Council Regulation (EEC) No 3755/89 of 7 December 1989 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for fresh or dried hazelnuts, shelled or not, originating in Turkey (1990)

COUNCIL  REGULATION (EEC) No 3755/89
of 7 December 1989
opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for fresh or dried hazelnuts, shelled or not, originating in Turkey (1990)
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 the Annex to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3721/84 of 18 December 1984 on imports into the Community of agricultural products originating in Turkey (1) provides that fresh or dried hazelnuts, shelled or not, and originating in Turkey shall be admitted on importation into the Community at zero duty within the limits of a Community tariff quota of 25 000 tonnes; whereas the Community tariff quota concerned should therefore be opened for 1990;
Whereas, however, 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), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3189/88 (3), provides for the Portuguese Republic to defer until 31 December 1990 the application of the preferential arrangements for the produts in question; whereas, consequently, this Regulation does not apply to Portugal;
Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota should be ensured for all Community importers and the rates laid down for the quota should be applied consistently to all imports of the products in question into the Member States until the quota is exhausted;
Whereas the hazelnut production sector is undergoing restructuring in certain regions of the Community; whereas particular economic constraints make it necessary to maintain the allocation between the Member States of the quota concerned for the period of application of this Regulation;
Whereas, taking into account the traditional trends in trade, the allocation maintained between Member States must, so as to reflect as well as possible the actual market trend of the products in question, be carried out pro rata the needs of the Member States, calculated, on the one hand, on the basis of the statistical data relating to imports of the said products from Turkey over a representative reference period and, on the other hand, on the basis of the economic outlook of the quota periods considered;
Whereas, in the last three years, the products in question were imported regularly only by certain Member States; whereas, in these circumstances in the first phase initial shares should be allocated to the genuine importing Member States and the other Member States should be guaranteed access to the tariff quota when imports actually take place; whereas these arrangements for allocation will equally ensure the uniform collection of the duties applicable;
Whereas, to allow for the trend of imports of the products concerned in the various Member States, the quota volume should be divided into two parts, the first being allocated among the Member States and the second held as a reserve to cover any subsequent requirements of these Member States as well as those Member States which do not participate in the initial allocation; whereas to afford importers in each Member State some degree of certainty, the first part of the tariff quota should be set at a level which in this case could be approximately 60 % of the quota volume, and the second part of 40 % of the quota volume to constitute the reserve;
Whereas Member States may use up their initial shares at different rates; whereas, to provide for this eventuality and to avoid any break in the continuity of supplies, any Member State which has used up its initial share should draw additional shares on the reserve; whereas each Member State should make its drawing whenever each of its additional shares is almost used up and as many times as the reserve allows; whereas this form of administration requires close cooperation between Member States and the Commission and the latter must be able to monitor the extent to which the quota volume has been used up and to inform the Member States accordingly;
Whereas if, during the period of application of the quota, the Community reserve is almost completely used up, it is essential that Member States return to the reserve the whole of the unused part of their initial shares and any
drawings, in order to prevent part of the Community tariff 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, any operation concerning the administration of the quota shares allocated to that economic union may be carried out by any one of its members,