CELEX: 51974PC0660
Language: en
Date: 1974-05-15
Title: Proposal for a REGULATION (EEC) OF THE COUNCIL on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for certain eels falling within subheading No ex 03.01 A II of the Common Customs Tariff for 1975 (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (74) 660
Vol. 1974/0104
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 ---pagebreak---         COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                         COM(74)660 final
                                                         Brussels . 15 May 1974
                                    Proposal for a
                              REGULATION (EEC ) OF THE COUNCIL
on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for certain
eels falling within subheading No ex 03.01 A II of the Common Customs Tariff for 1975
                    ( submitted to the Council "by the Commission )
 C0M(74 ) 660 final .
 ---pagebreak---                            EXPLAMTORY MEMORAEDUM
During recent years , eel fishing has "been prohibited in certain
Community production centres or has become impossible as a result
of pollution .   Efforts have been made to increase production in other
centres in order at least to compensate for the loss in available
supplies .   In spite of these efforts there has been a considerable
reduction in Community production, as a result of which it has become
necessary to import in order to maintain supplies to the processing
industries of the Member States .
                     f
This situation led the Council , aoting on a proposal from the Commission,
to open beginning in 1971 » a nil-duty Community tariff quota for certain
types of fresh eels ( live or deaxl), chilled or frozen, falling within
subheading . No ex 03.01 of the Common Customs Tariff .
Since then the situation on the market in question has not improved
noticeably .   It therefore seems desirable to open a further Community
tariff quota for 1975 for an appropriate quantity of eels , while bearing
in mind the fact that Community production may rise . This is the object
of the proposal annexed hereto .
 ---pagebreak---                                           PROPOSAI. FOH À
                               REGULATION (EEC) OP THE COUNCIL
              on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for certain
              eels falling within subheading No ex 03.01 A II of the Common Customs Tariff for 1975"
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                      application of the rates laid down for that quota to
                                                              all imports of the products concerned into all
                                                              Member States until the quota has been used up ;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­            whereas, having regard to these principles, the
pean Economic Community, and in particular                    Community nature of the quota can be respected by
Article 43 thereof;                             /             allocating the tariff quota among the Member States
                                     ;
                                                            . listed below; whereas statistics available for these
                                                              products do not give a clear picture of the market
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;           situation for them ; whereas, therefore, it is not
                                                              possible to allocate the quota among the Member
                                                              States on the basis of imports of the relevant
Having regard to the Opinion of the European                  products over the last few years; whereas, however,
Parliament ;
                                                              according to the estimates put forward by the
                                                              Member States, initial shares may be fixed at the
Whereas eel fishing has been prohibited or has                following quantities :
become impossible in certain Community production
centres ; whereas this has led to a drop in Community                  Bénélux            1 #150 metric  tons
production of eels in general and particularly of fresh
eels (live or dead), chilled or frozen, falling within                 Denmark               600 metric tons
subheading No ex 03.01 A II of the Common
Customs Tariff, intended for curing or skinning or                     Germany             3 000 metric  tons
for use in the industrial manufacture of products                      France                100 metric  tons
falling within heading No 16.04; whereas the
processing industries in the Community consequently                    Ireland                10 metric  tons
depend to a large extent on imports for their supplies
of eels ; whereas for 1 97\ the application of the                     Italy                 100 metric  tons
autonomous Common Customs Tariff duty should
therefore be suspended totally on imports of the                       United Kingdom        250 ,metric tons
relevant products up to -an appropriate quantitative
limit; whereas, within this limit, the new Member
States should apply customs duties as provided in the
Act of Accession (' ); whereas, however, the United           Whereas in order to take into account import trends
Kingdom has declared that from 1 January 1974 it              for the products concerned in the different Member
will align its duties directly on those of the Common          States, the quota amount should be divided into two
Customs Tariff; whereas, the introduction of a                tranches, the first tranche being allocated among the
Community measure of this nature is unlikely to               Member States, and the second forming a reserve
harm Community production;                                    intended ultimately to cover the requirements of the
                                                              Member States which have used up their initial
                1 r                                           shares ; whereas, in order to ensure a certain degree
Whereas current demand not met by Community                    of security to importers in each Member State, the
production, which must therefore be met by imports,           first tranche of the Community quota should be
can be estimated at 6 100 metric tons for 197S;                determined at a level which, under present
whereas a tariff quota for the relevant types of eel           circumstances, may iie 85 % of the quota amount;
should therefore be opened for 1975 on the
conditions set out above;
                                                              Whereas the initial shares of the Member States may
                                                              be used up at different times ; whereas, in order to
Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure to all        take this fact into account and avoid any break in
Community importers equal and uninterrupted access            continuity, it is important that any Member State
to the abovementioned quota and uninterrupted                 having used up almost the whole of its initial shares
                                                              should draw an additional quota share from the
                                                              reserve; whereas this must be done by each Member
(' ) OJ No L 73, 27. 3. 1972, p. 14.                          State as and when each of its additional shares is
 ---pagebreak---                                                           - 2 -
almost entirely used up, and repeated as many times          December 197S, shall consist of the following
as the reserve allows ; whereas the initial and              amounts :
additional shares must be available for use until the
end of the quota period ; whereas this method of                       Bénélux             ■ 1 ,150 metric tons
administration calls for close cooperation between
Member States and the Commission which must, in                        Denmark                  600 metric tons
particular, be able to observe the extent to which the
quota amount is used and inform Member States                          Germany                3 000 metric tons
thereof;
                                                                       France                   100 metric tons
Whereas if, at a specified date in the quota period, a                 Ireland                   10 metric tons
considerable balance remains in one or other
Member State it is essential that that Member State                    Italy                    100 metric tons
pays a large amount of it back into the reserve, in
order to avoid a part of the Community quota                           United Kingdom           250 metric tons
remaining unused in one Member State when it could
be used in others ;
                                                              2.     The second tranche, amounting to 89O metric'
                                                              tons, shall make up the reserve.
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg are united in and represented by the                                        Article 3
Benelux Economic Union, all transactions concerning
the administration of shares granted to the                   1.     If 90 % or more of the initial share of a
abovementioned Economic Union may be carried out              Member State, as laid down in Article 2 ( 1 ), or 90%
by any of its members,                                        of that share less the amount returned into the
                                                              reserve, where Article 5 has been applied , has been
                                                               exhausted, that Member State shall proceed without
                                                               delay, by notifying the Commission, to draw a
 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                                second share equal to 15 % of its initial share,
                                                               rounded up to the next unit where appropriate, to
                                                               the extent that the amount in the reserve allows.
                          Artide 1
 1 . For the period from 1 January 197.5" to 31                2.    If, after its initial share has been exhausted,
                                                                90 % or more of the second share drawn by a
December 197S, a Community tariff quota of 6 10Q               Member State has been used, that Member State shall
 metric tons shall be opened for fresh eels (IiveS^r
 dead) chilled or frozen, intended for curing or               proceed without delay, by notifying the Commission,
 skinning or for use in the industrial manufacture of          to draw a third share equal to 7-5 % ol: its initial
 products falling within heading No 16.04, under               share, rounded up , to the next unit where
 conditions to be determined by the competent                  appropriate, to the extent that the amount in the
                                                               reserve allows .
 authorities falling within subheading No ex 03.01 A
 II of the Common Customs Tariff.
 2.    The Common Customs Tariff duties shall be               3.     If, after its second share has been exhausted
 totally suspended on products imported under this             90 % or more of the third share drawn by a Member
 tariff quota.                                                 State has been used, that Member State shall proceed,
                                                               in the manner specified in paragraph 2 to draw a
                                                                fourth share equal to the third.
 3 . Within the limits' of this tariff quota, the new
 Member States shall apply duties calculated in
 accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act of          This process shall be applied until the reserve is
 Accession.                                                     exhausted .
                                                                4. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 , 2 and 3, the
                          Article 2                             Member States may proceed to draw shares smaller
                                                                than those fixed in those paragraphs, if there is
 1.     A first tranche, amounting to- /   tons, shall be       reason to believe that those shares might not be used
 allocated among the Member States ; the shares,                up. They shall inform the Commission of the reasons
 which, subject to Article 5, shall be valid until 31        . which led them to apply this paragraph .
 ---pagebreak---                                                     - 3 -
                         Article 4                                                    Article 7
 The additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3             1 . The Member States shall take all appropriate
 shall be valid until 31 December 1975"*                       measures to ensure that, supplementary shares drawn
                                                               pursuant to Article 3, are opened in such a way that
                                                               charges may be made, without interruption, against
                         Article S                             their cumulative shares of the Community quota.
 If, by 15 August 1975", a Member State has not used           2.    Each Member State shall ensure that importers
up its initial share, it shall, not later than 10              of the product in question established in its territory
September 1975", return to the reserve the unused              have free access to the shares allocated to it.
portion of this share in excess of 20 % of the initial
amount. It may return a larger quantity if there are           3 . The Member States shall charge imports of the
reasons to consider that such quantity might not be            said product against their share as and when the
used.                                         /
                                                               product is entered for home use.
Each    Member State shall,' not later than            10
                                                               4.    The extent to which a Member State has used
September 1975, notify the Commission of the total
imports of the products concerned effected up to 15,           up its share shall be determined on the basis of the
August 1975" inclusive, and charged against the                imports charged in accordance with paragraph 3 .
Community quota and, where appropriate, the
proportion of its initial share that is being returned to
the reserve.
             <  Ί .
                                                                                       Article 8
                         Article 6                             Member States shall inform the Commission at
                                                               regular intervals of imports charged against their
The Commission shall keep account of the shares                shares .
opened by Member States in accordance with Articles
2 and 3 and shall inform each of them of the extent
to which the reserve has been used as soon as it                                      Article 9
receives the notifications.
                                                               The   Member States      and    the Commission shall
The Commission shall, not later than 15 September              cooperate closely in order to ensure that this
1975", notify Member States of the amount in the
                                                             , Regulation is observed.
 reserve after the return of shares pursuant to
Article 5 .
The Commission shall ensure that any drawing
which uses up the reserve is limited to the balance                                   Article 10
 available < and, for this purpose, shall specify the,
amount thereof , to the Member State which makes               This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
the final drawing.                                             197S.                                     ■ ■ ; /
               This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
               States.                                     J                       v
               Done at Brussels,
                                       o5                                            tor the Council
                                                                                      The President