CELEX: 51984PC0115(01)
Language: en
Date: 1984-03-09
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) OPENING, ALLOCATING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF A COMMUNITY TARIFF QUOTA FOR 38 000 HEAD OF HEIFERS AND COWS, OTHER THAN THOSE INTENDED FOR SLAUGHTER, OF CERTAIN MOUNTAIN BREEDS, FALLING WITHIN SUBHEADING EX 01.02 A II OF THE COMMON CUSTOMS TARIFF

No C 82/6                          Official Journal of the European Communities                               23.3.84
                                              COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation opening, allocating and providing for the
              administration of a Community tariff quota for 38 000 head of heifers and cows, other
              than those intended for slaughter, of certain mountain breeds, falling within subheading
                                    ex 01.02 A II of the Common Customs Tariff
                                                  COM(84) 115 final
                           (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 13 March 1984)
                                                     (84/C 82/07)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                    to the abovementioned quota, and the uninterrupted
COMMUNITIES,                                                   application of the quota duties, to all imports of the
                                                               animals in question until the quota is exhausted;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                   whereas, having regard to the principles defined
European Economic Community, and in particular                 above, the Community nature of the quota can be
Articles 43 and 113 thereof,                                   respected by allocating the Community tariff quota
                                                               among the Member States; whereas possibilities for
                                                               the use of such mountain breeds are, however, limited
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,             by     special    factors,  both    geographical    and
                                                               zootechnical; whereas the Benelux countries and
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-              Denmark do not have regions suitable for breeding
liament,                                                       this kind of cattle; whereas, however, in view of such
                                                               special factors, the Community nature of the tariff
                                                               quota in question should be preserved by making
Whereas the European Economic Community                        provision for requirements which may arise in these
undertook, within the framework of GATT, to open               Member States; whereas, to this end, these Member
an annual Community tariff quota of 20 000 head at             States may proceed to draw adequate shares from the
a duty of 6 % for heifers and cows, other than those           Community reserve which has been set up; whereas,
intended for slaughter, of certain mountain breeds,            in order to reflect as closely as possible the actual
falling within subheading ex 01.02 A II of the                 trend of the market in question, the initial allocation
Common Customs Tariff; whereas eligibility for such            must be made in proportion to the requirements of
quota is subject to conditions to be determined by the         each of the Member States concerned, calculated in
competent authorities of the Member State of                   accordance with statistical data concerning imports
destination; whereas, in an exchange of letters with           from third countries during a representative reference
Austria dated 21 July 1972, the Community has                  period and with economic prospects for the quota
undertaken unilaterally to increase the size of the            period in question; *
tariff quota from 20 000 to 30 000 head and to lower
the quota duty from 6 % to 4 % ; whereas, subse-
quently, this quota was increased unilaterally to
38 000 head; whereas the abovementioned tarif quota            Whereas, since the animals in question belong to
for the period 1 July 1984 to 30 June 1985 should              certain specific breeds which are not specified as such
therefore be opened at a duty of 4 % in relation to a          in the statistical nomenclatures of the Member States,
quantity of 38 000 head;                                       no data on imports provided by the Member States
                                                               could be considered to be sufficiently accurate and
                                                               representative to be used as a basis for the allocation
Whereas, under Articles 2 and 64 (2) (b) of the 1979           in question; whereas the extent to which Community
Act of Accession, Greece is obliged to apply the               tariff quotas for those animals in the Community
Regulations of the common agricultural policy from 1           have been exhausted and the estimates made by
January 1981, and to apply in its entirety from that           certain Member States enable the requirements of
date, the duty in the Common Customs Tariff to the             each of them as regards imports from third countries
animals in question; whereas it is therefore necessary         for the quota period envisaged to be assessed as
to meet import requirements from third countries               follows:
which might arise in that Member State; whereas
within the framework of this tariff quota the duty to
be applied by Greece is also 4 % ;                                      Germany                     20 000 head
                                                                       Greece                        1 700 head
Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure equal                  France                        2 000 head
and continuous access for all Community importers                       Italy                       11 500 head
 ---pagebreak--- 23.3.84                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             N o C 82/7
whereas in the absence of precise information, the            opened within the European Economic Community in
needs of the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom            respect of imports from third countries of cows and
and Ireland may be assessed at 200, .100 and 100 head         heifers, other than those intended for slaughter, of
respectively;                                                 the following mountain breeds; grey, brown, yellow
                                                              and mottled Simmental breed and mottled Pinzgau
Whereas, in order to take into account the possible           breed, falling within subheading ex 01.02 A II of the
trend of imports of the aforementioned animals into           Common Customs Tariff.
the said Member States, the quota amount of 38 000
head should be divided into two parts, the first being        2.    For the purposes of this Regulation, the
allocated among certain Member States, the second             abovementioned cows and heifers shall be considered
forming a reserve intended subsequently to cover the          not intended for slaughter if they are not slaughtered
requirements of those Member States when their                within four months following the date of their impor-
initial shares are exhausted and requirements which           tation.
may arise within other Member States; whereas, in
order to ensure a certain degree of security for              Derogations may, however, be granted in the event of
importers in the aforementioned Member States, the            an act of God duly attested by a local authority certi-
first part of the Community quota should be                   ficate setting out the reasons for the slaughter.
determined at a level which, under the present
circumstances, may be approximately 79 °/o of the             3.    The said quota shall be administered              in
quota amount;                                                 accordance with the following Articles.
