COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 395/92  of 29 December 1992 on the arrangements for imports of certain textile products originating in  Taiwan
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 Council Regulation (EEC) No 4134/86 of 22 December 1986 on the arrangements for imports of  certain textile products originating in Taiwan (1) laid down the arrangements for imports into the  Community of the products in question until 31 December 1992;
Whereas those arrangements should be maintained beyond that date and adjusted as part of the  revision of the Community's overall commercial policy on textile products and the realization of  the internal market as from 1 January 1993;
Whereas, in order inter alia to ensure compliance with the objectives of this Regulation, the  release for free circulation of the products in question should be made subject to import  authorization on presentation of an export document issued in Taiwan by a body affording all the  necessary guarantees;
Whereas it is necessary to provide that neither handicraft or traditional folklore products, for  which an appropriate certification system will be devised, nor products introduced into the customs  territory of the Community under the inward processing rules or under other temporary admission  rules and re-exported from that territory in the same state or after processing are to be set off  against the abovementioned quantitative quotas;
Whereas provision should be made for introducing, where certain conditions are fulfilled,  quantitative limits on textile products which are included in the import arrangements applicable to  Taiwan but for which no quantitative limit has been fixed;
Whereas it should be possible, where it is found that products originating in Taiwan and subject to  this Regulation have been imported into the Community in an attempt to evade the provisions of this  Regulation, to deduct the quantity of goods concerned from the appropriate quantitative quotas  established under this Regulation;
Whereas it should be possible to introduce specific quantitative quotas for products obtained under  the outward processing relief arrangements;
Whereas Article 8a of the Treaty lays down that the Community should adopt measures for the  progressive establishment of the internal market over a period expiring on 31 December 1992;  whereas the internal market comprises of an area without internal frontiers in which the free  movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured;
Whereas a new system for administering quantitative restrictions should be established based on the  principle of a common commercial policy, in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Court  of Justice and with a view to establishing the Internal Market on 1 January 1993;
Whereas the procedure for administering import quotas should be based on a system of licences  issued by the Member States in line with quantitative criteria established at Community level;
Whereas the administrative procedure to be established must ensure that all applicants have fair  access to Community quantitative quotas;
Whereas surveillance or safeguard measures confined to one or more regions rather than the whole of  the Community may nevertheless prove necessary; whereas however such measures should be authorized  only exceptionally and where no alternative exists; whereas it is necessary, in addition, to ensure  that such measures are temporary and cause the minimum of disruption to the operation of the  internal market;
Whereas the measures covered by this Regulation are both necessary and appropriate in order to  complete the common commercial policy and to safeguard the measures already taken by the Community  in the textile and clothing sector;
Whereas the import arrangements at present in force expire on 31 December 1992; whereas it is  necessary to provide for transitional arrangements in respect of products shipped before 1 January  1993,
1. From 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1995 importation into the  Community of the products indicated in the categories listed in Annex I shall be governed by the  provisions of this Regulation.
2. Classification shall be based on the combined nomenclature (CN).
3. Subject to the provisions of this Regulation, importation into the Community of the textile  products referred to in paragraph 1 shall not be subject to quantitative restrictions or to  measures having equivalent effect.
1. In 1993, 1994 and 1995, importation into the Community of textile products listed in  Annex II and originating in Taiwan shall be effected within the limits of quantitative Community  quotas laid down in the said Annex.
2. For the purposes of the application of this Regulation, the concept of originating products, as  well as the means of monitoring their origin, shall be those defined by the relevant Community  rules in force.
3. Subject to the other provisions of this Article, the release for free circulation in the  Community of the products referred to in paragraph 1 shall be subject to the presentation of import  authorization issued by the Member States' authorities at the importer's request, on presentation  by the said importer of an export document conforming to the model in Annex III, issued by the  Taiwan Textile Federation.
4. The authorities of the Member State of import shall issue the import authorization in conformity  with the rules and procedures established in Regulation (EEC) No 4136/86 (1) as may be subsequently  amended and implemented to take account of the realization of the internal market.
Imports authorized in accordance with the provisions of the first subparagraph shall be set off  against the quotas established for the year in which the products were loaded on board in Taiwan.
For the purposes of this Regulation, shipment of the goods is considered to have taken place on the  date of their loading on to the exporting aircraft, vehicle or vessel.
5. The release after 1 January 1993 for free circulation in the Community of the products covered  by this Regulation shall be subject to the important arrangements which were in force before that  date, provided that the products were loaded on board in Taiwan before 1 January 1993.
6. Should it appear that additional supplies of a product listed in Annex II are required in the  Community, importation of amounts greater than those mentioned in Annex II may be authorized in  accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 9.
7. The definition of quantitative limits laid down in Annex II and of the categories of products to  which they apply shall be adapted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 9, where  this proves necessary to ensure that any subsequent amendment to the combined nomenclature or a  decision amending the classification of such products does not result in a reduction of such  quantitative limits.
1. Imports of textile products in the categories to which this Regulation applies,  originating in Taiwan and not listed in Annex II, may be made subject to quantitative limits in the  Community where the level of those imports exceeds the level of the total imports of the same  products in the preceding year by the following percentages:
- for the categories of products in Group I: 0,4  %,
- for the categories of products in Group II: 2  %,
- for the categories of products in Group III: 6%.
2. Such limits may not be set at an annual level lower than 106  % of the volume of imports during  the year preceding that in which imports exceeded the threshold established in accordance with  paragraph 1, nor lower than the level established under paragraph 1, nor lower than the 1985 volume  of imports of the category of products in question originating in Taiwan.
3. Where it emerges that the conditions for the adoption of quantitative limits are met in one or  more regions of the Community, the Commission, after having examined alternative solutions, may  exceptionally authorize the application of surveillance or of quantitative measures limited to the  regions concerned if it considers that such measures are more appropriate than measures applied  throughout the Community.
These measures must be temporary and must disrupt the operation of the internal market as little as  possible.
4. The limits referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be set by the Commission in accordance with  the procedure referred to in Article 9.
5. The provisions for the administration of the quantitative quotas described in Article 2, and in  particular Article 2, Article 4 and Article 6 to 8 of this Regulation, shall apply to quantitative  limits established under this Article, save for any different provisions adopted in accordance with  the procedure referred to in Article 9.
1. According to the procedure envisaged in Article 9, the Commission may authorize  imports in excess of the quantitative quotas laid down by Article 2, either by carrying over unused  quantities from the quotas of the preceding year or by advance drawing on the quotas for the  following year, provided that such carry-over and advance drawing does not exceed respectively 7  %  and 5  % of the quota to be increased.
2. According to the procedure envisaged in Article 9, the Community may authorize the transfer of  unused quantities in one quota to another quota within the following limits only:
- between categories 2 and 3 of Group I: 4  % of the quota to which the transfer is made,
- between categories 4 to 8 of Group I: 4  % of the quota to which the transfer is made,
- from the categories in Groups I, II and III to categories in Groups II or III: 5  % of the quota  to which the transfer is made.
The table of equivalences applying to the transfers referred to in the first subparagraph is given  in Annex I.
3. The cumulative application of the flexibility arrangements set out in the preceding paragraphs  may not exceed, with regard to each quota, 12  %.
4. When sudden and prejudicial changes in traditional trade flows in goods under Community quotas  referred to in Article 2 (1) result in regional concentration of direct imports into the Community,  the Commission will, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 9, look for a solution  to such problems.
1. Where the Commission finds that products originating in Taiwan which are subject to  quantitative quotas established under this Regulation have been transhipped, rerouted or otherwise  imported into the Community in circumvention of this Regulation and where there is clear proof of  such circumvention, the Commission shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 9,  deduct from the quantitative quotas established under this Regulation an amount equivalent to the  amount of the products concerned originating in Taiwan.
Specific quotas for products of economic outward processing operations fulfilling the  conditions set out in Regulation (EEC) No 636/82 (1) may be established, in accordance with the  procedure described in Article 9, in respect of the products listed in Annex II or subject to  quantitative limits under Article 3.
Products referred to in Article 1 which are brought into the customs territory of the  Community under inward processing arrangements or under other temporary admission arrangements and  re-exported from that territory in the unaltered state or after processing shall not be charged  against the quotas as established in articles 2 and 3.
1. Products referred to in Article 1 shall not be set off against the quotas referred  to in Articles 2 and 3 if they comply with the criteria set out below:
(a) fabrics, woven on handlooms entirely operated by hand or foot, of a traditional variety made by  the cottage industry in Taiwan;
(b) clothes or other textile articles of a traditional variety fabricated by the cottage industry  in Taiwan, obtained manually from fabrics described above and handsewn without the aid of  machinery;
(c) handmade traditional folklore textile products made by the cottage industry in Taiwan.
2. For the application of paragraph 1, products must on importation, be accompanied by a  certificate conforming to the model in Annex III and issued by the Taiwan Textile Federation.
Where reference is made to the procedure, defined in this Article, the chairman, on his  own initiative or at the request of the representative of a Member State, shall refer the matter to  the Committee.
The Commission representative, who shall chair the Committee, shall submit to the Committee a draft  of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver an opinion on the draft measures within a  period which may be fixed by the chairman depending on the degree of urgency of the matter. The  Committee shall decide by the majority specified in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty for the adoption  of acts by the Council on a proposal from the Commission. In the case of votes within the  Committee, the votes of the Member States' representatives shall be weighted in accordance with the  abovementioned Article. The chairman shall not vote.
The Commission shall adopt the measures proposed where they are in conformity with the Committee's  opinion.
Where the measures proposed are not in conformity with the Committee's opinion, or where no opinion  has been given, the Commission shall submit to the Council without delay a proposal for the  measures to be taken. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.
Should the Council fail to take a decision within one month of the date on which the proposal was  laid before it, the Commission shall adopt the proposed measures.
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The chairman may, on his own initiative or at the request of one of the Member States'  representatives, consult the Committee about any other matter relating to the operation of this  Regulation.
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This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in  the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1995.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all  Member States.