Council Regulation (EEC) No 1637/87 of 9 June 1987 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain wines having a registered designation of origin, falling within subheading ex 22.05 C of the Common Customs Tariff and originating in Morocco (1987/1988)

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 1637/87
of 9 June 1987
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain wines having a registered designation of origin, falling within subheading ex 22.05 C of the Common Customs Tariff and originating in Morocco (1987/1988)
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 21 of the Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Kingdom of Morocco (1) stipulates that certain wines having a registered designation of origin, falling within subheading ex 22.05 C of the Common Customs Tariff and originating in Morocco, specified in the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters of 12 March 1977 (2), shall be imported into the Community free of customs duties within the limits of an annual Community tariff quota of 50 000 hectolitres; whereas these wines must be put up in containers holding two litres or less; whereas the tariff quota in question should therefore be opened for the period 1 July 1987 to 30 June 1988;
Whereas, pursuant to Article 1 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 449/86 of 24 February 1986 determining the arrangements to be applied by the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic to trade with certain third countries (3), the provisions applicable by the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic to trade with Morocco are subject to the tariff treatment and other trade rules applied to third countries enjoying most-favoured-nation treatment; whereas, therefore, this Regulation applies only to the Community as constituted on 31 December 1985;
Whereas the wines in question are subject to compliance with the free-at-frontier price; whereas the wines in question may benefit from this tariff quota on condition that Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 337/79 (4), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3805/85 (5), is complied with;
Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure equal and uninterrupted access for all Community importers to the abovementioned quota, and uninterrupted application of the rates laid down for this quota to all imports of the products concerned into the Member States until the quota has been used up; whereas, having regard to the above principles, the Community nature of the quota can be respected by allocating the Community tariff quota among the Member States; whereas, in order to reflect most accurately the actual development of the market in the products in question, such allocation should be in proportion to the requirements of the Member States, assessed by reference to both the statistics relating to imports of the said products from Morocco over a representative reference period and the economic outlook for the quota period concerned;
Whereas in this case, however, neither Community nor national statistics showing the breakdown for each of the types of wines in question are available and no reliable estimates of future imports can be made; whereas, in these circumstances, the quota volume should be allocated in initial shares, taking into account demand for these wines on the markets of the various Member States;
Whereas, to take account of import trends for the products concerned in the various Member States, the quota amount should be divided into two instalments, the first being allocated among the Member States and the second held as a reserve intended to cover at a later date the requirements of Member States who have used up their initial share; whereas in order to guarantee some degree of security to importers in each Member State, the first instalment of the Community quota should be fixed at a level which could, 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 take this into account and to avoid a break in continuity, any Member State which has used up almost all of its initial share should draw an additional share from the reserve; whereas this should be done by each Member State each time one of its additional shares is almost used up, and so on as many times as the reserve allows; whereas the initial and additional shares must 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 follow the extent to which the quota volume has been used up and inform the Member States thereof;
Whereas, if at a given date in the quota period a substantial quantity of its initial share remains unused in any Member State, it is essential that it should return a significant proportion thereof to the reserve, to prevent part of the Community quota 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, all transactions concerning the administration of the shares allocated to that economic union may be carried out by any one of its members,