Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 133 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

The Council has concluded a Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of South Africa, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, and decided by Decision 1999/753/EC^f1 that the Agreement enters into force provisionally on 1 January 2000;

The tariff preferences provided in the Agreement are applicable to products originating in the Republic of South Africa in accordance with Protocol 1 of the Agreement;

It is necessary to lay down the procedures for applying certain provisions of the Agreement;

The preferential rates of duty to be applied by the Community under the Agreement should normally be calculated on the basis of the conventional rate of duty in the Common Customs Tariff for the products concerned; they should, however, be calculated from the autonomous rate of duty where no conventional rate is given for the products concerned or where the autonomous rate is lower than the conventional rate; whereas it is unnecessary to include in the coverage of this Regulation products for which the Common Customs Tariff duty is free; the calculation must in no case be based on duties applied under conventional or autonomous tariff quotas;

The Agreement stipulates that certain products originating in the Republic of South Africa may be imported into the Community, within the limits of tariff quotas, at a reduced or a zero rate of customs duty; the Agreement specifies the products eligible for those tariff measures, their volumes and duties; the most suitable method for managing the tariff quota for products of CN code ex 0406 is based on import licences and should be carried out by the Commission; the other tariff quotas should be managed, as a rule, on a first-come first-served basis in accordance with Articles 308a to 308c of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code^f2;

Amendments to the Combined Nomenclature and Taric codes and adaptations arising from the conclusion of agreements, protocols or exchanges of letters between the Community and the Republic of South Africa do not involve changes of substance; in the interest of simplicity, provision should therefore be made for the Commission, assisted by the Customs Code Committee, to take the measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation, in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers of the Commission^f3;

In the interest of combating fraud, provisions should be made to submit preferential imports into the Community to surveillance,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: