http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/eur/2018/2069

Council Regulation (EU) 2018/2069

of 20 December 2018

amending Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain agricultural and industrial products

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 31 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

In order to ensure a sufficient and uninterrupted supply of certain agricultural and industrial products which are unavailable in the Union and thereby avoid any disturbances in the market for those products, autonomous Common Customs Tariff (‘CCT’) duties on those products have been suspended by Council Regulation (EU) No 1387/20131. Those products can be imported into the Union at reduced or zero duty rates.

(2)

The Union production of 87 products that are not listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 is inadequate or non-existent. It is therefore in the interest of the Union to suspend totally the autonomous CCT duties on those products.

(3)

It is necessary to modify the conditions for the suspension of autonomous CCT duties for 26 products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 in order to take into account technical product developments and economic trends in the market.

(4)

For certain products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013, the classification in the Combined Nomenclature (CN) of the products covered by suspensions should be amended.

(5)

It is also necessary, in the interest of the Union, to amend the end date for the mandatory review of 720 products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 in order to allow duty-free imports beyond that date. The autonomous CCT duty suspensions for those products have been reviewed and new revised dates should be set for their next mandatory review.

(6)

It is no longer in the interest of the Union to maintain the suspension of autonomous CCT duties for 13 products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013. The suspensions for those products should therefore be deleted. Moreover, according to the communication from the Commission concerning autonomous tariff suspensions and quotas2 (the ‘Commission communication’), for practical reasons, requests for tariff suspensions or quotas where the amount of uncollected customs duty is estimated to be less than EUR 15 000 per year cannot be taken into consideration. The mandatory review of the existing suspensions has indicated that imports in relation to 197 products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 do not reach that threshold. Those suspensions should therefore be deleted.

(7)

In the interest of clarity, and taking into account the number of amendments to be made, the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 should be replaced.

(8)

Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9)

In order to avoid any interruption of the application of the autonomous suspension scheme and to comply with the guidelines set out in the Commission communication, the changes provided for in this Regulation regarding the suspensions for the products concerned should apply from 1 January 2019. This Regulation should therefore enter into force as a matter of urgency,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: