Considerations on COM(2014)343 - Additional customs duties on imports of certain products from the USA (codification)

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dossier COM(2014)343 - Additional customs duties on imports of certain products from the USA (codification).
document COM(2014)343 EN
date February  7, 2018
 
table>(1)Council Regulation (EC) No 673/2005 (2) has been substantially amended several times (3). In the interests of clarity and rationality, that Regulation should be codified.
(2)On 27 January 2003, the Dispute Settlement Body (‘DSB’) of the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) adopted the Appellate Body report (4) and the Panel report (5), as upheld by the Appellate Body report, finding that the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (‘CDSOA’) was incompatible with the United States' obligations under the WTO agreements.

(3)Since the United States failed to bring its legislation into conformity with the covered agreements, the European Community (‘Community’) requested authorisation from the DSB to suspend the application of its tariff concessions and related obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (‘GATT’) 1994 to the United States (6). The United States objected to the level of suspension of tariff concessions and related obligations, and the matter was referred to arbitration.

(4)On 31 August 2004, the Arbitrator determined that the level of nullification or impairment caused every year to the Community was equal to 72 % of the amount of CDSOA disbursements relating to anti-dumping or countervailing duties paid on imports from the Community for the most recent year for which data were available at that time, as published by the United States' authorities. The Arbitrator concluded that the suspension by the Community of concessions or other obligations, in the form of the imposition of an additional import duty above bound custom duties, on a list of products originating in the United States covering, on a yearly basis, a total value of trade not exceeding the amount of nullification or impairment would be consistent with WTO rules. On 26 November 2004, the DSB granted the authorisation to suspend the application to the United States of tariff concessions and related obligations under GATT 1994 in accordance with the decision of the Arbitrator.

(5)The CDSOA disbursements for the most recent year for which data were available at that time relate to the distribution of anti-dumping and countervailing duties collected during the Fiscal Year 2004 (1 October 2003 to 30 September 2004). On the basis of the data published by the United States' Customs and Border Protection, the level of nullification or impairment caused to the Community was calculated at USD 27,81 million. The Community was, therefore, authorised to suspend the application of its tariff concessions to the United States at an equivalent amount. The effect of a 15 % ad valorem additional import duty on imports of the products listed in Annex I originating in the United States represented, over one year, a value of trade that did not exceed USD 27,81 million. In respect of those products, the Community suspended the application of its tariff concessions to the United States as from 1 May 2005.

(6)If the non-implementation of the DSB ruling and recommendation persists, the Commission should adjust annually the level of suspension to the level of nullification or impairment caused by the CDSOA to the European Union at that time. The Commission should amend the rate of the additional import duty or the list in Annex I so that the effect of the additional import duty on imports from the United States of the selected products represents, over one year, a value of trade that does not exceed the amount of nullification or impairment.

(7)The Commission should respect the following criteria:

(a)the Commission should amend the rate of the additional import duty in the event that adding products to the list in Annex I or removing products from that list does not allow the level of suspension to be adjusted to the level of nullification or impairment; otherwise, the Commission should add products to the list in Annex I if the level of suspension increases, or withdraw products from that list if the level of suspension decreases;

(b)if products are added, the Commission should select the products from the list in Annex II in an automatic fashion following the order in which the products are listed; as a consequence, the Commission should also amend the list in Annex II by removing from it the products added to the list in Annex I;

(c)if products are withdrawn, the Commission should, first, remove products that were added to the list in Annex I after 1 May 2005; the Commission should then remove products that were in the list in Annex I on 1 May 2005 following the order of that list.

(8)In order to make the necessary adjustments to the measures provided for in this Regulation, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the rate of the additional import duty or the lists in Annexes I and II under the conditions laid down in this Regulation. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (7). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts,