CELEX: 31977R2711
Language: en
Date: 1977-11-28 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 2711/77 of 28 November 1977 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quota for cocoa butter and a tariff quota for soluble coffee originating in developing countries

No L 324/ 132                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              19 . 12 . 77
                                       COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2711/77
                                                   of 28 November 1977
                 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for
                    cocoa butter and a tariff quota for soluble coffee originating in developing countries
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         Whereas tariff preferences have been applied as from
                                                                  the second half of 1971 ; whereas it is expedient to con­
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            tinue to apply them throughout 1978 ;
 Economic Community,
                                                                  Whereas in respect of cocoa butter and soluble coffee
  Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                  originating in the countries and territories listed in the
                                                                  Annex the Community should therefore open for 1978
 Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia­             two Community tariff quotas within the respective
 ment ( 1),                                                       limits of 21 600 tonnes and at a customs duty of 8% for
                                                                  cocoa butter and of 18 750 tonnes and a duty of 9% for
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                 soluble coffee ;
 Social Committee (2),
 Whereas, within the context of UNCTAD, the Euro­                 Whereas, in accordance with Protocol 23 to the Act of
 pean Economic Community offered to grant tariff pre­             Accession ( 3), the generalized tariff preference scheme
 ferences on certain processed agricultural products of           became fully applicable in the new Member States on
 Chapters 1 to 24 of the Common Customs Tariff                    1 January 1974 ;
 originating in developing countries; whereas the pre­
 ferential treatment proposed in that offer consists, in
 respect of certain goods which are subject to the trade
 arrangements laid down in Regulation (EEC) No                    Whereas the benefit of these tariff quotas should be
 1059/69, of a reduction in the fixed component of the            reserved for products originating in the countries and
charge applicable to such goods by virtue of that Regul­          territories under consideration, the concept of 'originat­
 ation, and, in respect of products which are subject to          ing products' being determined in accordance with the
the single customs duty, of a reduction in such duty;             procedure laid down in Article 14 of Council Regula­
whereas preferential imports of the products concerned            tion (EEC) No 802/68 of 27 June 1968 on the common
could be effected without quantitative restrictions ;             definition of the concept of the origin of goods (4);
whereas it appears appropriate, however, in view of the
 sensitiveness of the cocoa butter and soluble coffee sec­
tors generally and of the need to safeguard the interests          Whereas it is necessary to ensure equal and continuous
of the ACP States in this field, to lay down for those             access for all Community importers to the said quotas
two products special conditions consisting in a reduc­             and the uninterrupted application of the rates laid down
tion of the customs duty applicable to these two pro­              for these quotas to all imports of the products con­
ducts within the limits of Community tariff quotas;                cerned into all Member States until these quotas are
                                                                   used up ; whereas, having regard to the principles set out
Whereas the offer by the Community includes a clause               above, the Community nature of the quota can be re­
stating that it is made on the assumption that the main            spected by allocating the Community tariff quota
industrialized countries which are members of the                  amopg Member States; whereas, moreover, to this end
OECD participate in granting preferences and make                  and in the context of the utilization system, the actual
similar efforts in this direction ; whereas, moreover, it is       charges against the quota may relate only to products
evident from the conclusions worked out in UNCTAD                  which have been entered for home use and which are
that this offer, while being of a temporary nature, does           accompanied by a certificate of origin ;
not constitute a binding commitment and, in particular,
may be withdrawn wholly or in part at a later date ;
whereas this possibility may be adopted inter alia with a          Whereas, to take account of future import trends for the
view to remedying any unfavourable situations which                products in question in the various Member States, the
might arise in the ACP States following the implementa­            quotas should be divided into two tranches, the first
tion of the generalized preference scheme;                         being allocated among Member States and the second
H OJ No C 266 , 7. 11 . 1977, p. 16 .
(2) Opinion delivered on 26/27 October 1977 (not yet pub­          (3 ) OJNoL 73 , 27. 3 . 1972, p. 14 .
    lished in the Official Journal ).                              0 OJ No L 148 , 28 . 6. 1968 , p. 1 .
 ---pagebreak--- 19 . 12 . 77                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                No L 324/ 133
held as a reserve to cover subsequently the requirements              quota period; whereas, however, it seems advisable to
of Member States which have exhausted their initial                   permit the Member States to limit the exercise of their
shares; whereas, moreover, the reserve constituted in                 total obligation to draw on the reserve amount to a
the manner described above tends to avoid making the                  level not exceeding 40% of their initial share; whereas
system of utilization of the quota excessively rigid, to              this method of administration calls for close coopera­
the detriment of the developing countries concerned and               tion between Member States and the Commission which
will contribute to achieving the aim already mentioned                must, in particular, be able to observe the extent to
of improving the generalized preferences system ; where­              which the quota amount is used and inform Member
as, to give importers in each Member State some degree                States thereof;
of certainty, the first tranche of the Community quota
might be fixed at a relatively high level, in this case at
approximately 90% of the full quotas;                                 Whereas if, at a specified date in the quota period, a
                                                                      considerable balance remains in one or other Member
                                                                      State it is essential that that Member State pays a large
Whereas the statistical data available cover only a rela­             amount of it back into the reserve, in order to avoid a
tively brief period, and they should be weighted on the               part of the Community quota remaining unused in one
basis of the estimates which may be made for the quota                Member State when it could be used in others;
year; whereas the shares in the first tranche may be
 drawn up as follows :
                                                                      Whereas provision should be made for measures ena­
                                             (tonnes)                 bling any serious disturbance within the sector of the
                                  cocoa butter    soluble coffe       Community's economic activity to be avoided, and to
     Germany                            720           810             this end the Commission should be empowered to re­
     Benelux
                                                                      introduce in part or in full the normal duties in order
                                    10 935          1 395
                                                                      to avoid such disturbance;
     France                               90          225
     Italy                                45            45
                                                                      Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom
     Denmark                              45            45
                                                                      of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxem­
     Ireland                              45            45            bourg are united in and represented by the Benelux
                                                                      Economic Union, all transactions concerning the ad­
     United Kingdom                   7 560       14 310
                                                                      ministration of the shares allocated to that economic
                                                                      union may be carried out by any one of its members,
Whereas Member States may exhaust their initial shares
 for the products in question at different rates; whereas             HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
to avoid disruption of supplies on this account it should
be provided that any Member State which has almost
                                                                                                 Article 1
used up its initial share should draw an additional share
 from the reserve; whereas this must be done by each
Member State as and when each of its , additional shares               1 . From 1 January to 31 December 1978 , Community
 is almost entirely used up, and repeated as many times                tariff quotas shall be opened within the Community for
 as the reserve allows ; whereas the initial and additional            imports of the products listed below and under the
 shares must be available for use until the end of the                 conditions stated :
                    CCT
                                                                                                 Volume    Rate of
                   heading                               Description                            (m tonnes)
                     No                                                                                     duty
                  18.04       Cocoa butter, including cocoa fat or oil                           21 600      8%
                  21.02       Extracts, essences or concentrates, of coffee, tea or maté
                              and preparations with a basis of those extracts, essences or
                              concentrates; roasted chicory and other roasted coffee
                              substitutes and extracts, essences and concentrates thereof:
                               ex A. Extracts, essences or concentrates of coffee and
                                      preparations with a basi » of those extracts, essences
                                      or concentrates :
                                     — Extracts of coffee or 'soluble coffee' obtained
                                         by a water method of extraction from roasted
                                         coffee, put up in powder form, granulated,
                                         in grains, in tablets or in a similar solid form        18 750      9%
 ---pagebreak--- No L 324/ 134                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              19. 12 . 77
2. These tariff quotas shall apply solely to products                draw a fourth share equal to the third. This process
originating in the countries and territories listed in the           shall continue until the reserve has been exhausted.
Annex. However, those imports which enjoy exemption
from customs duties under other preferential tariff ar­
rangements granted by the Community may not be                       4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and 3 , a
charged against these tariff quotas.                                 Member State may draw shares lower than those
                                                                     specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for
                                                                     believing that those specified may not be used in full.
For the purposes of this Regulation the concept of                   Any Member State applying this paragraph shall inform
originating products shall be determined in accordance               the Commission of its grounds for so doing.
with the procedure laid down in Article 14 of Regu­
lation (EEC) No 802/68 .
                                                                     5 . Any Member State may limit the sum total of its
                                                                     additional shares to 40% of its initial share, informing
                           Article 2                                 the Commission that it is so doing.
 1 . A first tranche of 19 440 tonnes for cocoa butter
 and of 16 875 tonnes for soluble coffee of the Com­                                           Article 4
 munity tariff quotas referred to in Article 1 shall be
 allocated, in respect of each Member State, in shares the          Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be
 amounts of which are set out below :                               valid until 31 December 1978 .
                                               (tonnes)
                                    cocoa butter    soluble coffe
      Germany                              720          810                                    Article 5
      Benelux                           10 935        1 395
      France                                 90         225          A Member State which on 15 September 1978 has not
                                                                     exhausted one of its initial shares shall, not later than
      Italy                                  45           45
                                                                     1 October 1978 , return to the reserve any unused por­
      Denmark                                45           45         tion in excess of 20% of the initial amount. It may re­
      Ireland                                45           45
                                                                     turn a greater portion if there are grounds for believing
                                                                     that such portion may not be used in full.
      United Kingdom                     7 560       14 310
                                                                     Member States shall, not later than 1 October 1978 ,
2 . The second tranche of 2 160 tonnes for cocoa butter
 and 1 875 tonnes for soluble coffee shall constitute the
                                                                     notify the Commission of the total quantities of the
reserve .
                                                                     product in question imported up to and including
                                                                      15 September 1978 and charged against the Community
                                                                     quotas and of any portion of their initial shares re­
                                                                     turned to the reserve.
                           Article 3
1.    If a Member State has used 90% or more of its ini­                                       Article 6
tial share as fixed in Article 2 ( 1 ), or of that share minus
any portion returned to the reserve pursuant to Article              The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
5 , it shall forthwith, by notifying the Commission, draw            opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2 and
a second share, to the extent that the reserve so permits,           3 and shall, as soon as the information reaches it, in­
equal to 10% of its initial share rounded up should the              form each State of the extent to which the reserve has
occasion arise to the nearest unit above.
                                                                     been used up.
2. If a Member State, after exhausting its initial shares,
has used 90% or more of the second share drawn by it,                It shall, not later than 15 October 1978 , inform the
that Member State shall forthwith, by notifying the                  Member State of the amount still in reserve following '
Commission , draw a third share, equal to 5% of its ini­             any return of shares pursuant to Article 5 .
tial share rounded up should the occasion arise to the
nearest unit above.
                                                                     It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting the
                                                                     reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not exceed
3 . If a Member State, after exhausting its second share,            the balance available, and to this end shall notify the
has used 90% or more of the third share drawn by it,                 amount of that balance to the Member State making the
that Member State shall, under the same conditions,                  last drawing.
 ---pagebreak--- 19 . 12 . 77                          Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 324 / 135
The Member States shall take all appropriate measures             country or countries or territory or territories which are
to ensure that additional shares drawn pursuant to                the cause of such disadvantage. Such measures may also
Article 3 are opened in such a way that importations              be taken in the event of a serious disadvantage, either
may be charged without interruption against their                 actual or foreseeable, which is confined to a single re­
cumulative shares of the Community quota .                        gion of the Community.
                           Article 7                                                       Article 10
1 . The Member States shall ensure free access to each             1 . In order to ensure that Article 9 is applied, the
of the shares which have been allocated to them for                Commission may, by way of a Regulation, re-introduce
importers of the products concerned who are estab­                 normal duties for a fixed period.
lished on their territory.
                                                                   2. If the Commission has acted at the request of a
2.   The extent to which shares of Member States have              Member State, the former shall give its decision within a
been used up shall be determined on the basis of im­               maximum period of 10 working days from the date of
ports of the said goods which have been entered for                receipt of the request and shall inform the Member
home use, and which are accompanied by a certificate               State of the action it has taken .
of origin in accordance with the rules referred to in
Article 1 (2 ).                                                    3 . Each Member State may refer the measure taken by
                                                                   the Commission to the Council within a period of 10
3 . Goods may qualify for a tariff quota only if the cer­          working days following the date it was notified. The
tificate of origin referred to in paragraph 2 is submitted         fact that the matter has been referred to the Council
before the date on which the levying of duties is re­              shall not constitute the suspension of the measure. The
introduced .                                                       Council shall meet without delay. Acting on a qualified
                                                                   majority, it may amend or repeal the measure in ques­
                                                                   tion .
                           Article 8
                                                                                           Article 11
Member States shall inform the Commission at monthly
intervals of imports of the products in question charged
against their shares. This information shall show both              Articles 9 and 10 shall not prejudice the application of
the value expressed in units of account and the quantity            the protective clauses drawn up in connection with the
expressed in tonnes.                                                common agricultural policy pursuant to Article 43 of
                                                                    the Treaty nor those drawn up in connection with the
                                                                    common commercial policy pursuant to Article 113 of
                                                                    the Treaty.
                           Article 9
                                                                                           Article 12
If the Community should find that the products benefit­
ing under the arrangements provided for in Article 1 are
                                                                  Member States and the Commission shall collaborate
being imported into the Community in quantities or at
prices such as to put or be likely to put Community                closely to ensure that this Regulation is observed.
producers of similar or directly competitive products at
a serious disadvantage or to create an unfavourable                                         Article 13
situation in the ACP States, the customs duties applied
within the Community may be re-introduced in part or              This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
in full for imports of the products in question from the           1978 .
