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Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

Ref : CR EIC 230/5/4/10

29 May 2001

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 91/01

European Union (EU)*: Proposal on Phasing Out Community Quotas Imposed on Certain Non-textile Products Originating in the Mainland of China

The European Commission (EC) has proposed to progressively liberalise the Community quotas imposed on three categories of non-textile products (viz. certain footwear, porcelain or china tableware and kitchenware, and ceramic tableware or kitchenware) originating in the mainland of China. The envisaged timetable for phasing out the quotas is 2001-2004, pending finalization of the World Trade Organization (WTO) accession protocol for the mainland of China.

DETAILS

  1. The EC's proposal came about taking into account the commitments that the EU made in the bilateral agreement between the EU and the mainland of China concerning the latter's accession to the WTO and also after conducting an annual review on the need of the Community quotas. In the report@ submitted to the Council of the EU (the Council) on 14 February 2001, the EC recommended to the Council that pending finalization of the accession protocol for the Mainland, the quota regime should be amended as follows:

    1. the surveillance measures on certain sensitive products# should be abolished as from 1 January 2001;

    2. the quota levels for the three categories of non-textile products (as set out in paragraph 1) should be adjusted each year, as from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2004, in accordance with the time-table in the Appendix (pdf format ) so that complete removal of quotas should take effect as from 1 January 2005; and
       
    3. since the quotas for 2001 have already been allocated in October 2000 based on their previous level (please refer to Commercial Information Circular No. 172/2000 of 18 November 2000 for details of the allocation), the EC will make necessary arrangements to allocate the increase in the quota level proposed for 2001 when paragraph 2(b) above is adopted by the Council.
       
  2. We will monitor the Council's deliberations on the EC's proposal and keep traders informed.

ENQUIRIES

  1. For enquiries about the contents of this Circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5684.

Yours faithfully,

 

(Miss Helen YUNG)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* : The EU Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

@ : The EC report [COM(2001)84] is available at the EC's web-site (http://europa.eu.int/prelex/)

# : The surveillance measures were introduced in 1994 to keep imports of a variety of products including, among others, certain footwear, bicycles, toys, brooms and brushes, under closer observation in cases where the trend gave cause for concern but was of no immediate danger to the Community industry. Please refer to Commercial Information Circular No. 41/00 of 21 March 2000 for the full list of products subject to surveillance.



Note : While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.