29. 6. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 170/3 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1908/91 of 28 June 1991 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for rum, tafia and arrack originating in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (1991/92) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas the Community signed the Fourth ACP-EEC Convention at Lomé on 15 December 1989 ; whereas the Community decided, by Council Regulation (EEC) No 524/91 of 27 February 1991 concerning the application of Decision No 1/91 of the ACP-EEC Council of Ministers extending Decision No 2/90 on transitional measures valid from 1 March 1990 ('), to apply Protocol 6 annexed to the Convention autonomously in advance ; Whereas Protocol 6 provides that products originating in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States which fall within CN codes 2208 40 10, 2208 40 90, 2208 90 11 and 2208 90 19 shall, until the entry into force of a common organization of the market in spirits, be allowed into the Community free of customs duties under conditions such as to permit the development of traditional trade flows - between the ACP States and the Community and between the Member States ; whereas the Community shall until 31 December 1993 fix each year the quantities which may be imported free of customs duties on the basis of the largest quantities imported annually from the ACP States into the Community in the past three years for which statistics are available, increased by an annual growth rate of 37 % on the market of the United Kingdom and 27 % on the other markets of the Commu- nity ; Whereas by virtue of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1820/87 of 25 June 1987 concerning the application of Decision No 2/87 of the ACP-EEC Council of Ministers on the advance implementation of the Protocol to the Third ACP-EEC Convention consequent on the Acces- sion of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Repu- blic to the European Communities (¥, provision is made for special arrangements for the quota duties to be applied by those two Member States ; whereas by reason of the particularities peculiar to the market in rum the quota period ranges from 1 July to 30 June; Whereas, having regard to the levels reached by imports of the products concerned into the Community during the past three years for which statistics are available, the annual quota volume for the period from 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992 must be fixed at 197 771 hectolitres of pure alcohol ; Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure to all Community importers equal and uninterrupted access to () OJ No L 58, 5. 3. 1991, p. 2. () OJ No L 172, 30. 6. 1987, p. 1. the abovementioned quota and uninterrupted application of the rate laid down for that quota to all imports of the products concerned into all Member States until the quota has been used up; Whereas, following the case law of the Court of Justice, it is unlawful to allocate the Community quotas between the Member States, unless overriding circumstances of an administrative, technical or economic nature prevent acting otherwise ; whereas, in addition, in cases where it is decided to allocate quotas, a mechanism should be set up whereby the integrity of the Common Customs Tariff may be protected ; Whereas the economic difficulties which could result for the French Overseas Departments (FOD) from the sudden change in the arrangements for importing rum from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States constitute circumstances having a binding effect which justify the temporary and partial maintenance of these arrange- ments ; whereas, however, the arrangements for allocation of the quota into national shares should be phased out and can only be justified on a transitional basis ; whereas the arrangements should in any event definitively disap- pear with the prospect of the establishment of the internal market ; Whereas, in these circumstances, it is advisable to increase 10 60 % the volume of the Community reserve by means of a system for the automatic transfer of Member State share to the reserve as soon as 80 % of the latter has been used up; Whereas, during the past three years for which statistical data are available, imports from Member States have been as follows : (in bectolitres of pure alcobol) Member State 1988 1989 1990 Benelux 7 389 7 621 9339 Denmark 2038 1748 2404 Germany 42523 48 591 50 451 Greece — 586 5699 Spain — 156 9514 France 1216 19 — Ireland ' 2989 2973 2282 Italy 806 - 431 54 Portugal — — — United Kingdom : 63 525 83773 70 436 Total 119 686 145 898 150179