Whereas the initial shares of those Member States                                      Article 2
may be used up more or less rapidly; whereas, in
order to take this fact into account and avoid any            Within the framework of the quota referred to in
break in continuity, it is important that that Member         Article 1 (1), the Common Customs Tariff duty for
State having used up almost the whole of its initial          the animals referred to in the said paragraph shall be
share should draw an additional share from the                suspended at 4 %.
reserve; whereas this must be done by each of these
Member States as and when each of its additional                                       Article 3
shares is almost entirely used up, and repeated as
                                                              1.    A first part of 30 000 head shall be allocated
many times as the reserve allows; whereas the initial
                                                              among the Member States listed below. The shares
and additional shares must be available until the end
                                                              shall apply from 1 July 1984 to 30 June 1985 subject
of the quota period; whereas such method of
                                                              to Article 7, and shall be as follows:
administration calls for close cooperation between
Member States and the Commission, which latter                        Benelux                          200 head
must, in particular, be able to observe the extent to                 Germany                      17 500  head
which the quota amounts are used and inform                           Greece                         1 700 head
Member States thereof;                                                France                         1 800 head
                                                                      Ireland                           50 head
Whereas if, at a specified date within the quota                      Italy                          8 700 head
period, a considerable balance of the initial share of                United Kingdom                    50 head
one or other of the Member States is left over, it is
essential that that State should return a considerable        2.    The second part of 8 000 head shall be held as a
part of such balance to the reserve in order that part        Community reserve.
of the Community tariff quota should not remain
unused in one Member State while it could be used in
                                                                                       Article 4
others;
                                                              If an importer notifies an imminent importation of the
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the                    animals in question in Denmark and requests the
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy                benefit of the quota, the Member State concerned
of Luxembourg are united within and jointly                   shall inform the Commission and draw an amount
represented by the Benelux Economic Union, any                corresponding to these requirements to the extent
measure concerning the administration of the shares           that the available balance of the reserve permits this.
allocated to that economic union may be carried out
by any one of its members,                                                             Article 5
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                  1.    If 90 % or more of the initial quota share of
                                                              one of the Member States referred to in Article 3, or
                                                              of that share less the amount returned to the reserve,
                        Article 1
                                                              where Article 7 has been applied, has been used up,
1.     During the period 1 July 1984 to 30 June 1985,         that Member State shall immediately, by notifying the
a Community tariff quota of 38 000 head shall be              Commission, draw a second share in so far as the
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 82/8                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23.3.84
reserve permits, equal to 10 % of its initial share,           of the extent to which the reserve has been exhausted
rounded off upwards, if necessary, to the next unit.           as soon as it receives the notifications.
2.     If, after the initial share has been exhausted,         The Commission shall, not later than 5 March 1985,
90 °/o or more of the second share drawn by one of             notify Member States of the amount in the reserve
these Member States has been used up, that Member              after the return of shares pursuant to Article 7.
State shall, in accordance with paragraph 1,
immediately draw a third share equal to 5 % of its             The Commission shall ensure that any drawing which
initial share, rounded off upwards, if necessary, to the       exhausts the reserve is limited to the balance available
next unit.                                                     and, to this end, shall specify the amount thereof to
                                                               the Member State making the last drawing.
3.     If, after the second share has been exhausted,
90 % or more of the third share drawn by one of                                         Article 9
these Member States has been used up, that Member
State shall, in accordance with paragraph 1, draw a            Member States shall take all measures necessary to
fourth share equal to the third.                               ensure that when additional shares are drawn
                                                               pursuant to Article 4 or 5 it is possible for imports to
The same method shall be applied until the reserve is          be counted without interruption against their accu-
exhausted.                                                     mulated shares of the Community quota.
4.     By way of derogation from paragraphs 1, 2 and
                                                                                        Article 10
3, each of these Member States may draw shares
lower than those fixed in these paragraphs if there are        1.    Member States shall take all measures necessary
reasons to consider that such shares might not be              to ensure that access to the tariff quota in question is
exhausted. They shall inform the Commission of the             restricted to cattle as specified in Article 1(1) and (2).
grounds which led them to apply this paragraph.
                                                               2.    They shall ensure free access to the shares
                         Article 6                             allocated to them for importers.
The additional shares drawn in pursuance of Article 5          3.    The extent to which the shares of the Member
shall apply until 30 June 1985.                                States have been used up shall be recorded on the
                                                               basis of imports submitted for customs clearance
                         Article 7                             under cover of declarations that they have been made
                                                               available for free circulation.
Member States shall return to the reserve, not later
than 1 March 1985, the unused portion of their initial         4.    Where import documents are used for the
share in excess, on 15 February 1985, of 5 % of the            administration of the quota, they shall be sent to the
initial amount. They may return a larger quantity if           issuing body as soon as possible and at all events on
there are reasons to consider that such quantity may           their expiry.
not be used.
                                                                                        Article 11
However, amounts for which import certificates have
been issued but not used shall not be returned to the          On request by the Commission, Member States shall
reserve.                                                       inform it of imports actually charged against their
                                                               shares.
The Member States shall, not later than 1 March
 1985, notify the Commission of the total imports of                                    Article 12
the animals in question effected, up to 15 February
 1985 inclusive, and charged against the tariff quota,         Member States and the Commission shall cooperate
the amounts referred to in the second subparagraph             closely to ensure that the provisions of this Regu-
and, where appropriate the proportion of their initial         lation are observed.
share that they return to the reserve.
                                                                                        Article 13
                          Article 8
                                                               This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 1984.
The Commission shall keep accounts of the amounts
of the shares opened by Member States in accordance            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
with Articles 3, 4 and 5 and shall inform each of them          directly applicable in all Member States.