CELEX: 31978R0923
Language: en
Date: 1978-05-02 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 923/78 of 2 May 1978 on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for liqueur wines, falling within subheading ex 22.05 C of the Common Customs Tariff and originating in Cyprus

4 . 5 . 78                               Official Journal of the European Communities                             No L 120 / 1
                                                                 I
                                               (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                                         COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 923 / 78
                                                          of 2 May 1978
              on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for
              liqueur wines, falling within subheading ex 22.05 C of the Common Customs
                                                Tariff and originating in Cyprus
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                          wine products, in particular as regards observance of
COMMUNITIES,                                                         the reference price ; whereas inclusion in the Commu­
                                                                     nity tariff quota should be subject to production of
                                                                     movement certificate A CY 1 and to the condition
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European               that these wines are described in the V.I.I document
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 113                   provided for in Regulation ( EEC) No 211 5/76 (3 ) as
thereof,                                                             'liqueur wines' ;
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ,
                                                                     Whereas Council Regulation ( EEC) No 2506/75 of 29
                                                                     September 1975 laying down special rules for the
 Whereas a Supplementary Protocol to be annexed to                   importation of products in the wine-growing sector
 the Agreement establishing an association between                   originating in certain third countries (4) introduced the
 the European Economic Community and the Repu­                       idea of a free-at-frontier reference price, being the
 blic of Cyprus was initialled on 7 April 1978 ; whereas             reference price less customs duties actually levied ;
 that Protocol is expected to enter into force on 1 July
 1978 ; whereas Article 6 thereof provides for the
 opening of an annual Community tariff quota of
 250 000 hectolitres of liqueur wines, falling within                Whereas, for special reasons inherent in the method
 subheading ex 22.05 C of the Common Customs                         of production and distribution of the product in ques­
 Tariff and originating in Cyprus, at rates of customs               tion , the import into the Community of these wines is
 duty equal to 30 % of the Common Customs Tariff                      largely carried out during the last months of the year ;
 duties ; whereas the pro rata temporis clause is appli­             whereas, therefore, the quotas opened for the period 1
 cable ;                                                             January to 30 April 1978 have not been entirely used
                                                                     up ; whereas, by way of exception , it should be laid
                                                                     down that the amount remaining from the period be
 Whereas, in order to avoid a disruption of the trade in             taken into consideration with a view to it being used
 the product in question between Cyprus and the                      during the period of validity of this Regulation ;
 Community, it is necessaiy to bring forward the appli­
 cation of this tariff measure autonomously with effect
 from 1 May until 30 June 1978 in order to maintain
 continuity with the autonomous measures which the                   Whereas equal and uninterrupted access to the above­
 Community has taken under Regulations (EEC) No                       mentioned quota and uninterrupted application of the
 3016/77 (') and ( EEC) No 533/78 (2 ) for the period 1               rates laid down for that quota to all imports of the
 January to 30 April 1978 ; whereas in these circum­                  products concerned into all Member States until the
 stances it is necessary to open a Community tariff                   quota has been used up should in particular be
 quota of 41 666 hectolitres for the period 1 May to 30               provided for ; whereas, having regard to the principles
 June 1978 ;                                                          mentioned above, the Community nature of the quota
                                                                      can be respected by allocating the Community tariff
                                                                      quota among the Member States ; whereas, in order to
 Whereas these wines remain subject to the provisions                 reflect more accurately the actual development of the
 governing the common organization of the market in                   market in the products concerned, such allocation
 (') OJ No L 355, 31 . 12 . 1977, p . 38 .                            (') OJ No L 237, 28 . 8 . 1976, p. I.
