CELEX: 51980PC0196
Language: en
Date: 1980-04-23
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) OPENING, ALLOCATING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF A COMMUNITY TARIFF QUOTA FOR PROCESSING WORK IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN TEXTILE PRODUCTS UNDER COMMUNITY OUTWARD PROCESSING ARRANGEMENTS (presented by the Commission to the Council)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (80) 196
Vol. 1980/0060
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In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                                        COM(80)196 final
                                                        Brussels . 23rd April 1980
                    PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC )
          OPENING, ALLOCATING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION
               OF A COMMUNITY TARIFF QUOTA FOR PROCESSING WORK
                IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN TEXTILE PRODUCTS       UNDER
                   COMMUNITY OUTWARD PROCESSING ARRANGEMENTS
                 ( presented by the Commission to the Council )
                                                               19 /
                                                                    " x.  Vi
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COM ( 80 ) 196 final
 ---pagebreak---                                  EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
                         (1 )
1. In an Arrangement          concluded with the Swiss Confederation on 1 August 1969,
   the European Economic Community undertook to open an annual duty-free
   Community tariff quota of 1 870 000 units of account of added value for
   various kinds of processing work in respect of certain textile products
   under the outward-processing traffic arrangements between the Community
   and Switzerland .
   Under the terms of the memorandum agreed* at the time the Arrangement was
   made, this annual tariff quota is divided into three categoires of pro­
   cessing , based on the quantities recorded under the former bilateral
   agreements ( concluded with Switzerland by France , Germany and Italy ),
   but taking into^ account the' possibi lities of extending it to the Benelux
   countries .
   On the basis of that division the total quota amount of 1 870 000 units
   of account is allocated , in accordance with certain amendments , as follows :
       <i )  1 520 000 units of account for processing work on woven fabrics falling
             within Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs Tariff ;
     ( ii )  123 000 units of account for twisting or throwing , re-twisting ,
             cabling , texturizing ( whether or not combined with other processing     '
             work ) of yarns falling within Chapters 50 to 57 - of the Common
             Customs Tariff ;
                                             1
   ( iii )   227 000 units of account for processing work on articles falling
             within headings Nos 58 . OA, 58.05 , 58.07 , 58.08 , 58.09 and 60.01
 N           of the Common Customs Tariff, subject to the setting up of a
             Community reserve of 230 000 u.a . to be drawn from the above
             quotas , i.e. 160 COO u.a ., 13 000 u.a . and 57 000 u.a . respectively .
    ( 1 ) GU N. L 240 , 24.9.1979 .
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 2 -
2.  The question whether this Arrangement should continue beyond 31 August 1977
    has been examined on several occasions , notably at the meeting of the
    EEC-Switzerland Joint Committee held on 3 November 1976, in regard to
    the quota amounts which should be adopted thenceforth , account being
    taken of the fact that the transitional period in the Free Trade
   Agreement concluded with Switzerland , under which textile products
   qualifying for Swiss origin status by reason of the processing work
   they have undergone can enter duty-free, expired on 1 July 1977 .
   This question was reconsidered at the meeting of the Joint Committee
   held on 8 May 1979 in order to examine, in the light of the experience
   gained and of the economic information available, the adaptations to be
   made to the Arrangement especially as regards the following points :
   -   reduction to be made to the total quota amount ;
   -   division of this amount into three categories of processing ;
   -   allocation of quota amounts among Member States ..
   With regard to the first three points raised , the Swiss delegation laid
   stress on the retention of the Arrangement and its Memorandum in their
   present form , but agree provisionally to the abolition of the division
   of the total quota amount of 1 870 000 EUA into the three categories
   of processing initially adopted and hence to the aggregation of the
   shares allotted to certain Member States .
3. The attached proposal for a Regulation therefore serves no other purpose
   than to open, in European units of account , the tariff quota provided for
   in the Arrangement in question for the period 1 September 1980 to
   31 August 1981 and to allocate it among the Member States along the
   lines set out in the Memorandum covering the Arrangement , account
   being taken of the adaptations that have taken place meanwhile and of
   the need to ensure that the new Member States fehare in the allocation
   of this tariff quota .
 ---pagebreak---                                                  PROPOSAL FOR
                                     COUNCIL REGULATION EEC)
              opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff
              quota for processing work in respect of certain textile products under Commu­
                                            nity outward processing traffic
                                                                                          1
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                   European unit of account (EUA) to legal acts adopted
COMMUNITIES,                                                  in the customs sphere ( ' ), and in particular Article 2
                                                              thereof ;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in part; ~ular Article 113            Whereas provision should be made in particular to
thereof,                                                      ensure equal and continuous access for those -
                                                              concerned with this quota and consistent "application
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,            of the rate of duty prescribed for the said quota until
                                                              the quota is exhausted, to all goods reimported into
                                                              any of the Member States and which have received
Whereas on 1 August 1969 the Community                        one or other of the treatments listed above ; "whereas
concluded an arrangement with Switzerland on
                                                              in the light of these principles arrangements for the
processing traffic ir\ textiles ; whereas under that arran- . utilization of the quota based on an allocation among
gement the Community undertook to open on 1                   the Member States would seem to be consistent with
September of every year an annual duty-free Commu­
                                                              the Community character of the said quota ; whereas,
nity tariff quota for processed goods of 1 870 000 Euro­
                                                              it therefore seems appropriate to make the allocation
pean units of account of added value, apportioned as          on the basis of the amount of the traffic under the
follows :
                                                              previous bilateral agreements, but without precluding
(a) 1 650 000 European units of account for                   participation by Member States not previously
     processing work on woven fabrics falling within          involved in such traffic, ^mong which the new
     Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs                  Member States are included ; whereas, to safeguard the
     Tariff ;                                                 Community character of the quota, provision should
                                                              be made to meet requirements which m?.y arise in
(b) 143 000 European units of account for the twisting        those Member States permitting them to draw
     or throwing, cabling and texturizing (whether or         adequate amounts from the Community reserve ;
     not combined with other processing work) of
     yarns falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of the            Whereas to take account of future trends in the traffic
     Common Customs Tariff ;                                  in question in the various Member States, the total
                                                              quota volume of 1 870 000 European units of account
(c) 77 000 European units of account for processing           sh6uld be divided into two instalments, the first being
     work on products falling within heading Nos              allocated among certain Member States and the
     58.04, 58.05 , 58.07 , 58.08 , 58.09 and 60.01 of the    second held as a reserve to cover the subsequent
     Common Customs Tariff ;                                  requirements of Member States when one of their
                                                              initial shares has been exhausted and also, require­
Whereas, in order to- facilitate administration of- this      ments which may arise in certain Member States in
tariff quota, it was decided no longer to allocate a          respect of processing work for which no initial share
quota provisionally to each of the above three catego­        of the quota was allocated ; whereas in order to give
 ries of processing whereas the quota in question             the parties concerned in each Member State some
should therefore be evened for the period from 1              degree of certainty it would seem appropriate to fix
 September 19 80te 3 ! August 1981 according to the           the first instalment of the Community quota at a rela­
 procedure provided for under the above arrangement           tively high level, nemely 1 640 000 European units of
 as amended and in compliance with the provisions of          account :
 Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2779/78 of 23
 November 1978 on the procedure for applying the              ( ') OJ No L 333, 30 . 11 . 1978, p. S.
 ---pagebreak---                                                          - 2 -
                                                                                                  "7
   Whereas the Member States may exhaust their initial              58.05 Narrow woven fabrics, and narrow fabrics
   shares at different rates ; whereas to avoid disruption                  (bolduc) consisting of warp without weft
   of supplies on this account it should be provided that                   assembled by means of an adhesive, other
  any Member State which has almost used up one of its                      than goods falling within heading No
   initial shares should draw an additional share from the                  58.06 ;
   reserve ; whereas each time its additional share is
   almost exhausted       a Member State should draw a              58.07 Chenille yarn (including flock chenille
   further share, and so on, as may times as the reserve                    yarn), gimped yarn (other than metallized
  allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares                        yarn of heading No 52.01 and gimped
  should be valid until the end of the quota period ;                       horsehair yarn) ; braids and ornamental trim­
. whereas this form of administration requires close                        mings in the piece ; tassels, pompons and
  collaboration between the Member States and the
                                                                            the like ;
   Commission , and the Commission must be in a posi­               58.08 Tulle and other net fabrics (but not
   tion to keep account of the extent to which the quota                    including woven , knitted or crocheted
   has been used up and to inform the Member States                         fabrics), plain (a) ;
  accordingly ;
                                                                    58.09 Tulle and other net fabrics (but not
  Whereas if at a given date during the quota period a                      including woven, knitted or crocheted
  considerable quantity of a Member State's initial share                   fabrics), figured ; hand or mechanically
   remains unused it is essential, to prevent a part of the                 made lace, in the piece, in strips or in
  Community tariff quota from remaining unused in                           motifs ;
  one Member State while it could be used in others,                60.01 Knitted or crocheted fabric, not elastic nor
  that such State should return a significant percentage                    rubberized .
  thereof to the corresponding reserve ;
                                                               2.     For the purposes of this Regulation :
  Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the
  Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of            (a) 'processing work rneans :
   Luxembourg are united in and jointly represented by              – for the purposes of paragraph 1 (a) and (c) :
  the Benelux Economic Union, any transaction in                        bleaching, dyeing, printing, flocking, impreg­
  connection with the administration of the shares allo­
                                                                        nating, dressing and other work which changes
  cated to that Economic Union may be carried out by .                  the appearance or- quality of the goods, without
  any one of its members,                                               however changing their nature,
                                                                  • – for the purposes of paragraph 1 (b) : twisting or
                                                                        throwing, cabling and texturizing, whether or
  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                        not combined with reeling, dyeing or other
                                                                        work which changes the appearance, quality or
                             Article 1                                  finish of the goods, without however changing
                                                                        their nature ;
   1 . As from 1 September 1980 an^ until 31 August            (b) 'value added' means : the difference between the
   i 98 , a Community tariff quota of 1 870 000 Euro­               value for customs purposes as defined in Com­
  pean units of account ( EUA) of value added shall be
  opened in respect of goods resulting from processing               munity regulations on this
  work as provided for in the arrangement with Switzer­              Subject                         at the time of re-importa-
  land on processing traffic in textiles as follows :               tion and the value for customs purposes as it
  (a) processing work on woven fabrics falling within               would be if the products were re-imported in the
       Chapters 50 to 57 of the Common Customs                      state in which they were exported.
