CELEX: 31977R2708
Language: en
Date: 1977-11-28
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 2708/77 of 28 November 1977 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quota for raw or unmanufactured Virginia type tobaccos originating in developing countries

No L 324/96                            Official Journal of the European Communities                               , 19 . 12 . 77
                                        COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2708/77
                                                   of 28 November 1977
                 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for
                      raw or unmanufactured Virginia type tobaccos originating in developing countries
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         whereas preferential imports of the products concerned
                                                                   could be effected without quantitative restrictions ;
                                                                  whereas it appears appropriate, however, in view of the
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             sensitiveness of the tobacco sector generally and of the
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 43                 need to safeguard the interests of the associated coun­
 thereof,                                                         tries and of the ACP States in this field, to lay down for
                                                                  raw or unmanufactured Virginia type tobacco special
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               conditions consisting in a reduction of the customs duty
                                                                  applicable to these products within the limits of a
 Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia­             Community tariff quota ;
 ment ( 1),
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee ( 2),                                             Whereas the offer made by the Community includes a
                                                                   clause stating that the Community drew up the offer on
Whereas in the Joint Declaration of Intent, on the de­             the assumption that all the main industrialized countries
velopment of trade relations with Sri Lanka, India,                which are members of the OECD would participate in
Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore (3), the Community                granting preferences and would make similar efforts in
declared its readiness to seek solutions to the problems           this direction ; whereas, moreover, it is evident from the
which may arise in the field of trade with the countries           conclusions worked out in UNCTAD that this offer,
 referred to ;                                                     while being of a temporary nature, does not constitute a
                                                                   binding commitment and, in particular, may be with­
                                                                   drawn wholly or in part at a later date ; whereas this
Whereas, on the one hand, for several Asian countries              possibility may be adopted inter alia with a view to
of the Commonwealth and particularly India, the types              remedying any unfavourable situations which might
of unmanufactured tobaccos concerned are an impor­                 arise in the ACP States following the implementation of
tant export product and the flow of trade in such pro­             the generalized preference scheme;
ducts is likely to be changed as a result of the enlarge­
ment of the Community and, on the other hand, these
countries are among the worst hit by the present                   Whereas, moreover, the conference of Heads of State or
economic crisis; whereas the system of generalized tariff          of Government of the Member States and the States
preferences may constitute a solution to the problems of           acceding to the European Communities held in Paris
this nature; whereas these types of tobaccos should be             from 19 to 21 October 1972, invited the Community
included in the generalized preferences scheme;                    institutions and the Member States progressively to
                                                                   adopt an overall policy of development cooperation on
                                                                   a world-wide scale comprising in particular the im­
Whereas, within the context of UNCTAD, the Euro­                   provement of generalized preferences with the aim of
pean Economic Community offered to grant tariff pre­               achieving a steady increase in imports of manufactures
ferences on certain processed agricultural products of             from the developing countries;
Chapters 1 to 24 to the Common Customs Tariff which
originate in developing countries; whereas the preferen­          Whereas tariff preferences have been applied as from
tial treatment proposed in that offer consists, in respect         the second half of 1971 ; whereas, however, for the
of certain goods which are subject to the trade ar­                flue-cured Virginia type tobacco, the said system of
rangements laid down in Regulation (EEC) No                        tariff preferences has been made applicable from 1974
1059/69, of a reduction in the fixed component of the              and it is appropriate to apply this system henceforth for
charge applicable to such goods by virtue of that Regul­           all Virginia type tobaccos ;
ation, and, in respect of products which are subject to
the single customs duty, of a reduction in such duty;
                                                                   Whereas it is expedient, therefore, that the Community
                                                                   should open for 1978 for these raw or unmanufactured
                                                                   tobaccos, originating in the countries and territories
( x) OJ No C 266, 7. 11 . 1977, p. 16 .                            listed in the Annex, a Community tariff quota limited to
(2) Opinion delivered on 26/27 October 1977 (not yet pub­          60 000 tonnes, at a customs duty rate of 7% with a
     lished in the Official Journal).                             minimum charge of 15 units of account per 100 kilo­
(3) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972, p. 195 .                           grams net weight for Virginia type tobaccos falling
 ---pagebreak--- 19 . 12 . 77                              Official Journal of the European Communities                              No L 324/97
within subheading 24.01 ex B and with a maximum                      Whereas, on the basis of the available statistical data
charge of 45 units of account per 100 kilograms net                  which cover only a relatively brief period and whereas
weight for the Virginia type tobaccos falling within                 they should be weighted on the basis of the estimates
subheadings 24.01 A ex I and 24.01 A ex II;                          which may be made in respect of the quota year, the
                                                                     shares in the first tranche may be set out as follows :
                                                                              Germany                      10 315 tonnes,
Whereas, in accordance with Protocol 23 to the Act of                         Benelux                       5 586 tonnes,
Accession ( 1), the generalized tariff preference scheme                      France                           980 tonnes,
became fully applicable in the new Member States on 1
January 1974 ;                                                                Italy                          3 920 tonnes,
                                                                              Denmark                       1 862 tonnes ,
                                                                              Ireland                       1 935   tonnes .
Whereas the benefit of this tariff quota should be re­                        United Kingdom               34 202.  tonnes
served for products originating in the countries and ter­
ritories under consideration, the concept of 'originating
products' being determined in accordance with the                    Whereas Member States may exhaust their initial shares
procedure laid down in Article 14 of Council Regula­                 for the products in question at different rates; whereas
tion (EEC) No 802/68 of 27 June 1968 on the common                   to avoid disruption of supplies on this account it should
definition of the concept of the origin of goods (2);                be provided that any Member State which has almost
                                                                     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
Whereas it is necessary to ensure equal and continuous               is almost entirely used up, and repeated as many times
access for all Community importers to the abovemen­                  as the reserve allows ; whereas the initial and additional
tioned quota and the uninterrupted application of the                shares must be available for use until the end of tRe
rate laid down for this quota to all imports of the pro­             quota period; whereas, however, it seems advisable to
ducts concerned into all Member States until this quota              permit the Member States to limit the exercise of their
is used up; whereas having regard to the principles set              total obligation to draw on the reserve amount to a
out above, the Community nature of the quota can be                  level not exceeding 40% of their initial share; whereas
respected by allocating the Community tariff quota                   this method of administration          calls  for close co­
among Member States; whereas, moreover, to this end                  operation between Member States and the Commission
and in the context of the utilization system, the actual             which must, in particular, be able to observe the extent
charges against the quota may relate only to products                to which the quota amount is used and inform Member
which have been entered for home use and which are                   States thereof;
accompanied by a certificate of origin;
                                                                     Whereas if, at a specified date in the quota period, a
                                                                      considerable balance remains in one or other Member
Whereas, to take account of future import trends for the              State it is essential that that Member State pays a large
products in question in the various Member States, the                amount of it back into the reserve, in order to avoid a
 quotas should be divided into two tranches, the first               part of the Community quota remaining unused in one
 being allocated among Member States and the second                  Member State when it could be used in others ;
 held as a reserve to cover subsequently the requirements
 of Member States which have exhausted their initial
 shares; whereas, moreover, the reserve constituted in               Whereas since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of
 the manner described above tends to avoid making the                 the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
 system of utilization of the quota excessively rigid, to             are united in and represented by the Benelux Economic
 the detriment of the developing countries concerned and             Union, all transactions concerning the administration of
 will contribute to achieving the aim already mentioned               shares allocated to that economic union may be carried
 of improving the generalized preferences system; where­              out by any one of its members,
 as, to give importers in each Member State some degree
 of certainty, the first tranche of the Community quota
 might be fixed at a relatively high level, in this case              HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : -
 98% of the full quota ;
                                                                                                 Article 1
 (!) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972, p. 178 .                               1 . From 1 January to 31 December 1978 , a Commun­
 (2) OJ No L 148 , 28 . 6 . 1968 , p. 1 .                              ity tariff quota of 60 000 tonnes shall be opened in the
 ---pagebreak---  No L 324/98                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 19 . 12 . 77
Community for the imports of raw or unmanufactured                    2 . If a Member State, after exhausting its initial shares,
Virginia type tobaccos falling within subheadings 24.01               has used 90% or more of the second share drawn by it,
A ex I, 24.01 A ex II and 24.01 ex B of the Common                    that Member State shall forthwith, by notifying the
Customs Tariff. Within this tariff quota the customs                  Commission, draw a third share, equal to 5% of its ini­
duty shall be suspended at 7% with a minimum charge                   tial share rounded up should the occasion arise to the
of 15 units of account per 100 kilograms net weight for               nearest unit above.
Virginia type tobaccos falling within subheading 24.01
ex B and a maximum charge of 45 units of account per
100 kilograms net weight for Virginia type tobaccos                   3 . If a Member State, after exhausting its second share,
falling within subheadings 24.01 A ex I and 24.01 A                   has used 90% or more of the third share drawn by it,
ex II .                                                               that Member State shall, under the same conditions,
                                                                      draw a fourth share equal to the third. This process
2 . This tariff quota shall apply solely to products                  shall continue until the reserve has been exhausted .
originating in the countries and territories listed in the
Annex. However, those imports which enjoy exemption
from customs duties under other preferential tariff                   4 . By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and 3 , a
arrangements granted by the Community may not be                      Member State may draw shares lower than those
charged against this tariff quota.                                    specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for
                                                                      believing that those specified may not be used in full.