 (-' OJ No L 74, 16 . 3 . 1978 , p . 5 .                              H OJ No L 256, 2. 10 . 1975, p . 2.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 120 /2                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                           4. 5. 78
should be in proportion to the needs of the Member                    and when each of its additional shares is almost
States, assessed by reference both of the statistics of               entirely used up and repeated as many times as the
each State's imports of the said products from Cyprus                 reserve allows ; whereas the initial and additional
over a representative period and to the economic                      shares must be available for use until the end of the
outlook for the quota period concerned ;                              quota period ; whereas this method of administration
                                                                      calls for close cooperation between Member States and
                                                                      the Commission, which must, in particular, be able to
Whereas in this case, however, neither Community                      observe the extent to which the quota amount is used
nor national statistics showing the breakdown for each                and inform Member States thereof :
of the types of wines in question are available and no
reliable estimates of future imports can be made ;
whereas, in these circumstances, the quota volumes                    Whereas if at a specified date in the quota period a
should be allocated in initial shares, taking into                    considerable balance remains in one or other Member
account demand for these wines on the markets of the                  State it is essential that that Member State pays a large
various Member States ;                                               amount of it back into the reserve in order to avoid a
                                                                      part of the Community quota remaining unused in
                                                                      one Member State when it could be used in others :
Whereas, in order to take into account import trends
for the products concerned in the different Member
States, the quota amount should be divided into two                   Whereas since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
instalments, the first instalment being allocated                     Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
among the Member States and the second forming a                      Luxembourg are united in and represented by the
reserve intended ultimately to cover the requirements                  Benelux Economic Union all transactions concerning
of the Member States which have used up their initial                 the     administration    of   shares     allocated to   that
quota shares ; whereas, in order to ensure a certain                  economic union may be carried out by any one of its
degree of security to importers in each Member State,                 members,
the first instalment of the Community quota should
be determined at a level which , under present circum­
stances, may be approximately 90 % of the quota
                                                                       HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
amount ;
                                                                                                Article 1
Whereas the initial shares of the Member States may
 be used up at different times ; whereas, in order to                  1.     From 1 May until 30 June 1978, the Common
 take this fact into account and avoid any break in                    Customs Tariff duties in respect of the following
 continuity, it is important that any Member State                     products originating in Cyprus shall be suspended at
 having used up almost the whole of its initial shares                 the levels shown against each of them within the
 should draw an additional share from the reserve ;                    limits of a Community tariff quota of 41 666 hecto­
 whereas this must be done by each Member State as                     litres :                    ,
                     CCT
                                                                                                             Rate of
                   heading                                  Description
                      No
                                                                                                              duty . v
               22.05         Wine of fresh grapes ; grape must with fermentation arrested by the
                             addition of alcohol :
                             C. Other :
                                 II . Of an actual alcoholic strength exceeding 1 3° but not
                                      exceeding 15° , in containers holding :
                                      ex a) Two litres or less :
                                            — Liqueur wines of an actual alcoholic strength of
                                                1 5°                                                     4-2 u.a./ hl
                                      ex b) More than two litres :
                                            —■ Liqueur wines of an actual alcoholic strength of
                                                15°                                                       3.3 u.a./ hl
 ---pagebreak--- 4. 5 . 78                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                     No L 120/3
                     CCT
                                                                                                               Rate of
                   heading                                       Description
                      No
                                                                                                                duty
               22.05               III . Of an actual alcoholic strength exceeding 15° but not
               (cont'd)                  exceeding 18° , in containers holding :
                                         a) Two litres or less :
                                            ex 2 . Other :
                                                   — Liqueur wines                                          5.1 u.a./ hl
                                         b) More than two litres :
                                            ex 3 . Other :
                                                   — Liqueur wines                                          4.2 u.a./ hl
                                   IV. Of an actual alcoholic strength exceeding 18° but not
                                         exceeding 22° , in containers holding :
                                         a) Two litres or less :
                                            ex 2 . Other :
                                                   — Liqueur wines                                          5.7 u.a./ hl
                                         b) More than two litres :
                                            ex 3 . Other :
                                                   — Liqueur wines                                          5.7 u.a./ hl
2.     The Protocol on the definition of the concept of                              Germany                   500 hectolitres,
'originating products' and on methods of administra­                                 France                     10 hectolitres,
tive cooperation annexed to the Agreement between                                    Ireland                1 500 hectolitres,
the European Economic Community and Cyprus shall                                     Italy                      10 hectolitres,
be applicable.                                                                       United Kingdom        32 000 hectolitres.
3 . The inclusion of these wines in the tariff quota                        3 . The shares fixed in paragraph 2 shall be
shall be conditional on their being described in the                        increased by any part of the shares allocated by Regu­
V.I.1 document provided for in Regulation (EEC) No                          lations (EEC) No 3016/77 and (EEC) No 533/78
2115/76 as 'liqueur wines'.                                                 remaining on 30 April 1978 .
4. The inclusion of these wines in the tariff quota                         Member States shall notify the Commission not later
shall be conditional upon observance of the reference                       than 15 May 1978 of any remaining parts of the
price applying to them and production of movement                          shares allocated to them by the abovementioned Regu­
certificate A CY 1 .
                                                                            lations existing on 30 April 1978 .
