Council Regulation (EEC) No 4093/88 of 16 December 1988 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for new potatoes and certain live plants originating in the Canary Islands (1989)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 4093/88 of 16 December 1988 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for new potatoes and certain live plants originating in the Canary Islands (1989)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, and in particular Article 4 of Protocol 2 annexed thereto,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas, by virtue of Article 4 of Protocol 2 to the Act of Accession and Article 2 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1391/87 of 18 May 1987 concerning certain adjustments to the arrangements applied to the Canary Islands (1), new potatoes and certain live  plants originating in the Canary Islands qualify on import into the Community for reduced customs duties within the limits of Community tariff quotas; whereas the quota volumes amount to:
- 6 642 tonnes for new potatoes falling within CN codes 0701 90 51 and 0701 90 59 for the period 1 January to 30 June,
and - 4 700 tonnes for certain live plants falling within Chapter 6 of the Combined Nomenclature for the period 1 January to 31 December;
Whereas for 1989, the duties applicable within the limits of those tariff quotas are equal to 50 % of the basic duties; whereas, however, the products concerned qualify for exemption from import duties on import into that part of Spain which is included  in the customs territory of the Community; whereas, where the said products are imported into Portugal, the quota duties applicable are to be calculated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act of Accession; whereas to qualify for the tariff quota the products in question must comply with certain marking and labelling  conditions designed to prove their origin;
Whereas equal and continuous access to the quotas should be ensured for all Community importers and the rates laid down for the quotas should be applied consistently to all imports of the products in question into all Member States until the quotas are exhausted; whereas, in the light of these principles, allocation of the Community tariff quotas among the Member States would seem such as to preserve the Community nature of the quotas; whereas in order to correspond as closely as  possible to the real trend of the market for the products concerned the allocation should reflect the requirements of the Member States based on statistics of imports of those products originating in the Canary Islands during a representative reference  period and on the economic outlook for the quota period in question;
Whereas, for 1989, it is necessary to maintain the shares for the Member States given that the administrations of the Member States cannot create, by 1989 a technical and administrative basis for Community administration of the quota; whereas, however,  it is possible, given the evolution of trade over the last few years, to provide for an increase in the Community reserve;
Whereas, during the last three years for which statistics are available, imports of these products into each of the Member States were as follows:
(in tonnes) Member States CN codes 0701 90 51, 0701 90 59 new potatoes Live plants 1985 1986 1987 1985 1986 1987 Benelux    21 -     4   144   529   303 Denmark   127   312   180     6     6     6 Germany - - -   220   308   429 Greece - - - - - - Spain    24 -     5 3 880 5 009 4 430 France    38 - -    26    35    89 Ireland - - - -     1     1 Italy - - -    31    44   148 Portugal - - - - - - United Kingdom 6 496 2 531 1 763   177   198   204  Whereas in the last three years the products in question were imported regularly only by certain Member States and not all or only occasionally 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 quotas when imports actually take place in the latter; whereas these arrangements for allocation will equally ensure  the uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff;
Whereas, in order to take into account import trends for the products concerned in the various Member States, each quota should be divided into two instalments, the first being shared among certain Member States and the second constituting a reserve to  cover the subsequent requirements of these Member States where they have used up their initial shares and any additional requirements which might arise in the other Member States; whereas, in order to give importers in each Member State a certain degree  of security, the first instalment of the Community quotas should, under the circumstances, be fixed at 60 % respectively of the quota volumes;
Whereas if, during the quota period, the Community reserve is almost totally used up, it is vital that Member States should return to that reserve all the unused part of their initial and, where relevant, additional shares to prevent part of the Community tariff quota remaining unused in a 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, any operation relating to the administration of the quota shares allocated  to that economic union may be carried out by any of its members,