Commission Regulation (EC) No 497/2008 of 4 June 2008 opening and providing for the management of Community tariff quotas for certain fish and fishery products originating in Montenegro

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 140/2008 of 19 November 2007 on certain procedures for applying the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Montenegro, of the other part, and for applying the Interim Agreement between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Montenegro, of the other part (1), and in particular Article 2 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) A Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Montenegro, of the other part (the Stabilisation and Association Agreement), was signed in Luxembourg on 15 October 2007. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement is in the process of ratification.

(2) On 15 October 2007 an Interim Agreement was concluded on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Montenegro, of the other part (2) (Interim Agreement), which was approved by Council Decision 2007/855/EC of 15 October 2007 (3). The Interim Agreement provides for the early entry into force of the trade and trade-related provisions of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. It enters into force on 1 January 2008.

(3) The Interim Agreement and the Stabilisation and Association Agreement provide that certain fish and fishery products originating in Montenegro may be imported into the Community, within the limits of Community tariff quotas, at a reduced or a zero-rate customs duty.

(4) The tariff quotas provided for in the Interim Agreement and in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement are annual and have been provided for an indeterminate period. It is necessary to open the Community tariff quotas for 2008 and following years and to provide for a common system for their management.

(5) This common management should ensure that all Community importers have equal and continuous access to the tariff 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 will be exhausted. In order to ensure the efficiency of the system, Member States should be authorised to draw from the quota volumes the necessary quantities corresponding to actual imports. Close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission is required 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. For reasons of speed and efficiency, communication between the Member States and the Commission should, as far as possible, take place by electronic transmission.

(6) The quotas opened by this Regulation should therefore be managed in accordance with the system for management of tariff preferences within tariff quotas designed to be used following the chronological order of dates of acceptance of customs declarations which is laid down in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (4).

(7) In accordance with the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and the Interim Agreement, the tariff quotas volumes for prepared or preserved sardines and for prepared or preserved anchovies should from 1 January of the fourth year following the entry into force of the Interim Agreement, be increased to 250 tonnes provided that at least 80 % of the total amount of the previous tariff quota has been used by 31 December of that year. The increased quotas volumes, if implemented, should continue to apply until the parties to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and the Interim Agreement agree other arrangements.

(8) As the Interim Agreement enters into force on 1 January 2008, this Regulation should apply from the same date and should remain in application after the entry into force of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.

(9) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Fish and fishery products originating in Montenegro and listed in the Annex which are put into free circulation in the Community shall benefit from a reduced or a zero-rate of customs duty, at the levels and within the limits of the annual Community tariff quotas set out in the Annex.

In order to benefit from these preferential rates, those products shall be accompanied by a proof of origin as provided for in Protocol 3 to the Interim Agreement with Montenegro or in Protocol 3 to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Montenegro.

Article 2

Article 3

Article 4

The Member States and the Commission shall cooperate closely to ensure compliance with this Regulation.

Article 5

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2008.

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

Done at Brussels, 4 June 2008.

For the Commission László KOVÁCS Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 43, 19.2.2008, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 345, 28.12.2007, p. 2.

(3) OJ L 345, 28.12.2007, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 214/2007 (OJ L 62, 1.3.2007, p. 6).