Council Regulation (EEC) No 3656/84 of 19 December 1984 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for herrings, fresh or chilled, falling within subheading 03.01 B I a) 2 aa) of the Common Customs Tariff

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 3656/84
of 19 December 1984
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for herrings, fresh or chilled, falling within subheading 03.01 B I a) 2 aa) 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 28 thereof,
Whereas the production potential in the Community until 14 February 1985 of herrings, whole, fresh or chilled, used for certain culinary preparations, has shown a deficiency in quality as a result of which it is impossible to satisfy the specific requirements of the Community processing industry;
Whereas an autonomous Community tariff quota should therefore be provided for these specific products; whereas the quota should be restricted to herrings, whole, falling within subheading ex 03.01 B I a) 2 aa) of the Common Customs Tariff in a fresh or chilled state and intended for the manufacture of certain culinary preparations which require herrings of firm, white flesh, of very small size, of a high degree of freshness and of a fat content not exceeding 12 %; whereas the herrings caught in the Baltic Sea at this period of the year normally meet these characteristics; whereas those coming from other stocks, such as the Scandinavian Atlantic, may do so;
Whereas, for these purposes, the autonomous tariff quota must cover certain categories of size and freshness set out in Regulation (EEC) No 103/76 (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3250/83 (2), and categories of a fat content of not more than 12 %; whereas eligibility for the benefit of the quota must be subject to the presentation to the Community customs authorities of a certificate issued by the supplying country's authorities of a certificate issued by the supplying country's authorities competent for export, to the effect either that the products were caught in the Baltic Sea or that the consignments of the exported products coming from other stocks, such as the Scandinavian Atlantic stock, meet all the required criteria; whereas an autonomous tariff quota of 10 000 tonnes should therefore be opened, for a period from the date of entry into force of this Regulation to 14 February 1985, and be allocated among certain Member States, with account being taken of the obligation to comply with the Community reference price fixed pursuant to Article 21 of Regulation (EEC) No 3796/81 (3);
Whereas, under Article 64 of the 1979 Act of Accession, the Hellenic Republic is required to apply in full the Common Customs Tariff duty in respect of the product in question as from 1 January 1981; whereas, therefore, it is necessary to cover, under the tariff quota in question, the requirements of that Member State during the quota period;
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 product, this allocation should follow proportionately to requirements, calculated both from statistics of imports from third countries during a representative reference period and according to the economic outlook for the quota period in question;
Whereas, this being an autonomous Community tariff quota intended to ensure that import requirements which come to light in the Community are covered, provision may be made, on an experimental basis, for the quota volume to be allocated on the basis of the additional requirements estimated for each of the Member States; whereas the allocation system also makes it possible to ensure uniformity in applying the Common Customs Tariff;
Whereas, to take account of the possible import trends for this product the quota volumes should be divided into two instalments, the first being allocated and the second held as a reserve to cover any subsequent requirements of Member States which have used up their initial shares as well as possible needs which may arise in the other Member States; whereas, to give importers some degree of certainty, the first instalment of the Community tariff quota should be fixed at a high level, which in this case could be 90 % 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 quota has 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 State should return a significant proportion thereof to the reserve, in order to prevent a part of the Community tariff quota from being used 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,