       Tariff ;
                                                                3. Within this tariff quota, the Common Customs
  (b) twisting or throwing, cabling and texturizing             Tariff duties- shall be totally suspended .
       (whether or not combined with other processing
       work) of yarns falling within Chapters 50 to 57 of       4. Reimports of products resulting from this
       the Common Customs Tariff ;                              processing work may not be charged to the tariff
                                                                quota if they are already free of customs duties under
  (c) processing work on products falling within the            other preferential tariff arrangements.
        following headings of the Common Customs
       Tariff :                                                                            Article 2
       58.04 Woven pile fabrics and chenille fabrics            1.    The tariff quota referred to in Article 1 ( 1 ) shall
                (other than terry towelling or similar terry    be divided into two instalments.
                fabrics ci cotton falling within heading No
                55.0S anu fabrics falling within heading No     The first instalment, 1 640 000 European units of
                58.05) ;                                        account, shall be allocated as set out below among the
 ---pagebreak---                                                                       - 3 -
  Member States listed in (he above arrangement ; the                                                  Artide 6
  shares, subject to Article 6, shall be valid from I
  September 19 8Qo 31 December 1981 :                                       The Member States referred to in Article 2 ( 1 ) shall,
                                                 (m Eurotua n               not later than t July 198r] return to the reserve the
                                                units of account)           unused portion of their initial share which, on 15
          Bénélux                                     20 000                June 1980 ^is in excess of 20 % of the initial amount.
          Fédéral Republic                                                  They may return a greater portion if there are grounds
         of Gcrmany                                1 080 000
                                                                            for believing that it may not be used in full.
          France                                     520 000
                                                                            Member States shall not later than 1 July 198(1 notify
          Italy                                       20 000
                                                                            the Commission of the total quantities of the product
                                                                            in question re-imported up to and including 15 June
 2.     The     second        instalment         which    amounts     to    1980 and charged against the Community quota and
 230 000 European units of account shall constitute a                       of any portion of their initial quota returned to the
 Community reserve.
                                   Article 3                                                           Article 7
 In case of rteed iri< the new Member States the State                      The Commission shall keep an account of the shares
 concerned shall , to the extent that the reserve so                        opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2, 3
 permits, draw from such reserve a sufficient share of                      and 4 arkl shall , as soon as the information reaches it,
 the quota.                                                                 inform each Member State of the extent to which the
                                                                            reserve has been used up. _
                                   Article 4
                                                                            It shall, not later than 5 July 1981 , inform the
                                                                            Member      States   of   the   amounts     still  in   reserve
 1.     If a Member State has used 90 % or more of its
                                                                            following any return of shares pursuant to Article 6.
 initial share as fixed in Article 2 ( 1 ), or that share
 minus any portion returned to the reserve pursuant to                      It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting this
 Article 6, it shall forthwith, by notifying the Commis­                    reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not exceed
 sion , draw a second share, to the extent that the rele­
                                                                            the balance available, and to this end shall notify the
 vant reserve so permits, equal to 10 % of its initial                      amount of that balance to the Member State making
 share, rounded up as necessary to the next whole                           the last drawing.
 number.
 2.     If a Member State, after exhausting its initial                                                Article 8
 share, has used 90 % or more of the second share
 drawn by it, that Member State shall, in accordance '
 with the conditions laid down in paragraph 1 , draw a                       1.    Member      States   shall   take    all    appropriate
                                                                            measures     to  ensure    that   additional    shares   drawn
 third share equal to 5 % of its initial share.
                                                                            pursuant to Article 4 are opened in such a way that
 3.     If a Member State, after exhausting its second                      re-importation may be charged without interruption
 share, has used 90 % or more of the third share drawn                      against their accumulated shares of the Community
 by it, that Member State shall, in accordance with the                     tariff quota.
 same condition, draw a fourth share equal to the third.
                                                                            2.     Every Member State shall ensure that all persons
 This process shall continue to apply until the reserve                     established in its territory involved in the processing
  is exhausted.                                                             traffic have free access to ihe shares allocated to it.
 4.     By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and                      3.     The extent to which a Member State has used up
  3, a Member State may draw shares lower than those                        its shares shall be determined on the basis of the value
  specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds for                    added, as established when upon re-importation the
  believing that those specified may not be used in full.                    products concerned are entered with the customs
  Any Member State applying this paragraph shall                            authorities for free circulation .
  inform the Commission of its grounds for so doing.
                                                                                                     » Article 9
                                   Artide 5
                                                                             At the request of the Commission, the Member States
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 ---pagebreak---                                                    - 4 -
                    Article 10                                                   Article 11
Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
closely to ensure that this Regulation is complied         This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 September
with .                                                     1980 .
            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
            States.
            Done at Brussels,
                                                                      For the Council
                                                                        The President