Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1288 of 6 May 2024 granting Cabo Verde a temporary derogation from the rules on preferential origin laid down in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, in respect of prepared or preserved fillets of tuna and tuna loins (raw, cooked and frozen), prepared or preserved mackerel fillets and prepared or preserved frigate tuna or frigate mackerel fillets

Article 1

By way of derogation from Articles 41, point (b), and Article 45 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, products referred to in Annexes I and II produced in Cabo Verde from non-originating fish shall be regarded as originating in Cabo Verde in accordance with Articles 2, 3 and 4 of this Regulation.

Article 2

Article 3

The quantities set out in Annexes I and II to this Regulation shall be managed in accordance with Articles 49 to 54 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, which govern the management of tariff quotas.

Article 4

The derogation is granted on the following conditions:

(1) The customs authorities of Cabo Verde shall take the necessary steps to carry out quantitative checks on exports of the products referred to in Article 1.

(2) The following mention shall be entered on the statements on origin made out by the registered exporters: ‘Derogation – Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1288’.

(3) The competent authorities of Cabo Verde shall communicate to the Commission a statement of the quantities in respect of which statements on origin have been made out pursuant to Article 92 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 and the copies of those proofs. Those reports shall be communicated to the Commission for three periods, namely 6 months, 12 months and 20 months after the entry into force of this Regulation and within two months after the end of each period. Therefore, the first report shall be communicated between 1 July and 1 September 2024. The second report shall be communicated between 1 January and 1 March 2025. The third report shall be communicated between 1 August and 1 October 2025. The remaining period of 1 August–31 December 2025 shall be subject to an additional report to be sent within two months after the end of the application period set out in Article 2(1).

(4) The competent authorities of Cabo Verde shall communicate to the Commission, at the same time as the reports referred to in paragraph 3, a report containing detailed information on the measures taken by them in order to: (a) ensure compliance with the rules concerning the origin of the products concerned for the purposes of GSP and with the related procedures, (b) provide administrative cooperation as required for the implementation of the preferential arrangement under the GSP regulation. The required information to be reported by the competent authorities of Cabo Verde is listed in Annex III.

Article 5

If the competent authorities fail to fulfil their reporting obligations laid down in Article 4(3) and (4), within the time-limits set therein, the Commission shall send a reminder to the competent authorities of Cabo Verde, requesting them to submit the required information within 10 working days. If the competent authorities do not respond to that request within the set deadline, the Commission may suspend the derogation provided for in this Regulation. Any such suspension shall not prolong the time period provided for in this Regulation and its Annex I and Annex II. That suspension shall be notified to the competent authorities of Cabo Verde and published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series.

Article 6

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2024.

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

ANNEX I

ANNEX II

ANNEX III

The report referred to in Article 4(4) shall contain a detailed description of the measures taken by the competent authorities of Cabo Verde to ensure that:

(a) verifications of the originating status of products at the request of the customs authorities of the Member States are carried out for each and every request within the deadlines laid down in Articles 108 and 109 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447;

(b) verifications of the originating status of products of sea fishing and other products taken from the sea as referred to in Article 44(1), point (h), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 include a check on the place of catch and, where taken from outside the territorial sea as referred to in Article 44(1), point (h) of that Regulation, a check on the vessel ownership conditions;

(c) controls as referred to in Article 108(1), point (b), of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 are carried out on exporters at intervals determined on the basis of appropriate risk analysis criteria in accordance with Article 108(2) of that Regulation;

(d) exporters and government officials in Cabo Verde are properly informed about the rules on preferential origin for the purposes of the GSP and the related procedures through adequate instructions, trainings, seminars and/or web-based information.

The report shall, as regards the measures referred to in point (a), for each origin verification request received from the customs authorities of the Member States contain the following information:

— the reference and date of the origin verification request;

— the Member State having sent the request (‘the requesting Member State’);

— the date the request was received by the competent authorities of Cabo Verde;

— the products concerned (HS code and description of the products);

— the date the reply was sent to the requesting Member State;

— the reasons for any delay in replying to the request, as appropriate;

— the assessment of the request by the competent authorities of Cabo Verde (i.e. whether the origin declared in the statement on origin was confirmed or not).

The report shall, as regards the measures referred to in point (c), contain the following information:

— the number of controls performed;

— the risk analysis criteria used by the competent authorities to assess the risks and to determine the intervals between regular controls on exporters;

— the methodology followed during the controls;

— whether the competent authorities have required exporters to provide copies or a list of the statements on origin they have made out, in accordance with Article 108(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, with a view to carry out regular controls on exporters, in accordance with Article 108(1), point (b) of that Regulation;

— whether the controls have shown that exporters in Cabo Verde have a good understanding of the applicable procedures and rules on preferential origin for the purposes of the GSP;

— whether corrective measures were taken and/or penalties were applied in cases where the exporter made out an incorrect statement on origin.

The report shall, as regards the measures referred to in point (d), include the instructions, documents and training materials used to inform exporters and government officials in Cabo Verde on the rules on preferential origin for the purposes of the GSP and the related procedures.

The report as referred to in Article 4(4) shall update the information provided in the preceding reports.