Council Regulation (EC) No 669/97 of 14 April 1997 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas and ceilings, establishing Community surveillance for certain fish and fishery products originating in the Faroe Islands, defining detailed provisions for amending and adapting these measures and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1983/95

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 669/97 of 14 April 1997 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas and ceilings, establishing Community surveillance for certain fish and fishery products originating in the Faroe Islands, defining detailed provisions for amending and adapting these measures and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1983/95
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
(1) Whereas Articles 3 and 8 of the Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Government of Denmark and the Home Government of the Faroe Islands, of the other part, signed on 6 December 1996 (1), provide for the abolition of customs duties applicable to imports into the Community of certain fish and fishery products listed in Protocol 1 attached to the said Agreement;
(2) Whereas the abolition is subject to Community tariff quotas and ceilings and, for some of these products, Community statistical surveillance; whereas the said Community tariff quotas and ceilings in respect of products originating in the Faroe Islands should therefore be opened for the volumes indicated respectively in Annexes I and II to this Regulation and Community statistical surveillance established in respect of the products listed in Annex III thereto;
(3) Whereas the preferential rates of duty indicated in Annexes I, II and III apply only where the free-at-frontier price determined by the Member States in accordance with Article 22 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92 of 17 December 1992 on the common organization of the market in fishery products and aquaculture (2) is at least equal to the reference price set, or to be set, by the Community for the products or categories of products concerned;
(4) Whereas, for reasons of simplification, provision should be made to empower the Commission to give effect, following receipt of the opinion of the Customs Code Committee set up by Article 247 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (3), to necessary amendments and technical adaptations to the Annexes to this Regulation arising from amendments of the combined nomenclature and Taric codes and to adaptations of volume, periods and quota rates arising from decisions by the Council or by the Commission;
(5) Whereas, for the same reasons, provision should be made for this procedure to be applied in cases where the abovementioned Agreement is amended to the extent that the agreed amendments specify the products eligible for tariff quotas or subject to tariff ceilings or to statistical surveillance, quota-volumes, duties and tariff periods, and any eligibility criteria;
(6) Whereas the Agreement provides for tariff quotas, tariff ceilings and statistical surveillance for an indefinite period; whereas, therefore, to make implementation of the measures concerned more efficient and simpler, this Regulation should apply on a multiannual basis;
(7) Whereas equal and continuous access to the quotas in respect of the products likely to benefit from the Community tariff quotas listed in Annex I should be ensured for all Community importers and the rates of duty laid down for the quotas should be applied consistently to all imports of the products in question in all Member States until the quotas are exhausted;
(8) Whereas the Community should take the decision to open tariff quotas in the execution of its international obligations; whereas, to ensure the efficiency of a common administration of these quotas, there is no reason why the Member States should not be authorized to draw from the quota-volumes the necessary quantities corresponding to actual imports; whereas this method of administration does, however, require close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission, which must be able to monitor the rate at which the quotas are used up and inform the Member States accordingly;
(9) Whereas, in respect of products listed in Annex II and subject to Community tariff ceilings, Community surveillance may be effected by charging imports of these products against the ceilings at Community level as and when the products are presented at customs and declared for free circulation; whereas this method of administering the ceilings should enable customs duties to be restored as soon as the ceilings in question are reached at Community level;
(10) Whereas this method of administering the ceilings calls for close and especially speedy cooperation between the Member States and the Commission, which must be able to monitor the level reached by imports charged against the ceilings and inform the Member States accordingly; whereas this cooperation should be close enough to allow the Commission to take appropriate steps to restore customs duties as soon as one of the ceilings is reached;
(11) Whereas, for the products listed in Annex III, it would seem appropriate to have recourse to the system of statistical surveillance administered by the Commission pursuant to the relevant provisions of Regulations (EC) No 1172/95 (4) and (EEC) No 2658/87 (5);
(12) Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1983/95 (6), which brought into force the measures applicable pursuant to the old agreement, should be repealed,