Considerations on COM(2008)540 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 introducing autonomous trade preferences for Moldova

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dossier COM(2008)540 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 introducing autonomous trade preferences for Moldova.
document COM(2008)540 EN
date November 20, 2008
 
table>(1)Council Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 (1) (hereinafter ‘the Regulation’) entered into force on 31 January 2008 and is being applied as of 1 March 2008. The Regulation gives all products originating in the Republic of Moldova (hereinafter: ‘Moldova’) free access to the Community markets, except for certain agricultural products listed in Annex I to the Regulation for which limited concessions have been given either in the form of exemption from customs duties within the limit of tariff quotas or of reduction of customs duties.
(2)The wording of Article 14 of the Regulation created a gap between the application of the generalised system of preferences (hereinafter ‘GSP’) to which Moldova was entitled until the entry into force of Regulation (EC) No 55/2008, and the application of the autonomous trade preferences (hereinafter ‘ATPs’), whereas the intention had been to ensure that the GSP would continue to apply for all eligible exports until the ATPs were introduced. According to Article 14 goods covered by the GSP, which have been exported to the Community between the entry into force of the ATPs and the start of the application of the regime would not be covered by either regime in cases where no purchase contract was made before 31 January 2008 and it could be shown that the goods left Moldova no later than 31 January 2008. To correct this situation the wording in Article 14 should be amended so as to refer to the date of application of the Regulation and not its entry into force.

(3)In preparing the application of the Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 and the management of the quotas listed in its Annex I, a few inconsistencies between the quota descriptions and the applicable CN codes were detected. In order to correct those errors the word ‘domestic’ should be deleted in the description for quota No 09.0504, the CN code 1001 90 99 should be added to quota No 09.0509 and the description ‘of an actual alcoholic strength by volume not exceeding 15 %’ should be deleted in the description of quota No 09.0514. The proposed corrections do not contradict or change the methodology used to determine the size of the quotas for each product group, which was based on best export performance of the years 2004-2006 with yearly increases corresponding to the potential increases in production and export capacity of Moldova until 2012.

(4)Regulation (EC) No 55/2008 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(5)In order to ensure that the measures provided for in this Regulation can be applied without undue delay, it should enter into force on the day following its publication,