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 proposal from the Commission,

Whereas the Free Trade Agreements between the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one hand, and the Republics of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, of the other hand, signed on 18 July 1994, stipulate that certain products originating in these countries may attract a reduced or zero rate of duty on import into the Community, within the limits of tariff quotas or ceilings;

Whereas the decision for the opening of Community quotas should be taken by the Community, in the execution of its international obligations, in the case of the products listed in Annexes I, II and III to this Regulation; whereas particular care should be taken to ensure that all Community importers have equal and continuous access to those quotas and that the rates laid down for the quotas are applied uninterruptedly to all imports of the products in question into all Member States until the quotas are exhausted; whereas, to ensure the efficiency of a common administration of these quotas, there is no obstacle to authorizing the Member States to draw from the quota volumes the necessary quantities corresponding to actual imports; whereas, however, this method of administration requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission and the latter must in particular be able to monitor the rate at which the quotas are used up and inform the Member States accordingly;

Whereas in the case of the products listed in Annex IV to this Regulation, which are subject to Community tariff ceilings, Community surveillance may be achieved by means of an administrative procedure based on charging imports of the products in question against the ceilings at Community level as and when products are entered with the customs authorities for free circulation;

Whereas this administrative procedure requires close and particularly rapid cooperation between the Member States and the Commission, and the latter must in particular be able to monitor quantities charged against the ceilings and inform the Member States accordingly; whereas this cooperation has to be particularly close, since the Commission must be able to take appropriate measures to re-establish customs duties once a ceiling is reached;

Whereas the tariff quotas and ceilings laid down in the Agreements in question relate to a period of several years; whereas the agreements have already fixed the level of the annual increase in the volume of the tariff quotas and ceilings; whereas the agreements also set out the conditions required for granting the tariff concessions within the limits of the said tariff quotas and ceilings; whereas, therefore, in the interests of rationalizing implementation of the measures concerned, the provisions relating to tariff quotas and ceilings for agricultural or industrial products currently contained in the various regulations covering each of the abovementioned countries should be grouped together in a single regulation, applicable for a period of several years;

Whereas amendments to the combined nomenclature and Taric codes and adaptations of quota volumes and rates arising from decisions of the Council or Commission do not involve changes of substance; whereas, in the interests of simplicity, provision should be made for the Commission to make the necessary amendments and technical adaptations to the Annexes to this Regulation after first having obtained the opinion of the Customs Code Committee;

Whereas, for the same reasons, this procedure can be applied in case of amendment to the agreements existing between the Community and these countries, in so far as any amendments thus agreed specify the products eligible for the benefit of tariff quotas or ceilings, their volumes, rates of duty and quota periods and any conditions for granting that benefit; whereas provision should therefore be made for the Commission to make corresponding amendments to the provisions and annexes to this Regulation, after obtaining the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(a) any amendments and technical adaptations rendered necessary by amendments to the combined nomenclature and Taric codes; and

(b) the necessary adaptations arising from the conclusion by the Council of protocols, exchanges of letters within the framework of existing agreements, or agreements between the Community and these countries under the agreements referred to in this Regulation;

— carry over preferential quantities from one quota period to another,

— transfer quantities from one Community tariff quota to another,

— open and manage tariff quotas under new agreements.

— the Commission shall defer application of the measures which it has decided for three months from the date of such communication,

— the Council, acting by qualified majority, may take a different decision within the period referred to in the previous paragraph.