Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff

The purpose of the present draft Council Regulation is to provide for simplification of the nomenclature, as well as for simplification of customs duties, on an autonomous basis, for certain sanitary articles [sanitary towels (pads) and tampons, napkins and napkin liners for babies, and similar articles, of any material].

Before the introduction of the 2012 version of the Harmonized System (HS), such sanitary articles were classified, depending on their nature or on the constituent material, in different chapters of the HS nomenclature, mainly in Chapters 39, 48, 56, 61, 62 and 63. Various rates of customs duty were associated with these articles. This led to a complex tariff system of classification.

The 2012 version of the HS nomenclature created a single specific HS heading (9619 00) for such sanitary articles. However, the situation prior to 2012 was transposed into the 2012 version of the Combined Nomenclature (CN) without any further amendments. Thus, under the new CN code 9619 00, the same complex tariff system of classification has been kept.

Because this complexity could lead to unnecessary difficulties and burden in applying the CN, it would be appropriate to simplify both the nomenclature and the tariff structure, on an autonomous basis (thus, without requiring any amendment to the Union's WTO schedule), with effect from 1 January 2014.

The proposal aims at having four categories of product (instead of eight), each of these categories being associated with a single autonomous rate of duty (four different rates, instead of eight).

The attached proposal has been discussed with European federations. It is considered to be a balanced approach, taking into account the legal context and the interests of European industry.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)737: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:737:FIN

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