Rieger, Mr.

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European Communities wb,t6EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTWbrking Documentst982- I 9839 June L9A2on the proposal from the commission of the EuropeanComrnunities to the Council (Doc . )/_g74/il - CoM(gO)915 f inal ) for a regulation ony'*urd processingrelief arrangements ,/DOCUTUENT L_316/82Reportdrawn up on behalf of the Committee on ExternalEconomic RelationsRapporteur: Mr RIEGERt,l.tEnglish lldirionPE 77.877/fin.By letter of 27 January Lgg. the president of the council 0fthe European communities requested the European parliament, pursuantto Article r13 of the EEC Treaty, to deriver arr opinion on tire proposalfrom the commission of the European communities to the council for areguration on inward processing rerief arrangements.The President of the European parliament referred this proposaron 3 February 1982 to the committee on Externar Economic Relations asthe committee responsible and to the committee on Agricurture, thecommittee on Budgets and the cornmittee on Economic and Monetary Affairsfor their opinions.on 23 February Lg82 the committee on External Economic Relationsappointed Mr Rieger rapporteur.The committee considered the commission,s proposal and the draftreport at its meetings of Ig lrtarch, 3I March and 26 t4ay I9g2.At the latter meeting the committee decided unanimously to recommendthat Parliament should adopt the commissionrs proposar without amendment.The committee then unanimousry adopted the motion for a resolutionas a who1e.The following took part in the vote: sir Fred catherwood, chairmaniMrs Wieczorek-Zeu1, vice-chairman; Mr van Aerssen, vice_chairmaniMr seal' vice-chairman; Mr Rieger, rapporteuri Mr Armirante,Mr Badue, Glorioso, Mr Beazley (deputizing for Sir Fred Warner),Mr Del Duca (deputizing for Ur pilippi), Mr lrmer (deputizing forMr Gawronski)' Mr Jonker, Mr Lemmer, Mrs Lenz (deputizing forMr Majonica), Mr Maher (deputizing for Mr pininfarina), Mrs Moreau,Ivlrs Nikolaou, Lord o'Hagan, Mr paulhan, Mrs pauweryn (deputizing forMr Damseaux), Mr pelikan, Mrs phrix (deputizing for Mr Mommersteeg),Mrs Poirier, Mrs Pruvot, Mr Radoux, Mr sterra and Mr wersh.The opinions of the committee on Budgets and the committee on['it:t11111ttti., nncl Monetary Af fairs are uttached. Thc cr:mrnitt€e on Agrictrlturedecided not to give an opinion.-3 PE 77.8?7/fin.A. MOTION FOR A RESOLUTIONB. EXPLANATORY STATE!.IENTOpinion of the Committee onOpinion of the Comrnlttee onCONTENTSBudgetsPage57IOEconomic and Monetary Affairs II-4 PE 77 .877/f Ln.AThe Committee on External Economic Relations hereby submits to theEuropean Parliament the following motion for a resolution togetherwith explanatory stat,ement :MOTION FOR A RESOLUTIONclosing the procedure for consultation of the European parriament onthe proposar from the commission of the European communities to thecouncir for a reguration (EEc) on inward processing rerief arrangementsThe European parliament.- h"rving regard to the Prol)osal from the commission of the EuropeanCommunities to the Council (COM(90) 916 final),- having been consurted try the councir (ooc. r-g74/gL),- having regard to the need to improve the operation of the commoncommerciar policy (pursuant to Article 113 0f the EEc Treaty),- having regard to the report of the Committee on External EconomicIielations and the opinions of the committee on Budgets and theCommittee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ooc. L_3t6/g2),- having regard to the resurt of the vote on the proposar from theCommission,1. stresses that the proposal for a reguration is part of theCommission's programme for the attainment of the customs unioni2. RecaIIs that on several occasions it has expressed support for theCommission Programme and has urged the Council to delegate morepower to the Commission in customs mattersi3. Welcomes the transformation of a number of directives concerning'economic' customs procedures into regulations;4. Welcomes the fact that pursuant to Article I55 of the EEC Treatythis regulation delegates appropriate powers to the Commissionto