CELEX: 51981PC0462
Language: en
Date: 1981-09-09
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) falling within subheading ex 03.01 B I q) of the Common Customs Tariff (1982)#Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for frozen cod fillets falling within subheading 03.01 B II b) of the Common Customs Tariff (1982)) (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (81) 462
Vol. 1981/0141
 ---pagebreak--- Disclaimer
Conformément au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique
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p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003
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In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic
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file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom 1.
Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L 43 vom 15.2.1983,
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                    COM(81)462 final
                                                    Brussels , 9 September 1981
                                   Proposal for a
                              COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
                                          i   . I          i
        opening , allocating and providing for the administration
         of a Community tariff quota for silver hake ( Merluccius
          bi linearis ) falling within subheading ex 03.01 B I q )
                     of the Common Customs Tariff ( 1982 )
                                   Proposal for a
                              COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC )
                      I:
        opening , allocating and providing^ /for the administration
                       * *                        •
           of a Community tariff quota for frozen cod fillets
               falling within subheading 03.01 B II b ) of the
                           Common Customs Tariff ( 1982 ))
                ( submitted to the Council by the Commission )
 C0M(81 ) 462 final
 ---pagebreak---      -       •  .             EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM                           •
- 1 . In the context of the GATT multi lateral, negotiations , the Community .
»      .            ■                .            .                                 *
             has undertaken to .open annually Community tariff quotas at 8 /. duty
              for 2 000 tonnes of silver hake ( Merluccius bi linearis ) ex 03.01 B I q )                .
 '           and 10 000 tonnes of frozen cod fillets 03.01 B II b ) 1 .
     2 . The purpose of this proposal is to satisfy the obligations contracted
          -  by the Community by opening these tariff quotas for the period 1- January ,
         ' ■ to 31 December 1982 and to provide for Greece 's share in their allocation
   1          among Member States .            ;
     3 . The Commission 's proposals for these, products are mainly based on those 4
             usually put forward in"' the ./field of tariff quotas insofar as :
             - the quota volumes are divided into two parts , the first consisting
                of a fairly large quantity, allocated among _ the Member States , and
                the second being a reserve intended                    cover any supplementary needs ;
             - the allocation of initial shares to the Member States is based -on
                  their past imports from third countries over the last 3 years and
                on the prospects for the quota year concerned .
              Community imports from     third countries have, over the last 3 years ,
             evolved as follows :                         -r':)' ■                    •. . . •; -     '■
                                          I.          , ■
                                                            ■» '   Ι         '
                                       -     -      '      P       . ;
                                                             ■ i '               :
                                                    ■       . ! I!
 ---pagebreak--- - Si Iver hake
 Member State                  1978                 1979                 1980
                           in tonnes            in tonnes              in tonnes
 Benelux                      ' 775                  250
 Denmark                        610                  684                  112.2
 Germany                        433                  155.5                970
                                                      • IUI
 Greece                                   " ΠΟΤ   3Vd1 1 3u I
 France                      5 600 ( 1 )             200                  190
 Ireland                          4.6                   42                   0
 Italy                          841                      0.4
 United Kingdom              3 119   (1)                52                  60
 ( 1 ) Figure for imports of all types of hake .
- Frozen cod fillets
 Member State
                              1978                   1979                1980
                       in t         in %     in t           in %    in t        in %
 Benelux                 0            0       11           ,0.25    48.90       0.52
 Denmark               276          26.44     74            1.70   468.60       4.99
 Germany                83           7.95    434           9.97  2 175.50      23.18
 Greece                  0            0         0           0        0          0
 France                117          11.21    723         16.61   1 410.30      15.30
 Ireland                 0            0         0           0        0          0
 Italy                 393          37.64  . 953         21.88   1 011.90      10.78
 United Kingdom        175          16.76 2  159         49.59   4 271.10      45.50 ■
                     1 044                4 354                  9 386.30
 ---pagebreak---                                        -3-
 It can be . seen from the first table concerning silver hake that
 import figures ,, which are not separately recorded in-the statistics ,
 are incomplete and that therefore it is not possible to make calcula­
 tions concerning the percentage of total Community imports by individual
 Member States .-      '     ;
 Consequent ly such data may not be representative of import trends in each,         » >
 Member State . - However , by taking jaccount of requirement estimates put
 forward by the Member States , one can make the following frercentages
 estimates of Member States' initial shares .                               *
                                     - Si Iver hake            Cod fillets
          Benelux                       I; 0.77                          0.38     (
          Denmark                          23.28    V ,              .   0.94' - v'
          Germany                       ; 42.20       >      :■■       18.18
         Greece    .       -                  0.0V •       .       :r -; 0.08 - " j
       ■ France                    .        14.8Ί ' Γ · .-      •       15.18      ;
         Ireland     ' ; ■             '· 0.38                           0.08 ' . ;
         Italy
                                      • n' .'   •
                                      u - 0.69' : ./ .
