Brussels, 11/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - Despite opposition from several Member States, the European Commission adopted on 10 February a regulation on the opening of a new import quota in the EU from 1 January 2005 of 4 400 tonnes of fresh or refrigerated garlic (this quota is added to the two quotas of the same volume from mast year). This new quota, within which customs duties of 9.6% apply, is designed to “ensure the continuity of provision on the enlarged Community market taking account of the economic provision conditions in the new Member States before accession”, the Commission explained.
The quota is distributed as follows: 70% for traditional importers and 30% for new importers. The validity period of import certificates is limited to 30 June 2005. In the Management Committee for fresh fruit and vegetables, Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France and Poland voted against this measure, saying that supply of garlic was already excessive and a quota is therefore not useful and the data given by the Commission were not backed up sufficiently.
The Commission on the dame day adopted a regulation opening a new autonomous tariff quota for preserved mushrooms from 1 January 2005, also to take account of the enlarged EU with ten new Member States. This quota will go up to 1200 tonnes and the ad valorem duty applicable to imported products will be either 12% or 23% depending on the product in question. The autonomous quota is distributed between traditional importers (95%) and new importers (5%). These two regulations are published in the Official Journal L39 of 11 February 2005