9.7.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 17719 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1084/2005 of 8 July 2005 amending Annexes II, IIl and V to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 on common rules for imports of certain textile products from third countries THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 of 12 October 1993 on common rules for imports of certain textile products from third countries ('), and in particular Article 19 thereof, Whereas: (1) () O] L 275, 8.11.1993, p. Commission Regulation (EC) No 930/2005 (OJ L 162, 23.6.2005, p- 1) On 1 January 2005, with the expiry of the WTO Agreement on Textile and Clothing, quotas on the imports of textile and clothing product categories were eliminated vis-a-vis WTO Members. On 13 December 2004, ahead of the liberalisation of the quotas, the Community introduced by Council Regu- lation (EC) No 2200/2004 (3) a surveillance system for the 35 textile product categories concerned by the liber- alisation. Paragraph 242 of the Working Party Report of the Accession of the People’s Republic of China (%) (the PRC) to the WTO (the Textile Specific Safeguard Clause, or TSSC) introduced the possibility of specific safeguard measures on Chinese textile exports. It states that, where a WTO Member believed that imports of Chinese origin of textiles were, due to market disruption, threatening to impede the orderly development of trade in these products the Member could request consul- tations with the PRC with a view to easing or avoiding such market disruption. By Regulation (EC) No 138/2003 (%), the Council inserted Article 10a in Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 in order to transpose paragraph 242 of the Working Party Report into Community legislation. On 6 April 2005, the Commission adopted indicative guidelines on the application of Article 10a of Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 concerning a textiles specific safeguard clause (the Guidelines). 3. Regulation as last amended by () O] L 374, 22.12.2004, p. 1. (®) Document WT/MIN(01)3 of 10 November 2001. () OJ L 23, 28.1.2003, p. 1. (6) The European Commission requested and held consul- tations with the PRC in the framework of paragraph 242 of the Working Party Report on the PRCs Accession to the WTO and Article 10a of Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 for the product categories in which imports originating in the PRC were believed to threaten to impede, due to market disruption, the orderly devel- opment of trade. Such consultations were concluded on 10 June 2005 and led to a mutually satisfactory solution for 10 product categories. The result of the consultations is reflected in a Memorandum of Understanding on the export of certain Chinese Textile and Clothing Products to the European Union between the European Commission and the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China of the same date. The Memorandum of Understanding covers imports from the PRC into the Community of ten product cate- gories: category 2 (cotton fabrics), category 4 (T-shirts), category 5 (pullovers), category 6 (trousers), category 7 (blouses), category 20 (bed linen), category 26 (dresses), category 31 (brassieres), category 39 (table and kitchen linen) and category 115 (flax or ramie yarn). The corre- sponding customs codes are those listed in Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93. The Commission believes that imports of Chinese origin of those categories, due to the existence or threat of market disruption, threaten to impede the orderly devel- opment of trade within the meaning of paragraph 242 of the Working Party Report on the PRC’s Accession to the WTO and Article 10a of Regulation (EEC) No 3030/93 for the following reasons. Imports of category 2 (cotton fabrics) originating in the PRC increased by 71% in volume in the first four months of 2005, when compared to the same period in 2004. This brings imports of this category to 124 % of the alert level specified by the Guidelines (the alert level). Imports of this category from all countries increased slightly, by 4 %, during the same period. However, the average price of Chinese origin imports has decreased by 21 % (according to import surveillance data), much faster than the average price of other countries (—2 % based on January-March Eurostat data). This situation is more acute as regards imports of products of sub-category 2A (denim fabrics), as imports from China in the first quarter of 2005 increased by 102 % as compared with the same period of 2004, whilst total imports increased by 15 % and average unit prices dropped by 20 %.