                                                        •
                                                                  ' '15.92 '
         United Kingdom                     17.86 : :               ' 44.66'
The proposed Regulations foresee the "greyhound system " as the only
method of administration to be applied by the Member States ..
 ---pagebreak---                                                   Proposal for a
                                   COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No
                                                  of
              opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
              quota for silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) falling within subheading ex 03.01 B
                                    I q) of the Common Customs Tariff ( 198 ?)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                Whereas since the fish concerned are not separately
 COMMUNITIES,                                               specified in the statistical nomenclatures of the
                                                            Member States, the available import figures provided
                                                            by them cannot be regarded as sufficiently exact or
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European      representative for use as a basis for the allocation
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 113          referred to above ; whereas the incomplete figures
 thereof,                                                   available together with the estimates made by the
                                                            Member States allow the following percentage esti­
                                                            mates to be made as to the import needs of each of
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,         them from third countries for the quota period envis­
                                                            aged :
Whereas the Community has undertaken to open an                        Bene Lux                 0.77
 annual Community tariff quota at 8 % duty for 2 000                   Denmark                23.28
 tonnes of silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis), falling                Germany                42.20
within subheading ex 03.01 B I q) of the Common                        Greece                   0.01
Customs Tariff ; whereas the tariff quota concerned
                                                                       France                  14.81
should be opened on 1 January 1982 and allocated
between the Member States ;                                            Ireland                  0.38
                                                                       Italy                    0.69
                                                                       United Kingdom          17.86
Whereas under Article 64 of the Act of Accession of                          ! '
 1979, Greece is required to apply in full the Common
Customs Tariff duty in respect of the product in ques­
tion as from 1 January 1981 ; whereas, therefore, as
from that date, it is necessary to cover, in favour of the
tariff quotas in question, the requirements of that
Member State during the quota period ;
Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota
s"hould be ensured for all Community importers and
the rate of levy for the tariff quota should be applied
consistently to all imports until the quota is used up ;
whereas, in the light of the principles outlined above,     Whereas, to take account of the possible import
a Community tariff arrangement based on an alloca­          trends for these fish, the quota volume should be
tion   between  the Member States       would    seem   to  divided into two instalments, the first being allocated
preserve the Community nature of the quota ;                between the Member States' and the second held as a
whereas, to represent as closely as possible the actual     reserve to cover any subsequent requirements of
development of the market in the said goods, the allo­      Member States which have used up their initial share;
cation should follow proportionately the requirements,
of the Member States calculated both from statistics of     whereas, to give importers some degree of certainty,
imports from third countries during a representative        the first instalment of the tariff quota should be fixed
reference period and according to the economic              at a high level, which in this case could be 65-5 % of
outlook for the tariff year in question ;                   the amount of the quota ;
 ---pagebreak---                                                       -2-
Whereas initial shares may be used up at different                       -
                                                                                                 ( tonnes )
 rates ; whereas to avoid disruption of supplies on this
account it should be provided that any Member State                  Benelux                          10
which has almost used up its initial share should draw                Denmark                       305
an additional share from the reserve ; whereas each                  Germany                        552
time its additional share is almost used up a Member                  Greece                           1
State should draw a further share and so on as many                   France                         194
times as the reserve allows ; whereas the initial and
                                                                      Ireland                          5
additional shares should be valid until the end of the
                                                                      Italy                            9
quota period ; whereas this form of administration
requires close collaboration between the Member                       United Kingdom                 234
States and the Commission and the Commission must
be in a position to keep account of the extent to
which the quotas have been used up and to inform            3 . The second instalment of
the Member States accordingly ;                             690 tonnes shall constitute
                                                            the reserve .
Whereas, if at a given date in the quota period a
considerable quantity of a Member State's initial share .
remains unused it is essential that such State should
return a significant proportion thereof to the reserve,
in order to prevent a part of the Community tariff
quota from remaining unused in one Member State
While it could be used in others :                                                    Article 3
Whereas,- since the Kingdom of Belgium, the                  1.        If a Member State has used 90 % or more of its
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of           initial share as fixed in Article 2 (2), or of that share
Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented        minus any portion returned to the reserve pursuant to
by the Benelux Economic . Union, any measure              ■ Article 5, it shall forthwith, by notifying the Commis­
concerning the administration of the shares allocated       sion, draw a second share, to the extent that the
to that economic union may be carried out by any
one of its members,
                                                            reserve so permits, equal to 10 % of its initial share,
                                                            rounded up as necessary to the next whole number.
                                                            1:         If a Member State, after exhausting its initial
                                                            share, has ' used 90 % or more of the second share
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :                               drawn by it, that. Member State shall forthwith, in the
                                                            manner and to the extent provided in paragraph 1 ,
                                                            draw a third share equal to 5 % of its initial share,
                                                            rounded up as necessary to the next whole number.
                        Article 1
                                                            3.        If a Member State, after 'exhausting its second
                                                            share, has used 90 % or more of the third share drawn
 1 . From 1 January to 31 Decemberl 982a Commu­
nity tariff quota of 2 000 tonnes shall be opened           by it, that Member State shall, in the manner and to
within the Community for silver hake (Merluccius bili-      the extent provided in paragraph 1 , draw a fourth
                                                            share equal to the third.
nearis), falling within subheading ex 03.01 B I q) of
the Common Customs Tariff.
                                                            This process shall apply until the reserve is used up.
2.'    The Common Customs Tariff duty shall be
suspended at the level of 8 % within this tariff quota.     4.        By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and
                                                            3, a Member State may draw shares lower than those
                                                            specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for
                        Article 2                           believing that those specified,* may not be used in full.
                                                            Any Member State applying' 'this paragraph shall
 1.    The Community tariff quota referred to in            inform the Commission of**its grounds for so doing.
Article 1 shall be divided into two instalments.
                                                                                       Article 4
2.     A first instalment of 1 310 tonnes shall be allo­     '  ι ■ ι          ' .
cated among certain Member States ; the shares, which        ,      ■          i
subject to Article 5 shall be valid from 1 January to 31    Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be
 December 1982, shall be as follows :                       valid until 31 December 1982 .
 ---pagebreak---                                                           -3-
                          Article 5                           pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that
                                                              importations may be charged without interruption
  Member States shall , not later than 1 October 1982
                                                              against their accumulated shares of the Community
  return to the reserve the unused portion of their initial   quota.
 share which, on 15 September 1982 is in excess of
 20 % of the initial volume.
                                                              2. The Member States shall ensure that importers
 They may return a greater portion if there are grounds       of the product in question established in their terri­
 for believing that it may not be used in full.               tory have free access to the shares allocated to them.
 Member States shall, not later than 1 October1982            3.    The Member States shall charge imports of the
 notify the Commission of the total quantities of the         product in question against their shares as and when
 product in question imported up to and including 15          the product is entered with the customs authorities for
Septemberl 982 and charged against the Community              free c i rculation .
quota and of any portion of their initial shares
 returned to the reserve .                                    4.    The extent to which a Member State has used up
                                                              its share shall be determined on the basis of the
                          Article 6                           imports charged in accordance with paragraph 3.
The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
 opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2,                                  Article 8
 and 3 and shall, as soon as the information reaches it,
 inform each State of the extent to which the reserve         At the request of the Commission, the Member States
has been used up.                                             shall inform it of imports actually charged against
                                                              their shares.
 It shall, not later than 5 October 1982 inform the              I
Member States of the           amount still   in  reserve,
following any return of shares pursuant to Article 5.                                Article  9
It shall ensure that the drawing which exhausts the           The Member States and the Commission shall coop­
reserve does not exceed the balance available, and to         erate closely to ensure that this Regulation is
this end shall notify the amount of that balance to the       complied with .
Member State making the last drawing.
                         A rticle 7                                                  Article in
1.     The Member States shall take all appropriate           This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
measures     to  ensure   that additional  shares drawn       1982 .
               This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
               States.
                Done at Brussels.
                                                                         For the Council
                                                                            The President
 ---pagebreak---                                                Proposal for a
                                   COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No
                                                  of
              opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
              quota for frozen cod fillets falling within subheading 03.01 B II b) 1 of the
                                            Common Customs Tariff ( T982 )                         *   - '
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES,                                                                       '
                                                                                         1978         1979       1980
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European       Benelux                          0   .    0.25         0.52
Economic Community, and in particular Article 113           Denmark                     26.44         1.70         4.99
thereof, .                                                  Germany                        7 M ? 9.97            23.18
                                                            Greece                           0         0            0
                                                            France                       11.21       16.61       15.30
                                                            Ireland                          0         0            0
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                            Italy                        37.64 21.88             10.78
                                                            United Kingdom               16.76 49.59             45.50
whereas the Community has undertaken to open an
annual . Community tariff quota at 8 % duty for
10 000 tonnes of frozen cod fillets, falling within         Whereas, in view of these factors and of market fore­
subheading 03.01 B II b) 1 of the Common Customs            casts for this product for 1 982 the initial percentage
Tariff ; whereas the tariff quota concerned should be       shares in the quota volume can be expressed approxi­
opened on 1 January 1982and allocated between the           mately as follows :                            v
Member States :
                                                                     Benelux                                    Q.38
                                                                     Denmark                                    5.52
Whereas under Article 64 of the Act of Accession of                  Germany                                 , 18.18
1979, Greece is required to apply in full the Common                 Greece                                     0.08
Customs Tariff duty in respect of the product in ques­               France                                    15.18
tion as from 1 January 1981 ; whereas, therefore, as               ' Ireland                                    0.08
from that date, it .is necessary to cover, in favour of the     ' , Itaiy                                      15.92
tariff quotas in question, the requirements of that                  United Kingdom                           44 . 66
Member State during the quota period ;
                                                            Whereas, to take account of future import trends for
Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota            the products in question in the various Member States,
should be ensured for all Community importers and           the quota should be divided into two instalments, the
the rate of levy for the tariff quota should, be applied    first being allocated among Member States and the
consistently to all imports until the quota is used Op ;    second held as a reserve to cover subsequently the
whereas, in the light of the principles outlined above,     requirements of Member States which have exhausted
a Community tariff arrangement based on an alloca­          tiidr initial share ; whereas, to give importers in each
tion between    the Member States would seem             to Member State some degree of certainty, the first instal-
preserve the Community nature of the quota ;                lment of the Community quota should be fixed at a
whereas, to represent as closely as possible the actual     relatively high level, in this case 65 % 0£ the full
development of the market in the said goods, the allo­      quota ;
cation should follow proportionately the requirements ,
of the Member States calculated both from statistics of     Whereas Member States may exhaust their initial
imports from third countries during a representative        shares for the products in question at different rates ;
reference period and according to the economic              whereas to avoid disruption of supplies on this
outlook for the tariff year in question ;                   account it should be provided that any Member State
                                                            which has almost used up its initial share should draw
                                                            an additional share from the reserve ; whereas this
Whereas, during the last three years for which              must be done by each Member State as and when
complete statistics are available, the corresponding        each of its additional shares is almost entirely used up,
imports into each of the Member States represented          an<!l repeated as many times as the reserve allows ;
the following percentages of total imports of the           whereas the initial and additional shares must be avail­
products in question :                                      able for use until the end of the quota period ;
 ---pagebreak---                                                         -2-
 whereas this method of administration calls for close      minus any portion returned to the reserve pursuant to
 cooperation between Member States and the Commis­          Article 5, it shall forthwith, by notifying the Commis­
 sion which latter must, in particular, be able to          sion , draw a second share, to the extent that the
 observe the extent to which the quota amount is used       reserve so permits, equal to 10 % of its initial share
 and inform Member States thereof ;                         rounded up should the occasion arise to the nearest
                                                            unit above .
