Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987^f1, and in particular Articles 9 and 12 thereof,

Whereas:

Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 established a goods nomenclature, hereinafter called the ‘Combined Nomenclature’, to meet, at one and the same time, the requirements of the Common Customs Tariff, the external trade statistics of the Community and other Community policies concerning the importation or exportation of goods.

The Combined Nomenclature is reproduced in Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, together with the autonomous and the conventional duty rates and the statistical supplementary units.

It is appropriate to modernise and to simplify Annex I as envisaged by the SLIM initiative (simpler legislation for the internal market).

1. (i)

   changes in requirements relating to statistics and to commercial policy;

2. (ii)

   technological or commercial developments;

3. (iii)

   the need for alignment or clarification of texts.

In accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, the Commission is to adopt a regulation which reproduces the complete version of the Combined Nomenclature, together with the autonomous and conventional rates of duty, resulting from measures adopted by the Council or by the Commission. Such a regulation is to be published not later than 31 October in the Official Journal of the European Union, to apply from 1 January of the following year.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: