Council Regulation (EEC) No 3409/84 of 4 December 1984 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain fishery products (1985)

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 3409/84
of 4 December 1984
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain fishery products (1985)
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, in the context of its external relations regarding fisheries, it is in the Community's interest partially to suspend the Common Customs Tariff duties on a number of fishery products, within the limit of appropriate Community tariff quotas; whereas Community tariff quotas for 1985 should therefore be opened for whole or headless frozen redfish (Sebastes spp), whole or headless frozen cod (Gadus morhua), frozen cod fillets and herring flaps prepared or preserved in vinegar, presented in packings of a net capacity of 10 kilograms or more, falling within subheadings ex 03.01 B I f) 2, ex 03.01 B I h) 2, ex 03.01 B II b) 1 and ex 16.04 C II of the Common Customs Tariff; whereas eligibility to benefit from these quotas opened for products falling within subheadings ex 03.01 B I h) 2 and ex 03.01 B II b) 1 is subject to the presentation to the Community customs authorities of a certificate issued by the recognized authorities of the country of origin attesting that the products concerned come from fish belonging to the North Atlantic stocks which were fished with due regard for the international conventions on the conservation and management of fishery resources; whereas the certificates covering the products must also certify that the products presented come from cod of the Gadus morhua species.
Whereas, under Article 64 of the 1979 Act of Accession, the Hellenic Republic is required to apply the Common Customs Tariff duty in full or to commence the alignment of its tariff towards the Common Customs Tariff in respect of the products in question as from 1 January 1981; whereas it is therefore necessary that the tariff quotas in question should cover the requirements of that Member State during the quota period;
Whereas equal and continuous access to the quotas should be ensured for all importers and the rates for the said quotas should be applied without interruption to all imports until the quotas are used up; whereas, in the light of the principles outlined above, a Community tariff quota system based on an allocation between the Member States would seem to preserve the Community nature of the quotas; whereas, to reflect as closely as possible the actual development of the market in the products in question, the allocation should be in proportion to the requirements of the Member States, calculated both from statistics of imports from third countries during a representative reference period and according to the economic outlook for the quota year in question;
Whereas, however, the products in question of a particular origin, are not separately specified in the statistical nomenclatures; whereas it has therefore not yet been possible to obtain sufficiently precise and representative figures; whereas, therefore, part of these quotas should be assigned to the Community reserves, the remainder being allocated among the Member States in proportion to their forecast import requirements; whereas, for these products, the initial percentage shares in the quota can thus be as follows:
1.2.3.4 //   //   //   //   //   // ex 03.01 B I f) 2 ex 03.01 B I h) 2 (6 000 tonnes)  // ex 03.01 B II b) 1 (21 000 tonnes)  // ex 16.04 C II (6 000 tonnes)  //   //   //   //  // Benelux  // 3,11  // 1,29  // 3,45  // Denmark  // 6,23  // 3,40  // 0,69  // Germany  // 21,16  // 26,43  // 86,20  // Greece  // 0,28  // 0,21  // 0,69  // France  // 13,05  // 12,65  // 0,69  // Ireland  // 0,28  // 0,13  // 0,69  // Italy  // 0,28  // 0,28  // 0,69  // United Kingdom  // 55,61  // 55,61  // 6,90  //   //   //   //
Whereas, to take account of possible import trends for the products in question, 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 share; whereas, to give importers some degree of certainty, the first instalment of the Community tariff quotas should be fixed at a fairly high level, which in this case could be respectively 5 718, 20 013 and 3 870 tonnes;
Whereas initial shares may be used 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, bearing in mind the sensitive nature of the fisheries market in the United Kingdom, that market should not be laid open to too great a pressure brought about by too high a level of imports from third countries; whereas, therefore, without prejudice to any arrangements to be decided upon for the future, the United Kingdom should be excluded from the obligation to draw further shares from certain of the reserves; 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, which must be in a position to keep account of the extent to which the quotas have 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 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 remaining unused in one Member State while it could be used in others; whereas, however, as regards the United Kingdom, any return to some of the reserves may be effected only up to the limit of the quantities necessary to satisfy the real needs of other Member States that cannot be met by the mechanisms which are directly applicable to them;
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,