Council Regulation (EEC) No 2358/87 of 31 July 1987 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for herring, fresh or chilled, falling within subheading ex 03.01 B I a) 2 aa) of the Common Customs Tariff, originating in Sweden

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 2358/87
of 31 July 1987
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for herring, fresh or chilled, falling within subheading ex 03.01 B I a) 2 aa) of the Common Customs Tariff, originating in Sweden
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 Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas an agreement between the European Economic Community and the Kingdom of Sweden was concluded on 22 July 1972; whereas, following the accession of Spain and Portugal, an Agreement in the form of Exchange of Letters was concluded between the European Economic Community and the Kingdom of Sweden on the Agricultural and Fisheries sector; whereas this Agreement was adopted by Decision 86/558/EEC (1);
Whereas this Agreement provides for the opening, over a period to be determined by common accord, of a 20 000 tonnes duty free Community tariff quota for herring, fresh or chilled, whole, headless or in pieces, originating in Sweden; whereas, therefore, the tariff quota in question should be opened for the period 15 September 1987 to 14 February 1987 and allocated among the Member States;
Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota should be ensured for all Community 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 goods, the allocation should follow proportionately the requirements calculated both from statistics of imports from Sweden during a representative reference period and according to the economic outlook for the tariff year in question;
Whereas, during the last three years for which statistics are available, imports of this type of fish, originating in Sweden, into each of the Member States were as follows (in tonnes):
(tonnes)
1.2.3.4 //  //  //  //  // Member State  // 1984   // 1985  // 1986   //    //   //   //   // Benelux   // 1 093   // 310  // 58   // Denmark   // 37 900   // 30 783   // 25 045  // Germany   // 2 822   // 1 563   // 1 460   // Spain   // 0  // 0   // 0   // Greece   // 0   // 0   // 0   // France  // 3   // 0   // 0   // Ireland   // 16   // 0   // 0  // Italy   // 0   // 0   // 0   // Portugal   // 0   // 0  // 0   // United Kingdom   // 0   // 0   // 0   //    //   //  //   //   // 41 834   // 32 656   // 26 563   //    //   //  //
Whereas, during the last years under consideration, the products in question were imported only by certain Member States and not at all by the other Member States; whereas, under these circumstances, initial shares should be allocated to the importing Member States and the other Member States should be guaranteed access to the benefit of the tariff quota upon imports into those States of the products concerned being notified; whereas these arrangements for allocation will equally ensure the uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff;
Whereas, taking into account these factors and the forecasts made by certain Member States, the initial percentage shares in the quota volume can be set approximately as follows:
1.2 // Member State   //   // Benelux   // 1,45   // Denmark
(1) OJ No L 328, 22. 11. 1986, p. 89.
Whereas, in order to take into account import trends for the products concerned in the various Member States, the quota volume should be divided into two instalments, the first being shared among certain Member States and the second constituting a reserve to cover the subsequent requirements of these Member States where they have used up their initial share and any additional requirements which might arise in the other Member States; whereas, in order to give importers in each Member State a certain degree of security, it is appropriate to fix the first instalment of the Community quota at a level which, in the circumstances, could be 67 % of the quota volume;
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 latter 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 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 remaining unused 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 operation relating to the administration of the quota shares allocated to that economic union may be carried out by any of its members,