Considerations on COM(2023)255 - Amending Regulation 2021/2278 suspending the Common Customs Tariff duties on certain agricultural and industrial products

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(1) In order to ensure a sufficient and uninterrupted supply of certain agricultural and industrial products which are not produced in the Union and thereby avoid any disturbances on the market for those products, Common Customs Tariff duties of the type referred to in Article 56(2), point (c), of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council0 (‘CCT duties’) on those products have been suspended by Council Regulation (EU) 2021/22780. As a result, the products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 can be imported into the Union at reduced or zero duty rates without any limitation as regards their quantity.

(2) The Union production of certain products that are not listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 is inadequate to meet the specific requirements of the user industries in the Union. As it is in the Union's interest to ensure an adequate supply of certain products, and having regard to the fact that identical, equivalent or substitute products are not produced in sufficient quantities within the Union, it is necessary to grant a complete suspension of the CCT duties also on those products.

(3) With a view to promoting integrated battery production in the Union, a partial suspension of the CCT duties should be granted in respect of certain products related to battery production that are currently not listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278, taking into consideration that the respective Union production of those products is inadequate to meet the specific requirements of the user industries in the Union. The date for the mandatory review of those suspensions should be 31 December 2023, in order for that review to take into account the short-term evolution of the battery production sector in the Union.

(4) It is necessary to amend the product description and classification for certain CCT duty suspensions listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 in order to take into account technical product developments and economic trends in the market.

(5) It is no longer in the interest of the Union to maintain the suspension of CCT duties for certain products listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2021/2278. The suspensions for those products should therefore be deleted from that Annex.

(6) Regulation (EU) 2021/2278 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7) In order to avoid any interruption in the application of the autonomous tariff suspension scheme and to comply with the guidelines set out in the Communication from the Commission of 13 December 2011 concerning autonomous tariff suspensions and quotas0, the changes provided for in this Regulation regarding the tariff suspensions for the products concerned should apply from 1 July 2023. This Regulation should therefore enter into force as a matter of urgency.