No L 238/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 6. 9. 84 COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 2541/84 of 4 September 1984 fixing a countervailing charge on imports into the other Member States of ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin produced in France THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 46 thereof, Whereas ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin manufac- tured in France is subject to internal rules having the equivalent effect to a national market organization ; whereas the present system contains features relating to production and to prices for alcohol produced under quota but also influences the quantities and prices of alcohol left at the free disposal of producers ; "whereas the said system has the effect of encouraging exportation of such non-quota alcohol (‘alcools libéres’) since it is liable to a compensatory duty (‘soulte’) if marketed in France; whereas the level of the compensatory duty is such that, given the selling price and the price supplement applied by the alcohol board to returned alcohol, holders of non-quota alcohol are induced to export it; Whereas relatively large amounts of non-denatured agricultural alcohol of French origin have been sold on the markets of other Member States over a repre- sentative period at prices below those currently ob- taining in these markets for domestically produced alcohol ; whereas the markets of these other Member States have been disturbed as a result of the pricing policy made possible by the said system in France; whereas the French system has hence adversely affected the competitive position of producers in the other Member States as regards agricultural alcohol marketed in non-denatured form ; whereas the infor- mation available to the Commission does not show that the sale of denatured agricultural alcohol is being similarly disturbed ; : Whereas steps should accordingly be taken under Article 46 of the Treaty to introduce a countervailing charge on exports of non-denatured ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin from France; Whereas the countervailing charge should be fixed at a level which will restore balance to the market; whereas it should thus cover the difference recorded between, on the one hand, the lowest free-at-frontier price at which representative quantities of non-dena- tured alcohol from France are sold on the mafkets of "the other Member States and, on the other hand, an equilibrium price which may be considered the normal price for domestically produced non-denatured alcohol on the markets of the Community when competition is not distorted, currently calculated as 48 ECU per hectolitre ; whereas, to prevent any possibility of the level of the countervailing charge being set too high as a result of calculating it on the basis of flat-rate figures, an appropriate abatement should be applied to the said difference ; Whereas the countervailing charge so fixed will not be part of the common agricultural policy so that repre- sentative exchange rates will not apply; whereas, to facilitate administration of the charge, the conversion rates used for converting certain specific duties contained in the Common Customs Tariff should be employed ; Whereas the Commission will need to monitor conti- nuously the trade in' and prices of the products in question, adjusting and/or modifying as necessary the rate of the countervailing charge with reference to the factors used in setting it ; whereas the prices observed at present make it unnecessary to introduce machinery to prevent application of the charge from raising the price of alcohol imported from France to a level above the price obtaining in an importing Member State for domestically produced non-denatured agricultural alcohol intended for certain uses ; whereas, to be able to make the necessary assessments, the Commission must be provided with appropriate information ; Whereas provision should be made for an interim period between the publication of this Regulation and its entry into force in order to avoid, as far as possible, interfering with uncompleted transactions; whereas provision should also be made, as an exception, not to apply the countervailing charge to imports carried out before 1 October 1984 under contracts signed before 1 March 1984, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 1. This Regulation shall apply to the following products :