CELEX: 
Language: en
Date: 1973-06-09 00:00:00
Title: Council Decision of 14 May 1973 concluding the Protocol relating to Milk Fat negotiated in GATT

9 . 6 . 73                       Official Journal of the European Communities                       No L 153 / 19
                                             COUNCIL DECISION
                                                 of 14 May 1973
                      concluding the Protocol relating to Milk Fat negotiated in GATT
                                                   (73/30/EEC)
           THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,
           Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in
           particular Articles 113 , 114, and 228 thereof ;
           Having regard to the report from the Commission ;
           Whereas the GATT Group on Milk Products has agreed upon a Protocol relating to
           Milk Fat ;
           Whereas this Protocol generally seems to promote international cooperation and contribute
           to the achievement of Community aims as regards milk products under commercial
           policy and the Common Agricultural Policy ;
           Whereas the last date for the depositing of the instruments of final acceptance of the
           Protocol is 14 May 1973 ;
           HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS :
                                                     Article 1
           The Protocol relating to Milk Fat negotiated in GATT, the text of which is annexed to
            this Decision, is concluded on behalf of the European Ecocomic Community.
                                                     Article 2
            The President of the Council shall be authorized to designate the person empowered to
            sign the Protocol referred to in Article 1 on behalf of the Community.
            Done at Brussels, 14 May 1973 .
                                                                               For the Council
                                                                                 The President
                                                                             R. VAN ELSLANDE
 ---pagebreak--- No L 153 /20                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                 9 . 6 . 73
                                                           ANNEX
                                        PROTOCOL RELATING TO MILK FAT
The participants to the present Protocol ;                                                 Article 111
Having considered that paragraph 1 of Article 1 of                                    MINIMUM PRICE
the Arrangement Concerning Certain Dairy Products,
done at Geneva on 12 January 1970, provides that                        Level and observance of minimum price
the said Arrangement applies to skimmed-milk
powder and to such other products as may be added                 1 . Participants undertake to take the steps necess­
at a later date ;                                                ary to ensure that the export price of the product
                                                                 defined in Article II shall not be Jess than the mini­
Have, through their representatives, agreed as                   mum (price applicable under the present Protocol .
follows :                                                        The participants shall take the steps necessary to
                                                                 avoid the circumvention of the price provisions of
                                                                 this Protocol if the product is exported in the form
                           Article I                             of goods in which it has (been incorporated, or if
                                                                 because of its quality or fat content it differs from
                  PRODUCT COVERAGE                               the pilot product defined in Article II.
 1 . This Protocol applies to :                                  2. The minimum price provided for in paragraph 1
— anhydrous milk fat, anhydrous butteroil or                     of the present Article applicable at the date of
     anhydrous butterfat having a fat content of not             entry into force of this Protocol is fixed at US$ 68
     less than 99 - 8 % by weight;                                per 100 kg.
— ghee, having a milk fat content of not less than               3 . The level of the minimum price specified in the
     99.6"/o by weight ;                                         present Article can be modified by the Management
                                                                 Committee       established   in   terms of Article    VII .
— butteroil and butterfat, having a fat content of
     not less than 99.3 % by weight.                             However, any such modification may be decided
                                                                  upon only at the time when the question of exten­
                                                                  sion of the duration of this Protocol is being
                                                                 considered in terms of paragraph 2 of Article VIII,
                           Article II                            or, at other times, only when an emergency situation
                                                                 is deemed to exist.
                      PILOT PRODUCT
1 . For the purpose of this Protocol a minimum ex­                             Adjustment of minimum price
port price shall be established for the pilot product
of the following description.
                                                                 4. If the product actually exported differs from the
                                                                  pilot product type with regard to packaging or terms
Designation:       butteroil or butterfat.                       of sale as 'specified in Article II, the (minimum price
Fat content:       99.3 % by weight.                             shall be adjusted so as to protect the minimum price
                                                                 established in this Protocol for the product specified
Packaging:         in packages -normally used in the trade        in Article II according to the following provisions :
                  of a net content by weight of not less
                    than 25 kg or 50 lb, as appropriate.         Packaging:
Terms of           fob from the exporting country or,
sale :              for a land-locked country, fob from          if the product is offered otherwise than ' in packages
                  one maritime port of its choice to be          normally used in the trade of 'a net content by weight
                    designated at the time it signifies its       of not less than 25 kg, or 50 lb, as appropriate,
                    acceptance ; or free-at-frontier ex­          the application of the minimum price shall be ad­
                   porting    country.  Prompt payment            justed so as to reflect the difference in the cost of
                    against documents .                          packaging from the type 'of package specified above.
 ---pagebreak--- 9 . 6 . 73                          Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 153 /21
Term's of sale :                                                                         Article V
if sold on terms other than fob from the exporting                  COOPERATION OF IMPORTING COUNTRIES
country ' or, for a land-locked country, fob from the
 maritime port of its choice or free-at-frontier export­
ing country, the minimum price shall be calculated             1 . Participants which import the products covered
on the basis of the minimum fob price specified in             by this Protocol undertake tin particular :
paragraph 2 above plus the real and justified costs
of the services provided ; if <the terms of the sale           ( a) to cooperate in implementing the minimum price
include credit, this shall be charged for at the (pre­               objective of this Protocol and to ensure : as far
vailing commercial rate.                                             as possible that the products covered by this
                                                                     Protocol are not imported at less -than the appro­
               Special conditions of sales                            priate customs valuation equivalent to the pre­
                                                                      scribed minimum price ; and
5. Participants undertake within the limit of their
institutional possibilities to ensure that practices           ( b ) to supply information concerning imports of the
such as sales in association with sales of other pro­                products covered by this Protocol from non­
 ducts, special rebates or discounts do not have the                 participants ; and
effect of directly or indirectly bringing the export
price of the products subject to the minimum price             (c) to consider sympathetically proposals for appro­
provisions below the agreed minimum price .                          priate remedial action if imports at prices incon­
                                                                      sistent with the minimum price threaten the
                                                                     functioning of this Protocol .
                   Field of application
6. For each participant this Protocol 'is applicable
 to exports of the products specified in Article 1                                       Article VI
manufactured or repacked inside its own customs
 territory, whether the destination is temporary or                                     FOOD AID
final .
            Transactions other than normal                     The participants agree :
                 commercial transactions
                                                               1 . In cooperation with FAO and other interested
 7. The provisions of paragraphs 1 to 6 of this                 organizations, to foster recognition of the value of
 Article shall not be regarded as applying to donated          dairy products in improving nutritional levels and
 exports to developing countries or to exports des­            of ways and means through which they may be
 tined for relief purposes or welfare purposes in              made available for the benefit of developing
 developing countries. Such exports, and other trans­          countries .
 actions which are not normal commercial trans­
 actions, shall be effected in accordance wiith the
 FAO Principles of Surplus Disposal arid shall be              2 . Where possible arid appropriate, to incorporate
 subject to the procedures for notification, consul­           the donation or sale on concessional terms of dairy
 tation and establishment of usual marketing require­          products or related equipment in their respective
 ments agreed upon in FAO .                                    aid programmes. Participants should notify the
                                                               Committee in advance each year of the scale of
                                                               their proposed contributions of such food aid. It
                         Article IV
                                                               would be understood that contributions could be
                                                               made bilaterally or through joint projects or through
                                                               the World Food Programme.
            PROVISION OF INFORMATION
 1 . AH participants agree to provide regularly and            3 . Recognizing the desirability of harmonizing their
 promptly to the Management Committee established              efforts in this (field, as well as the need to avoid
 in terms of Article VII of this Protocol details of           harmful interference with normal patterns of pro­
 exports and imports of the products covered by this           duction and international trade, to exchange views
 Protocol, and any other information the Com­                  in the Management Committee established in terms
 mittee requires in order to assess the functioning of         of Article VII on their . arrangements for the . supply
 this Protocol and the situation in and the evolution          of dairy products , as food aid or on concessional
 of the international market.                                  terms .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 153 /22                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               9 . 6. 73
                        Article VII                             other participants likely to be affected are immedi­
                                                                ately notified. The Chairman of the Committee shall
                                                                also be formally advised immediately of the full
      ADMINISTRATION OF THIS PROTOCOL                           circumstances of the case and shall be requested
                                                                to call a special meeting of the 'Committee at the
                Management Committee                            earliest possible moment.
1 . A Management Committee shall be established
within the framework of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade. The Committee shall comprise                                        Article VIII
 representatives of all participants to this Protocol and
shall carry out all the functions which are necessary
to implement the provisions of this Protocol. The                                  OTHER PROVISIONS
Committee shall be serviced by the GATT secretariat.
                                                                1 . Entry into force
                   Review of market
                                                                ( a) This Protocol shall enter into force, for those
2. The Committee shalll keep under constant review                    participants having accepted it, on 14 May 1973 .
the situation in and the evolution of the international               For participants accepting this Protocol after
market for the products covered by this Protocol                      that date, it shall be effective from the date of
and the conditions under which the provisions of                      their acceptance.
this Protocol are applied by participants, taking
into account the evolution of prices in international           (b ) The validity of contracts entered into before the
trade in each of the other dairy products having                      date of entry into force of this Protocol is not
implications for the trade in products covered by                     affected by this Protocol.
this Protocol .
                                                                2.    Duration
             Regular and special meetings
                                                                This Protocol shall remain in force for one year.
3 . The Committee shall normally meet at least once             The duration of this Protocol shalll be extended for
each quarter. However, the Chairman may call a                  futher periods of one year at a time, unless the
special meeting of the Committee on his own initia­             Management Committee, iat least eighty days prior
tive. Any participant which considers that its com­             to each date of expiry, decides otherwise .
mercial interests are being seriously threatened and
which is unable to reach a mutuallly satisfactory
solution with the other participant or participants
                                                                3 . Amendment
 concerned may request the Chairman to convene
 a special meeting of the Committee on an urgent
basis so as to determine as rapidly as possible, and            The provisions of this Protocol may be amended
within four working days if requested, any measures             by the Management Committee established in terms
which may be required to meet the situation.                    of Article VII .
                   Emergency action                             4. Acceptance
4. Any participant, which considers that its interests          ( a ) This Protocol is open for acceptance, by signa­
are seriously endangered by a country not bound                       ture or otherwise, to governments ( including the
by this Protocol, can request the Chairman to con­                    competent authorities of the European Com­
 vene an emergency meeting of the Committee within                    munities ) members of the United Nations or of
two working days to determine and decide whether                      one of its specialized agencies .
measures would be required to meet the situation.
If such a meeting cannot be arranged within the                 ( b) This Protocol shalll be deposited with the Direc­
two working days and the commercial interests of                      tor-General to the Contracting parties, who shall
the participant concerned are likely to be materially                 promptly furnish a certified copy thereof and a
prejudiced, that participant may take unilateral action               notification of each acceptance thereof to each
to safeguard the position , on the condition that any                 participant to the Protocol.
 ---pagebreak--- 9 . 6 . 73                          Official Journal of the European Communities                      No L 153 /23
5 . Withdrawal                                                 from this Protocol upon the expiration of sixty days
                                                               from the day on which written notice of such
Any government (including the competent autho­                 withdrawal is received by the Director-General to
rities of the European Communities ) may withdraw              the Contracting parties .
             Done at Geneva this second day of April one thousand nine hundred and seventy-three,
              in a single copy, in the English and French languages, both texts being authentic.