Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Common Customs Tariff - Community tariff quotas - Import quotas for rice introduced to compensate for the increase in certain rates following the accession of new Member States - Regulation No 1522/96 - Legality in the light of the relevant GATT rules and the principles of proportionality and the obligation to state reasons - Misuse of powers - None

(General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Art. XXIV(6); Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV, para. 5 et seq.; Council Regulation No 1522/96, Arts 3, 4 and 9)

Summary

Under Regulation No 1522/96 on certain tariff quotas for imports of rice and broken rice, which was adopted pursuant to agreements concluded with Australia and Thailand following negotiations conducted pursuant to Article XXIV(6) of GATT, Articles 3 and 4 provide that import licences are to be issued solely to traders holding an export licence obtained in the country of origin, whilst Article 9 sets out the criteria for intervention where there is a risk to the Community rice sector and fixes in particular a quantitative threshold for certain products. Since, by adopting those arrangements, the Community sought to implement a particular obligation entered into within the framework of GATT, namely to agree with the third countries concerned upon mutually satisfactory compensatory adjustments to take account of the increase in certain customs duty rates ensuing from the application of the Common Customs Tariff by the new Member States, that obligation must be regarded as fulfilled and cannot therefore serve as a basis for examining the legality of the Regulation if the Community and the third countries have reached the agreements referred to above.

Nor, moreover, does it appear that the management system provided for in Articles 3 and 4 or the intervention system provided for in Article 9 of the Regulation are contrary to the principle of proportionality, or that the intervention system is vitiated by defective reasoning or constitutes misuse of powers.