Council Regulation (EEC) 4099/88 of 16 December 1988 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain kinds of prepared or preserved fish coming from Portugal (1989)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) 4099/88 of 16 December 1988 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain kinds of prepared or preserved fish coming from Portugal (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 362 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas Article 362 of the Act of Accession provides that during the period of progressive elimination of customs duties between the Community as constituted at 31 December 1985 and Portugal, certain kinds of sardines, tunas, fish of the genus  Euthynnus, certain kinds of mackerel and fish of the species Orcynopsis unicolor, prepared or preserved, falling within CN codes ex 1604 13 10, ex 1604 20 50, 1604 14 10, 1604 19 30, 1604 20 70, 1604 15 10, 1604 19 50 and ex 1604 20 50 and coming from Portugal, may be imported  free of duty into the Community as constituted at 31 December 1985 within the limits of annual Community tariff quotas of 5 000 tonnes, 1 000 tonnes and 1 000 tonnes respectively; whereas these quotas should be opened for 1981;
Whereas, by virtue of Regulations (EEC) No 3482/88 (1) and (EEC) No 839/88 (2), the customs duty applicable on import into the Community, excluding Spain, of certain sardines of the species Sardina pilchardus, coming from Portugal is zero; whereas,  therefore, the Community tariff quota for the sardines in question should not be opened in 1989;
Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure for all importers of the Community as constituted at 31 December 1985 equal and uninterrupted access to the abovementioned quotas and uninterrupted application of the rates laid down for these quotas to  all imports of the products concerned into all the Member States until the quotas have been used up; whereas, having regard to the above principles, the Community nature of the quotas can be respected by allocating the Community tariff quotas among the  Member States; whereas, in order to reflect as accurately as possible the true trend of the market in the products concerned, such allocation should be in proportion to the requirements of the Member States, assessed by reference to the statistics of  each State's imports from Portugal over a representative reference period and also to the economic outlook for the quota period concerned;
Whereas during the last three years for which statistics are available imports into the Member States were as follows:
Tunas and fish of the genus Euthynnus     (tonnes) Member States 1985 1986 1987 Benelux     1      13     3 Denmark - - - Germany    18,2    22    12 Greece    54   - - France    55      16    58 Ireland - - - Italy 2 456,5 2 141 2 371 United Kingdom -     9    28  Mackerel of the species Scomber scombrus and Scomber japonicus and fish of the species Orcynopsis unicolor (tonnes) Member States 1985 1986 1987 Benelux   135     176   222 Denmark - - - Germany -    21 - Greece - - - France -     3     1 Ireland - - - Italy 2 216,7 1 463 1 903 United Kingdom - - -  Whereas, for 1989, maintenance of quotas for the Member States is necessary, bearing in mind that it is impossible for the administration concerned in each Member State to introduce, in 1989, the administrative and technical basis for Community  administration of the quota; whereas it is, however, possible, bearing in mind the way in which trade had developed in recent years, to provide for a Community reserve of a significantly large amount;
Whereas in view of these factors and of the estimates submitted by certain Member States, initial quota shares may be set approximately at the following percentages:
Member States Tunas Mackerel Benelux -  9,02 Denmark - - Germany - - Greece - - France  2,78 - Ireland - - Italy 97,22 90,98 United Kingdom - -  Whereas in the last three years the products in question were imported regularly by certain Member States only, and not at all or only occasionally by the other Member States; whereas in these circumstances initial shares should be allocated to the  genuine importing Member States and the other Member States should be guaranteed access to the tariff quotas when imports into these Member States are notified; whereas these arrangements for allocation will equally ensure the uniform application of the  combined nomenclature;
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 parts, the first being shared among certain Member States and the second constituting a reserve to cover  the subsequent requirements of the Member States where they have used up their initial shares and also any 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 part of the Community quotas could be set at 54 % of the quota volumes;
Whereas the initial quota shares of the Member States may be used up at different times; whereas, in order to take this fact into account and avoid any break in continuity, any Member State which has almost used up its initial quota share should draw an additional quota share from the corresponding reserve; whereas this must be done by each Member State as and when each of  its initial shares is totally used up and repeated as many times as the corresponding reserve allows; whereas the initial quota shares must be valid until the end of the quota period; whereas this method of administration requires close cooperation  between Member States and the Commission and the latter must, in particular, be able to monitor the extent to which the quota volumes have been used up and to inform the Member States accordingly;
Whereas if, during the quota period, the Community reserve is almost totally used up, it is essential that Member States return to the said reserve the whole of the unused proportion of their initial quota and of any drawings made, in order to avoid one  part of the Community tariff quotas remaining 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 any operations relating to the administration of the quota shares allocated  to that economic union may be carried out by any one of its members,