carry out such customs procedures, which are of economicimportance;-5 PE 77 .877 / f.Ln.5. Stresses further that inwardexternal trade, particularlyuation in the Coprnunity;proccssing i" verywith regard to theirnportant foremployment sit-6. Approves the commission proposal for a reguration;7 ' suggests that probrems relating to the functions of thecommittee procedure inourd be investigated and commented uponby the rnstitutional committee. vv'ur'srr', i),. i,l;.. , .,rji:, !r:,):, ,,. ; i,,+6- PE 77.877/fin..,{,l.rl l: , il ., . .:!EXPLANATORY STATEME!!!l.AstheCommissionstatesinitsexplanatorymemorandumtotheproposal for a regulation, the Iatter is part of a multiannualprogrammefortheattainmentofthecustomsunionandalsoacontribution towards the establishrnent of Community customs law'Becauseofitsimportanceamongstthevariouscustomsprocedures, the commission selected inward processing arrangementsaSapilotprojectfortheimplementationoftheabovementionedProgramme.Essentia}Iyt'hisinvolvesthet,ransformationintoaproposal for a regulation of the principles set out in CouncilDrrective 69/73/EEC of 4 March 1959' although certain aspects havebeendealtwithinmoredetai}andaccounthasbeentakenoftheextent to which the customs union has been attained'2.Themainobjectiveoftheproposalforaregulationistoensurethatgoodsmaybeimportedundertheinwardprocessingarrangements without incurring liability to payment of importduties and can be exported outside the customs territory of theCommunity free of export levies after processing'To achieve this the 20 articles of the commission proposalcover the following main Points:-delrnitiorl,criteriaforapprovalandimplementationof lnward processing relief arrangements' and- a ,committee procedure' as welI as transitional provisions'In t,his context it is important to mention Article 1(3), whichstates that inward processing relief arrangements shall also beusedfortheprocessingofimportgoodssubjecttocommercialpolicY measures.Un}iketheexistingdirectivetheproposalforaregulationcovcrs not only the t:ariff aspect of the arrangements but alsoLhe quantiLatr.ve asPect (quotas) of that part of external tradecovcred by inward processing arrangements'-7 PE 77 .871/f in.3. In addit.ion to Article 5, which def ines the economicconditions which must be fulfilled before inward processing reliefis arrthorjzed, Article 6 is aLso of particular imSrortance as itrequires t)re operator to provide a security. The security (bankguarantee or cash deposit) which must be provided when the goodstr.r be processed are imported and which is not redeemed or refundeduntil the proeessed goods are re-exported, is designed to preventthe goods in question from entering uncontrolled into free circulationin the Community.4. Arr rcle lfr providas for a commi,ttee to deal w'i.th customsprocedures having +n econo{nlc r.mp4ct; tltis (rorunlttee is to supe:rvisethe implementation of, the regulation pursuant to Article L7.As the European Parliament has repeatedly called for areduction in bureaucracy and has opposed the creation of newcommiLtees, the rapporteur was gj.ven assurances by the Commissionthat this committee was not in fact entirely new but would replacethe committee set up under the existing directive.' In addition,the committee would deal not only with questions relating to inwardprocessing but also r^rith otirer customs matters (outward processingarrangements.... ).It is worth noting that this committec is to be given('()r:r'(,sporrdin.l t'csponsibilitr.eu for Lhe i.mp]emonL.rt',iorr of the'eustomsrrnron j-n this field in accordance with the" wishes of the EuropeanParliarr,r:ot and pursuant to Article 155 of the EEC Treaty.5. 'fne rnost imp()rtant products covered by inward processingarrangements include: salmon, cod, wheat, maize, rice, casein,polyvinylchloride, mineral eil derivatives, wpqlr p4per, bauxire,etc.This far from exhaustive list shows that inward processipgarrangements affect a wide variety of economie sectors in theEur<rpean Commqnity.lt is dit ficurt to obtain .rn accurate pict,ure of fhe majorc'e(>nomir' importande of f,hisi tyJrc of customs proc(:clure from t:hcavailltble st,lt i $t i.es. A5 a proportion of bhe toL,.rl external tradeo1' tl:e llurolrcan community in vorume ternrs inward processingarrangements cover 4S and 8t respectively of total imports and-8 PE 7 7 .877 /f Ln.exports to and from third cOuntries. These figures do not givean accurate picture, as trade with countries enjoying preferentialaccess (e.g. EFTA) is not covered by inward processing arrangementssince it is not subject to customs duties..It is however safe to Eay that on average the value ofimported goods is doubled by processing and that the proportion oftotal external trade of the Community accounted for by inwardprocessing arrangement6 Iies somewhere between I5t and 2ot.6. In this t:onnection the Committee for External Economic Relationswould point out that the European Parliiment welcomed the Commission'sprogramme for the attainment of the customs union and urged that itbe j.mplemented raPidIY -The committee supPorts the proposal for a regulation as partof this programme and underllnes the importance of inwardprocessing arrangements in the present economic climate,particuiarly with reqard to the employment situation in theCommunitY.9- PE 77 .877/ tin.ECONOMIC AND ryONETARY AF'FATRSDraftgman: Mr p. BEAZLEYon 24 February tggz the committee on Economic and MonetaryAffairs appointed Mr Beazrey draftsman.rt considered the draft opinion at its meeting of 2g April Lggzand adopted its conclusions unanimously save for 3 abstentions.The following took part in the vote: Mr Moreau, chairman;Mr Beazley, rapporteur; Mr Albers (deputizing for Mr schin zel),Mr Bonaccini, Mr Carossino (deputizing for Mr Fernandez), Mrs Desouches,Mr Estgen (deputizing for Mr Collomb), Mr Herman, IuIr Leonardi,Mr Purvis, Mr liredeklnd (deputizing for Mr schnitker), Mr welsh(deputizing for Mr Hopper) and Mr von lfogau.1l- PE 77 .87? /f in.However, as the committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs pointedout in its report on the amendment of the outline directive on measuringinstruments (Doc. L-'537/gL), it is undesirable on principle that in somecaBes decisions may be taken by the councir without consurtation of theEuropean Parliament. The European Parliament therefore proposed anamendment to the procedure raid down, which was accepted by the commissionl.The fact that we aredirective makes this aspectnow deaLing with a regulation rather than aeven more important.5' No other points have been raised by the committee on Economic andMonetary Affairs justifying amendments to the individuar articres of theproposal for a regulation, although it should be noted that the datesproposed for its entry into force are impractlcable.Att'ention i.s further drawn to the fact that the question was r.rj.sedwhether Article 9(2)(d) might not mean that it would be possible to getround the national percentages of the quotas set by the Community forcerLain pr:oduct groups. The committee decided not to delay the adoptionof its opinion, in the belief t.hat the committee responsible will discussthe matter with the Commission.CONCLUSTONS5' Thei committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs therefore supportsthe commission'a propogal and callr upon the committce responsible to(1) add a paragraph to ite motion for a resolution in which theEuropean Parliament welcomes the transformation of a numberof directives concerning 'economic' cuetoms procedures intoregulations,(2) propoec an amendment to Article tg (3 ) of the proposal for a' directive aE follows;'Artiole IB (3) to read:'3. (a) The commission shall adopt the provisions envisaged wherethey are in accordance with the Opinion of the Committee.'t--The Commission'E amended proposal for aOJ No. C 44, IB.2.Lggz13directive on measuring instruments,pE 77.877/fLn.

Report drawn up on behalf of the Committee on External Economic Relations on the proposal from the Commission of the European  Communities to the Council (Doc. 1-974/81-COM(80) 916 final) for a regulation on inward processing relief arrangements. Working Documents 1982-1983, Document 1-316/82, 9 June 1982

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