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:

On 29 July 2005, the European Community and the Government of Ukraine concluded an Agreement on trade in certain steel products^f1 (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement). The necessary implementing measures have been adopted by Council Regulation (EC) No 1440/2005 of 12 July 2005 on administering certain restrictions on imports of certain steel products from Ukraine and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2266/2004^f2.

Regulation (EC) No 1440/2005 sets quantitative limits on the imports into the Community.

The Ukrainian authorities indicated that as of September 2006 export licences issued for product groups SA1, SA3 and SB1 have exceeded 90 % of the quantities available and asked for consultations as provided for in the Agreement. Following those consultations, both sides agreed to an increase of the quantitative limits for those product groups for the year 2006.

It is important that the additional quantities be available as soon as possible. The renegotiation of the Agreement and the subsequent implementation of it as amended would require too much time. It is therefore preferable to recur to an autonomous measure.

It is preferable that the means to administer this regime within the Community be identical to those adopted for the implementation of the Agreement.

It is necessary to ensure that the origin of the products in question is checked and appropriate methods of administrative cooperation are set up to this end.

Products placed in a free zone or imported under the arrangements governing customs warehouses, temporary importation or inward processing (suspension system) should not be counted against the limits established for the products in question.

The effective application of this Regulation requires the introduction of a requirement for a Community import licence for the entry into free circulation in the Community of the products in question.

In order to ensure that these quantitative limits are not exceeded, it is necessary to establish a management procedure whereby the competent authorities of the Member States do not issue import licences before obtaining prior confirmation from the Commission that appropriate amounts remain available within the quantitative limit in question.

In view of the limited duration of this Regulation, it is appropriate for it to enter into force as soon as possible,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: