Brussels, 05/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - Like every year, on 1 January the Union implemented regulatory provisions facilitating the import of goods that are not manufactured in sufficient quantities or quality in the Community. The three Regulations published in the Official Journal No.L/331 thus set out the reduced or zero rates of duty for a number of industrial, agricultural and fishery products essentially destined for the processing industry, with or without quantitative limits.
Contrary to previous years, fishery products appear in the new regulation which temporarily suspends the autonomous common customs tariff duties. In addition, products added or withdrawn from the list established in 1996 were so numerous that the Council preferred to replace it completely. A new annex sets out over 53 pages all the goods that may, until further notice, enter the Greater market at reduced or zero rates of duty, without quantitative limits; chemical substances, oils, fish, vegetables, fruit, ferrous-alloys, ink, synthetic paper, corks, hides, cloth and fibres, machines, apparatuses, components, etc.
The other two regulations open tariff quotas, less and less numerous, so as to "provide for the Community's supply requirements under the most favourable conditions". The industrial and agricultural products concerned by the first text and fishery products covered by the second may thus be imported at zero or reduced rates of duty for periods and in defined quantities, and, when the quotas are exhausted, the rates of duty initially provided for will be reestablished. For industrial and agricultural products, the modifications in relation to the basic regulation are taken up in the annex, in a table that includes chemical substances, ingredients for prepared dishes, raw tobacco, glass, paper, cardboard, cables, engines, screens and keyboards. For fish, the regulation stipulates that variable rates of duty are established depending on the sensitiveness of the different products on the Community market. Rates of duty are therefore not reduced to zero for all fishery products listed in annex. For some, these are established between 3 and 6%, in particular squid, loins of tuna and skipjack, spiced herrings and certain prawns.