31973R3461

No L 356/ 10 Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 12 . 73

REGULATION (EEC) No 3461 /73 OF THE COUNCIL of 17 December 1973 on the opening, allocation and administration of a Community tariff quota for yarn entirely of silk, other than yarn of noil or other waste silk, not put up for retail sale, falling within heading No ex 50.04 of the Common Customs Tariff for 1974

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES , product level, might have adverse results for the Community's processing industries;

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 28 thereof; Whereas the duty under the Common Customs Tariff applicable on imports of the silk yarn in question is 7 % ; whereas, when fixing the quota duty, it is Having regard to the draft Regulation submitted by appropriate to take into account, on the one hand, the Commission ; the situation of the Community silk yarn producing industry and, on the other, that of the silk yarn processing industries with regard to their obtaining Whereas, in accordance with the Resolution passed at supplies on favourable terms; whereas a quota duty its meeting of 29 to 31 May 1967, the Council, by its of 3 % could best satisfy the abovementioned Regulation (EEC) No 322/70 (*), reintroduced until requirements ; 31 December 1976 the 12 % autonomous duty of the Common Customs Tariff for yarn entirely of silk other than yarn of noil or other waste silk, not put up for retail sale falling within heading No ex 50.04; Whereas the trend in imports during 1972 suggests whereas the conventional duty for that product is that the import requirements of the yarns in question 7% ; might be in the region of 60 metric tons for 1974; whereas the opening of a Community tariff quota of that volume is unlikely to harm Community Whereas the resolution aforesaid further provides for production ; the opening in respect of that period and for such silk yarn of an annual Community tariff quota with reduced or nil duty where a change in the sources of supply or an insufficient supply within the Whereas equal and continuous access to the quota Community might have adverse results for the should be ensured for all importers and the rate of processing industries in the Member States ; levy for the tariff quota should be applied consistently to all imports of the product in question Whereas silk yarn is produced in the Community ; until the quota is used up ; whereas, utilization of the whereas, although that production could cover all the Community tariff quota in the light of the principles outlined above based on an allocation between the Community requirements by reason of its overall volume, this does not apply with regard to yarn Member States concerned would appear consistent entirely spun from silk; whereas there is, as a result, with the Community nature of the quota; whereas to an insufficient supply in the Community ; represent as closely as possible the actual trend of the market in the product in question the allocation should follow proportionately the requirements of Whereas consequently Community supply for those the Member States calculated both from statistics of qualities of yarn depends to a considerable extent on imports during a representative reference period and imports ; whereas full application of the duty under from the economic outlook for the tariff year in the Common Customs Tariff would result in those question ; products being subjected to a considerable customs charge while products manufactured from silk yarn face powerful competition from similar products manufactured from other material ; whereas an Whereas the corresponding imports of the products insufficient supply, added to competition at finished falling within the tariff heading No 50.04 of each of the Member States concerned during the last three years for which complete statistics are available represent the following percentages of total ( x ) OJ No L 43, 24. 2. 1970, p . 5 . Community imports of these products :

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1970 1971 1972 Whereas if, at a given date in the quota period, a considerable quantity is left over in a Member State, Benelux 3.0 0 0.7 it is essential that such State should return a substantial proportion to the reserve, to prevent part Denmark 0 0.5 0.2 of the total quota from remaining unused in one Member State while it could be used in others ; Germany 35.3 35.0 18.6

France 23.5 20.0 17.1 Whereas since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Ireland 0 0.7 1.4 Luxembourg are jointly represented by the Benelux Economic Union, any measure concerning the Italy 14.7 22.5 50.0 administration of the shares allocated to that Economic Union may be carried out by one of its United Kingdom 23.5 21.3 12.0 members,

Whereas in view of these factors and of the forecasts which it is possible to make the initial percentage, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : shares in the quota volume can be expressed approximately as follows :

Article 1 Benelux 2 Denmark 2 1 . From 1 January to 31 December 1974, the autonomous duty of the Common Customs Tariff for Germany 34 yarn entirely of silk, other than yarn of noil or other waste silk, not put up for retail sale, falling within France 24 heading No ex 50.04 shall be suspended at 2*5 % in respect of a Community tariff quota of 60 metric Ireland 2 tons . Italy 28 2. Within the limits of the tariff quota, the new United Kingdom 8 Member States shall apply the duties calculated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act of Accession f 1 ). Whereas, to take account of future import trends for the product under consideration, the total quota Article 2 volume should be divided into two tranches, the first being allocated and the second held as a reserve to cover at a later date the requirements of Member 1 . A first tranche of 50 metric tons of this States ' who have used up their initial share; whereas Community tariff quota shall be allocated among the to give importers some degree of certainty the first Member States ; the shares shall, subject to Article 5, tranche of the Community quota should in the event be valid until 31 December 1974 and shall be as be fixed at 83 % of the total quota; follows :

Benelux 1 metric ton Whereas the initial shares may be used up more or Denmark 1 metric ton less quickly ; whereas, therefore, to avoid disruption of supplies any Member State which has almost used Germany 17 metric tons up its initial share, must draw a supplementary share from the reserve; whereas this must be done by each France 12 metric tons Member State as each one of its supplementary shares is almost used up, and as many times as the Ireland 1 metric ton reserve allows ; whereas the initial and supplementary shares must be valid until the end of the quota Italy 14 metric tons period; whereas this form of administration requires United Kingdom 4 metric tons close collaboration between the Member States and the Commission, and the Commission must be in a position to follow the extent to which the quota volume has been used up and inform the Member States thereof; H OJ No L 73, 27. 3 . 1972, p . 14.

No L 356 / 12 Official Journal of the European Communities 27 . 12 . 73

2. The second tranche, of 10 metric tons, shall be The Member States shall, not later than 10 October held in reserve. 1974 notify to the Commission the total quantities of silk yarn imported up to and including 15 September 1974 and charged against the Community tariff quota and any quantities of the initial share returned to the reserve . f Article 3

1 . If 90 % or more of a Member State's initial share specified in Article 2 ( 1 ), or of that share minus Article 6 the portion returned to the reserve where Article 5 is applied, has been used up, that Member State shall without delay, by notifying the Commission, draw a The Commission shall keep an account of the shares second share, to the extent that the reserve is opened by the Member States pursuant to Articles 2 sufficient, equal to 10 % of its initial share, rounded and 3 and shall, as soon as it has been notified, up where necessary to the next unit. inform each State of the extent to which the reserve has been used up.

2. If, after its initial share has been used up, 90 % It shall inform the Member States not later than 15 or more of the second share drawn by a Member October 1974 of the amount held in reserve after State has been used up, that Member State shall, by amounts have been returned thereto pursuant to notifying the Commission, draw a third share, to the Article 5 . extent that the reserve is sufficient, equal to 5 % of its initial share, rounded up where necessary to the next unit. It shall ensure that the drawing which finally uses up the reserve is limited to the balance available and to this end shall specify the amount thereof to the 3 . If, after its second share has been used up, 90;|4 Member State making the last drawing. or more of the third share drawn by a Member State has been used up, that Member State, shall tn accordance with paragraph 2, draw a fourth share equal to the third. Article 7 This process shall apply by analogy until the reserve is used up . 1 . The Member States shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that supplementary shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 are opened in such a way that 4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 , 2 and charges may be made, without interruption, against 3 , the Member States may draw shares lower than their cumulative shares of the Community quota. those fixed in those paragraphs if there are grounds for considering that those fixed may not be used up . They shall inform the Commission of their reasons 2. Each Member State shall ensure that importers for applying this paragraph. of the said product established in its territory have free access to the shares allocated to it.

3 . The Member States shall charge against their Article 4 shares imports of the said product, when the product is entered for home use. Supplementary shares drawn pursuant to Article 3 shall be valid until 31 December 1974. 4. The extent to which a Member State has used up its share shall be determined on the basis of the imports charged in accordance with paragraph 3 .

Article S

A Member State which on 15 September 1974 has Article 8 not used up its initial share shall return to the reserve not later than 10 October 1974 the unused portion exceeding 20 % of the initial amount. It may return a The Member States shall regularly inform the greater portion if there are grounds for considering Commission of imports actually charged against their shares . that it may not be used up .

27 . 12 . 73 No L 356 / 13 Official Journal of the European Communities

Article9¶

The Member States and the Commission shall This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January cooperate closely to ensure that this Regulation is 1974 . observed.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States .

Done at Brussels, 17 December 1973 .

For the Council

The President

I. NØRGAARD