L 179/22 Official Journal of the European Communities 9.7.2002 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DECISION of 20 June 2002 on the AIEM tax applicable in the Canary Islands (2002/546/EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 299(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (), Whereas: 1 Pursuant to Article 299(2) of the Treaty, the provisions of the Treaty apply to the outermost regions and hence the Canary Islands, account being taken of their struc- tural social and economic situation, which is compounded by their remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate and economic depen- dence on a few products, the permanence and combina- tion of which factors severely restrain their development. Specific measures should therefore be adopted in order to establish the conditions for applying the Treaty to those regions. Specific tax policy measures may be adopted. They must take account of the special charac- teristics and constraints of these regions, but without undermining the integrity and coherence of the Commu- nity legal order, including the internal market and common policies. The Council, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee have on several occasions stressed the need to adopt these specific measures. On the question of taxation, specific measures to be implemented must be based on the instruments most appropriate to regional development and support of () O] C 75 E, 26.3.2002, p. 328. (*) Opinion delivered on 13 June 2002 (not yet published in the Offi- cial Journal). these regions including long-term tax derogations, in accordance with the criteria of coherence of Community law and the internal market and provided that these measures are necessary and proportionate to the objec- tives pursued. The indirect taxation arrangements applicable to the Canary Islands comprise a number of taxes including the Impuesto General Indirecto Canario (IGIC) and the ‘Arbi- trio sobre la Produccién y sobre las Importaciénes’ (APIM) (tax on production and imports) authorised until 31 December 2001 by Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1911/91 of 26 June 1991 on the application of the provisions of Community law to the Canary Islands (). When Regulation (EC) No 2674/1999 (*) was adopted, the Council requested the Commission to examine with the Spanish authorities the impact of suspending the dismantling of the APIM tax on the economic sectors concerned and more especially the products forming the subject of the suspension measure. It also asked the Commission to present to it, where appropriate in the light of the results of this examination, a proposal concerning the measures to be taken on the basis of the Treaty, in order to avoid jeopardising certain particularly vulnerable local production activities, while ultimately abolishing the tax. This objective of ultimate abolition of the tax must now be included in the framework of measures adopted on the basis of Article 299(2) of the Treaty, which authorises specific long-term measures to take account of the handicaps listed. () O] L 171, 29.6.1991. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1105/2001 (O] L 151, 7.6.2001, p. 1). () OJ L 326,18.12.1999,p. 3.