                This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
                Done at Brussels, 28 November -1977.
                                                                                         For the Council
                                                                                          The President
                                                                                           L. OUTERS
 ---pagebreak--- No L 324/ 136                                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                                                19 . 12 . 77
                                                                              ANNEX C
                              List of developing countries and territories enjoying generalized tariff preferences (*)
                                                               I. INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES
660    Afghanistan                                      260 Guinea                                                              801 Papua New Guinea
208    Algeria                                          257 Guinea Bissau                                                       520 Paraguay
330    Angola                                           488 Guyana                                                              504 Peru
528    Argentina                                         452 Haiti                                                              708 Philippines
453 Bahamas                                              424 Honduras                                                           644 Qatar
640 Bahrain                                              664 India                                                              066 Romania
666 Bangladesh                                           700 Indonesia                                                          324 Rwanda
469 Barbados                                             616 Iran                                                               819 Samoa
284 Benin                                                612 Iraq                                                               311 Sao Tome and Principe
675 Bhutan                                               272 Ivory Coast                                                        632 Saudi Arabia
516 Bolivia                                             464 Jamaica                                                             248 Senegal
391 Botswana                                             628 Jordan                                                             355 Seychelles and Dependencies
508 Brazil                                               696 Kampuchea, Democratic                                              264 Sierra Leone
676 Burma                                                346 Kenya                                                              706 Singapore
328 Burundi                                             728 Korea, Republic of                                                  342 Somalia
302 Cameroon                                             63 6 Kuwait                                                            669 Sri Lanka
247 Cape Verde Islands                                  684 Laos                                                                224 Sudan
306 Central African Empire                               604 Lebanon                                                            492 Surinam
244 Chad                                                395 Lesotho                                                             393 Swaziland
512 Chile                                               268 Liberia                                                             608 Syria
480 Colombia                                            216 Libya                                                               352 Tanzania
375 Comoros                                             370 Madagascar                                                          680 Thailand
3 1 8 Congo, People's Republic of                       386 Malawi                                                              280 Togo
436 Costa Rica                                          701 Malaysia                                                             817 Tonga
448 Cuba                                                667 Maldive Islands                                                     472 Trinidad and Tobago
600 Cyprus                                              232 Mali                                                                212 Tunisia
338 Djibouti                                            228 Mauritania                                                           350 Uganda
456 Dominican Republic                                  373 Mauritius                                                            647 United Arab Emirates
500 Ecuador                                             412 Mexico                                                               236 Upper Volta
220 Egypt                                               204 Morocco                                                              524 Uruguay
428 El Salvador                                         366 Mozambique                                                           484 Venezuela
310 Equatorial Guinea                                   803 Nauru                                                                690 Vietnam
334 Ethiopia                                            672    Nepal                                                             652 Yemen
815 Fiji                                                432    Nicaragua                                                         656 Yemen, Democratic
314 Gabon                                               240    Niger                                                             048 Yugoslavia
252 Gambia                                              288    Nigeria                                                           322 Zaire
2 76 Ghana                                              649 Oman                                                                 378 Zambia
473 Grenada                                             662 Pakistan
416 Guatemala                                           440 Panama
 (*) The code number preceding the name of each beneficiary country or territory is that given in 'Geonomenclature 1977', published by the Statistical Office of the European
     Communities .
 ---pagebreak--- 19. 12 . 77                                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                                       No L 324/ 137
                                                          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
            890 Australian Antarctic Territory
            421 Belize
            413 Bermuda
            890 British Antarctic Territory
            357 British Indian Ocean Territory
            812 British Pacific Ocean
            703 Brunei
            202 Canary Islands
            463 Cayman Islands and Dependencies
            205 Ceuta and Melilla
            802 Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island
            529 Falkland Islands and Dependencies
            822 French Polynesia
            890 French Southern and Antarctic Territories
            044 Gibraltar
            740 Hong Kong
            743 Macao
            377 Mayotte
            476 Netherlands Antilles
             809 New Caledonia and Dependencies
             808 Pacific Islands administered by the United States of America or under United States trusteeship ( J)
            329 St Helena and Dependencies
             814 Territories for which New Zealand is responsible (Cook Islands, Niue Island, Tokelau Islands)
            454 Turks and Caicos Islands
            457 Virgin Islands of the United States
             811 Wallis and Futuna Islands
             471 West Indies
             Note: The above lists may be amended subsequently to take account of changes in the international
                         status of countries or territories.
             t 1 ) 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).