10. 3. 94 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 67/77 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 518/94 of 7 March 1994 on common rules for imports and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 288/82 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and ‘in particular Article 113 thereof, Having regard to the instruments establishing common organization of agricultural markets and to the instru- ments concerning processed agricultural products adopted in pursuance of Article 235 of the Treaty, in particular the provisions of those instruments which allow for deroga- tion from the general principle that all quantitative restrictions or measures having equivalent effect may be replaced solely by the measures provided for in those same instruments, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas the common commercial policy should be based on uniform principles ; whereas, while the common rules for imports established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 288/82 of § February 1982 on common rules for imports ('), constitute an important part of the policy, they still allow exceptions and derogations enabling Member States to continue applying national measures to imports of certain products, so that the policy needs to be completed ; Whereas under Article 7 a of the Treaty, the internal market comprises since 1 January 1993 an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured; Whereas completion of the common commercial policy as it pertains to rules for imports is a necessary comple- ment to the completion of the internal market and is the only means of ensuring that the rules applying to the Community’s trade with third countries correctly reflect the integration of the markets ; Whereas in order to achieve greater uniformity in the rules for imports it is necessary to eliminate the excep- tions and derogations resulting from the remaining national commercial policy measures and in particular the quantitative restrictions maintained by Member States under Regulation (EEC) No 288/82; whereas the economic and industrial repercussions of their elimina- (') OJ No L 35, 9. 2. 1982, p. 1, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2875/92 (O] No L 287, 2. 10. 1992, p. 1). tion have been or can be taken into account in the Community’s horizontal policies for the market concerned ; Whereas the liberalization of imports, namely the absence of any quantitative restrictions, should therefore form the starting point for the Community rules; Whereas the Commission should be informed by the Member States of any danger created by trends in imports which might call for protective measures ; Whereas, in such a case, the Commisison should examine import terms and conditions, import trends, the various aspects of the economic and commercial situation, and the measures, if any, to be taken; Whereas it may become apparent that there should be Community surveillance over certain of these imports; Whereas surveillance or safeguard measures confined to one or more regions of the Community may nevertheless prove more suitable than measures appliyng to the whole Community ; whereas, however, such measures should be authorized only exceptionally and where no alternative exists; whereas it is necessary to ensure that such measures are temporary and cause the minimum of disruption to the operation of the internal market; Whereas if Community surveillance is applied, release for free circulation of the products concerned should be made subject to presentation of an import document meeting uniform criteria ; whereas that document should, on simple application by the importer, be endorsed by the authorities of the Member States within a certain period but without the importer thereby acquiring any right to import ; whereas the document should therefore be valid only during such period as the import rules remain unchanged ; Whereas it is in the interests of the Community that the Member States and the Commission should make as full as possible an exchange of information resulting from Community surveillance ; Whereas it is for the Commission and the Council to adopt the safeguard measures called for by the interests of the Community with due regard for existing international obligations; whereas, therefore, safeguard measures against a country whichis a contracting party to GATT may be considered only if the product in question