COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) N° 3918/92 of 28 December 1992 opening and  providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas and ceilings for certain agricultural  and industrial products and establishing a reduced variable component for certain processed  agricultural products originating in Hungary, Poland and the territory of the former Czech and  Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR) (1993)
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 European Agreements between the European Economic Community, the European Coal and  Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, on the one hand, and the Republic of  Hungary, the Republic of Poland and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republik (CSFR), on the other  hand, were signed on 16 Decemer 1991; whereas, pending the entry into force of these Agreements,  the Community has concluded Interim Agreements (1) (2) (3) on trade and trade-related measures with  those countries, also signed on 16 December 1991 and implemented on 1 March 1992;
Whereas Articles 3 and 14 of the Interim Agreements stipulate that certain products originating in  the countries in question may attract a reduced or zero rate of duty on import into the Community,  within the limits of tariff quotas or ceilings; whereas, pursuant to the provisions annexed to  those Agreements, the volumes of the tariff quotas and ceilings, established when the Europe  Agreements were signed, must be increased, from the date on which the Interim Agreements enter into  force, by a percentage specific to each country and category of products;
Whereas, further, for imports of some processed agricultural products not covered by Annex II to  the Treaty, Article 13 and Protocol N° 3 of each of these Interim Agreements provide for the fixing  of reduced variable components in accordance with each Protocol of the Agreements in question,  within the limits of the quotas set or established in accordance with the Protocols concerned;  whereas such Protocols provide for an annual increment of the volume of the quotas during the first  five years of application;
Whereas it seems advisable, in the interests of clarity, to divide the products subject to tariff  ceilings and quotas into two groups, in Annexes I and II to this Regulation, one for industrial  products and one for agricultural products, specifying for each product the volume of its quota or  ceiling and the rate of customs duty applicable; whereas Annexes III, IV and V to this Regulation,  with their pertinent provisions, should group the processed agricultural products attracting a  reduced variable component and originating, respectively, in Hungary, Poland and the territory of  the former CSFR;
Whereas the decision for the opening of Community quotas should be taken by the Community, in the  execution of its international obligations, in the case of the products listed in Annexes I, II,  III, IV and V to this Regulation; whereas particular care should be taken to ensure that all  Community importers have equal and continuous access to those quotas and that the rates laid down  for the quotas are applied to all imports of the products in question into all Member States until  the quotas are exhausted; whereas, to ensure the efficiency of a common administration of these  quotas, there is no obstacle to authorizing the Member States to draw from the quota-volumes the  necessary quantities corresponding to actual imports; whereas, however, this method of  administration requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission and close  cooperation between the Member States and the Commission and the latter must in particular be able  to monitor the rate at which the quotas are used up and inform the Member States accordingly;
Whereas, in the case of the products listed in Annexes I and II to this Regulation which are  subject to Community tariff ceilings, Community surveillance may be achieved by means of an  administrative procedure based on charging imports of the products in question against the ceilings  at Community level as and when those products are entered with the customs authorities for free  circulation;
Whereas this administrative procedure requires close and particularly rapid cooperation between the  Member States and the Commission, and the latter must in particular be able to monitor quantities  charged against the ceilings and keep the Member States informed; whereas this cooperation has to  be particularly close, since the Commission must be able to take appropriate measures to  reintroduce customs duties once a ceiling is reached;
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 these tariff measures may be carried out by any one of its  members,
From 1 January to 31 December 1993 goods originating in Hungary,  Poland and the territory of the former CSFR which are listed in Annexes I and II to this Regulation  shall be subject to Community tariff quotas or ceilings, according to the provisions contained  within the said Annexes.
From 1 January to 31 December 1993 goods originating in Hungary, Poland and the  territory of the former CSFR listed in Annexes III, IV and V to this Regulation shall be subject to  a reduced variable component determined in accordance with Article 3, within the limits of the  quotas and under the conditions set out in those Annexes.
The reduced variable components applicable from 1 January to 31 December 1993 shall be  calculated as follows:
(a) the difference established in accordance with Article 6 (2) of Regulation (EEC) N° 3033/80 of  11 November 1980 laying down the trade arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the  processing of agricultural products (1), between the average threshold price and the average cif  price or free-at-frontier price for each basic product shall be reduced by 20 %; however, the  differences established, for common wheat, as far as Hungary is concerned, for the basic products  falling within Chapter 4 of the combined nomenclature, as far as Poland and the territory of the  former CSFR are concerned, and for barley, as far as the territory of the former CSFR is concerned,  shall be reduced by 40 %;
(b) the amounts thus obtained shall apply to the quantities of basic products considered to have  been used in the manufacture of the goods concerned in accordance with Article 4 (1) of Regulation  (EEC) N° 3033/80.
The variable components to be applied to those goods which are mentioned in the Annex  to Regulation (EEC) N° 3033/80 but not mentioned in, respectively, Annexes III, IV and V to this  Regulation, and to those goods which are mentioned in the said Annexes in amounts exceeding the  quotas laid down in them, shall be those which are established by direct application of Article 6  of Regulation (EEC) N° 3033/80.
1.  The tariff quotas referred to in Articles 1 and 2 shall be administered by the  Commission, which may take all appropriate administrative measures in order to ensure efficient  administration thereof.
2.  Where an importer declares a product covered by this Regulation for free circulation in a  Member State and applies to take advantage of the preferential arrangements, and that declaration  is accepted by the customs authorities, the Member State concerned shall, by notifying the  Commission, draw an amount corresponding to its reuqirements fromt the quota volume.
Requests for drawings, indicating the date of acceptance of the said declarations, must be sent to  the Commission without delay.
The drawings shall be granted by the Commission by reference to the date of acceptance of the  declaration for free circulation by the customs authorities of the Member State concerned, to the  extent that the available balance so permits.
3.  If a Member State does not use the quantites drawn, it shall return them to the corresponding  quota volume as soon as possible.
4.  If the quantities requested are greater than the available balance of the quota volume, the  balance shall be allocated on a pro rata basis. The Commission shall inform the Member States of  the drawings made.
1.  Quantities shall be charged against the ceilings as and when products are declared  to the customs authorities for free circulation.
Goods may be charged against a ceiling only if the movement certificate is presented before the  date on which levying of customs duties is reintroduced.
2.   The level of utilization of the ceilings shall be determined at Community level on the basis  of the imports charged against them in accordance with paragraph 1.
Member States shall send the Commission, not later than the 15th day of each month, statements of  the quantities charged during the preceding month.
3.  As soon as the ceilings have been reached, the Commission may adopt a regulation reintroducing  the customs duties applicable to the third countries in question until the end of the calendar  year.
When the adoption of such a regulation is requested by a Member State, the Commission shall examine  the request within the following five days and shall inform the requesting Member State of the  action it considers it should take as a result of the request, in the light, in particular, of the  statements sent as provided for in paragraph 2.
If the Joint Committees established by the Interim Agreements between the European  Economic Community and, respectively, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Hungary and the CSFR  or the Association Councils established by the Association Agreements between these parties, decide  to supplement the Annexes to Protocol N° 3 to the said Agreements, the Commission shall adjust the  corresponding Annexes to this Regulation as a result.
The Protocol on the definition of the concept of originating products and methods of  administrative cooperation, annexed to the Interim Agreements between the European Economic  Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, on the  one hand, and Poland, Hungary and the CSFR, on the other hand, shall apply
In order to ensure compliance with this Regulation, the Commission shall take all  appropriate measures, in close cooperation with the Member States.
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This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1993.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all  Member States.