CELEX: 31976R3028
Language: en
Date: 1976-12-13 00:00:00
Title: Council Regulation (EEC) No 3028/76 of 13 December 1976 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for preserved pineapples, other than in slices, half slices or spirals, originating in developing countries

20 . 12 . 76                              Official Journal of the European Communities                         No L 349/ 151
                                         COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 3028/76
                                                        of 13 December 1976
                 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota
                     for preserved pineapples, other than in slices, half slices or spirals, originating in
                                                        developing countries
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,                            that Regulation, and, in respect of products which
                                                                     are subject to the single customs duty, of a reduction
                                                                     in such duty ; whereas preferential imports of the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro­                   products concerned could be effected without
pean Economic Community, and in particular Article                   quantitative restrictions ; whereas it appears
43 thereof,                                                          appropriate, however, in view of the sensitiveness of
                                                                     the preserved fruit and vegetable sector generally and
                                                                     of the need to safeguard the interests of the ACP
Having regard to the proposal from the Com­                          States in this field, to lay down for preserved
mission,                                                             pineapples, other than in slices, half slices or spirals,
                                                                     special conditions consisting in a reduction of the
                                                                     customs duty applicable to that product within the
Having regard to the opinion of the European                         limits of a Community tariff quota ;
Parliament 0 ),
Whereas in the Joint Declaration of Intent on the                    Whereas the offer made by the Community includes
development of trade relations with Sri Lanka, India,                a clause stating that the Community drew up the
Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore (2), the Community                  offer on the assumption that all the main industrial­
declared     its   readiness   to   seek    solutions   to  the      ized countries which are members         of the  OECD
problems which may arise in the field of trade with                  would participate in granting preferences and would
the countries referred to ;                                          make similar efforts in this direction ; whereas, more­
                                                                     over, it is evident from the conclusions worked out
Whereas in respect of several Asian countries of the                 in UNCTAD that this offer, while being of a tem­
Commonwealth and particularly as regards Malaysia,                   porary nature, does not constitute a binding commit­
preserved pineapples are an important export                         ment and, in particular, may be withdrawn wholly
product and the flow of trade in such products is                    or in part at a later date ; whereas this possibility
likely to be changed as a result of the enlargement of               may be adopted inter alia with a view to remedying
the Community ; whereas the system of generalized                    any unfavourable situations which might arise in the
tariff preferences may constitute a solution to                      ACP States following the implementation of the
problems of this nature ; whereas certain forms of                   generalized preference scheme;
preserved pineapples should therefore be included in
the system of generalized preferences ;
                                                                     Whereas tariff preferences have been applied as from
Whereas, within the context of UNCTAD, the Euro­                     the second half of 1971 ; whereas it is expedient to
pean Economic Community offered to grant tariff                      continue to apply them throughout 1977 ;
preferences on certain processed agricultural products
of Chapters 1 to 24 of the Common Customs Tariff
originating in developing countries ; whereas the
preferential treatment proposed in that offer consists,              Whereas it is expedient, therefore/ that the Com­
in respect of certain goods which are subject to the                 munity should open for 1977 in respect of the said
trade arrangements laid down in Regulation (EEC)                     products, originating in the countries and territories
No 1059/69, of a reduction in the fixed component                    listed in the Annex, a Community tariff quota limited
of the charge applicable to such goods by virtue of                  to 45 000 metric tons and at a customs duty of 12% ,
                                                                     increased by the levy on sugar where the sugar
                                                                     content exceeds 17 % by weight in the case of
                                                                     products falling within subheading ex 20.06 B II a)
( 1) OJ No C 259 , 4. 11 . 1976 , p . 27.                            5 aa), and 19% by weight in the case of products
(2) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972 , p . 195 .                            falling within subheading ex 20.06 B II b) 5 aa);
 ---pagebreak---  No L 349/ 152                          Official Journal of the European Communities                               20 . 12. 76
 Whereas, in accordance with Protocol 23 to the Act                 the quotas should be divided into two tranches, the
 of Accession ( 1), the generalized tariff preference               first being allocated among Member States and the
 scheme became fully applicable in the new Member                   second held as a reserve to cover subsequently the
 States on 1 January 1974 ;                                         requirements of Member States which have exhausted
                                                                    their initial shares ; whereas, moreover, the reserve
                                                                    constituted in the manner described above tends to
 Whereas, for the said products, this scheme would,
 however, involve the application in the new Member                 avoid making the system of utilization of the quota
 States in 1977 of customs duties higher than or very               excessively rigid, to the detriment of the developing
 close to those which will be applied by the new                    countries concerned and will contribute to achieving
 Member States to non-member countries in general                   the aim already mentioned of improving the general­
 on the basis of the provisions of the abovementioned               ized preferences system ; whereas, to give importers in
 Act ; whereas this situation would comply neither                  each Member State some degree of certainty, the first
 with the spirit nor with the very nature of the                    tranche of the Community quota might in this case
 generalized preference scheme ; whereas, in order to               be fixed at 80% of the full quota.
 maintain an equivalent preferential margin for these
 products also, reduced customs duties should be
 applied to them, in accordance with detailed rules                 Whereas the statistical data available cover only a
 based on the principle of maintaining, in the new                  relatively brief period, and they should be weighted
Member States, a preference proportional to that                    on the basis of the estimates which may be made for
which exists between the duties of the Common                      the quota year; whereas the percentage of the shares
 Customs Tariff and the duties given in Article 1 of                in the first tranche may be drawn up as follows :
 this Regulation ; whereas, with a view to granting the
 beneficiary developing countries the best possible                                                           20-5%
                                                                            Germany
 treatment, in accordance with the objectives of the
                                                                            Benelux                             4-9%
 preference scheme, the duties given in the above­
 mentioned Article 1 should also be applied wherever                        France                              0-5%
the duties calculated according to the abovementioned                       Italy                               2-0%
detailed rules prove to be higher than them ;                               Denmark                             1-9%
                                                                            Ireland                             1-0%
Whereas the benefit of this tariff quota should be
                                                                            United Kingdom                    69-2%
reserved for products originating in the countries and
territories under consideration, the concept of
'originating products' being determined in accord­
 ance with the procedure laid down in Article 14 of                Whereas Member States may exhaust their initial
 Council Regulation (EEC) No 802/68 of 27 June                     shares for the products in question at different rates ;
 1968 on the common definition of the concept of the               whereas to avoid disruption of supplies on this
 origin of goods (2);                                              account it should be provided that any Member State
                                                                   which has almost used up its initial share should
Whereas it is necessary to ensure equal and contin­                draw an additional share from the reserve ; whereas
uous access for all Community importers to the                     this must be done by each Member State as and
abovementioned quota and the uninterrupted appli­                  when each of its additional shares is almost entirely
cation of the rate laid down for this quota to all                 used up, and repeated as many times as the reserve
imports of the products concerned into all Member                  allows ; whereas the initial and additional shares must
States until this quota is used up ; whereas having                be available for use until the end of the quota period ;
regard to the principles set out above, the Com­                   whereas, however, it seems advisable to permit the
 munity nature of the quota can be respected by                    Member States to limit the exercise of their total
allocating the Community tariff quota among Mem­                   obligation to draw on the reserve amount to a level
ber States ; whereas, moreover, to this end and in the             not exceeding 40% of their initial share ; whereas
context of the utilization system, the actual charges              this   method     of   administration  calls   for    close
against the quota may relate only to products which                cooperation between Member States and the Com­
have been entered for home use and which are ac­                   mission which must, in particular, be able to observe
companied by a certificate of origin ;                             the extent to which the quota amount is used and
                                                                   inform Member States thereof;
Whereas, to take account of future import trends for
the products in question in the various Member States,
                                                                   Whereas if, at a specified date in the quota period,
                                                                   a considerable balance remains in one or other
                                                                   Member State is essential that that Member State
(*) OJ No L 73 , 27. 3 . 1972, p. 14.                              pays a large amount of it back into the reserve, in
(2) OJ No L 148 , 28 . 6. 1968 , p. 1 .                            order to avoid a part of the Community quota
 ---pagebreak---  20 . 12 . 76                        Official Journal of the European Communities                          No L 349/ 153
remaining unused in one Member State when it                    For the purposes of implementing this Regulation
could be used in others :                                       the concept of originating products shall be deter­
                                                                mined in accordance with the procedure laid down
                                                                in Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No 802/68 .
Whereas since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom
of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg are united in and represented by the                                          Article 2
Benelux Economic Union, all transactions concerning
the    administration    of  shares  allocated   to  that
economic union may be carried out by any one of                 1 . A first tranche of 36 000 metric tons shall be
its members,                                                    allocated among the Member States . The shares
                                                                which, subject to Article 5 , shall be valid until
                                                                31 December 1977, shall for each Member State be as
                                                                follows :
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                        Germany                 7 380 metric tons
                                                                        Benelux                 1 764 metric tons
                         Article 1                                      France                     180 metric tons
                                                                        Italy                     720 metric tons
                                                                        Denmark                   684 metric tons
 1 . From 1 January to 31 December 1977, a Com­                         Ireland                   360 metric tons
munity tariff quota of 45 000 metric tons shall be
opened by the Community for the imports of                              United Kingdom         24 912 metric tons
preserved pineapples, other than in slices, half slices
or spirals, falling within the following subheadings of         2. The second tranche of 9 000 metric tons shall
the Common Customs Tariff : ex 20.06 B II a) 5 , ex             constitute the reserve .
20.06 B II b) 5 , ex 20.06 B II c) 1 dd) and ex 20.06
B II c) 2 bb ). Within this tariff quota the customs
duty shall be suspended at 12% , increased by the
levy on sugar where the sugar content exceeds 17%                                        Article 3
by weight in the case of products falling within sub­
heading ex 20.06 B II a) 5 aa), and 19% by weight               1 . If a Member State has used 90% or more of
in the case of products falling within subheading ex           its initial share as fixed in Article 2 ( 1 ), or of that
20.06 B II b) 5 aa).                                            share minus any portion returned to the reserve
                                                                pursuant to Article 5 , it shall forthwith, by notifying
                                                                the Commission, draw a second share, to the extent
On importation into Denmark, Ireland and the                    that the reserve so permits, equal to 10% of its initial
United Kingdom, there shall be applied to the above­            share rounded up should the occasion arise to the
mentioned products the customs duty obtained by                 nearest unit above .
multiplying, by a coefficient equal to the margin of
preferences existing between the duty of 12% given
in paragraph 1 and the Common Customs Tariff                    2. If a Member State, after exhausting its initial
duties applicable, the duties obtained by reducing by           shares, has used 90% or more of the second
80% the difference between the lowest duty applied              share drawn by it, that Member State shall forthwith,
on 1 January 1972 to the developing countries set               by notifying the Commission, draw a third share,
out in the Annex and the Common Customs Tariff.                 equal to 5% of its initial share, rounded up should
                                                                the occasion arise, to the nearest unit above.
However, the duty of 12% given in the first subpara­            3 . If a Member State, after exhausting its second
graph shall be applied when the customs duty                    share, has used 90% or more of the third share
resulting from the abovementioned calculation is                drawn by it, that Member State shall, under the same
higher than it.
                                                                conditions, draw a fourth share equal to the third.
                                                                This process shall continue until the reserve has
                                                                been exhausted.
2. The benefit of this tariff quota shall be reserved
for the products originating in the countries and
territories listed in the Annex. However, the imports           4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and
a'lready benefiting from exemption of customs duties            3 , a Member State may draw shares lower than those
under another preferential tariff scheme granted by             specified in those paragraphs if there are grounds
the Community shall not be charged to this quota.               for believing that those specified may not be used in
 ---pagebreak---  No L 349/ 154                      Official Journal of the European Communities                            20. 12. 76
 full. Any Member State applying this paragraph shall           2. The extent to which a Member State has used
 inform the Commission of its grounds for so doing.             up its share shall be determined on the basis of
                                                                imports of the said goods which have been entered
 5. Any Member State may limit the sum total of                 for home use, on the basis of the customs value of
 its additional shares to 40% of its initial share,            the said goods, and which are accompanied by a
 informing the Commission that it is so doing.                  certificate of origin in accordance with the rules
                                                               referred to in Article 1 (2).
