In order to ensure a sufficient and uninterrupted supply of certain agricultural and industrial products which are not produced in the Union and thereby avoid any disturbances on the market for those products, Common Customs Tariff duties of the type referred to in Article 56(2), point (c), of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) (‘CCT duties’) on those products have been suspended by Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 (2). As a result, the products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 can be imported into the Union at reduced or zero duty rates.
(2)
The Union production of certain products that are not listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 is inadequate to meet the specific requirements of the user industries in the Union. As it is in the Union’s interest to ensure an adequate supply of certain products, and having regard to the fact that identical, equivalent or substitute products are not produced in sufficient quantities within the Union, it is necessary to grant a complete suspension of the CCT duties on those products.
(3)
With a view to promoting integrated battery production in the Union, a partial suspension of the CCT duties should be granted in respect of certain products related to battery production that are not listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278, and the respective Union production of which is inadequate to meet the specific requirements of the user industries in the Union. The date for the mandatory review of those suspensions should be 31 December 2023, in order for that review to take into account the short-term evolution of the battery production sector in the Union.
(4)
It is necessary to amend the product description and classification for certain CCT duty suspensions listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 in order to take into account technical product developments and economic trends in the market.
(5)
It is no longer in the interest of the Union to maintain the suspension of CCT duties for certain products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278. To avoid administrative burden for national authorities, CCT duty suspensions where the amount of uncollected CCT duty is estimated to be less than EUR 15 000 per year should not be taken into consideration. The suspension of CCT duties for products which do not reach that threshold, as indicated by the mandatory review, should therefore be removed from the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278.
(6)
Relations between the Union and Russia have deteriorated over the past years, particularly due to Russia’s disregard for international law and its unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. On 6 October 2022, the Council adopted an eighth package of sanctions against Russia over its continued war of aggression against Ukraine and the reported atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine.
(7)
While Russia is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Union can rely on the exceptions that apply under the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (the ‘WTO Agreement’), and in particular Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, in particular with regard to the obligation to accord to products imported from Russia the advantages granted to like products imported from other countries (most-favoured-nation treatment).
(8)
In light of the deterioration of the relations between the Union and Russia, in order to ensure coherence with the Union’s actions and principles in the field of the Union’s external action, it would therefore not be appropriate to allow products originating from Russia to enjoy duty-free treatment and most-favoured-nation treatment with regard to the products covered by this Regulation. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the suspension on CCT duties for those products.
(9)
Relations between the Union and Belarus have deteriorated over the past years, because of the Belarusian regime’s disregard for international law, fundamental rights and human rights. In addition, Belarus has provided extensive support to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine from its very beginning.
(10)
Since October 2020, the Union has progressively imposed restrictive measures against Belarus over continued human rights abuses, the instrumentalisation of migrants and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. As Belarus is not a member of the WTO, the Union is not obliged, by virtue of the WTO Agreement, to accord the most-favoured-nation treatment to products from Belarus. In addition, trade agreements allow for certain actions to be taken that are justified on the basis of applicable exception clauses, in particular security exceptions.
(11)
In light of the deterioration of the relations between the Union and Belarus, in order to ensure coherence with the Union’s actions and principles in the field of the Union’s external action, it would therefore not be appropriate to allow products originating from Belarus to enjoy duty-free treatment and most-favoured-nation treatment with regard to the products covered by this Regulation. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the suspension on CCT duties for those products.
(12)
However, in order to ensure an appropriate supply and avoid serious disturbances in some Union markets, it is necessary to retain the suspension of CCT duties for certain products originating in Belarus, falling under TARIC code 2926907024, and certain products originating in Russia, falling under TARIC codes 7608208930 and 8401300020. In particular, for products falling under TARIC code 8401300020, there is an obligation under the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community to ensure that all users in the Union receive a regular and equitable supply of nuclear fuel. Those products originating in Belarus or Russia represented more than 50 % of the total value of imports into the Union in the years 2019 to 2021 with no or limited alternative suppliers from other third countries. The value of those imports would indicate that the Union industry operators are dependent to a very large extent on those imports and that the removal of the suspension on CCT duties for those products would cause disproportionate hardship to those operators.
(13)
Therefore, the removal of the suspension of CCT duties on certain products originating from Russia or Belarus is appropriate, in application of Article XXI of GATT 1994 and the General Rules concerning duties set out in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 (3), and in particular Part One, Section I, Part B, point 1, thereof.
(14)
As indicated by the Commission in its communication of 13 December 2011 concerning autonomous tariff suspensions and quotas (the ‘communication’), the granting of the autonomous tariff suspensions is an exception to the application of the CCT duties. The re-introduction of such CCT duties to the imports originating in Russia or Belarus constitutes a return to the normal state of affairs. Thus, the limited removal of the suspension of CCT duties on certain products originating from Russia or Belarus is not a restrictive or prohibitive measure, but its purpose is to prevent those countries from indirectly benefiting from a unilateral Union measure, and to ensure the overall coherence of the Union’s actions.
(15)
Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(16)
In order to avoid any interruption in the application of the autonomous tariff suspension scheme and to comply with the communication, the changes provided for in this Regulation regarding the tariff suspensions for the products concerned should apply from 1 January 2023. This Regulation should therefore enter into force as a matter of urgency,
