Council Regulation (EC) No 2193/2003 of 8 December 2003 establishing additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the United States of America

Council Regulation (EC) No 2193/2003
of 8 December 2003
establishing additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the United States of America
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 133 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Whereas:
(1) On 20 March 2000, at the request of the Community, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) adopted the panel and the appellate body reports which established that the tax treatment of foreign sales corporations (FSC) by the United States of America constituted a prohibited export subsidy under the WTO Agreement.
(2) On 15 November 2000, the United States of America enacted the FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000. On 29 January 2002, the DSB adopted the panel and appellate body reports which established that the above Act also constituted a prohibited export subsidy under the WTO and that it did not amount to withdrawal of the FSC subsidy. Consequently, on 7 May 2003, the Community was authorised by the DSB to impose countermeasures up to a level of USD 4043 million in the form of additional 100 % ad valorem duties on certain products originating in the United States of America.
(3) It is considered that, initially, the imposition in stages of additional import duties of up to a 17 % ad valorem on imports of selected products originating in the United States of America is an appropriate countermeasure, in view of the failure of the United States of America to implement the DSB recommendations. After the abovementioned level of additional duties is reached, the Commission should present a proposal to the Council for further action in the light of developments.
(4) In respect of these selected products, the tariff concessions of the Community should be suspended from 1 March 2004. The suspension of tariff bindings should be temporary and only be applied until such time as the WTO inconsistent measure has been removed. The origin of any product to which this Regulation applies should be determined in accordance with the provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code(2).
(5) Products for which an import licence with an exemption from, or a reduction of, duty has been issued prior to the date of entry into force of this Regulation should not be subject to these additional customs duties.
(6) Products for which it can be proved that they have been exported from the United States of America to the Community prior to the date of first application of the additional customs duties should not be subject to these additional customs duties.
(7) Products affected by the suspension of concessions should be placed under the customs procedure "processing under customs control" in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93(3) only pursuant to an examination in the Committee of the Customs Code,