                        Article 4
                                                               3 . Goods shall qualify for a tariff quota only if
 Additional shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall           the certificate of origin referred to in paragraph 2
 be valid until 31 December 1977.                              is submitted before the date on which the levying of
                                                                duties is re-introduced .
                        Article 5
                                                                                        Article 8
 A Member State which on 15 September 1977 has
 not exhausted one of its initial shares shall, not later      Member States shall inform the Commission at
 than 1 October 1977, return to the reserve any                monthly intervals of imports of the products in
unused portion in excess of 20% of the initial                 question charged against their shares. This infor­
 amount. It may return a greater portion if there are          mation shall show both the value expressed in units
 grounds for believing that such portion may not be            of account and the quantity expressed in metric tons.
used in full .
 Member States shall, not 'later than 1 October 1977,                                   Article 9
notify the Commission of the total quantities of the
product in question imported up to and including               If the Community finds that products benefiting from
 15 September 1977 and charged against the Com­                the treatment provided for in Article 1 are imported
munity quotas and of any portion of their initial              into the Community in such quantities or at such
shares returned to the reserve .                               prices that Community producers of products similar
                                                               to or in direct competition with them suffer or are
                        Article 6                              likely to suffer from serious disadvantage, or that an
                                                               unfavourable situation is created in the ACP States,
The Commission shall keep an account of the shares             the levying of customs duties may be re-introduced
opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2             in whole or in part on the products in question in
and 3 and shall, as soon as 'the information reaches it,       respect of the countries or territories which are the
inform each State of the extent to which the reserve           cause of the disadvantage. Such measures may also
has been used up.                                              be taken in the case of actual or potential serious
                                                               disadvantage in a single region of the Community.
It shall, not later than 15 October 1977, inform the
Member State of the amount still in reserve following                                  Article 10
any return of shares pursuant to Article 5 .
It shall ensure that when an amount exhausting the             1 . The Commission may decide, by means of a
reserve is drawn the amount so drawn does not                  Regulation, to re-introduce the levying of customs
exceed the balance available, and to this end shall            duties for a specified period, in order to ensure that
notify the amount of that balance to the Member                Article 9 is applied.
State making the last drawing.
                                                               2. In the event of such action being requested by
The Member States shall take all appropriate                   a Member State, the Commission shall decide within
measures to ensure that additional shares drawn                a period of not more than 10 working days after the
pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that            request has been received and shall inform the
importations may be charged without interruption               Member States of this decision .
against their cumulative shares of the Community
quota.                                                         3 . Any Member State may refer to the Council the
                                                               measure taken by the Commission, within a period of
                        Article 7                              not more than 10 working days after it has been
                                                               informed thereof. The fact that the matter is referred
1 . The Member States shall ensure free access to              to the Council shall not cause the measure to be
the shares which have been allocated to them for               suspended. The Council shall meet immediately. It
importers of the said goods who are established in             may, by acting on a qualified majority, amend or
their territory.                                               rescind the measure in question.
 ---pagebreak--- 20. 12. 76                        Official Journal of the European Communities                         No L 349/ 155
                      Article 1 1                                                   Article 12
                                                             Member States and the Commission shall collaborate
The provisions of Articles 9 and 10 shall not preju­         closely to ensure that this Regulation is observed.
dice the application of the safeguard clauses drawn
up in connection with the common agricultural policy                                Article 13
pursuant to Article 43 of the Treaty or those drawn
up in connection with the common commercial policy           This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January
pursuant to Article 113 of the Treaty.                       1977 .
            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
            States .
            Done at Brussels, 13 December 1976.
