Commission Regulation (EC) No 1337/2002
of 24 July 2002
amending Regulation (EC) No 76/2002 introducing prior Community surveillance of imports of certain iron and steel products covered by the ECSC and EC Treaties originating in certain third countries
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 of 22 December 1994 on common rules for imports and repealing Regulation (EC) No 518/94(1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2474/2000(2), and in particular Article 11 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 519/94 of 7 March 1994 on common rules for imports from certain third countries and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 1765/82, (EEC) No 1766/82 and (EEC) No 3420/83(3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1138/98(4), and in particular Article 9(1) thereof,
Consultations having taken place within the committees set up under the Regulations referred to above,
Whereas:
(1) On 20 March 2002, the United States of America introduced a "Section 201" safeguard in the shape of tariff quotas and additional duties ranging from 8 % to 30 % ad valorem on various categories of steel products. These severe American restrictions threaten to deflect a large amount of such products away from the United States of America and onto the Community market and thus to harm Community producers.
(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 560/2002(5), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1287/2002(6), imposed provisional safeguard measures against imports of fifteen categories of steel products, after the Commission had noted a considerable increase in these imports over the period 1998 to 2001 and had made a preliminary determination that there was clear evidence that this increase in imports, at low prices, threatened to damage Community producers. The Commission also concluded that the increased imports were being caused by trade deflection resulting from the increasingly protectionist stance of the United States of America. Furthermore, the Commission is currently conducting a "safeguard" inquiry into the products covered by these provisional measures and six other categories of products.
(3) External trade statistics for the Community are not available within the time limits laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 of 7 September 2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade(7), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1669/2001(8).
(4) Commission Regulation (EC) No 76/2002(9) introduced prior Community surveillance of imports of certain iron and steel products covered by the ECSC and EC Treaties. The products covered by the Regulation do not correspond exactly to those covered by the United States of America safeguard measures. Furthermore, the Regulation does not apply to imports originating in countries belonging to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), in countries party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) or in Turkey. It is apparent that there is a need for statistics to enable rapid analysis of import trends for all iron and steel products liable to be deflected onto the Community market in the wake of the United States of America measures referred to above, irrespective of their geographic origin.
(5) The scope of prior surveillance must therefore be extended in terms of both the products covered and geographic origin.
(6) Regulation (EC) No 76/2002 must be amended accordingly,
Regulation (EC) No 76/2002 is amended as follows:
1. Article 1(1) is replaced by the following: "1. The release for free circulation in the Community of iron and steel products covered by the ECSC and the EC Treaties listed in Annex 1 shall be subject to prior Community surveillance in accordance with Articles 11 and 12 of Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 and Articles 9 and 10 of Regulation (EC) No 519/94. This applies to imports originating in all non-member countries. However, products which are subject to a double-checking agreement established between a non-member country and the Community shall be subject to the conditions established by that agreement and not to this Regulation."
2. The Annex is replaced by the Annex to this Regulation.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the eighth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.