Council Regulation (EC) No 2222/2004 of 19 November 2004 on administering imports of certain steel products from UkraineText with EEA relevance

This Regulation applies to imports of steel products listed in Annex I, originating in Ukraine.

The steel products shall be classified in product groups as set out in Annex I.

The classification of products listed in Annex I shall be based on the combined nomenclature (CN) established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 (4). The procedures for the application of this paragraph are laid down in Chapter II section 1.

The origin of the products referred to in paragraph 1 shall be determined in accordance with the rules in force in the Community.

The procedures for verification of the origin of the products referred to in paragraph 1 are laid down in Chapters II and III.

The importation into the Community of the steel products listed in Annex I originating in Ukraine shall be subject to the annual quantitative limits laid down in Annex V. The release for free circulation in the Community of the products listed in Annex I originating in Ukraine shall be subject to the presentation of an import authorisation issued by the Member States' authorities in accordance with the provisions of Article 4.

In order to ensure that quantities for which import authorisations are issued do not at any time exceed the total quantitative limits for each product group, the competent authorities shall issue import authorisations only upon confirmation by the Commission that there are still quantities available within the quantitative limits for the relevant product group of steel products in respect of the supplier country, for which an importer or importers have submitted applications to the said authorities.

Imports of products as from 1 January 2004 for which a licence was required pursuant to Council Decision 2003/893/EC shall be counted against the relevant limits for 2004 laid down in Annex V.

For the purposes of this Regulation and as from the date of its application, shipment of products shall be considered as having taken place on the date on which they were loaded onto the exporting means of transport.

The quantitative limits referred to in Annex V shall not apply to products placed in a free zone or free warehouse or imported under the arrangements governing customs warehouses, temporary importation or inward processing (suspension system).

Where the products referred to in paragraph 1 are subsequently released for free circulation, either in the unaltered state or after working or processing, Article 2(2) shall apply and the products so released shall be counted against the relevant quantitative limit set out in Annex V.

For the purpose of applying Article 2(2), before issuing import authorisations, the competent authorities of the Member States shall notify the Commission of the amounts of the requests for import authorisations, supported by original export licences, which they have received. By return, the Commission shall notify its confirmation that the requested amount(s) of quantities are available for importation in the chronological order in which the notifications of the Member States have been received (‘first come, first served basis’).

The requests included in the notifications to the Commission shall be valid if they establish clearly in each case the exporting country, the product group concerned, the amounts to be imported, the number of the export licence, the quota year and the Member State in which the products are intended to be put into free circulation.

As far as possible, the Commission shall confirm to the authorities the full amount indicated in the requests notified for each product group of products. Moreover, the Commission shall contact the Ukrainian authorities immediately in cases where requests notified exceed the limits in order to seek clarification and a rapid solution.

The competent authorities shall notify the Commission immediately after being informed of any quantity that is not used during the duration of validity of the import authorisation. Such unused quantities shall automatically be transferred into the remaining quantities of the total Community quantitative limit for each product group.

The notifications referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 above shall be communicated electronically within the integrated network set up for this purpose, unless for imperative technical reasons it is necessary to use other means of communication temporarily.

The import authorisations or equivalent documents shall be issued in accordance with Chapter II.

The competent authorities of the Member States shall notify the Commission of any cancellation of import authorisations or equivalent documents already issued in cases where the corresponding export licences have been withdrawn or cancelled by the competent Ukrainian authorities. However, if the Commission or the competent authorities of a Member State have been informed by the competent Ukrainian authorities of the withdrawal or cancellation of an export licence after the related products have been imported into the Community, the quantities in question shall be set off against the quantitative limit for the year during which shipment of products took place.

Member States shall notify the Commission monthly, within one month of the end of each month, of the total quantities of the steel products listed in Annex I that have entered into free circulation during that month, indicating the combined nomenclature code and using the statistical units and, where appropriate, supplementary units used in that code. Imports shall be broken down in accordance with the statistical procedures in force.

In order to enable market trends in the products covered by this Regulation to be monitored, Member States shall communicate to the Commission, before 31 March of each year, statistical data on the imports of the preceding year.

Where, following the enquiries carried out in accordance with the procedures set out in Chapter III, the Commission notes that the information in its possession constitutes proof that products listed in Annex I originating in Ukraine have been transhipped, rerouted or otherwise imported into the Community in circumvention of the quantitative limits referred to in Article 2 and that there is a need for the necessary adjustments to be made, it shall request that consultations be opened so that agreement may be reached on an equivalent adjustment of the corresponding quantitative limits.

Pending the outcome of the consultations referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission may ask Ukraine to take the necessary precautionary steps to ensure that adjustments to the quantitative limits agreed following such consultations may be carried out for the year in which the request for consultations was lodged or for the following year, if the quantitative limits for the current year are exhausted, where there is clear evidence of circumvention.

If the Community and Ukraine fail to arrive at a satisfactory solution and if the Commission notes that there is clear evidence of circumvention, it shall deduct from the quantitative limits an equivalent volume of products originating in Ukraine.

Where a classification decision adopted in accordance with Community procedures in force results in a change of classification practice or a change in the product group of any product covered by this Regulation, the competent authorities of the Member States shall provide 30 days' notice, from the date of the Commission's notification, before the decision is put into effect.

Products shipped before the date of application of the decision shall remain subject to earlier classification practice, provided that the goods in question are entered to importation within 60 days of that date.

Without prejudice to any other provision on this subject, where the classification indicated in the documentation necessary for importation of the products covered by this Regulation differs from the classification determined by the competent authorities of the Member State into which they are to be imported, the goods in question shall be provisionally subject to the import arrangements which, in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation, are applicable to them on the basis of the classification determined by the aforementioned authorities.

The competent authorities of the Member States shall inform the Commission of the cases referred to in paragraph 1, indicating in particular:

The competent authorities of the Member States shall not issue a new import authorization for steel products subject to a Community quantitative limit laid down in Annex V following re-classification until they have obtained confirmation from the Commission that the amounts to be imported are available in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4.

The Commission shall notify the exporting countries concerned of the cases referred to in this Article.

The competent Ukrainian authorities shall issue an export licence in respect of all consignments of steel products subject to the quantitative limits laid down in Annex V up to the level of the said limits.

The original of the export licence shall be presented by the importer for the purposes of the issue of the import authorisation referred to in Article 21.