Council Regulation (EEC) No 500/88 of 22 February 1988 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain wines of fresh grapes in containers holding more than two litres falling within code 2204 29 25, 2204 29 29, 2204 29 35 or 2204 29 39 of the combined nomenclature and originating in Cyprus (1988)

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 500/88
of 22 February 1988
opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain wines of fresh grapes in containers holding more than two litres falling within code 2204 29 25, 2204 29 29, 2204 29 35 or 2204 29 39 of the combined nomenclature and originating in Cyprus (1988)
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 proposal from the Commission,
Whereas Article 19 of the Protocol laying down the conditions and procedures for the implementation of the second stage of the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and the Republic of Cyprus and adapting certain provisions thereof (1) stipulates that certain wines of fresh grapes in containers holding more than two litres, falling within code 2204 29 25, 2204 29 29, 2204 29 35 or 2204 29 39 of the combined nomenclature and originating in Cyprus shall be imported into the Community at reduced rates of duty within the limits of an annual Community tariff quota of 26 000 hectolitres; whereas, within the limits of the tariff quota, the customs duty applicable is to be abolished progressively according to the same timetable and under the same conditions as laid down in Articles 5 and 16 of the said Protocol; whereas, however, the Protocol to the Association Agreement between the European Economic Communty and the Republic of Cyprus consequent on the accession of the Kingdom of Spain and of the Portuguese Republic to the Community (2) stipulates that, from the date of its entry into force, the Kingdom of Spain will apply a duty reducing the gap between the rates of basic and of preferential duty, whereas the Protuguese Republic will postpone implementation of the preferential arrangements for the products in question until the start of the second stage;
Whereas the wines in question are subject to compliance with the free-at-frontier reference price; whereas, in order that such wines may benefit from this tariff quota, Article 54 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 of 16 March 1987 on the common organization of the market in wine (3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3390/87 (4), must be complied with; whereas the Community tariff quota should therefore be opend for the period from 1 March to 31 December 1988;
Whereas, equal and continuous access to the quota should be ensured for all Community importers and the rate laid down for the quota should be applied consistently to all imports of the products in question into all the Member States until the quota is exhausted; whereas, in the light of these principles, allocation of the tariff quota among the Member States would seem to preserve the Community nature of the quota; whereas, in order to correspond as closely as possible to the real trend of the market for the products in question the allocation should reflect the requirements of the Member States based on statistics of imports of the said products from Cyprus during a representative reference period and on the economic outlook for the quota period in question;
Whereas, during the last three years for which statistics are available, imports into each of the Member States were as follows:
(hl)
1.2.3.4 //  //  //  //  // Member States  // 1984   // 1985  // 1986   //    //   //   //   // Benelux   // -   // -   // -   // Denmark   // -   // -   // -   // Germany   // 323  // 178   // 5 755   // Greece   // -   // -   // -   // Spain  // -   // -   // -   // France   // -   // -   // -  // Ireland   // -   // -   // 2   // Italy   // -   // -  // -   // Portugal   // -   // -   // -   // United Kingdom  // 42 404   // 21 351   // 17 776   //    //   //   //
Whereas in the last three years the products in question were imported regularly only by two Member States and not at all by the other Member States; whereas, under these circumstances, in the first phase, initial shares should be allocated to the genuine importing Member States and the other Member States should be guaranteed access to the benefit of the tariff quota when imports actually take place in those Member States; whereas these allocation arrangements will equally ensure the uniform of the Common Customs Tariff;
Whereas, to allow for the trend of imports of the products concerned in the various Member States, the quota volume should be divide into two parts, the first being allocated among those two Member States and the second held as a reserve to cover any subsequent requirements of Member States which have used up their initial share and
any requirements which might arise in the other Member States; whereas, to afford importers in each Member State some degree of certainty, an appropriate level for the first part of the tariff quota would, in the present circumstances, be 30 % of the quota volume;
Whereas the initial shares of the Member States may be used up at different rates; whereas, in order to avoid any break in the continuity 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 corresponding 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 each of the initial and additional shares must be valid until the end of the quota period; whereas this form of administration requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission and the latter must be able to monitor the extent to which the quota volume has been used up and 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 the Member State concerned should return a significant proportion thereof to the corresponding reserve in order to prevent part of the Community tariff quota from unused in one Member State when 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, and operation concerning the administration of the quota shares allocated to that economic union may be carried out by any one of its members,