Whereas if, at a specified date in the quota period, a
considerable balance remains in one or other Member
                                                            2.     If a Member State, after exhausting its initial
State, it is essential that that Member State pay a large   share, has used 90 % or more of the second share
amount of it back into the reserve, in order to avoid a     drawn by it, that Member State shall forthwith, in the
part of the Community quota remaining unused in             manner and to the extent provided in paragraph 1 ,
one Member State when it could be used in others ;
                                                            draw a third share, equal to 5 % of its initial share
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the                  rounded up should the occasion arise to the nearest
                                                            unit above.
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented
by the Benelux Economic Union, all transactions             3.     If a Member State, after exhausting its second
                                                            share, has used 90 % or more of the third share drawn
concerning the administration of the shares allocated
to that economic union may be carried out by any            by it, that Member State shall, under the same condi­
one of its members,                                         tions, draw a fourth share equal to the third. This
                                                            process shall continue until the reserve has been
                                                            exhausted .
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                            4.     By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and
                                                            3, a Member State may draw shares lower than those
                          Article 1                         specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for
                                                            believing that those specified may not be used in full.
1.     From 1 January to 31 December 198 ^ Commu­           Any Member State applying this paragraph shall
nity tariff quota of 10 000 tonnes shall be opened          inform the Commission of its grounds for so doing.
within the Community for frozen cod fillets, falling
within subheading 03.01 B II b) 1 of the Common
Customs Tariff.
                                                                                     Article 4
2.     The Common Customs Tariff duty shall be
suspended at the level of 8 % within this tariff quota.     Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be
                                                            valid until 31 December 1982 .
                          Article 2
1.    The Community tariff quota referred to in                                      Article 5
Article 1 shall be divided into two instalments.
                                                            Member States shall , not later than 1 October 1982
2.     A first instalment of 6 SOCtonnes shall be allo­     return to the reserve the unused portion of their initial
cated among the Member States ; the shares, which           share which, on 15 September 1 982 is in excess of
subject to Article 5 shall be valid from 1 January to 31    20 % of the initial volume. They may return a greater
December 1982 shall be as follows :                         portion if there are grounds for believing that it may
                                                            not be used in full .
                                             (tonnes)
      Bénélux                                   25
      Denmark                                 359           Member States shall, not later than 1 October1982
      Germany                              1 182            notify the Commission of the total quantities of the
      Greece            -                        5          product in question imported up to and including 15
      France                                  987           September 1982and charged against the Community
      Ireland                                    5          quotas and of any portion of their initial shares
                                                            returned to the reserve .
      Italy                                ^
      United Kingdom                      2 902
3.     The second instalment of 3 500tonnes shall                                    Article 6
constitute the reserve .
                                                            The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
                          Article 3                         opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2
                                                            and 3 and shall, as soon as the information reaches it,
1.     If a Member State has used 90 % or more of its       inform each State of the extent to which the reserve
initial share as fixed in Article 2 (2), or of that share   has been used up.
 ---pagebreak--- It shall, not later than 5 October 1982 inform the          the product is entered with the customs authorities for
Member States of the amount still in reserve following       free circulation . •
any return of shares pursuant to Article 5.
                                                            4.    The extent to which a Member State has used up
 It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting the          its share shail be determined on the basis or the
reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not exceed
                                                             imports charged in accordance with paragraph 3 .
the balance available, and to this end shall notify the
amount of that balance to the Member State making
the last drawing.                                                       1           A rtias S
                       Article 7                             At the request of the Commission, the Member States
                                                          ' shall inform it of imports actually charged against
1.    The Member States shall take all appropriate           their shares.
measures     to ensure  that  additional shares drawn
pursuant to Article 3 are opened in -3uch a way that
                                                                                    Article 9
importations msy be charged without interruption
against their accumulated shares of the Community            The Member States and the Commission shall co­
quota.
                                                             operate closely to ensure that this Regulation is
2.    The Member States shall ensure free access to          complied with.
the shares which have been allocated to them for
importers of the said product who are established in
                                                                               ;    Article 10
their territory.
3. The Member States shall charge imports of the             This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
product in question against their shares as and when .        1982 „
               This Regulation shall be binding m its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
               States.
               Done at Brussels,
                                                                         For the Council
                                                                           The President