CELEX: 31974R2661
Language: en
Date: 1974-10-15 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC) No 2661/74 of the Council of 15 October 1974 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species, falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff (1975)

22. 10 . 74                          Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 285/7
                              REGULATION ( EEC) No 2661 /74 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                   of 15 October 1974
              opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
              quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species , falling within heading No ex
                                     44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff ( 1975 )
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                                                                in cubic metres
COMMUNITIES,                                                    Benelux                                        75 000
                                                                Denmark                                        85 000
                                                                Germany                                       110 000
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European           France                                         25 000
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 28               Ireland                                        25 000
and 113 thereof ;                                               Italy                                          22 000
                                                                United Kingdom                                300 000 ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;             Whereas Member States may exhaust their initial
                                                                shares at different rates ; whereas to provide for this
                                                                eventuality and to avoid disruption of supplies any
Whereas , under Protocol No 1 1 to the Act of Acces­            Member State which has almost used up its initial
sion ('), the Community is required to open each year           share   should   draw  an   additional  share   from  the
nil duty Community tariff quotas for certain plywoods           reserve ; whereas each time its additional share is
of coniferous species falling within heading No ex              almost exhausted     a  Member State     should draw a
44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff, the volume                  further share, and so on as many times as the reserve
thereof to be decided annually when it is established           allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares
that all possibilities of supply on the internal market         should be valid until the end of the quota period ;
of the Community have been exhausted during the                 whereas this form of administration requires close
period for which the quotas are open ; whereas, having          collaboration   between   the   Member States and     the
regard to the aforesaid possibilities of supply and on          Commission , which latter must be in a position to
the basis of forecasts of requirements made by the              keep account of the extent to which the quota has
Member States, the tariff quota to be opened for 1975           been used up and to inform the Member States accord­
may be fixed at 652 000 m 3 ; whereas the opening of            ingly ;
the aforementioned tariff quota also covers the
commitment contracted by the Community within                   Whereas if, at a given date in the quota period, a
the GATT to grant in respect of these products an               considerable quantity of a Member State's initial share
annual duty-free tariff quota of 400 000 m 3 ; whereas          remains unused it is essential , to prevent a part of the
the requirements mentioned above do not include                 quota from remaining unused in one Member State
imports to which other preferential tariff treatment            while it could be used in others , that such State
may apply, in particular under free trade agreements ;          should return a significant proportion thereof to the
whereas in view of the relatively small quantities              reserve ;
produced in the Community, it is not necessary to
apportion this amount between the categories of                 Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium , the
plywood specified in the abovementioned Protocol                Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
No 1 1 ;                                                        Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented
                                                                by the Benelux Economic Union , any transaction in
                                                                respect of the administration of the shares allocated to
Whereas, to take more precise account of import                 that Economic Union may be carried out by any one
                                                                of its members ,
trends for the products concerned, the quota should
be divided into two tranches, the first being allocated
among all the Member States and the second held as a
reserve to cover subsequently the requirements of                HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION
Member States       which    have   exhausted  their initial
shares ; whereas, to give importers some degree of
certainty, the first tranche of the quota should be                                     /1 rticlc 1
fixed at a relatively high level , or about 98 % of its
full amount ; whereas, on the ^asis of Member States'            1.   During the period from 1 January to 31
estimates of their needs, the initial shares may be              December 1975 a Community tariff quota of.
 fixed as follows :                                              652 000 m 3 shall be opened for the following
                                                                 products falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the
(') OJ No L 73 , 27 . 3 . 1972, p. 170 .                         Common Customs Tariff :
 ---pagebreak--- No L 285/8                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 22. 10 . 74
(a) plywood of coniferous species, without the addi­             4.      Notwithstanding paragraphs 1 , 2 and 3, Member
     tion of other substances, of a thickness greater            States may draw lesser shares than those specified in
     than 9 mm , the faces of which are not further               those paragraphs if there are grounds for believing
     prepared than the peeling process ;                          that those specified may not be used in full . They
                                                                  shall inform the Commission of their reasons for
(b) plywood of coniferous species, without the addi­
     tion of other substances, sanded , and of a thick­           applying this provision .
     ness greater than 18-5 mm .
                                                                                            Article 4
2.     Imports of the products in question may not be
charged against this tariff quota if they are already free
of customs duties under preferential treatment applied            Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be
                                                                  valid until 31 December 1975 .
by certain Member States, in particular under free
trade agreements.
                                                                                            Article 5
3 . New Member States shall apply duties calculated
in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act             A. Member State which on 15 September 1975 has not
of Accession to imports within the limits of the above            used up its initial share shall return to the reserve not
quota .
                                                                  later than 10 October 1975 any unused portion in
                                                                  excess of 20 % of the initial amount. It may return a
                             Article 2                            greater portion if there are grounds for believing that
                                                                  it may not be used up.
 1.    The tariff quota referred to in Article 1 ( 1 ) shall
be divided into two tranches .
                                                                  Member States shall , not later than 10 October 1975,
 2.    A first tranche of 642 000 m 3 shall be allocated          notify the Commission of the total quantities of the
among the Member States. Member States' shares,                   products in question imported up to and including 15
which subject to Article 5 shall be valid until 31                September 1975 and charged against the Community
 December 1975 , shall be as follows :                            quota and of any portion of their initial shares
                                                                   returned to the reserve .
                                                in cubic metres
 Benelux                                            75 000
 Denmark                                            85 000                                  A rticle 6
 Germany                                           110 000
 France                                             25 000        The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
 Ireland                                            25 000         opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2
                                                                   and 3 and shall , as soon as it has been notified , inform
 Italy                                              22 000
                                                                   each State of the extent to which the reserve has been
 United Kingdom                                    300 000 .
                                                                   used up .
 3.     The second tranche , of 10 000 m 3 , shall consti­
 tute the reserve .                                                It shall inform the Member States , not later than 15
                                                                   October 1975 , of the amount still in reserve after
                             Article 3                             amounts have been returned thereto pursuant to
                                                                   Article 5 .
 1.     If 90 % or more of a Member State's initial share
 as fixed in Article 2 (2), or of that minus the portion           It shall ensure that when a quantity exhausting the
 returned to the reserve where Article            5 has been       reserve is drawn , the amount so drawn does not
 applied, it shall forthwith, by notifying the Commis­             exceed the balance available , and to this end shall
 sion , draw a second share , to the extent that the               notify the amount of that balance to the Member State
 reserve so permits, equal to 10 % of its initial share,           making the last drawing.
 rounded up as necessary to the next whole number.
 2.     If after its initial share has been exhausted , 90 %                                Article 7
 or more of the second share drawn by a Member State
 has been used up, That Member State shall , in the                 1.   Member      States   shall    take   all    appropriate
                                                                   measures    to  ensure    that   additional    shares  drawn
 manner and to the extent provided in paragraph 1 ,
 draw a third share equal to 5 % of its initial share .            pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that
                                                                   imports may be charged without interruption against
 3.     If after its second share has been exhausted ,             their accumulated share of the Community quota .
 90 % or more of the third share drawn by a Member
 State has been used up, that Member State shall , in               2.    Member States shall ensure that importers of the
 the manner and to the extent provided in paragraph 1 ,             product in question established in their territory have
 draw a fourth share equal to the third .                           tree access to the shares allocated to them .
 This procedure shall apply until the reserve is                    3.    Member States shall charge imports of the
 exhausted .                                                        products in question against their shares as and when
 ---pagebreak--- 22. 10 . 74                       Official Journal of the European Communities                       No L 285/ 9
the products are entered with the customs authorities                              Article 9
for home use .
                                                             Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
4. The extent to which a Member State has used up
                                                             closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied
its shares shall be determined on the basis of imports       with .
charged against that share in accordance with para­
graph 3 .
                                                                                   Article 10
                        Article 8
Member States shall notify the Commission at regular         This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
intervals of imports against their shares.                   1975 .
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States .
              Done at Luxembourg, 15 October 1974.
                                                                        For the Council
                                                                         The President
                                                                        B. DESTREMAU