29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/1

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/3

(1)

In order to ensure uniform application of the Combined Nomenclature annexed to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, it is necessary to adopt measures concerning the classification of the goods referred to in the Annex to this Regulation.

(2)

Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 has laid down the general rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature. Those rules apply also to any other nomenclature which is wholly or partly based on it or which adds any additional subdivision to it and which is established by specific Community provisions, with a view to the application of tariff and other measures relating to trade in goods.

(3)

Pursuant to those general rules, the goods described in column 1 of the table set out in the Annex should be classified under the CN code indicated in column 2, by virtue of the reasons set out in column 3 of that table.

(4)

It is appropriate to provide that binding tariff information which has been issued by the customs authorities of Member States in respect of the classification of goods in the Combined Nomenclature but which is not in accordance with this Regulation can, for a period of three months, continue to be invoked by the holder, under Article 12(6) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (2).

(5)

The Customs Code Committee has not issued an opinion within the time limit set by its Chairman,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/5

(1)

In order to ensure uniform application of the Combined Nomenclature annexed to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, it is necessary to adopt measures concerning the classification of the goods referred to in the Annex to this Regulation.

(2)

Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 has laid down the general rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature. Those rules apply also to any other nomenclature which is wholly or partly based on it or which adds any additional subdivision to it and which is established by specific Community provisions, with a view to the application of tariff and other measures relating to trade in goods.

(3)

Pursuant to those general rules, the goods described in column 1 of the table set out in the Annex should be classified under the CN code indicated in column 2, by virtue of the reasons set out in column 3 of that table.

(4)

It is appropriate to provide that binding tariff information which has been issued by the customs authorities of Member States in respect of the classification of goods in the Combined Nomenclature but which is not in accordance with this Regulation can, for a period of three months, continue to be invoked by the holder, under Article 12(6) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (2).

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/7

(1)

According to Article 61, first subparagraph, point (d) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 the sugar produced during the marketing year in excess of the quota referred to in Article 56 of that Regulation may be exported only within the quantitative limit fixed by the Commission.

(2)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 274/2009 of 2 April 2009 fixing the quantitative limit for the exports of out-of-quota sugar and isoglucose until the end of the 2009/2010 marketing year (3) sets the above mentioned limits. This Regulation will apply only from 1 October 2009 and therefore the quantitative limit for the exports of out-of-quota sugar and isoglucose until the end of the 2009/2010 marketing year will only be available from this date.

(3)

For the 2009/2010 marketing year an acceptance percentage should therefore be set at zero for quantities applied from 18 May 2009 to 22 May 2009 and the lodging of export licence applications for sugar should be suspended. For the 2009/2010 marketing year all export licence applications for sugar submitted on 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 May 2009 should accordingly be rejected,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/8

(1)

At the trilogue meeting of 2 April 2009 the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed on the financing, in the framework of the European Economic Recovery Plan for modernisation of infrastructures and energy solidarity, of projects in the field of energy and broadband Internet, as well as for strengthening operations related to the ‘new challenges’ defined in the context of the assessment of the 2003 mid-term reform of the common agricultural policy (Health Check). The financing requires, as a first step, a revision of the multiannual financial framework 2007-2013 in accordance with points 21, 22, and 23 of the Interinstitutional Agreement, so as to raise the ceiling for the year 2009 for commitment appropriations under subheading 1a by an amount of EUR 2 000 000 000 in current prices.

(2)

The increase of the ceiling for subheading 1a will be fully offset by decreasing the ceiling for commitment appropriations under heading 2 for the year 2009 by EUR 2 000 000 000.

(3)

In order to keep an appropriate relationship between commitments and payments, the annual ceilings for payment appropriations will be adjusted. The adjustment will be neutral.

(4)

Annex I to the Interinstitutional Agreement on budgetary discipline and sound financial management should therefore be amended accordingly (2),

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/10

(1)

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (the Fund) was established to provide additional support to redundant workers who suffer from the consequences of major structural changes in world trade patterns and to assist them with their reintegration into the labour market.

(2)

The Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 allows the mobilisation of the Fund within the annual ceiling of EUR 500 million.

(3)

Spain submitted an application to mobilise the Fund, in respect of redundancies in the motor vehicle sector, on 29 December 2008. This application complies with the requirements for determining the financial contributions as laid down in Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006. The Commission therefore proposes to deploy an amount of EUR 2 694 300.

(4)

Furthermore, the Commission proposes to deploy an amount of EUR 690 000 from the Fund for technical assistance in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006.

(5)

The Fund should therefore be mobilised in order to provide a financial contribution for the application submitted by Spain as well as to address the need for technical assistance,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/11

(1)

According to Article 104 of the Treaty, Member States are to avoid excessive government deficits.

(2)

Pursuant to point 5 of the Protocol on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the obligation in Article 104(1) of the Treaty to avoid excessive general government deficits does not apply to the United Kingdom unless it moves to the third stage of economic and monetary union (1). While in the second stage of economic and monetary union, the United Kingdom is required to endeavour to avoid excessive deficits, pursuant to Article 116(4) of the Treaty.

(3)

The Stability and Growth Pact is based on the objective of sound government finances as a means of strengthening the conditions for price stability and for strong sustainable growth conducive to employment creation. The Stability and Growth Pact includes Council Regulation (EC) No 1467/97 of 7 July 1997 on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure (2), which was adopted in order to further the prompt correction of excessive general government deficits.

(4)

The 2005 reform of the Stability and Growth Pact sought to strengthen its effectiveness and economic underpinnings as well as to safeguard the sustainability of the public finances in the long run. It aimed at ensuring that in particular the economic and budgetary background was taken fully into account in all steps in the EDP. In this way, the Stability and Growth Pact provides the framework supporting government policies for a prompt return to sound budgetary positions taking account of the economic situation.

(5)

By Decision 2008/713/EC (3) the Council decided, in accordance with Article 104(6), that an excessive deficit existed in the United Kingdom.

(6)

In accordance with Article 104(7) of the Treaty and Article 3(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1467/97, on 8 July 2008 the Council also, on the basis of a Commission recommendation, adopted a Recommendation (4) to the UK authorities calling on them to put an end to the excessive deficit situation as soon as possible and by financial year 2009/2010 at the latest, by bringing the general government deficit below 3 % of GDP in a credible and sustainable manner. To that end, the Council recommended the authorities to ensure a structural improvement of at least 0,5 % of GDP in 2009/10 and established the deadline of 8 January 2008 for the UK government to take effective action.

(7)

The assessment of the action taken by the United Kingdom to correct the excessive deficit by 2009/2010 in response to the Council Recommendation under Article 104(7) leads to the following conclusions:

(8)

This leads to the conclusion that, in a context of progressively weakening economic conditions, the UK authorities have since July 2008 implemented additional deficit-increasing discretionary measures in line with the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP). The combined effects of the strong economic downturn and the stimulus measures adopted by the UK authorities have led to the substantial deterioration in the UK’s budgetary position projected for 2009/2010,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/13

(1)

Within the framework of the European Research Area, the high flux reactor at Petten (hereinafter HFR) has been, and continues to be, an important means available to the Community to contribute to materials sciences and testing, to nuclear medicine and to safety research in the field of nuclear energy.

(2)

The operation of the HFR has been supported by a series of supplementary research programmes the last of which, Council Decision 2007/773/Euratom of 26 November 2007 on a one year extension of the supplementary research programme to be implemented by the Joint Research Centre for the European Atomic Energy Community (1) expired on 31 December 2007.

(3)

The operation of the HFR continued throughout 2008 without a supplementary research programme, while efforts were made to base its operation and exploitation on an independent and more durable legal regime. Since those efforts failed, it is necessary to provide for continued financial support under a new supplementary research programme.

(4)

Given the continued need for the HFR as an irreplaceable infrastructure for Community research in the fields of improvement of safety of existing nuclear reactors, of health including the development of medical isotopes to answer questions of medical research, of nuclear fusion, of fundamental research and of training and waste management including the possibility to study the safety behaviour of nuclear fuels for the new generation of reactor systems, its operation should continue under this supplementary research programme until 2011.

(5)

Due to their special interest in the continued operation of the HFR, Belgium, France and the Netherlands should, as indicated by them, finance this programme through financial contributions made to the general budget of the European Union by way of assigned revenue.

(6)

Part of the contributions under the present supplementary programme should also cover expenditure made during the year 2008,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/16

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 of 17 May 2002 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, concerning access to confidential data for scientific purposes (2) establishes, for the purpose of enabling statistical conclusions to be drawn for scientific purposes, the conditions under which access to confidential data transmitted to the Community authority may be granted and the rules of cooperation between the Community and national authorities in order to facilitate such access.

(2)

Commission Decision 2004/452/EC (3) has laid down a list of bodies whose researchers may access confidential data for scientific purposes.

(3)

The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kansaneläkelaitos — KELA), Finland, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel, and the Federal Public Service Social Security, Belgium, have to be regarded as bodies fulfilling the required conditions and should therefore be added to the list of agencies, organisations and institutions referred to in Article 3(1)(e) of Regulation (EC) No 831/2002.

(4)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Statistical Confidentiality,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/18

(1)

Under Article 12(3) of Joint Action 2005/797/CFSP, the Council authorised the Political and Security Committee (PSC) to take the relevant decision on the establishment of a Committee of Contributors for EUPOL COPPS.

(2)

The European Council Conclusions of Göteborg of 15 and 16 June 2001 established guiding principles and modalities for third States' contributions to Police Missions. On 10 December 2002, the Council approved the document entitled ‘Consultations and modalities for the contribution of non-EU States to EU civilian crisis management operations’, which further developed the arrangements for the participation of third States in civilian crisis management operations, including the setting-up of a Committee of Contributors.

(3)

The Committee of Contributors for the EUPOL COPPS should play a key role in the day-to-day management of the Mission. It should be the main forum for discussing all problems relating to the day-to-day management of the Mission. The PSC, which exercises the political control and strategic direction of the Mission, should take account of the views of the Committee of Contributors,

29.5.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 132/20

(1)

According to Article 3 of Joint Action 2008/851/CFSP Rear Admiral Philip Jones was appointed as EU Operation Commander for the European Union military operation to contribute to the deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast.

(2)

Pursuant to Article 6(1) of Joint Action 2008/851/CFSP the Council authorised the Political and Security Committee (PSC) to take decisions on the appointment of the EU Operation Commander.

(3)

The United Kingdom has announced the availability of Rear Admiral Peter HUDSON to replace Rear Admiral Philip JONES as EU Operation Commander.

(4)

The EU Military Committee has supported that nomination.

(5)

In accordance with Article 6 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Denmark does not participate in the elaboration and the implementation of decisions and actions of the European Union which have defence implications,