CELEX: 31973D0288
Language: en
Date: 1973-08-17 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 17 August 1973 authorizing the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands not to apply Community treatment to men's cotton shirts falling within heading No ex 61.03 of the Common Customs Tariff which originate in Hungary and are put into free circulation in the Federal Republic of Germany

25. 9 . 73                        Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 268 / 17
                                                         II
                                     (Acts whose publication is not obligatory)
                                              COMMISSION
                                            COMMISSION DECISION
                                                 of 17 August 1973
               authorizing the Kingdom of Belgium , the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the
               Kingdom of the Netherlands not to apply Community treatment to men's
               cotton shirts falling within heading No ex 61.03 of the Common Customs Tariff
               which originate in Hungary and are put into free circulation in the Federal
                                               Republic of Germany
                                   (Only the French and Dutch texts are authentic)
                                                    (73/288 / EEC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                 Whereas the request for an import licence to which
COMMUNITIES,                                                   the application relates is for an amount of about 1 3 %
                                                               of the quota whilst the price of the products
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European         concerned is 25 % less than the price on the Benelux
 Economic Community, and in particular the first para­         markets ; whereas this situation endangers the relevant
graph of Article 1 1 5 thereof ;                               industries of the Benelux ;
 Having regard to the application under the first para­        Whereas on 14 August 1973 the Netherlands Govern­
graph of Article 115 of the Treaty made on 6 August            ment, in a telex from the office of its Permanent
 1973 by the Netherlands Government, in agreement
                                                               Representative, furnished additional information in
with the Belgian and Luxembourg Governments, to
                                                               support of its application showing that in recent years
 the Commission by telex from the office of its Perma­
                                                               the production of cotton shirts, the number of
 nent Representative to the European Communities,
 that the Member States of the Benelux be authorized
                                                               workers and undertakings in this sector has greatly
                                                               decreased ; whereas the prices of imports originating
 not to apply Community treatment to men's cotton              in Eastern Europe are generally about 50 % lower
 shirts falling within heading No ex 61.03 of the              than comparable prices on the Benelux markets ;
 Common Customs Tariff which originate in Hungary
                                                               whereas the Member States of the Benelux pursuant to
 and are put into free circulation in the Federal Repu­        the price clauses in their Trade Agreement with the
 blic of Germany ;
                                                               countries of Eastern Europe can take action against
 Whereas in support of its application the Netherlands         direct imports at prices which are too low ; whereas
 Government asserted that for the Member States of             prices are considered too low when they are at least
 the Benelux this is a sensitive product, imports               10 % below internal prices ; whereas, if no protective
 whereof from Eastern Europe are for economic                  measures exist, imports of these products by reason of
                                                               their free circulation in the other Member States will
 reasons subject to a global quota ; whereas the global
 quota was exceeded by almost 50 % by the importa­             seriously threaten the Benelux industry and will cause
 tion of products originating in these countries and put       production to decrease even more together with the
 into free circulation in the other Member States ;            resultant social consequences ;
 Whereas the 1973 quota for this product opened                Whereas the request for an import licence to which
 under the Trade Agreement of 23 November 1971 for             the application relates is for men 's cotton shirts origi­
 trade between Hungary and the Benelux has also been            nating in Hungary and put into free circulation in the
 exhausted and whereas, in addition to this quota,              Federal Republic of Germany ; whereas imports of
 imports of the same products in free circulation in the       these products into the Federal Republic of Germany
 other Member States have already been authorized to           are admitted within the limits of the quantitative
 an amount of nearly one-third of the quota ;                  quota provided for by the 1973 Trade Protocol
 ---pagebreak--- No L 268 / 18                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            25. 9 . 73
between the Federal Republic of Germany and                       measures might be taken by the Community or the
Hungary ; whereas that quota, which is considerably               Member States to improve the situation ; whereas such
larger than that provided for by the 1972 Protocol,               protective measures should consist in not applying
was negotiated in accordance with the conclusions                 Community treatment to imports whose price is at
obtained from the prior consultation provided for in              least 10 % lower than the prices on the internal
Title III of the Council Decision ( J ) of 16 December            market ;
1969 and adopted as a guide line for negotiations by
the Council Decision of 14 March 1973 ; whereas                   Whereas the request for an import licence to which
under Article 10 of the aforementioned Decision, this             the application relates is for too limited an amount,
consultation involves such coordination as will ensure            compared with the total production and consumption
the proper functioning and the strength­                          of these products in the Benelux, for this import alone
ening of the Common Market, as regards both                       to affect the market price in the Benelux ; whereas
imports and the growth of exports and will contribute             therefore there is insufficient justification for such
towards the establishment of uniform principles of                authorization also to apply to this import ; whereas,
common commercial policy in relation to the country               according to information supplied to the Commission,
in question ;                                                      there are no other outstanding applications for import
                                                                   licences for the same products lodged with the authori­
Whereas it can therefore be presumed that imports by               ties of the applicant Member States ; whereas the
the Federal Republic of Germany under the quota in                 protective measures should be authorized only for
question will not be likely to prevent the Member                  products in respect of which an application for an
States from applying, in accordance with the Treaty,               import licence is lodged after 16 August 1973 ;
commercial policy measures to the same products in
relation to the same third country or to cause
                                                                   HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :
economic difficulties in the other Member States ;
Whereas, however, from the information supplied by                                        Article 1
the Governments concerned it appears that certain
economic difficulties do exist as the result of a size­            The Kingdom of Belgium, The Grand Duchy of
able reduction in production , and in the numbers of               Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands are
persons employed and of undertakings in the shirt                  authorized not to apply Community treatment to
industry ; whereas low-priced imports of the products              imports of men's cotton shirts falling within heading
                                                                   No ex 61.03 of the Common Customs Tariff where
in question originating in Hungary and put into free
circulation in the Federal Republic of Germany could               they originate in Hungary and are in free circulation
give rise to further economic difficulties and have                in the Federal Republic of Germany, with the excep­
social consequences ;                                              tion of products for which the price charged to the
                                                                   consumer is not at least 10 % higher than the price
Whereas such economic difficulties are due to the                  for similar products on the market of these Member
differences between measures of commercial policy, in              States .
 particular as regards prices, which are applied by the
Member States of the Benelux on the one hand and                   This authorization applies to imports in respect of
 the Federal Republic of Germany on the other to                   which applications for import licences were lodged
 imports of the products in question originating in and            after 16 August 1973 .
coming from Hungary ; whereas, however, these
economic difficulties do not appear to be due to                                          Article 2
 imports from Member States other than the Federal
                                                                   This Decision shall apply until 31 October 1973 .
 Republic of Germany, and the Governments
concerned have not claimed that such is the case ;
                                                                                          Article 3
Whereas it is impossible to ensure that, in the near
 future, other Member States and in particular the                 This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of
 Federal Republic of Germany will cooperate in the                 Belgium , the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the
 manner desired — where appropriate, over prices —                  Kingdom of the Netherlands.
 in order to overcome these economic difficulties ;
Whereas in these circumstances it is necessary to auth­             Done at Brussels, 17 August 1973 .
 orize  the  Member States        of   the  Benelux   to take
 temporary protective measures for a limited period to                                       For the Commission
 enable the Commission , in consultation with the
                                                                                                 The President
 Member States concerned , to examine developments
 in the shirt industry and what other remedial                                              Francois-Xavier ORTOLI
(') O | No L Mix 1 L>. 12 . 146V , p . W