CELEX: 31977S2216
Language: en
Date: 1977-10-05 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision No 2216/77/ECSC of 5 October 1977 amending Decision No 3544/73/ECSC implementing Decision 73/287/ECSC on coking coal and coke

No L 256/ 12                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                7. 10 . 77
                                      COMMISSION DECISION No 2216/77 / ECSC
                                                     of 5 October 1977
                amending Decision No 3544/73/ECSC implementing Decision 73/287/ECSC on
                                                   coking coal and coke
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                   programmes ; whereas an appropriate method would
COMMUNITIES,                                                     be to relax temporarily the criteria for entitlement to
                                                                 aids and alignment rebates for long-term commit­
Having regard to Commission Decision 73/287/ ECSC                ments in respect of a fixed tonnage, without, however,
of 25 July 1973 concerning coal and coke for the iron            altering either the limits laid down by Article 3 (2) (a)
and steel industry in the Community ('), and in parti­           and (b) of Decision No 3544/73/ECSC or the rights
cular Article 12 thereof,                                        and obligations under private law arising from existing
                                                                 contracts ; whereas this may be done by providing that
Having regard to the opinion of the Consultative                 such aids and alignment rebates may be granted on
Committee,                                                       condition that the actual tonnage delivered under
                                                                 contract in 1977 does not deviate downwards from the
Having regard to the opinion of the Council,                     basic tonnage by a percentage greater than that by
                                                                 which the purchaser's iron production differs from
Whereas Commission Decision 73/ 287/ ECSC of 25                  that for the reference period in respect of his delivery
July 1973, as last amended by Decision No 1613/77/               objectives for iron and steel products ;
ECSC (2), expires on 31 December 1981 ; whereas
Article 2 ( 1 ) (c) of that Decision provides that aids for      Whereas the same reasoning applied to undertakings
coking coal and blast-furnace coke may be paid only              which only produce pig iron for sale to third parties,
where deliveries are made under a long-term contract ;           since their orders from customers who have under­
whereas rebates may only be granted by coal undertak­            taken to observe delivery objectives for iron and steel
ings for such deliveries in accordance with the provi­           products are falling and they are in the same situation
sions of Article 3 of the said Decision ;
                                                                 as the latter vis-d-vis their Community suppliers of
                                                                 coking coal and coke ;
Whereas Article 3 of Decision No 3544/ 73 / ECSC
implementing the above Decision (3) lays down the
requirements which a contract mu^t meet in order to              Whereas, in view of the temporary nature of this
be regarded as a long-term contract and accordingly               measure, coal undertakings must continue to maintain
give entitlement to the aids and alignment rebates               production capacity to meet all their contracts ;
mentioned above ; whereas, in particular, a fixed-ton­           whereas, in these circumstances, each must be able to
nage contract may provide for variations above or                count on achieving at least the minimum tonnage
below this tonnage within the limits laid down by                 level defined above for each of its contracts ; whereas
Article 3 (2) (a) and (b) of that Decision ;                      to that end it is necessary to provide that every
                                                                  purchaser with long-term contracts with two or more
Whereas    the     Commission     introduced    measures  in      Community coal undertakings must carry out each
 1977 to establish a better balance between the supply            one to at least this minimum level, and that failing
of and demand for iron and steel products ; whereas               this, all its drawings of Community coal undertakings
these measures consisted, inter alia, in a commitment             must carry out each one to at least this minimum
by Community iron and steel undertakings to observe               level, and that failing this, all its drawings of Commu­
the individual delivery objectives set by the Commis­             nity coal and coke for 1977 would cease to be eligible
sion is normally required to reduce substantially its             for aid and alignment rebates,
steel and pig iron production in relation to the
selected reference period and, consequently, to reduce
its consumption of blast-furnace coke, and hence of
coking coal, of flexibility provided for in its long-term         HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
contract or contracts for coking coal or coke ;
Whereas this situation affects a large number of iron
and steel undertakings, which, for the year 1977, need                                     Article 1
to be able to obtain their supplies of coking coal and
blast furnace coke on cheaper terms while at the same
time adhering to their individual delivery                       Article 3 (2) of Decision No 3544/73/ECSC is supple­
                                                                  mented as follows :
(•) OJ No L 259 , 15 . 9 . 1973, p . 36 .
(2) OJ No L 180, 20 . 7. 1977, p. 8 .                                 4(c) For the year 1977 in respect of the supplying
(3) OJ No L 361 , 29. 12. 1973, p. 18 .                                    of an iron and steel undertaking which is
 ---pagebreak--- 7. 10 . 77                         Official Journal of the European Communities                        No L 256/ 13
        committed to observing the delivery objectives               proportionate variation in meeting any commit­
        for iron and steel products set by the Commis­               ment to a fixed tonnage of coking coal or coke
        sion fulfilment of a commitment for a fixed                  by the pig iron supplier under Decision
        tonnage of coking coal or coke ma) fall short                73/287/ECSC.
        of this tonnage by an amount not exceeding                   If an iron and steel undertaking is supplied
        the percentage reduction in production of pig                under two or more long-term fixed tonnage
        iron by the undertaking in 1977 compared                     contracts, each of them shall be fulfilled at
        with the period serving as a reference for its               least to the extent specified above'.
        delivery objectives of iron and steel products.
                                                                                     Article 2
        If such an undertaking buys in pig iron the
        reduction in pig iron deliveries by the supplier      This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its
        during 1 977 in relation to the period serving as     publication in the Official Journal of the European
        a reference for his customer's delivery objec­        Communities and shall be applied with effect from 1
        tives of iron and steel products shall justify a      January 1977.
              This Decision shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
               States.
               Done at Brussels, 5 October 1977.
                                                                       For the Commission
                                                                         Guido BRUNNER
                                                                   Member of the Commission