Council Regulation (EEC) No 1356/86 of 28 April 1986 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain prepared or conserved fish falling within subheading 16.04 G II of the Common Customs Tariff

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 1356/86
of 28 April 1986
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain prepared or conserved fish falling within subheading 16.04 G II of the Common Customs Tariff
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,
Having regard to the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas an Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Kingdom of Norway was concluded on 14 May 1973; whereas, following the accession of Spain and Portugal to the Community, a supplementary Protocol is to be signed in the near future; whereas, pending the entry into force of this Protocol, Council Regulation (EEC) No 573/86 (1) laid down the trade arrangements for fishery products with Norway;
Whereas the aforesaid Regulation (EEC) No 573/86 provides for the opening, from 1 March 1986, of a Community tariff quota at a reduced rate of duty for certain prepared or conserved fishery products originating in Norway; whereas therefore the tariff quota in question should be opened for the period 1 March to 31 December 1986; whereas, in the absence of a prorata temporis clause, the proposed annual quota volume should be opened for the period under consideration;
Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota should be ensured for all importers and the rate of levy for the tariff quota should be applied consistently to all imports until the quota is used up; whereas, in the light of the principles outlined above, a Community tariff arrangement based on an allocation between the Member States would seem to preserve the Community nature of the quota; whereas, to represent as closely as possible the actual development of the market in the said products, the allocation should follow proportionately the requirements of the Member States calculated both from statistics of imports from Norway during a representative reference period and according to the economic outlook for the tariff year in question;
Whereas, during the last two years for which statistics are available, imports, in tonnes, into each of the Member States were as follows:
1.2.3 //  //  //  //  // 1983   // 1984   //    //   //  // Benelux   // 10   // 0   // Denmark   // 31   // 41  // Germany   // 27   // 15   // Spain   // 0   // 0  // Greece   // 0   // 0   // France   // 2 087   // 1 690  // Ireland   // 0   // 0   // Italy   // 0   // 0  // Portugal   // 0   // 0   // United Kingdom   // 795  // 500   //    //   //   //   // 2 950   // 2 246   //    //  //   //   //   //
Whereas, during the two years under consideration, the products in question were imported only by certain Member States and not at all by the other Member States; whereas, under these circumstances, initial shares should be allocated to the importing Member States and the other Member States should be guaranteed access to the benefit of the tariff quota upon imports into those States of the products concerned being notified; whereas these arrangements for allocation will equally ensure the uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff;
Whereas, taking account of these factors, the initial percentage shares in the quota volume can be set approximately as follows:
Benelux 0,19
Denmark 1,39
Germany 0,81
France 72,69
United Kingdom 24,92
Whereas, to take account of the possible import trends for these products, the quota volume should be divided into two instalments, the first being allocated between the Member States and the second held as a reserve to cover any subsequent requirements of Member States which have used up their initial share; whereas, to afford importers some degree of certainty, the first instalment of the tariff quota should be fixed at a high level, which in this case could be 80 % of the amount of the quota;
Whereas initial shares may be used up at different rates; whereas, to avoid disruption of supplies on this account, it should be provided that any Member State which has almost used up its initial share should draw an additional share from the reserve; whereas, each time its additional share is almost used up, a Member State should draw a further share and so on as many times as the reserve allows; whereas the initial and additional shares should be valid until the end of the quota period; whereas this form of administration requires close collaboration between the Member States and the Commission and the Commission must be in a position to keep account of the extent to which the quotas have been used up and to inform the Member States accordingly;
Whereas, if at a given date in the quota period a considerable quantity of a Member State's initial share remains unused, it is essential that such a Member State should return a significant proportion thereof to the reserve, in order to prevent a part of the Community tariff quota from remaining unused in one Member State while it could be used in others;
Whereas, since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are united within and jointly represented by the Benelux Economic Union, any measure concerning the administration of the shares allocated to that economic union may be carried out by any one of its members,