CELEX: 31972D0455
Language: en
Date: 1972-12-19 00:00:00
Title: 72/455/EEC: Council Decision of 19 December 1972 laying down certain transitional measures for the progressive standardisation of the import terms of Member States as regards third countries

Official Journal of the European Communities                              101
 No L 299/46                       Official Journal of the European Communities                         31.12.72
                                               COUNCIL DECISION
                                                of 19 December 1972
            laying down certain transitional measures for the progressive standardisation
                       of the import terms of Member States as regards third countries
                                                    (72/455/EEC)
 THE COUNCIL O¥ THE EUROPEAN COMMUNI­                         flexible procedure for the measures envisaged
 TIES ,                                                       by *the Member States with regard to third
                                                              State-trading countries with which the Member
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                 States may still negotiate commercial agree­
 European Economic Community, and in par­                     ments under the conditions set out in Title III
 ticular Article 115 thereof ;                                of Council Decision of 16 December 1969:
 Having regard to the proposal from the Com­
 mission ;
                                                              HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
Having regard to the Opinion of the European
 Parliament;                                                                         Article 1
Whereas conditicns should be laid down, in
the form of transitional measures , under which              A Member State envisaging any autonomous
the Member States may make amendments to                      amendments to its import terms with regard
import terms as regards third countries, pending             to a third country or group of third countries
the establishment of autonomous or conven­                   shall so inform the Commission and the other
tional common import terms ;                                  Member States .
Whereas under the Treaty and the Council                                             Article 2
Decision of 16 December 19691 on the progres­
sive standardisation of agreements concerning
commercial relations between Member States                    1.    At the request of the Commission or of
and third countries and on the negotiation of                a Member State, the measures referred to in
Community agreements, amendments of this                     Article 1 shall be subject to prior consultation
                                                             with the other Member States and the Com­
nature, except in exceptional cases laid down
in Title III of this Decision , may not be the               mission within the Select Committee set up
subject of negotiations or agreements with                   by the Council Decision of 9 October 19612
the third countries in question, and therefore               concerning a consultation procedure in respect
may only be decided in an autonomous                         of the negotiation of agreements concerning
                                                             commercial relations between Member States
manner ;
                                                             and third countries and in respect of changes
Whereas in order to avoid autonomous amend­                  in the state of liberalisation in relation to third
ments to the import terms of the Member                      countries .
States constituting obstacles to the implementa­
tion of the common commercial policy and                     2.     The purpose of the consultation shall be
harming the interests of the Community or of                 to examine the possibility of establishing
one of its Alember States , such amendments                  common import terms for the third country
should be subject to prior consultation and                  and the product in question and, failing this,
                                                             to coordinate Member States ' terms to ensure
if necessary to an authorisation procedure;
                                                             the proper functioning and strengthening of
Whereas provision should be made, by way of                  the Common Market and the gradual introduc­
exception and for a limited period, for a more               tion of common import terms.
    OJ No L 326, 29 . 12.1969, p . 39 .                      2   OJ No 71 , 4.11.1961 , p . 1273/61 .
 ---pagebreak---  102                           Official Journal of the European Communities
 3.       If a Member State or the Commission             2.    When a quota has been exhausted and
 considers that the measures envisaged by the             the economic requirements of a Member
 Member       State  concerned   would    harm    the     State call for additional imports from the
 fundamental interests of the Community or                country or countries benefiting from the
 one of its Member States , the consultation              quota, the Member State concerned may, in
 shall include an examination of the economic             urgent cases, open additional import facilities
 and commercial situation of the products                 up to a maximum of 20% of the quantity
 involved .                                               or value of the exhausted quota .
 4.       If the Commission does not request              3.    In exceptional cases when a Adember State
 consultation within five working days after              contemplates import facilities in respect of
 receiving the notification referred to in Article 1 ,    one of the third countries referred to in the
 and has received no requests for consultation            second paragraph of Article 3 (3) for a product
from Member States by the end of that period,            for which there is no import quota or liberal­
 it shall notify the Member State concerned ,             isation, Articles 1 , 2 and 3 shall apply to the
 which may then put the proposed measure into             extent that the proposed imports would exceed
 effect .                                                 by more than 20% the highest quantity
                                                          or value reached by imports of the same prod­
In all other cases, the consultation procedure            uct from the country concerned in any one of
 shall commence within five working days from            the past three years .
the end of the period provided for in the
preceding paragraph.
                                                         4.     If the proposed imports do not exceed
                                                          the limit set in paragraph 2 and 3 above, the
                                                          Member State shall later notify the Com­
                       Article 3                          mission, which shall inform the other Member
                                                         States , of the total amount of the licences
                                                         granted ; this notification may be in the form
1.      If after consultation no objection has been       of a statement to be submitted half-yearly,
raised by the other Member States or by the              containing a breakdown by product and by
Commission , the Commission shall forthwith              third country of origin. In the case covered
notify the Member State concerned, which may              by paragraph 3 , the same shall appply to
put the measure into effect immediately.                 authorisations for imports from other third
                                                         countries granted for non-liberalised products
2       In other cases, the Member State concerned       for which no quotas are opened .
may not put the proposed measure into effect
until three weeks after the start of consultation .
                                                         5.     At the request of any Member State or of
                                                         the Commission, subsequent consultation under
3.      If, within this three-week period, the           the terms of Article 2 shall be held on measures
Commission submits to the Council , under                taken by a Member State under this Article.
Article 113 of the Treaty, a proposal meeting
the objections raised, the proposed measure
may not be put into effect until the Council
has acted .                                                                    Article 5
However , until 31 December 1974, the Member
State concerned may by way of exception put              Once the opening of Community negotiations
the proposed measures into effect in respect             with a third country has been authorised,
of one or more of the countries specified in             Member States may no longer put the proposed
Article 9 of the Council Decision of 16 Decem­           measures into effect in respect of this country
ber 1969 when the Council has not acted on               without authorisation by the Council, acting
the proposal from the Commission within five             on a proposal from the Commission, in
weeks from the submission of the proposal.               accordance with Article 113 of the Treaty .
                                                         Prior notification as stipulated in Article 1
                                                         shall be obligatory in all cases of - quota
                                                         increases or measures of the kind referred to in
                       Article 4
                                                         Article 4 (2) and (3). Prior authorisation by
                                                         the Council shall be necessary only if objections
1.      In urgent cases, liberalisation may be           are raised by a Member or by the Commission
withdrawn or a quota abolished or reduced                during any consultation that may be requested
without prior consultation.                              within the period stipulated in Article 2 (3).
 ---pagebreak---                             Official Journal of the European Communities                            103
Prior notification shall also be obligatory for                           Article 7
the withdrawal of liberalisation or the abolition
or reduction of quotas. However, these measures       The Council Decision of 9 October 1961 shall
may be taken without prior authorisation by           remain valid insofar as it does not conflict with
the Council . If objections are raised by a
                                                      this Decision .
Member State or by the Commission during
any subsequent consultation held under
Article 2, the Commission shall submit a
proposal to the Council in accordance with                                Article 8
Article 113 of the Treaty.
                                                      This Decision is addressed to the Member
                    Article 6                         States .
Any amendments to this Decision necessary to          Done at Brussels , 19 December 1972.
complete standardisation of Member States'
import terms shall be adopted not later than                                    For the Council
31 December 1974 in accordance with the
                                                                                 The President
procedure laid down in Article 113 of the
Treaty.                                                                         T. WESTERTERP