No L 299/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 11. 84 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 3196/84 of 12 November 1984 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for certain plywoods of coniferous species, falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff (1985) 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 Community has undertaken to open an annual Community tariff quota of at least 600 000 m? for certain plywoods of coniferous species, falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff ; whereas, under Protocol 11 to the Act of Acces- sion ('), the Community is required to open each year autonomous nil duty Community tariff quotas for the same products, the volume thereof to be decided annually when it is established that all possibilities of supply on the internal market of the Community have been exhausted during the period for which the quotas are open ; whereas the condition laid down by the said Protocol does not seem to be met at the moment; whereas, in these circumstances, it is appropriate to limit oneself in the first stage to the contractual volume of 600 000 m’; whereas the fixing of the quota volume at this level does not exclude, moreover, recourse to the provisions of the abovementioned Protocol 11 during the quota period ; Whereas, to take more precise account of future, trends in imports of the products concerned, the quota should be divided into two tranches, the first being allocated among all the Member States and the second held as a reserve to cover the subsequent requirements of Member States which have exhausted their initial shares; whreas, in order to offer importers some degree of security, the first tranche of the quota should be fixed at a relatively high level, or about 99 % of its full amount ; whereas, on the basis of Member States’ estimates for their needs, the initial shares may be fixed as set out in Article 2; Whereas Member States may use up their initial shares at different rates ; whereas, to provide for this eventu- ality and to avoid disruption of supplies, any Member State which has almost used up its initial share should () OJ No L 73, 27. 3. 1972, 1. 170. draw an additional share from the reserve ; whereas, each time its additional share is almost used up, a Member State should draw an additional 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 Member States and the Commission, which latter must, in particular be able to keep a record of the - extent to which the quota has been used up and to inform the Member States accordingly ; Whereas if, at a given date in the quota period, a considerable quantity of a Member State’s initial share remains unused, it is essential that that Member State should return a significant proportion to the reserve, so as to avoid a part of the quota remaining unused in one Member State when it could be used in others ; 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 measure concerning the administration of the shares allocated to that economic union may be carried out by any one of its members, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 1. From 1 January to 31 December 1985, a Community tariff quota of 600 000 m?* shall be opened for the following products falling within heading No ex 44.15 of the Common Customs Tariff : (a) plywood of coniferous species, without the addition of other substances, of a thickness greater than 8,5 mm, the faces of which are not further prepared than the peeling process; (b) plywood of coniferous species, without the addition of other substances, sanded, and of a thickness greater than 18,5 mm, 2. Imports of the products in question may not be charged against this tariff quota if they are already free of customs duties under other preferential tariff arrangements.