14. 7. 92 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 195/21 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1929/92 of 10 July 1992 opening, allocating and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for rum, tafia and arrack originating in the Aftican, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (1992 to 1993) 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 Fourth ACP-EEC Convention entered into - force on 1 September 1991 (); Whereas Protocol 6 to that Convention 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 develop- ment 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 Commu- nity in the past three years for which statistics are avai- lable, increased, until 31 December 1992, 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 Minis- ters 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 until 31 December 1992 ; Whereas those two Member States will apply the quota duty indicated in Article 1 as from 1 January 1993; whereas, by reason of the characteristics 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 () OJ No L 229, 17. 8. 1991, p. 3. () OJ No L 172, 30. 6. 1987, p. 1. the past three years for which statistics are available, the annual quota volume for the period from 1 July 1992 to 30 June 1993 must be fixed at 214 268 hectolitres of pure alcohol ; Whereas although this volume is calculated on the basis of the reference year 1991, that is, for an amount of 184 402 hectolitres of pure alcohol, it is appropriate for reasons inherent in the rum market to take only the second six months of 1991 as a basis for calculating the specific growth rates applicable until 31 December 1992, namely, 104 111 hectolitres of pure alcohol, 17 562 hecto- litres of which were imported by the United Kingdom and 86 549 hectolitres by the other Member States; whereas the quota volume for the second six months of 1992 must accordingly be fixed at 133 977 hectolitres of pure alcohol ; Whereas the quota volume calculated for the first six months of 1993 should not be increased but should be fixed at the same amount as applied in the last correspon- ding quota period for which statistics are available, that is the first six months of 1991, for which the amount is 80 291 hectolitres of pure alcohol ; Whereas it is in particular necessary to ensure to all Community importers equal and uninterrupted access to 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, being justified only on a transitional basis, and whereas they should in any event definitively disappear as from 1 January 1993;