5.     The wines in question shall benefit from the                        4.     The second instalment amounting to 6 646
tariff quota on condition that the prices on import                         hectolitres shall constitute the reserve to which shall
into the Community are not at any time less than the
                                                                           be added any parts of the reserves established by
free-at-frontier reference prices referred to in Regula­                   Article 2 of Regulations (EEC) No 3016/77 and ( EEC)
tion ( EEC) No 2506/ 75 and subsequent texts which                          No 533/78 remaining on 30 April 1978 irrespective of
apply to them .                                                             the application of Article 5 .
                           Article 2
                                                                                                    Article 3
1.     The Community tariff quota referred to in
Article 1 shall be divided into two instalments .                           1.    If 90 % or more of the initial share of a Member
                                                                           State, as laid down in Article 2 (2), or 90 % of that
2. The first instalment, amounting to 35 020 hecto­                        share less the amount returned into the reserve , where
litres, shall be shared among the Member States ; the                      the provisions of Article 5 have been applied, has
proportions which , subject to Article 5, shall be valid                   been exhausted , that Member State shall proceed
until 30 June 1978 , shall be as follows :                                 without delay, by notifying the Commission , to draw a
                                                                           second share equal to 1 5 % of its initial share ,
         Benelux                      500 hectolitres ,                     rounded up to the next unit where appropriate, to the
         Denmark                      500 hectolitres,                     extent that the amount in the reserve allows .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 120/4                           Official Journal of the European Communities                               4 . 5 . 78
2.      If, after its initial share has been exhausted,        2 and 3 and shall inform each of them of the extent
90 % or more of the second share drawn by a                    to which the reserve has been used as soon as it
Member State has been used, that Member State shall             receives the notifications .
proceed, in the manner specified in paragraph 1 to
                                                               The Commission shall, not later than 20 June 1978 ,
draw a third share equal to 7-5 % of its initial share,
rounded up to the next unit where appropriate .                 notify Member States of the amount in the reserve
                                                               after the return of shares pursuant to Article 5 .
3.      If, after its second share has been exhausted,
                                                               The Commission shall ensure that any drawing which
90 % or more of the third share drawn by a Member
                                                                uses up the reserve is limited to the balance available
State has been used, that Member State shall proceed,
                                                                and, for this purpose, shall specify the amount thereof
in the same way, to draw a fourth share equal to the            to the Member State which makes the final drawing.
third .
This process shall be applied until the reserve is                                      Article 7
exhausted .
                                                                1.    The Member States shall take all appropriate
4.      Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 ,        measures to ensure that, when additional shares are
2 and 3, the Member States may proceed to draw                  drawn pursuant to Article 3 , it is possible for charges
shares smaller than those fixed in those paragraphs if          to be made without interruption against their accumu­
there is reason to believe that they might not be used          lated shares of the Community quota .
up. They shall inform the Commission of the reasons
which led them to apply this paragraph .                        2.    The Member States shall ensure that importers
                                                                of the said goods established in their territory have
                                                                free access to the shares allocated to them .
                           Article 4
                                                                3.    The extent to which a Member State has used up
The additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3               its share shall be determined on the basis of the
shall be valid until 30 June 1978 .                             imports of the goods in question entered at customs
                                                                for home use .
                           Article 5
Member States shall return to the reserve, not later                                    Article 8
than 15 June 1978 , the unused portion of their initial         On receipt of a request from the Commission ,
share which, on 10 June 1978 , is in excess of 20 % of          Member States shall inform it of imports actually
the initial amount. They may return a larger portion if         charged against their shares .
there are grounds for believing that such portion may
not be used in full .
                                                                                        Article 9
Each Member State shall, not later than 15 June 1978 ,          The Member States and the Commission shall co­
notify the Commission of the total imports of the               operate closely in order to ensure that this Regulation
products concerned effected up to 10 June 1978 inclu­            is observed .
sive, and charged against the Community quota, and,
where appropriate, the proportion of its initial share                                  Article 10
which is being returned to the reserve.
                                                                This Regulation shall enter into force on the day
                           Article 6                             following its publication in the Official Journal ' of
                                                                 the European Communities.
The Commission shall keep account of the shares
opened by Member States in accordance with Articles              It shall be applicable from 1 May 1978 .
                 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                 States .
                 Done at Brussels, 2 May 1978 .
                                                                              For the Council
                                                                               The President
                                                                            K. B. ANDERSEN