                                                                            For the Council
                                                                              The President
                                                                            M. van der STOEL
 ---pagebreak--- No L 349/ 156                       Official Journal of the European Communities                              20. 12. 76
                                                       ANNEX
                   List of developing countries and territories enjoying generalized tariff preferences
                                              I. INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES
Afghanistan                               Guyana                                    Philippines
Algeria                                   Haiti                                     Qatar
Angola                                    Honduras                                  Romania
Argentina                                 India                                     Rwanda
Bahamas                                   Indonesia                                 Sao Tome and Principe
Bahrain                                   Iran                                      Saudi Arabia
Bangladesh                                ! r.iq                                    Senegal
Barbados                                  Ivory Coast                               Seychelles
Benin                                     Jamaica                                   Sierra Leone
Bhutan                                    Jordan
                                                                                    Singapore
Bolivia                                   Kenya                                     Somalia
Botswana                                  Khmer Republic                            Sri Lanka
Brazil                                    Korea ( South)
                                                                                    Sudan
Burma                                     Kuwait
                                                                                     Surinam
Burundi                                   Laos
                                                                                    Swaziland
Cameroon                                  Lebanon
                                                                                    Syria
Cape Verde Islands                        I esotho
                                                                                    Tanzania
Central African Republic                  Liberia
                                                                                    Thailand
Chad                                      Libya
                                                                                    Togo
Chile                                     Malagasy Republic
                                                                                    Tonga
Colombia                                  Malawi
                                                                                    Trinidad and Tobago
Comoros                                    Malaysia
                                                                                    Tunisia
Congo, People's Republic of               Maldive Islands
                                                                                    Uganda
Costa Rica                                Mali
                                                                                    United Arab Emirates :
Cuba                                      Mauritania
                                                                                          Abu Dhabi
Cyprus                                    Mauritius                                       Dubai
Dominican Republic                        Mexico                                          Ras al Khaimah
Ecuador                                   Morocco                                         Fujairah
Egypt, Arab Republic of                   Mozambique                                      Ajman
El Salvador                                                                               Sharjah
                                          Nauru
                                                                                          Ummal Qaiwain
Equatorial Guinea                         Nepal                                     Upper Volta
Ethiopia                                  Nicaragua
                                                                                    Uruguay
Fiji                                      Niger                                     Venezuela
Gabon                                     Nigeria                                   Vietnam
Gambia                                    Oman
                                                                                    Western Samoa
Ghana                                     Pakistan
Grenada                                                                              Yemen, People's Democratic
                                          Panama                                    Republic of
Guatemala                                  Papua New Guinea                         Yemen Arab Republic
Guinea
                                          Paraguay                                  Yugoslavia
Guinea Bissau                             Peru                                       Zaire
                                                                                    Zambia
 ---pagebreak---   20. 12. 76                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                         No L 349/ 157
                                                   II. COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES
                dependent or administered, or tor whose external relations Member States of the Community
                                             or third countries are wholly or partly responsible
               Afars and Issas (Territory of the)
               Australian Antarctic Territory
               Belize
               Bermuda
               British Antarctic Territory
               British Indian Ocean Territory (Aldabra, Farquhar, Chagos Archipelago, Desroches)
               British Pacific Ocean (x)
               Brunei
               Cayman Islands and Dependencies
               Christmas Island
               Cocos (Keeling) Islands
               Corn Islands and Swan Islands
               Falkland Islands and Dependencies
               French Polynesia
               French Southern and Antarctic Territories
               Gibraltar
               Heard Island and McDonald Islands
               Hong Kong
               Leeward Islands (2)
               Macao
               Mayotte
               Netherlands Antilles
               New Caledonia and Dependencies
               Norfolk Island
               Pacific Islands administered by the United States of America or under United States trusteeship (!)
              Portuguese Timor
              St Helena (including Ascension, Gough Island, and Tristan da Cunha)
               Spanish territories in Africa
               Territories for which New Zealand is responsible (Cook Islands, Niue Island, Tokelau Islands
                    and Ross Dependency)
               Turks and Caicos Islands
              Virgin Islands of the United States (St Croix, St Thomas, St John, etc.)
              Wallis and Futuna Islands
              Windward Islands (4)
               Note: The above lists may be amended subsequently to take account of changes in the inter­
                        national status of countries or territories.
             (*) Gilbert Islands, Tuvalu, British Solomon Islands, New Hebrides Condominium, and Pitcairn Islands.
              (') Antigua, Montserrat, St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, British Virgin Islands.
              (*) 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).
             (4) Dominica, St Lucia. St Vincent.
/