Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1776 of 9 October 2019 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff (1), and in particular Article 9(1) and Article 12 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 established a goods nomenclature (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Combined Nomenclature’ or ‘CN’) to meet, at one and the same time, the requirements of the Common Customs Tariff, the external trade statistics of the Union, and other Union policies concerning the importation or exportation of goods.

(2) In the interests of legislative simplification, it is appropriate to modernise the CN and to adapt its structure.

(3) It is necessary to amend the CN in order to implement the gradual reduction of duty rates for products covered by the agreement in the form of the Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA2), as required by Council Decision (EU) 2016/971 (2). As an outcome of this gradual reduction, Chapters 84, 85 and 90 of the CN should be modernised and simplified.

(4) It is also necessary to amend the CN in order to take account of changes in requirements relating to statistics and to commercial policy and technological and commercial developments, by deleting obsolete codes, such as CN code 3926 90 92, by introducing new subheadings to facilitate monitoring of specific goods, such as synthetic diamonds in Chapter 71 of the CN, and by correcting the name or the classification of some substances in the list of non-proprietary names of pharmaceutical substances in Annex 3 of Part Three (Tariff Annexes) of Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 and in the list of pharmaceutical intermediates in Annex 6 of Part Three (Tariff Annexes) of Annex I to that Regulation.

(5) Additional note 4 to Chapter 4 currently sets the legal limit for whey permeates as strictly ‘greater than 0,1 %’ by weight. In order to avoid any misinterpretation, it is necessary to amend this note by expressly stating that whey permeates are products with a lactate content equal or greater than 0,100 % by weight.

(6) In order to better monitor the growing market of ‘fat-filled powders’, it is necessary to create a new CN code under subheading 1901 90 for these products.

(7) In order to better reflect the market of spirits obtained by distilling grape wine, on one hand, and grape marc, on the other, it is appropriate to introduce a corresponding distinction in subheading 2208 20.

(8) As laid down in Directive (EU) 2016/802 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), the next phase of maritime fuel SOx reduction, as of 1 January 2020, limits the sulphur content to 0,5 %. It is therefore necessary to adapt the CN, under subheading 2710, to this new threshold.

(9) In order to facilitate the calculation of the applicable duty rate upon import for certain products falling under headings 2009, 3302, and 9111, it is necessary to create a supplementary unit for those products.

(10) In the interest of clarity, it is also appropriate to make certain minor changes in order to align the different language versions of the text of subheadings 4104 41 11, 4104 49 11, 4105 30 10 and 4106 22 10.

(11) In order to better monitor the trade under CN codes 7307 19 10 and 7325 99 10, it is necessary to amend the description of the goods in order to include all products made of cast iron.

(12) In the context of the effort of limiting the global climate change, it is necessary to monitor the impact of the trade in fluorinated greenhouse gases on climate, and, therefore, to create new TARIC codes in Annex 10 of Part Three (Tariff Annexes) of Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87.

(13) With effect from 1 January 2020, Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 should be replaced by a complete and up-to-date version of the CN, together with the autonomous and conventional rates of duty resulting from measures adopted by the Council or by the Commission.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 is replaced by the text set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2020.

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

Done at Brussels, 9 October 2019.

For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) OJ L 256, 7.9.1987, p. 1.

(2) Council Decision (EU) 2016/971 of 17 June 2016 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of an agreement in the form of the Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA) (OJ L 161, 18.6.2016, p. 2).

(3) Directive (EU) 2016/802 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 relating to a reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels (OJ L 132, 21.5.2016, p. 58).