CELEX: 31974D0345
Language: en
Date: 1974-06-25 00:00:00
Title: Commission Decision of 25 June 1974 amending Commission Decision No 74/134/ECSC of 18 February 1974 on the application to the United Kingdom of Article 37 of the ECSC Treaties

12. 7. 74                           Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 189/25
                                              COMMISSION DECISION
                                                    of 25 June 1974
                    amending Commission Decision No 74/134/ECSC of 18 February 1974 on the
                        application to the United Kingdom of Article 37 of the ECSC Treaty
                                                    (74/345/ECSC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                 Whereas, moreover, the present stocks at the power
COMMUNITIES ,                                                  stations are unequally distributed between the
                                                               various regions of the United Kingdom and between
                                                               the various generating plants within these regions ;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­             Whereas, whenever the total stock falls below
pean Coal and Steel Community, and in particular               7 000 000 metric tons, the two 'Electricity
Article 37 thereof;                                            Generating Boards' will no longer be able to
                                                               satisfy all demands, because at such time certain
Having regard to Commission Decision No 74/134/                generating plants would have no more usable coal ;
ECSC (*) of 18 February 1974, and in particular
Article 5 thereof;
                                                               Whereas the redistribution of existing stocks, with
Having regard to the application of 18 June 1974               a view to avoiding such a situation, would be
by the United Kingdom ;                                        technically difficult and economically far too
                                                               expensive ;
Having consulted the Council of the European
Communities ;                                                  Whereas the British Government has calculated that
                                                               there will not be more than 13 000 000 metric tons
Whereas as a result of the events which took place in          available for the generating plants at the beginning
the United Kingdom at the end of 1973 and the be­              of next winter, which will be considerably below
ginning of 1974, which led the Commission to take              the desirable minimum level of stocks of 16 000 000
Decision No 74/ 134/ECSC of 18 February 1974,                  and 17 000 000 metric tons ; whereas the calculated
British coal production remains considerably below             stocks again represent no more than three weeks of
normal levels ;                                                winter time electricity production ;
Whereas 18 900 000 metric tons were produced during
the nine weeks ending on 11 May 1974 (the most                 Whereas, as far as iron and steel products are
recent figures available) as compared with 23 100 000          concerned, according to the latest information given
metric tons for the same period in 1973 ; whereas              to the Commission, 1 890 000 metric tons of crude
the normal rate of production is not likely to be              steel were produced in May 1974, representing 83 %
reached by the end of the summer of 1974, taking               of the monthly production reached before the
into consideration the holiday period;                         crisis ; whereas during the first five months of 1974
                                                               the production of crude steel is one month behind
                                                               the normal production ; whereas the damage to the
Whereas the level of stocks remains considerably               refractory linings of those blast furnaces which were
below the level recorded before these events ; whereas,        shut down during the coal miners ' strike is the
in particular, the stocks at the power stations were           main obstacle to a total resumption of iron and
particularly low and during May 1974, at about                 steel production ; whereas it is not possible at short
10 000 000 metric tons compared with 17 000 000                notice to find other sources of supply of such
metric tons for May 1973 ; whereas the amount of               products ;
these stocks was only 500 000 metric tons higher
than at the end of the miners' strike ;
                                                               Whereas these difficulties are likely to persist during
Whereas it is not possible at short notice to find             the summer months ;
other sources of supply for the power stations ;
                                                               Whereas in such conditions the economic situation
                                                               in the United Kingdom would be aggravated by
                                                               deliveries of coal and steel products to other Member
                                                               States in accordance with the system of free
O OJ No L 74, 19 . 3 . 1974, p. 20.                            circulation of goods such as is provided for by the
 ---pagebreak--- No L 189/26                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                    12 . 7. 74
ECSC Treaty and the Act annexed to the Treaty                    those covered by heading No 73.03 of the Common
of Accession ;                                                   Customs Tariff):
                                                                 1 . Article 2 of Decision No 74/ 134/ECSC of the
Whereas, as far as coal as defined in heading                        18 February 1974 is deleted and the following
No    27.01    of the   Common       Customs     Tariff   is         inserted :
concerned, the special and exceptional situation
which led to the Decision of 18 February 1974 has                    ' 1 . The United Kingdom shall set up an
not yet been overcome ; whereas such a situation                      "Open General Export Licence" system,
is likely to deteriorate again if the measures taken                 covering iron and steel products, as defined in
by the Commission to bring it to an end were not                     Article 81 of the ESCS Treaty (except those
renewed ; in particular with a view to furthering                    covered by heading No 73.03 of the Common
a significant increase of exports to other Member                    Customs Tariff).
States ;
                                                                     2. After the entry into operation of this
                                                                     Decision, the United Kingdom may after
Whereas, however, it now appears, as far as iron                     consultation with the Commission, apply a
and steel products are concerned, that it is possible                licencing system with a view to :
to diminish the consequences of the situation by
measures less disturbing the operation of the                        — limiting exports of these products to third
common market than by the measures taken by the                            countries ;
Commission in the Decision of 18 February 1974 ;
                                                                     — controlling and, in so far as it is necessary
                                                                           to do so, limiting deliveries of such products
Whereas, the Commission therefore considers that
                                                                           to other Member States ; such system may
the Decision of 18 February 1974 should be                                 however under no circumstances be more
amended;
                                                                           restricting as far as each product is concerned
                                                                           than that applied to exports to third
Whereas, on the other hand, such measures are                              countries .
needed to enable this sector of the Community to
recover from the serious and exceptional difficulties                3 . The British Government shall ensure that the
mentioned;                                                           application of the measures authorized will entail
                                                                     no greater restriction on the free movement of
Whereas in order to safeguard the vital interests                    goods than is strictly necessary to attain the
of the Community and in particular the free                          object of the measures, and will in particular
movement of goods, measures taken under Article 37                   further a significant increase of exports to other
must be strictly exceptional ; whereas these measures                Member States .'
must be temporary and therefore the present
Decision must cease to be operational by                         2 . Article     6   of   Decision     No   74/ 134/ECSC       of
1 October 1974 at the latest,                                        18 February 1974 is deleted and the following
                                                                     is substituted :
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :                                          'Without prejudice to Article 5 this Decision
                                                                      shall remain in operation until 1 October 1974.'
                         Article 1
In its application to coal, as defined in heading                                             Article 3
No 27.01 of the Common Customs Tariff,
Commission        Decision     No     74/ 134/ECSC       of
18 February 1974 shall remain in operation until                 This      Decision     shall   come into      operation      on
1 October 1974.                                                  1 July 1974.
The    British   Government     shall  ensure    that   the
application of the measures authorized will entail                                            Article 4
no greater restriction on the free movement of goods
than is strictly necessary to attain the object of               This Decision is addressed to the Member States .
these measures, and will in particular further
a significant increase of exports to other Member
States.                                                          Done at Brussels, 25 June 1974.
                                                                                                    For the Commission
                         Article 2
                                                                                                        The President
In their application to iron and steel products, as
defined by Article 81 of the ECSC Treaty (excluding                                               Francois-Xavier ORTOLI