No L 130/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 16. 5. 85 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1248/85 of 13 May 1985 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for sweet clear-fleshed cherries, marinated in alcohol and intended for the manufacture of chocolate products, falling within subheading ex 20.06 B I e) 2 bb) of the Common Customs Tariff THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 28 thereof, Having regard to the draft Regulation submitted by the Commission, Whereas the production of sweet clear-fleshed cherries, marinated in alcohol and intended for the manufacture of chocolate products, is currently insuffi- cient in the Community to meet the requirements of the user industries in the Community ; whereas, conse- quently, Community supplies of products of this type depend to a considerable extent on imports from third countries ; whereas it is in the Community’s interest to partially suspend the Common Customs Tariff duty for the products in question, within a Community tariff quota of an appropriate volume; whereas, in order not to bring into question the development prospects of this production in the Community while ensuring an adequate supply to satisfy user industries, it is advisable to limit the benefits of tariff quotas solely to products which meet certain criteria as to presentation and use, to open the quota for the period 1 July to 31 December 1985 and to fix the volume of this quota at a level of 1 500 tonnes, corresponding to the needs for imports from third countries during that period, and to fix the quota duty at 10 % ; Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota should be ensured for all Community importers and the rate of duty for the tariff quota should be applied consistently to all imports until the quota is exhausted ; whereas, in the light of these principles, arrangements for the utilization of the tariff quota based on an allocation among Member States would seetn to be consistent with the Community nature of the quota; whereas, to correspond as closely as possible to the actual trend in the market on the product in question, allocation of the quota should be in proportion to the requirements of the Member States as calculated by reference to statistics of imports from third countries during a representative reference period and to the economic outlook for the quota period in question ; Whereas, however, since the quota is an autonomous Community tariff quota intended to cover import . needs arising in the Community, the quota volume may be allocated on the basis of the estimated tempo- rary import needs from third countries of each of the - Member States ; whereas these arrangements for alloca- tion will also ensure the uniform application of the Common Customs Tariff ; Whereas, to take account of possible import trends for the product concerned, the quota volume should. be divided into two tranches, the first being allocated between certain Member States and the second held as a reserve to meet subsequent requirements of Member States which have used up their initial shares’; whereas, to give importers of the Member States some degree of certainty, the first tranche of the tariff quota should be fixed at a relatively high level, which in this case could be 1330 tonnes; Whereas the initial shares of the Member States may be used up at different rates ; whereas, to avoid disrup- tion of supplies on this account, any Member State which has almost entirely used up its initial share should draw an additional share from the reserve; whereas, each time its additional share is almost en- tirely used up, a Member State should draw a further share and so on as many times as the reserve allows; whereas the initial and additional shares should be valid until the end of the quota period ; whereas this form .of administration requires close collaboration between the Member States and the Commission, which latter must be in a position to keep account of the extent to which the quota has been used up and to inform the Member States accordingly ;