Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff

1 A goods nomenclature, hereinafter called the ‘combined nomenclature’, or in abbreviated form ‘CN’, is hereby established to meet, at one and the same time, the requirements both of the Common Customs Tariff and of the external trade statistics of the Community.

2 The combined nomenclature shall comprise: (a) the harmonized system nomenclature; (b) Community subdivisions to that nomenclature, referred to as ‘CN subheadings’ in those cases where a corresponding rate of duty is specified; (c) preliminary provisions, additional section or chapter notes and footnotes relating to CN subheadings.

3 The combined nomenclature is reproduced in Annex I. The autonomous and conventional rates of duty of the Common Customs Tariff and the supplementary statistical units, as well as other necessary information, are laid down in the said Annex.

The Commission shall establish an integrated tariff, of the European Communities, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Taric’, based on the combined nomenclature. It shall comprise: (a) additional Community subdivisions, referred to as ‘Taric’ subheadings’, which are needed for the description of goods subject to the specific Community measures listed in Annex II; (b) the rates of customs duty and other charges applicable; (c) the code numbers mentioned in Article 3 (3) and (4); (d) any other information necessary for the implementation or management of the Community measures involved.

1 Each CN subheading shall have an eight digit code number: (a) the first six digits shall be the code numbers relating to the headings and subheadings of the harmonized system nomenclature; (b) the seventh and eighth digits shall identify the CN subheadings. When a heading or subheading of the harmonized system is not further subdivided for Community purposes, the seventh and eight digits shall be ‘00’.

2 The ninth digit shall be reserved for the use of the Member States for national statistical subdivisions, to be inserted in accordance with Article 5 (3).

3 The Taric subheadings shall be identified by the 10th and 11th digits which, together with the code numbers referred to in paragraph 1, form the Taric code numbers. In the absence of a Community subdivision, the 10th and 11th digits shall be ‘00’.

4 Exceptionally, an additional Taric code of four digits may be used for the application of specific Community measures which are not coded, or not entirely coded, at the 10th and 11 th digit level.

1 The combined nomenclature, together with the rates of duty and other relevant charges, and the tariff measures included in the Taric or in other Community arrangements shall constitute the common customs tariff referred to in Article 9 of the Treaty, which shall be applied on the importation of goods into the Community.

2 The combined nomenclature, including its code numbers and, where appropriate, the supplementary statistical units relating to it, shall be applied by the Community and by the Member States to the statistics relating to the external trade of the Community.

1 The Taric shall be used by the Commission and the Member States for the application of Community measures concerning imports and, where necessary, exports and trade between Member States.

2 The Taric code numbers shall be applied to all importations of goods covered by the corresponding subheadings. They shall, where necessary, be applied to exports and to trade between Member States.

3 Member States may insert subdivisions after the CN subheadings for national statistical purposes, and after the Taric subheadings for other national purposes. Identifying code numbers shall be assigned to such subdivisions in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 2793/86.

4 Member States which adopt subdivisions for national purposes other than statistics, may, on informing the Commission, defer the use of Taric subheadings and the corresponding 10th and 11 th digits until 31 December 1989 at the latest.

The Commission shall be responsible for the management and publication of the Taric. It shall, in particular, take the steps necessary to: (a) integrate the measures listed in Annex II into the Taric; (b) attribute Taric code numbers; (c) update the Taric; (d) inform Member States immediately of changes to Taric subheadings and numeric codes.

1 The Commission shall be assisted by a Committee on Tariff and Statistical Nomenclature, called the ‘Nomenclature Committee’ and hereinafter referred to as the ‘committee’, composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representatives of the Commission.

2 The committee shall adopt its own rules of procedure.

The committee may examine any matter referred to it by its chairman, either on his own initiative or at the request of a representative of a Member State: (a) concerning the combined nomenclature; (b) concerning the Taric nomenclature and any other nomenclature which is wholly or partly based on the combined nomenclature or which adds any subdivisions to it, and which is established by specific Community provisions with a view to the application of tariff or other measures relating to trade in goods.

1 Measures relating to the matters set out below shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure defined in Article 10: (a) application of the combined nomenclature and the Taric concerning in particular: the classification of goods in the nomenclatures referred to in Article 8, explanatory notes; (b) amendments to the combined nomenclature to take account of changes in requirements relating to statistics or to commercial policy; (c) amendments to Annex II; (d) amendments to the combined nomenclature and adjustments to duties in accordance with decisions adopted by the Council or the Commission; (e) amendments to the combined nomenclature intended to adapt it to take account of technological or commercial developments or aimed at the alignment or clarification of texts; (f) amendments to the combined nomenclature resulting from changes to the harmonized system nomenclature; (g) questions relating to the application, functioning and management of the harmonized system to be discussed within the Customs Cooperation Council.

2 The provisions adopted under paragraph 1 shall not amend: the rates of customs duties, agricultural levies, refunds or other amounts applicable within the framework of the common agricultural policy or within that of specific schemes applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products, quantitative restrictions laid down under Community provisions, nomenclatures adopted within the framework of the common agricultural policy.

3 If necessary, amendments to CN subheadings shall be immediately included as Taric subheadings. They shall only be included in the CN under the conditions referrred to in Article 12.

1 The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be adopted. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.

2 The Commission shall adopt the measures, which shall apply immediately. However, if those measures are not in accordance with the opinion of the committee, they shall be communicated by the Commission to the Council forthwith. In that event the Commission shall defer application of the measures which it has decided upon for three months from the date of such communication.

3 The Council, acting by qualified majority, may take a different decision within the period referred to in paragraph 2.

1 Where Community provisions prescribe conditions concerning the eligibility of goods for a favourable tariff arrangement upon importation, having regard to their nature or end use, those conditions may be fixed according to the procedures laid down in Article 10.

2 For the purposes of paragraph 1, ‘favourable tariff arrangement’ means any reduction or suspension, even under a tariff quota, of a customs duty or charge having equivalent effect or of an agricultural levy or other import charge provided for under the common agricultural policy or under the specific arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products.

The Commission shall adopt each year by means of a Regulation a complete version of the combined nomenclature together with the corresponding autonomous and conventional rates of duty of the Common Customs Tariff, as it results from measures adopted by the Council or by the Commission. The said Regulation shall be published not later than 31 October in the Official Journal of the European Communities and it shall apply from 1 January of the following year.

The Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic are hereby authorized not to apply the Taric for the periods during which the transitional arrangements pertaining to tariff matters provided for in the Act of Accession to the Community apply.

Where a tariff preference is granted on the basis of rules of origin derived from the nomenclature of the Customs Cooperation Council in force on 31 December 1987, those rules shall remain applicable in accordance with the Community acts in force on that date.

1 The codes and the descriptions of goods established on the basis of the combined nomenclature shall replace those established on the basis of the nomenclatures of the Common Customs Tariff and the Nimexe, without prejudice to international agreements concluded by the Community before the entry into force of this Regulation, and to acts taken in implementation thereof, which refer to the said nomenclatures. Community acts which include the tariff or statistical nomenclature shall be amended accordingly by the Commission.

2 References to the Nimexe in the various Community acts in force shall be deemed to refer to the combined nomenclature.

Regulations (EEC) No 950/68 and (EEC) No 97/69 are hereby repealed.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Articles 1 to 5 and 12 to 16 shall not apply until 1 January 1988.