and in particular                      quantitative restrictions ; whereas it appears
Article 43 thereof,                                                 appropriate, however, in view of the sensitiveness of
                                                                    the preserved fruit and vegetable sector generally and
                                                                   of the need to safeguard the interests of the ACP
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                States in this field, to lay down for preserved
                                                                    pineapples, other than in slices, half slices or spirals,
Having regard to the opinion of the European                       special conditions consisting in a reduction of the
Parliament 0 ),                                                     customs duty applicable to that product within the
                                                                   ' limits of a Community tariff quota ;
Whereas in the Joint Declaration of Intent on the
development of trade relations with Sri Lanka, India,
                                                                   Whereas the offer made by the Community includes
Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore (2), the Community
declared     its   readiness  to seek    solutions to the           a clause stating that the Community drew up the
                                                                    offer on the assumption that all the main industrial­
problems which may arise in the field of trade with                 ized countries which are members of the OECD
the countries referred to ;
                                                                    would participate in granting preferences and would
                                                                    make similar efforts in this direction ; whereas, more­
Whereas in respect of several Asian countries of the                over, it is evident from the conclusions worked out
Commonwealth and particularly as regards Malaysia,                  in UNCTAD that this offer, while being of a tem­
preserved pineapples are an important export                       porary nature, does not constitute a binding commit­
product and the flow of trade in such products is                   ment and, in particular, may be withdrawn wholly
likely to be changed as a result o'f the enlargement of             or in part at a later date ; whereas this possibility
the Community ; whereas the generalized system of                  may be adopted inter alia with a view to remedying
tariff preferences may constitute a solution to                     any unfavourable situations which might arise in the
problems of this nature ; whereas certain forms of                  ACP States following the implementation of the
preserved pineapples should therefore be included in                generalized preference scheme ;
the generalized system of preferences ;
                                                                   Whereas tariff preferences have been applied as from
Whereas, within the context of UNCTAD, the Euro­                    the second half of 1971 ; whereas it is expedient to
pean Economic Community offered to grant tariff                    continue to apply them throughout 1977;
preferences on certain processed agricultural products
of Chapters 1 to 24 of the Common Customs Tariff,
originating in developing countries ; whereas the pre­
ferential treatment proposed in that offer consists,               Whereas it is expedient, therefore, that the Com­
in respect of certain goods which are subject to the                munity should open for 1977 in respect of the said
trade arrangements laid down in Regulation ( EEC)                  products, originating in the countries and territories
No 1059/69 , of a reduction in the fixed component                 listed in the Annex , a Community tariff quota limited
of the charge applicable to such goods by virtue of                to 45 000 tonnes and at a customs duty of 12% ,
                                                                   increased by the levy on sugar where the sugar con­
                                                                   tent exceeds 17% by weight in the case of products
                                                                   falling within subheading ex 20.06 B II a ) 5 aa ), and
(*) OJ No C 30, 7. 2. 1977, p. 25 .                                 19% by weight in the case of products falling within
(2) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972, p. 195 .                            subheading ex 20.06 B II b) 5 aa);
 ---pagebreak---   No L 73/34                            Official Journal of the European Communities                               21 . 3 . 77
 Whereas, in accordance with Protocol 23 to the Act                the quotas should be divided into two tranches, the
 of Accession ('), the generalized tariff preference               first being allocated among Member States and the
 scheme became fully applicable in the new Member                  second held as a reserve to cover subsequently the
 States on 1 January 1974 ;                                        requirements of Member States which have exhausted
                                                                   their initial shares ; whereas, moreover, the reserve
                                                                   constituted in the manner described above tends to
 Whereas for the said products this scheme would,
                                                                   avoid making the system of utilization of the quota
 however, involve the application in the new Member
                                                                   excessively rigid , to the detriment of the developing
 States in 1977 of customs duties higher than or very              countries concerned, and will contribute to achieving
 close to those which will be applied by the new                   the aim already mentioned of improving the gener­
 Member States to non^member countries in general                  alized system of preferences ; whereas, to give impor­
 on the basis of the provisions of the abovementioned              ters in each Member State some degree of certainty,
 Act; whereas thlis situation would comply neither                the first tranche of the Community quota might in
 with the spirit nor with the very nature of the gene­             this case be fixed at 80% of the full quota ;
 ralized preference scheme ; whereas, in order to
 maintain an equivalent preferential margin for these
 products also, reduced customs duties should be
 applied to them, in accordance with detailed rules                Whereas the statistical data available cover only a
 based on the principle of maintaining, in the new                 relatively brief period, and they should be weighted
 Member States, a preference proportional to that                  on the basis of the estimates which irnay ibe made for
 which exists between the duties of the Common                     the quota year; whereas the percentage of the shares
 Customs Tariff and the duties given in Article 1 of               in the first tranche may be drawn up as follows :
 this Regulation ; whereas, w"ith a view to granting the
beneficiary developing countries the best possible                         Germany                           20-5%
 treatment, in accordance with the objectives of the
preference scheme, the duties given in the above­                          Benelux                             4-9%
 mentioned Article 1 should also be applied wherever
                                                                           France                              0-5%
  the duties calculated according to the abovementioned
 detailed rules prove to be higher than them ;                             Italy                               2-0%
                                                                           Denmark                             1-9%
Whereas the benefit of this tariff quota should be
 reserved for products originating in the countries and                    Ireland                             1-0%
territories under consideration, the concept of
'originating products' being determined in accord­                         United Kingdom                    69-2%
 ance with the procedure laid down in Article 14 of
Council Regulation ( EEC) No 802/68 of 27 June
 1968 on the common definition of the concept of the
origin of goods (2);                                              Whereas Member States may exhaust their initial
                                                                  shares for the products in question at different rates;
                                                                  whereas to avoid disruption of supplies on this
Whereas it is necessary to ensure equal and contin­               account it should be provided that any Member State
uous access for all Community importers to the                    which has almost used up its initial share should
aibovementioned quota and the uninterrupted appli­                draw an additional share from the reserve ; whereas
cation of the rate laid down for this quota to all                this must be done by each Member State as and
imports of the products concerned into all Member                 when eaich of its additional shares is almost entirely
States until this quota is used up ; whereas, having              used up, and repeated as many times as the reserve
regard to the principles set out above, the Com­                  allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares must
munity nature of the quota can be respected by                    be available for use until the end of the quota period ;
allocating the Community tariff quota among Mem­                  whereas, however, it seems advisable to permit the
ber States ; whereas, moreover, to this end and in the            Member States to limit the exercise olf their total
context of the utilization system, the actual charges             obligation to draw on the reserve amount to a level
against the quota may relate only to products which               not exceeding 40% of their initial share ; whereas
have been entered for home use and which are ac­                  this    method     of  administration  calls   for   close
companied by a certificate of origin ;                            cooperation between Member States and the Com­
                                                                  mission which must, in particular, be able to observe
Whereas, to take account of future import trends for              the extent to which the quota amount is used and
the products in question in the various Member States,            inform Member States thereof;
(*) OJ No L 73, 27. 3 . 1972, p. 14.                              Whereas if, at a specified date in the quota period,
(2 ) OJ No L 148, 28 . 6. 1968 , p. 1 .                           a considerable balance remains in one or other
 ---pagebreak---   21.3.77                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              No L 73/35
 Member State, it is essential that that Member State          under another preferential tariff scheme granted by
  pays a large amount of it back into the reserve, in          the Community shall not be charged to this quota.
  order to avoid a part of the Community quota
  remaining unused in one Member State when it
  could be used in others ;                                    For the purposes of implementing this Regulation the
                                                               concept of originating products shall ibe determined
                                                               in accordance with the procedure laid down in
 Whereas since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom             Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No 802/68 .
  of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
  Luxembourg are united in and represented by the
 Benelux Economic Union, all transactions concerning
  the   administration   of  shares  allocated   to   that                             Article 2
  economic union may be carried out by any one of
  its members,                                                 1 . A first tranche of 36 000 tonnes shall be allocated
                                                               among the Member States. The shares which, subject
                                                               to Article 5 , shall be valid until 31 December 1977,
                                                               shall for each Member State be as follows :
 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                       Germany                     7 380 tonnes,
                                                                       Benelux                      1 764 tonnes,
                         Article 1
                                                                       France                         180 tonnes,
                                                                       Italy                          720 tonnes,
 1 . From 1 January to 31 December 1977, a Com­
                                                                       Denmark                        684 tonnes,
 munity tari'ff quota of 45 000 tonnes shall be opened
 by the Community for the imports of preserved                         Ireland                        360 tonnes,
 pineapples, other than in slices, half slices or spirals,
 falling within the following subheadings of the                       United Kingdom             24 912 tonnes,
 Common Customs Tariff : ex 20.06 B II a ) 5 , ex
 20.06 B II b) 5 , ex 20.06 B II c) 1 dd ) and ex 20.06
 B II c) 2 bb ). Within this tariff quota the customs         2. The second tranche           olf  9 000    tonnes   shaM
 duty shall be suspended at 12% , increased by the            constitute the reserve.
 levy on sugar where the sugar content exceeds 17%
 by weight in the case of products falling within sub­
 heading ex 20.06 B II ia) 5 aa), and 19% by weight                                    Article 3
 in the case of products 'falling within subheading ex
 20.06 B II b) 5 aa).
                                                              1 . If a Member State 'has used 90% or more of its
                                                              initial share as fixed in Article 2 ( 1 ), or of that share
On importation into Denmark, Ireland and the                  minus any portion returned to the reserve pursuant
United Kingdom, there shall be applied to the above­          to Article 5 , it shall forthwith, by notifying the
mentioned products the customs duty obtained by               Commission, draw a second share, to the extent that
multiplying, by a coefficient equal to the margin of          the reserve so permits, equal to 10% of its initial
preferences existing between the duty of 12% given            share rounded up should the occasion arise to the
in paragraph 1 and the Common Customs Tariff                  nearest unit above .
duties applicable, the duties obtained by reducing by
80% the difference between the lowest duty applied
on 1 January 1972 to the developing countries set             2. If a Member State, after exhausting its initial
out in the Annex and the Common Customs Tariff.               shares, hias used 90% or more of the second share
                                                              drawn by it, that Member State shall forthwith, by
                                                              notifying the Commission, draw a third share, equal
However, the duty of 12% given in the first subpara­          to 5% of its initial share, rounded up should the
graph shall be applied when the customs duty                  occasion arise to the 'nearest unit above.
resulting from the abovementioned calculation is
higher than it.
                                                              3 . If a Member State, after exhausting its second
                                                              share, has used 90% or imore of the third share
2. The 'benefit of this tariff quota shall be reserved        drawn by it, that Member State shall, under the same
for the products originating in the countries and             conditions, draw a fourth share equal to the third.
territories listed in the Annex. However, the imports         This process shall continue until the reserve has
already benefiting from exemption of customs duties           been exhausted.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 73 /36                         Official Journal of the European Communities                             21 . 3 . 77
4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and              pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that
3 , a Member State may draw shares lower than those            importations may be charged without interruption
specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for         against their cumulative shares of the Community
believing that those specified rruay not be used in            quota .
full . Any Member State applying this paragrajph shall
inform the Commission of its grounds ifor so doing.
                                                                                         Article 7
5 . Any Member State may limit the sum total of
its additional shares to 40% of its initial share, in­         1 . The Member States shall ensure free access to
forming the Commission that it is so doing.                    the shares which have been allocated to them for
                                                               importers of the said goods who are established in
                                                               their territory.
                        Article 4
                                                               2 . The extent to which a Member State has used
                                                               up its share shall be determined on the ibasis oif
Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall            imports of the said goods which have been entered
be valid until 31 December 1977.
                                                               for home use, on the basis otf the customs value of
                                                               the said goods, and which are accompanied by a
                                                               certificate of origin in accordance with the rules
                        Article 5                               referred to in Article 1 (2).
A Member State which on 15 September 1977 has                  3 . Goods shall qualify for a tariff quota only if the
not 'exhausted one of its initial shares shall, not later      certificate of origin referred to in paragraph 2 is
than 1 October 1977, return to the reserve any                  submitted before the date on which the levying of
unused portion in excess of 20% of the initial                  duties is reintroduced .
amount. It may return a greater portion if there are
grounds for believing that such portion may not be
used in full .                                                                           Article 8
Member States shall, not later than 1 October 1977,            Member States shall inform the Commission at
notify the Commission of the total quantities of the           monthly intervals of imports of the products in
product in question imported up to and including               question charged against their shares. This infor­
15 September 1977 and charged against the Com­                 mation shall show both the value expressed in units
munity quotas and otf any portion of their initial             of account and the quantity expressed in tonnes.
shares returned to the reserve.
                                                                                         Article 9
                        Article 6
                                                               If the Community finds that products benefiting from
                                                               the treatment provided 'for in Article 1 are imported
The Commission shall keep an account of the shares             into the Community in such quantities or at such
opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2             prices that Community producers of products similar
and 3 and shall, as soon as the information reaches it,        to or in direct competition with them suffer or are
inform each State of the extent to which the reserve
                                                               likely to suffer from serious disadvantage, or that an
has been used up .                                             unfavourable situation is created in the ACP States,
                                                               the levying of customs duties may be reintroduced
It shall, not later than 15 October 1977, inform the           in whole or in part on the products in question in
Member State of the amount still in reserve following          respect of the countries or territories which are the
any return of shares pursuant to Article 5 .                   cause of the disadvantage. Such measures may also
                                                               be taken in the case of actual or potential serious
                                                                disadvantage in a single region of the Community.
It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting the
reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not
exceed the balance available, and to this end shall                                     Article 10
notify the amount of that balance to the Member
State making the last drawing.
                                                               1 . The Commission may decide, .by means of a Regu­
                                                               lation, to reintroduce the levying of customs duties
The Member States shall take all appropriate                   for a specified period, in order to ensure that
measures to ensure that additional shares drawn                 Article 9 is applied.
 ---pagebreak--- 21.3 . 77                          Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 73 /37
2 . In the event of such action being requested by                                       Article 12
a Member Stare , the Commission shall decide within
a period of nor more than 10 working days after the            Member States and the Commission shall collaborate
request has been received and shall inform the                 closely to ensure that this Regulation is observed .
Member States of this decision .
3 . Any Member State may refer to the Council the                                        Article 13
measure taken by the Commission , within a period of
not more than 10 working days after it has been                1 . Council    Regulation      ( EEC )  No 3028 /76  of
informed thereof . The fact that the matter is referred        13 December 1976 opening, allocating and providing
to the Council shall not cause the measure to be              for the administration of a Community tariff quota
suspended . The Council shall meet immediately . It           for preserved pineapples , other than in slices, half
may, by acting on a qualified majority , amend or             slices or spirals, originating in developing countries
rescind the measure in question .                              ('), is hereby repealed .
                                                              2. All references to the Regulation repealed by virtue
                      Article 11
                                                              of paragraph 1 shall be treated as references to this
                                                               Regulation .
The provisions of Articles 9 and 10 shall not preju­
dice the application of the safeguard clauses drawn
up in connection with the common agricultural policy                                     Article 14
pursuant to Article 43 of the Treaty or those drawn
up in connection with the common commercial policy            This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 April
pursuant to Article 113 of the Treaty .                        1977.
             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
             States.
             Done at Brussels, 14 March 1977.
                                                                                 For the Council
                                                                                  The President
                                                                                    J. SILKIN
                                                             ( l ) OJ No L 349, 20. 12. 1976, p. 151 .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 73/38                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                 21 . 3. 77
                                                      ANNEX
                   List of developing countries and territories enjoying generalized tariff preferences
                                           I. INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES
Afghanistan                              Haiti                                       Romania
Algeria                                  Honduras                                    Rwanda
Angola                                   India                                       Sao Tome and Principe
Argentina                                Indonesia                                   Saudi Arabia
Bahamas                                  Iran                                        Senegal
Bahrain                                  Iraq                                        Seychelles
Bangladesh                               Ivory Coast                                 Sierra Leone
Barbados                                 Jamaica                                     Singapore
Bénin                                    Jordan                                      Somalia
Bhutan                                   Kenya                                       Sri Lanka
Bolivia                                  Khmer Republic                              Sudan
Botswana                                 Korea (South )                              Surinam
Brazil                                   Kuwait                                      Swaziland
Burma                                    Laos                                        Syria
Burundi                                  Lebanon                                     Tanzania
Cameroon                                 Lesotho                                     Thailand
Cape Verde Islands                       Liberia                                     Togo
Central African Republic                 Libya                                       Tonga
Chad                                     Malagasy Republic                           Trinidad and Tobago
Chile                                    Malawi                                      Tunisia
Colombia                                 Malaysia                                    Uganda
Comoros                                  Maldive Islands                             United Arab Emirates :
Congo, People's Republic of              Mali                                           Abu Dhabi
Costa Rica                               Mauritania                                     Dubai
Cuba                                     Mauritius                                      Ras al Khaimah
Cyprus                                   Mexico                                         Fujairah
Dominican Republic                       Morocco                                        Aj man
Ecuador                                  Mozambique                                     Sharjah
Egypt, Arab Republic of                  Nauru                                          Ummal Qaiwain
El Salvador                              Nepal                                       Upper Volta
Equatorial Guinea                        Nicaragua                                   Uruguay
Ethiopia                                 Niger                                       Venezuela
Fiji                                     Nigeria                                     Vietnam
Gabon                                    Oman                                        Western Samoa
Gambia                                   Pakistan                                    Yemen, People's Democratic
Ghana                                    Panama                                      Republic of
Grenada                                  Papua New Guinea                            Yemen Arab Republic
Guatemala                                Paraguay                                    Yugoslavia
Guinea                                   Peru                                        Zaire
Guinea Bissau                            Philippines                                 Zambia
Guyana                                   Qatar
 ---pagebreak--- 21 . 3. 77                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                          No L 73/39
                                                 II. COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES
            dependent or administered, or for whose external relations Member States of the Community
                                          or third countries are wholly or partly responsible
            Afars and Issas (Territory of the)
            Australian Antarctic Territory
            Belize
            Bermuda
            British Antarctic Territory
            British Indian Ocean Territory (Aldabra, Farquhar, Chagos Archipelago, Desroches)
            British Pacific Ocean (*)
            Brunei
            Cayman Islands and Dependencies
            Christmas Island
            Cocos (Keeling) Islands
            Corn Islands and Swan Islands
            Falkland Islands and Dependencies
            French Polynesia
            French Southern and Antarctic Territories
            Gibraltar
            Heard Island and McDonald Islands
            Hong Kong
            Leeward Islands (2)
            Macao
            Mayotte
            Netherlands Antilles
            New Caledonia and Dependencies
            Norfolk Island
            Pacific Islands administered by the United States of America or under United States trusteeship (s)
            Portuguese Timor
            St Helena (including Ascension, Gough Island, and Tristan da Cunha)
            Spanish territories in Africa
            Territories for which New Zealand is responsible (Cook Islands, Niue Island, Tokelau Islands
                and Ross Dependency)
            Turks and Caicos Islands
            Virgin Islands of the United States (St Croix, St Thomas, St John, etc.)
            Wallis and Futuna Islands
            Windward Islands (4)
            Note: The above lists may be amended subsequently to take account of changes in the inter­
                     national status of countries or territories.
           (*) Gilbert Islands, Tuvalu, British Solomon Islands, New Hebrides Condominium, and Pitcairn Islands.
           (*) Antigua, Montserrat, St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, British Virgin Islands.
           (*) The Pacific Islands administered by the United States of America include : Guam, American Samoa (including
               Swain's Island), Midway Islands, Johnston and Sand Islands, Wake Island and the Trust Territory of the Pacific
               Islands (the Caroline, Marianas and Marshall Islands).
           {*) Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent.