Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998)
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES Brussels, 20. 11. 1997 COM(97) 608 final Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998) (presented by the Commission) EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. During the third quarter of this year, the Commission, assisted by the Economic Tariff Problems Group, has reviewed all the requests for temporary suspension of autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties presented to it by the Member States, including requests for extending suspensions at present in force. 2. The attached proposal concerns a number of fishery products. For industrial and agricultural products, the proposal for a Regulation temporarily suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties is also being prepared. 3. The requests for suspension relating to the above products were examined in the light of the criteria set out in the communication from the Commission to the Council and the Member States concerning autonomous tariff suspensions (see OJ C 235, 13. 9. 1989, p. 2). Following this review, the Commission considers that the suspension of duties is justified for the products listed in the Annex to the attached proposal for a Regulation. 4. As can be seen from Article 1 of the above-mentioned proposal for a Regulation, the period of validity of the proposed measure is 12 months. d. Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No /97 of 1997 temporarily suspending some or all of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 28 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas the Community relies at present on imports from third countries for supplies of certain fishery products; whereas it is in the interest of the Community to suspend partially or totally the customs duties for these products; whereas, in order to avoid endangering the prospects for developing the production of competitive products in the Community while ensuring that the industries concerned receive the necessary supplies, it is advisable to adopt these suspension measures only from 1 January to 31 December 1998, Whereas it is for the Community to decide to suspend these autonomous duties, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 1. From 1 January to 31 December 1998 the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on the products listed in the Annex are hereby suspended at the level indicated for each product. 2. Imports of these products shall qualify for the suspension referred to in paragraph 1 only provided that the free-at-frontier price laid down by the Member States, in accordance with Article 22 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3759/92 of 17 December 1992 on the common organisation of the market in fishery and aquaculture products, 1 is not lower than the reference price fixed or to be fixed by the Community for the products or categories of products in question. This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1998. Article 2 This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at , 1997 For the Council The President OJ No L 388, 31. 12. 1992, p. 1, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1891/93 of 12. 7. 1993 (OJNoL 172, 15. 7. 1993, p. 1). ANNEX CN code & TARIC Description Rate of autonomous duty (%) 0001 0302 65 20 0303 75 20 ex0304 10 98 60 ex0304 90 97 31 0002 ex0302 69 99 30 ex0303 79 96 30 Dogfish of the species Squalus acanthias, fresh, chilled or frozen Sturgeons, fresh, chilled or frozen, for processing (a) (b) 0003 ex0302 69 99 40 Lump fish {Cyclopterus processing (a) lumpus) with roe, fresh or chilled, for 0004 ex0302 69 99 50 ex0303 79 96 40 Red Snapper {Lutjanus processing (a) (c) purpureus), fresh, chilled or frozen, for 0005 ex0302 70 00 11 ex0302 70 00 31 ex0302 70 00 41 ex0302 70 00 91 ex0303 80 90 10 ex0303 80 90 19 Hard fish roes, fresh, chilled or frozen 0006 ex0303 10 00 10 Pacific salmon {Oncorhynchus frozen and headiest, for the spp. ), processing industry for manufacture into pastes or spreads (a) 0008 ex0304 20 85 10 ex0304 90 61 10 Fillets and meat of Alaska pollack [Theragra form of industrial blocks, frozen, for processing chalcogramma), in the (a) (b) 8. 5 0009 ex0305 20 00 11 ex0305 20 00 19 Hard fish roes, salted or in brine 0010 ex0306 19 90 10 (;x0306 2 9 90 10 Krill for processing (a) 0022 exl604 11 00 20 exl604 20 10 20 Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus manufacture into pastes or spreads (a) spp. ), for the processing industry for 0023 exl604 30 90 10 Hard fish roes, washed, cleaned of adherent organs and simply salted or in brine, for processing (a) 0024 exl605 10 00 11 exl605 10 00 19 Crabs of the species 'King' (Paralithodes brevipes), {Paralithodes 'Snow' (Chionoecetes stone' (Neolithodes serrata), shelled, whether or not frozen, in immediate packings of a net content of 2 kg or more spp. ), 'Red' (Geryon quinquedens), 'Rough Lithodes antarctica, simply boiled in water and camchaticus), isenbecki) 'Kegani' (Erimacrus 'Blue' [Portunus asperrimus), 'Mud' spp. ), 'Hanasaki' , "Queen' and (Scylla 0025 exl605 10 00 92 exl605 10 00 94 Crabs of the species Paralomis granulosa <f (a) (b) (c) Control of the use for this special purpose shall be carried out pursuant to the relevant Community provisions. The suspension shall apply to fish intended to undergo any operation unless they are intended to undergo exclusively one or more of the following operations: - cleaning, gutting, tailing, heading, - cutting (excluding filleting or cutting of frozen blocks), - sampling, sorting, - labelling, - packing, - chilling, - freezing, - deep freezing, - thawing, separation. The suspension is not allowed for products intended, in addition, to undergo treatment (or operations) qualifying for suspension where such treatment (or operations) is (are) carried out at retail or catering level. The suspension of customs duties shall apply only to fish intended for human consumption. However, the suspension is not allowed where processing is carried out by retail or catering undertakings. r FINANCIAL STATEMENT 1. Budget heading involved: Chapter 12 Article 120 2. Title of operation: Proposal for a Council Regulation temporarily suspending all or some of the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain fishery products (1998). 3. Legal basis: Article 28 of the EC Treaty. 4. Objective: Suspension of the CCT duties for the above products. 5. Measures aimed at prevention and protection: Checks on the end-use of some of the products covered by this Council Regulation will be carried out in accordance with Articles 291 to 304 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of the Community Customs Code. 6. Cost: By contrast with the previous year (for which the cost of the entire operation was estimated at ECU 38 565 000 ), it is now proposed that: - one product be removed from the list of suspensions, i. e. "fillets and meat of hake" (CN headings 0304 20 55 10, 0304 20 58 10 and 0304 90 47 30) because the normal rate of duty will be some 9% from 1 January 1998 whereas, so far, the suspended rate has been 10%; and - a suspension on "Paralomis granulosa crabs" be added. The result of the current estimate of revenue foregone, which takes into account the most recent known EUROSTAT statistics (1995), is a gain of ECU 1 100 000 in respect of the product deleted from the list, and a loss of ECU 33 000 in respect of the added product, i. e. an overall decrease of ECU 1 067 000 in the amount of duty not collected. Estimated cost of this operation (1 January 1998-31 December 1998) The amount of duty foregone as a result of the proposed measure may therefore be estimated at ECU 37 498 000, which is down ECU 1 067 000 from the recorded ECU 38 565 000 foregone in respect of the previous measure (1 January 1997 to 31 December 1997). & ISSN 0254-1475 COM(97) 608 final DOCUMENTS EN 03 02 Catalogue number : CB-C0-97-626-EN-C ISBN 92-78-27682-0 Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg 1-