28.2.86 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 52/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 526/86 of 28 February 1986 on transitional measures applicable to trade within the Community in goods obtained in Spain, in Portugal or in another Member State under a procedure for the relief from, or drawback of, customs duties or other import changes — compensatory levy THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, and in particular Articles 50 (3) and 210 (3) thereof, and Article 8 (3) of Protocol 3 thereto, Whereas it is necessary to determine the conditions under which goods obtained in the Community under a procedure for the relief from, or drawback of, customs duties or other import charges may benefit from Community arrangements in trade between Spain and Portugal on the one hand, and the other Member States on the other hand, and in trade between the two new Member States; Whereas there is a danger that admission of the said goods to the benefit of the Community arrangements may distort the conditions of competition in the common market, in so far as the products used in their manufacture are third country products, unless that admission is subject to the collection of a levy, hereinafter referred to as a ‘compensatory levy’, so designed as to compensate for the effects of those arrangements; Whereas that danger is not likely to prove serious as long as the reduction in customs tariffs in trade between Spain and Portugal, and in trade between those two Member States on the one hand, and the other Member States on the other, does not reach a significant level; whereas it is accordingly unnecessary to prescribe, in principle, the collection of a compensatory levy unless that reduction exceeds roughly 25 % to 30 % of the basic duties; Whereas, leaving aside the special tariff resulting from agreements concluded between the Community and certain third countries, goods in the manufacture of which . products from other third countries have been used are admitted to free circulation only if the appropriate customs duties of the Common Customs Tariff or of the ECSC unified tariff have been levied in full on those products; Whereas for these reasons the compensatory levy that will be a condition for the admission of goods to the benefit of the Community arrangements should be based on the duties of the Common Customs Tariff or of the ECSC unified tariff applicable in respect of the products used in the manufacture of the aforesaid goods, where at the time of importation of those goods the customs duties or charges having equivalent effect which were applicable to those products in Spain, in Portugal or in the other Member States have not been levied, or where the products have benefited from a total or partial drawback of such duties or charges; Whereas the rate of the compensatory levy should, in principle, be such as to correspond to the percentage tariff reduction applied in the importing Member State; whereas straightforward conversion of the reductions concerned into compensatory levy rates would be likely, on account, in particular, of the number and diversity of arrangements adopted for dismantling duties, to lead to the adoption of measures that would be very complex and consequently virtually inapplicable; whereas it is accordingly necessary to group together the categories of products in respect of which the tariff reductions are similar in order to reduce considerably the number of compensatory levy rates, without, however, losing sight of the need, in order to avoid deflections of trade, to limit the gap between those rates and those which would result from strict application of the reductions laid down in the Act of Accession; Whereas, moreover, to simplify arrangements, a 100 % compensatory levy should be collected where the levy