15/11/2006

Opening of tariff quota for 2007 for bananas from ACP countries

The Management Committee for Bananas gave a favourable opinion on a European Commission proposal to open a duty-free tariff quota of 775,000 tonnes for ACP countries for 2007. 81% of the quota is on a "first come, first served" basis and the remaining 19% under licences, the same division that applied for the period March-December 2006. This means that 628,152 tonnes will be made available on a "first come, first served" basis, in six tranches of 104,692 tonnes each. The tranches will be made available every two months. The remaining 146,848 tonnes of the tariff quota will be reserved for operators who actually imported bananas from ACP countries in 2006. The licences for these operators will be proportional to the quantities they imported from ACP countries in 2006. The proposal will now be put for formal approval to the Commission. Background: on 29 November 2005, the EU adopted a new "tariff-only" import regime for bananas from countries enjoying Most Favoured Nation status, applying from 1 January 2006. The regime also includes a duty-free annual import quota of 775,000 tonnes for bananas originating in ACP countries.