Council Regulation (EEC) No 1119/88 of 25 April 1988 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for onions, fresh or chilled, originating in Egypt (1988)

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 1119/88
of 25 April 1988
opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for onions, fresh or chilled, originating in Egypt (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 1 of the Additional Protocol to the Cooperation Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Arab Republic of Egypt (1) provides, for the period 1 February to 15 May, for a Community tariff quota to be opened for the importation into the Community of 10 000 tonnes of onions, fresh or chilled, falling within CN codes ex 0703 10 11 and ex 0703 10 19 and originating in Egypt; whereas, within the limits of this tariff quota, the customs duty shall progressively be abolished over the same periods and in accordance with the same timetables as those laid down in Articles 75 and 268 of the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal; whereas, for 1988, the quota duty shall be equal to 72,7 % of the duty applicable;
Whereas, to take into account the fact that Egypt benefits in the period 1 February to 30 April from a customs duty less than that in Spain and Portugal, this tariff quota should be opened for the period 1 to 15 May; whereas, taking into account the seasonal nature of the imports of these products, the volume of this quota should be fixed at the level of the traditional average imports in this period, that is to say 2 500 tonnes;
Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 2573/87 of 11 August 1987 laying down the arrangements for trade between Spain and Portugal on the one hand and Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Turkey on the other (2) lays down that two Member States will postpone implementation of the preferential arrangements for the products in question until 31 December 1989 and 31 December 1990 respectively; whereas, consequently, the above tariff quotas apply only to the Community as constituted on 31 December 1985;
Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure to all Community importers equal and uninterrupted access to the abovementioned quota and uninterrupted application of the rates laid down for this quota to all imports of the products concerned into all Member States until the quota has been used up; whereas, in the present case, it seems advisable not to allocate this quota among the Member States without prejudice to the drawing against the quota volume of such quantities as they may need, under the conditions and according to the procedure specified in Article 1 (2); whereas this method of management requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission and the latter must, in particular, be able to monitor the rate at which the quota is used up and inform the Member States thereof;
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 shares allocated to that economic union may be carried out by any of its members,