For the purposes of the application of this Regulation                Any Member State applying this paragraph shall inform
the concept of .'originating products' shall be deter­                the Commission of its grounds for so doing.
mined in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No 802/68 .
                                                                      5 . Any Member State may limit the sum total of its
                                                                      additional shares to 40% of its initial share, informing
Entry to this tariff quota shall be subject to the produc­            the Commission that it is so doing.
tion of a certificate of authenticity appearing in the cer­
tificate of origin and made out in accordance with the
procedure referred to in the second subparagraph.
                                                                                               Article 4
                           Article 2
                                                                     Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be
                                                                     valid until 31 December 1978 .
1.    A first tranche of 58 800 tonnes shall be allocated
among the Member States. The shares which, subject to
Article 5 , shall be valid until 31 December 1978 , shall
for each Member State be as follows :                                                          Article 5
          Germány                       10 315 tonnes,               A Member State which on 25 October 1978 has not
          Benelux                        5 586 tonnes ,              exhausted one of its initial shares shall, not later than 7
          France                            980 tonnes,              November 1978 , return to the reserve any unused
                                                                    portion in excess of 15% of the initial amount. It may
          Italy                          3 920 tonnes,               return a greater portion if there are grounds for believ­
          Denmark                         1 862 tonnes,              ing that such portion may not be used in full.
          Ireland                         1 935 tonnes ,
          United Kingdom                34 202   tonnes .             Member States shall, not later than 7 November 1978 ,
                                                                      notify the Commission of the total quantities of the
2 . The second tranche of 1 200 tonnes shall constitute               product in question imported up to and including 25
the reserve.                                                          October 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.
 ---pagebreak--- 19 . 12 . 77                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 324/99
It shall, not later than 21 November 1978 , inform the            petitive products at a serious disadvantage or create an
Member State of the amount still in reserve following             unfavourable situation in the ACP States, the customs
any return of shares pursuant to Article 5 .                      duties applied within the Community may be re-intro­
                                                                  duced in part or in full for imports of the products in
It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting the                 question from the country or countries or territory or
reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not exceed              territories which are the cause of such disadvantage.
the balance available, and to this end shall notify the           Such measures may also ' be taken in the event of a
amount of that balance to the Member State making the              serious disadvantage, either actual or foreseeable, which
last drawing.                                                     is confined to a single region of the Community.
The Member States shall take all appropriate measures
to ensure that additional shares drawn pursuant to                                        Article 10
Article 3 are opened in such a way that importations
may be charged without interruption against their                  1 . In order to ensure that Article 9 is applied, the
 cumulative shares of the Community quota .                       Commission may, by way of a Regulation, re-introduce
                                                                  normal duties for a fixed period.
                          Article 7                               2 . If the Commission has acted at the request of a
                                                                  Member. State, the former shall give its decision within a
 1.  The Member States shall ensure free access to the             maximum period of 10 working days from the date of
shares which have been allocated to them for importers             receipt of the request and shall inform the Member
of the said goods who are established in their territory.         State of the action it has taken.
2 . The extent to which a Member State has used up its            3 . Each Member State may refer the measure taken by
 share shall be determined on the basis of imports of the         the Commission to the Council within a period of 10
said goods which have been entered for home use, on               working days following the date it was notified. The
the basis of the customs value of the said goods, and             fact that the matter has been referred to the Council
which are accompanied by a certificate of origin in               shall not constitute the suspension of the measure. The
accordance with the rules referred to in Article 1 (2 ).          Council shall meet without delay. Acting on a qualified
                                                                  majority, it may amend or repeal the measure in ques­
3 . Goods shall qualify for a tariff quota only if the            tion.
certificate of origin referred to in paragraph 2 is submit­
ted before the date on which the levying of duties is                                     Article 1 1
re-introduced .
                                                                  Articles 9 and 10 shall not prejudice the application of
                          Article 8
                                                                   the protective clauses drawn up in connection with the
                                                                   common agricultural policy pursuant to Article 43 of
                                                                   the Treaty nor those drawn up in connection with the
Member States shall inform the Commission at monthly               common commercial policy pursuant to Article 113 of
intervals of imports of the products in question charged           the Treaty.
against their shares. This information shall show both
the value expressed in units of account and the quantity
                                                                                          Article 12
expressed in tonnes.
                                                                  Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
                          Article 9                               closely to ensure that the above Articles are observed.
Should imports of the products benefiting under the                                        Article 13
arrangements provided for in Article 1 be imported into
the Community at prices such as to put or be likely to             This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
put Community producers of similar or directly com­               . 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/ 100                                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                                                 19. 12. 77
                                                                                ANNEX
                                                                                   i
                              List of developing countries and territories enjoying generalized tariff preferences ( x)
                                                               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                                             636 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
318    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                                                                                                                       322 Zaire
                                                        288    Nigeria
276 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/ 101
                                                       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 ( x)
            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.
            (*) 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).