Council Regulation (EU) No 1387/2013 of 17 December 2013 suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain agricultural and industrial products and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1344/2011

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 31 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

1. The Union production of the agricultural and industrial products set out in Annex I is currently inadequate or non-existent, and thus the needs of user industries in the Union cannot be met.

2. It is therefore in the interests of the Union to suspend partially or totally the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties for those products.

3. Council Regulation (EU) No 1344/2011⁽¹⁾ has been amended many times. In addition, following its amendment by Council Regulation (EU) No 1220/2012⁽²⁾, fishery products were removed from the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1344/2011. In the interest of transparency, Regulation (EU) No 1344/2011 should therefore be replaced in its entirety.

4. Regulations suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain industrial and agricultural products have renewed previous measures to a great extent. Therefore, in the interests of rationalising the implementation of the measures concerned, it is appropriate not to limit the period of validity of this Regulation, as its scope can be adapted and products can be added to or removed from Annex I to this Regulation by means of a Council Regulation.

5. In view of their temporary nature, the suspensions listed in Annex I to this Regulation should be reviewed systematically, and at the latest five years after their date of application or renewal. Moreover, it might be necessary at any time to close certain suspensions, following a proposal of the Commission on the basis of a review carried out on its own initiative or at the request of one or more Member States if it is no longer in the Union's interest to maintain the suspensions or due to technical product developments, changed circumstances or economic trends on the market.

6. Statistics for certain products listed in Annex I to this Regulation are frequently expressed in pieces, square meters or measurement units other than weight. However, there are no such supplementary units in the Combined Nomenclature laid down in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87⁽³⁾. It is therefore necessary to provide that not only the weight in kilograms or tonnes, but also the relevant supplementary units for the imports of the products concerned, are entered in the declaration for release for free circulation.

7. Since the suspensions laid down in this Regulation must take effect on 1 January 2014, this Regulation should enter into force immediately upon its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and should apply from 1 January 2014.

8. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, it is necessary and appropriate for the achievement of the basic objectives of improving the competitive capacity of the Union industry, thereby enabling that industry to maintain or create employment and modernise its structures, to lay down rules on the suspension of the Common Customs Tariff duties for the products set out in Annex I. In accordance with Article 5(4) of the Treaty on European Union, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives pursued,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: