origin referred to in Article 2 of this Protocol. 4. The results of the subsequent verifications carried out in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall be communicated to the competent authorities of the Community within three months at the latest. The information communicated shall indicate whether the disputed certificate or licence or declaration applies to the goods actually exported and whether these goods are eligible for export in accordance with the arrangements established by this Agreement. The information shall also include, at the request of the Community, copies of all documentation necessary to determine the facts fully and in particular the true origin of the goods. Should such verifications reveal systematic irregularities in the use of declarations of origin, the Community may subject imports of the products in question to the provisions of Article 2 (1) of this Protocol. 5. For the purpose of subsequent verification of certificates of origin, copies of the certificates as well as any export documents referring to them shall be kept for at least a period of three years by the competent governmental authority in Macao. 6. Recourse to the random verification procedure specified in this Article must not constitute an obstacle to the release for home use of the products in question. Article 21 1. Where the verification procedure referred to in Article 20 or where information available to the Community or to Macao indicates or appears to indicate that the provisions of this Agreement are being contravened, both parties shall cooperate closely and with the appropriate urgency to prevent such contravention. 2. To this end, Macao shall, on its own initiative or at the request of the Community, carry out appropriate inquiries or arrange for such inquiries to be carried out concerning operations which are or appear to the Community to be in contravention of this Agreement. Macao shall communicate the results of these inquiries to the Community together with any other pertinent information enabling the true origin of the goods to be determined. 3. By agreement between the Community and Macao officials designated by the Community may be present at the inquiries referred to in paragraph 2. 4. Pursuant to the cooperation referred to in paragraph 1, Macao and the Community shall exchange any information considered by either partner to be of use in preventing the contravention of the provisions of this Agreement. Such information may include information on trade in products subject to this Agreement between Macao and other countries and information on production of such products in Macao. 5. Where it is established that the provisions of this Agreement have been contravened, Macao and the Community may agree to take such measures as are necessary to prevent a recurrence of such contravention. >PIC FILE= "T0036596"> >PIC FILE= "T0036597"> PROTOCOL B Under Article 7 (6) of the Agreement, a quantitative limit may be fixed on a regional basis where imports of a given product into any region of the Community in relation to the amounts determined in accordance with paragraph 2 of the said Article 7 exceed the following regional percentage: >PIC FILE= "T0036598"> PROTOCOL C The annual growth rate for the quantitative limits introduced under Article 7 of the Agreement shall be determined as follows: For products in categories falling within Group I, II and III, the growth rate shall be fixed by agreement between the parties in accordance with the consultation procedure established in Article 16 (1) of the Agreement. Such growth rate may in no case be lower than the highest rate applied to corresponding products under bilateral agreements concluded under the Geneva Arrangement between the Community and other third countries having a level of trade equal to or comparable with that of Macao.
rise to the request for consultations, whichever is the higher. The annual level so fixed shall be revised upwards after consultations in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 16 (1), with a view to fulfilling the conditions set out in paragraph 2, should the trend of total imports into the Community of the product in question make this necessary. 5. The limits introduced under paragraph 2 or paragraph 4 may in no case be lower than the level of imports of products in that category originating in Macao in 1980. 6. Quantitative limits may also be established by the Community on a regional basis in accordance with the provisions of Protocol B. 7. The annual growth rate for the quantitative limits introduced under this Article shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Protocol C. 8. The provisions of this Article shall not apply where the percentages specified in paragraph 2 have been reached as a result of a fall in total imports into the Community, and not as a result of an increase in exports of products originating in Macao. 9. In the event of the provisions of paragraph 2, 3 or paragraph 4 being applied, the Macao authorities undertake to issue export licences for products covered by contracts concluded before the introduction of the quantitative limit, up to the volume of the quantitative limit fixed for the current year. 10. Up to the date of communication of the statistics referred to in Article 9 (6) the provisions of paragraph 2 shall apply on the basis of the annual statistics previously communicated by the Community. 11. The provisions of the Agreement which concern exports of products subject to the quantitative limits established in Annex II shall also apply to products for which quantitative limits are introduced under this Article. Article 8 1. Where the Community ascertains that the level of imports in a given category of Group I subject to quantitative limits set out in Annex II exceeds in any Agreement year the level of imports in the preceding year by 10 % of the level of the quantitative limit set out in Annex II for the current Agreement year, it may request the opening of consultations in accordance with the provisions described in Article 16 of this Agreement with a view to reaching agreement on: - the suspension, wholly or in part, of the provisions of Article 6, or - a modification of the quantitative limit set out in Annex II by the establishment of an ad hoc limit below the existing quantitative limit, - as well as the corresponding equitable and quantifiable compensation. 2. The Community shall authorize the importation of products of the said category shipped from Macao before the date on which the request for consultations was submitted. Pending a mutually satisfactory solution, Macao undertakes for a period of one month from the date of notification of the request for consultations, to restrain exports of the products in the category concerned to the Community or to the region or regions of the Community market specified by the Community to one-twelfth of the level of exports reached during the preceding calendar year. 3. A quantitative limit modified as a result of the application of paragraph 1 in any year preceding the final Agreement year shall be subject to a growth rate so as to ensure that the level of the quantitative limit set out in Annex II for the final Agreement year is regained in that year. 4. Should the Parties be unable in the course of consultations to reach a satisfactory solution within the period specified in Article 16 of the Agreement, Macao undertakes, if so requested by the Community: - to suspend, wholly or in part, the provisions of Article 6 in respect of the Community or any of its regions for the category concerned, or - to modify the quantitative limit set out in Annex II for the category concerned so as to restrain exports to the Community or any of its regions to 125 % of imports attained during the preceding calendar year, or to the level of exports up to date of the request for consultations plus the level of exports provided for during the consultation period under paragraph 2, whichever is the higher. In the event that the provisions of this paragraph are applied the Community undertakes to maintain an offer of equitable and quantifiable compensation. The application of the measures provided for in this paragraph is limited to the year in which the measures are taken. 5. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply to a given category unless the quantitative limits established in Annex II for the Community for that category represent at least 1 % of total Community imports during 1980. 6. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply to a given category unless the level of imports originating in Macao during the current Agreement year represent at least 50 % of the quantitative limit set out in Annex II for that category in the Community as a whole of in any region or regions of the Community concerned. 7. Any limit modified in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 or 4 may in no case be lower than the level of imports of products in that category originating in products are allowed into the Community by the competent Community authorities, the quantities involved shall not be set off against the appropriate quantitative limits set out in Annex II or established as a result of the application of Articles 7 or 8 of the Agreement, without the express Agreement of Macao authorities save as provided for in Article 11 of the Agreement. TITLE IV FORM AND PRODUCTION OF EXPORT CERTIFICATES AND CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN, AND COMMON PROVISIONS Article 14 1. The export licence and the certificate of origin may comprise additional copies duly indicated as such. They shall be made out in English or French. If they are completed by hand, entries must be in ink and in printscript. These documents shall measures 210 × 297 mm. The paper used must be white writing paper, sized, not containing mechanical pulp and weighing not less than 25 g/m2. Each part shall have a printed guilloche-pattern background making any falsification by mechanical or chemical means apparent to the eye. If the documents have several copies only the top copy which is the original shall be printed with the guilloche-pattern background. This copy shall be clearly maked as "original" and the other copies as "copy". Only the original shall be accepted by the competent authorities in the Community as being valid for the purposes of exports to the Community in accordance with the arrangements established by this Agreement. 2. Each document shall bear a standardized serial number, whether or not printed, by which it can be identified. This number shall be composed of the following elements: - two letters identifying Macao as follows : MO, - two letters identifying country of destination as follows: >PIC FILE= "T0036595"> - a single-digit number identifying quota year, corresponding to the last figure in year e.g. 3 for 1983, - a two-digit number running consecutively from 01 to 99 identifying the issuing office, - a five-digit number running consecutively from 00001 to 99999 allocated to the country of destination. Article 15 The export licence and certificate or origin may be issued after the shipment of the products to which they relate. In such cases they shall bear either the endorsement "delivrée a posteriori" or the endorsement "issued retrospectively". Article 16 1. In the event of theft, loss or destruction of an export licence or a certificate of origin, the exporter may apply to the competent governmental authority which issued the document for a duplicate to be made out on the basis of the export documents in his possession. The duplicate of any such certificate or licence so issued shall bear the endorsement "duplicata". 2. The duplicate must bear the date of the original export licence or certificate of origin. TITLE V ADMINISTRATIVE COOPERATION Article 17 The Community and Macao shall cooperate closely to implement the provisions of this Agreement. To this end, contacts and exchanges of views (including on technical matters) shall be facilitated by both parties. Article 18 In order to ensure the proper application of this Agreement, the Community and Macao shall assist each other in checking the authenticity and accuracy of export licences and certificates of origin issued or declaration made under this Protocol. Article 19 Macao shall send the Commission of the European Communities the names and addresses of the govermental authorities competent for the issue and verification of export licences and certificates of origin together with specimens of the stamps used by these authorities. Macao shall also notify the Commission of any change in this information. Article 20 1. Subsequent verification of certificates of origin or export licences shall be carried out at random, or whenever the competent Community authorities have reasonable doubt as to the authenticity of the certificate or licence or as to the accuracy of the information regarding the products in question. 2. In such cases the competent authorities in the Community shall return the certificate of origin or export licence or a copy thereof to the competent governmental authority in Macao giving, where appropriate, the reasons of form or substance for an inquiry. If the invoice has been submitted, such invoice or a copy thereof shall be attached to the certificate or licence or its copy. The authorities shall also forward any information that has been obtained suggesting that the particulars given on the said certificate or licence are inaccurate. 3. The provisions of paragraph 1 above shall be applicable to subsequent verifications of the declarations of origin referred to in Article 2 of this Protocol. 4. The results of the subsequent verifications carried out in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall be communicated to the competent authorities of the Community within three months at the latest. The information communicated shall indicate whether the disputed certificate or licence or declaration applies to the goods ACORDO entre a Comunidade Económica Europeia e Macau sobre o Comércio de Produtos Têxteis (1) (1) Por razões materiais, o presente Acordo é publicado no Jornal Oficial das Comunidades Europeias na língua em que foi negociado. A versão nas outras línguas será publicada posteriormente. AGREEMENT between the European Economic Community and Macao on Trade in textile products THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, of the one part, and THE GOVERNMENT OF MACAO, of the other part, DESIRING to promote, with a view to permanent cooperation and in conditions providing every security for trade, the orderly and equitable development of trade in textile products between the European Economic Community (hereinafter referred to as "the Community") and Macao, RESOLVED to take the fullest possible account of the serious economic and social problems at present affecting the textile industry in both importing and exporting countries, and in particular, to eliminate real risks of market disruption on the market of the Community and real risks of disruption to the textile trade of Macao, HAVING REGARD to the Arrangement regarding International Trade in Textiles (hereinafter referred to as "the Geneva Arrangement"), and in particular Article 4 thereof ; and to the conditions set out in the Protocol extending the Arrangement together with the Conclusions adopted on 22 December 1981 by the Textiles Committee, HAVE DECIDED to conclude this Agreement and to this end have designated as their Plenipotentiaries: THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES: THE GOVERNMENT OF MACAO: WHO HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I Trade Arrangements Article 1 1. The parties recognize and confirm that, subject to the provisions of this Agreement and without prejudice to their rights and obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the conduct of their mutual trade in textile products shall be governed by the provisions of the Geneva Arrangement. 2. In respect of the products covered by this Agreement, the Community undertakes not to introduce quantitative restrictions under Article XIX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or Article 3 of the Geneva Arrangement. 3. Measures having equivalent effect to quantitative restrictions on the importation into the Community of the products covered by this Agreement shall be prohibited. Article 2 1. This Agreement shall apply to trade in textile products originating in Macao of cotton, wool and man-made fibres which are listed in Annex I. 2. The classification of the products covered by this Agreement is based on the nomenclature of the Common Customs Tariff and on the Nomenclature of Goods for the External Trade Statistics of the Community and the Statistics of Trade between Member States (NIMEXE). 3. The origin of the products covered by this Agreement shall be determined in accordance with the rules in force in the Community. Any amendment to these rules of origin shall be communicated to Macao and shall not have the effect of reducing any quantitative limit established in Annex II. The procedure for control of the origin of the products referred to above is laid down in Protocol A. Article 3 Macao agrees for each calendar year to restrain its exports to the Community of the products described in Annex II to the limits set out therein. Exports of textile products set out in Annex II shall be subject to a double-checking system specified in Protocol A. Article 4 Macao and the Community recognize the special and differential character of reimports of textile products into the Community after processing in Macao. Such reimports may be agreed outside the quantitative limits established under this Agreement provided that they are effected in accordance with the regulations on economic outward processing in force in the Community. Article 5 1. Imports into the Community of textile products covered by this Agreement shall not be subject to the quantitative limits established in Annex II, provided that they are declared to be for re-export outside the Community in the same state or after processing, under the administrative system of control set up for this purpose within the Community. However, the release for home use of products imported under the conditions referred to above shall be subject to the production of an export licence issued by the Macao authorities, and to proof of origin in accordance with the provisions of Protocol A. 2. Where the competent authorities have evidence that imports of textile products have been set off against a quantitative limit established under this Agreement, but that the products have subsequently been re-exported outside the Community, the authorities concerned shall inform the Macao authorities within four weeks of the quantities involved and authorize imports of identical quantities of the may be carried out for the quota year in which the request to open consultations in accordance with paragraph 2 was made, for the following year if the quota for the current year is exhausted, where clear evidence of circumvention is provided. 4. Should the parties be unable in the course of consultations to reach a satisfactory solution within the period specified in Article 16 (1) of the Agreement, the Community shall have the right, where clear evidence of circumvention has been provided, to deduct from the quantitative limits established under this Agreement amounts equivalent to the products of Macao origin. Article 12 1. Macao shall endeavour to ensure that exports of textile products subject to quantitative limits are spaced out as evenly as possible over an Agreement year, due account being taken, in particular, of seasonal factors. 2. Should there be an excessive concentration of imports on any product within a category subject to quantitative limits under this Agreement, the Community may request consultations in accordance with the procedure specified in Article 16 of this Agreement with a view to remedying this situation. Article 13 1. For the purpose of the administration of this Agreement, the limits referred to in Article 3 are broken down by the Community into shares for each of its Member States. 2. Portions of the quantitative limits established in Annex II not used in one Member State of the Community may be reallocated to another Member State in accordance with the procedures in force in the Community. The Community undertakes to examine with care and reply within four weeks to any request made for reallocation by Macao. In the event of agreement on such reallocation, the flexibility provisions set out in Article 6 shall continue to be applicable to the levels of the original allocation. If, in the course of the application of the Agreement, Macao finds that the breakdown of a limit established in Annex II causes particular difficulties, it may request the opening of consultations in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 with a view to reaching a mutually satisfactory solution. 3. Should it appear in any given region of the Community that additional supplies are required, the Community may, where measures taken pursuant to paragraph 1 above are inadequate to cover those requirements, authorize the importation of amounts greater than those stipulated in Annex II. Article 14 Should recourse be had to the denunciation provisions of Article 18 paragraph 4, the quantitative limits established in Annex II shall be adapted on a pro rata basis. Article 15 Macao and the Community undertake to refrain from discrimination in the allocation of export licences and import documents respectively. Article 16 1. The special consultation procedures referred to in this Agreement other than those referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, shall be governed by the following rules: - any request for consultations shall be notified in writing to the other Party, - the request for consultations shall be followed within a reasonable period (and in any case not later than 15 days following the notification) by a statement setting out the reasons and circumstances which, in the opinion of the requesting Party, justify the submission of such a request, - the Parties shall enter into consultations within one month at the latest of notification of the request, with a view to reaching agreement or a mutually acceptable conclusion within one further month at the latest. 2. The special consultation procedures referred to in Article 8 of the Agreement shall be governed by the following rules: - any request for consultations shall be notified in writing to the other Party, together with a statement setting out the reasons and circumstances which, in the opinion of the requesting Party, justify the submission of such a request, - the Parties shall enter into consultations within 15 days at the latest of notification of the request, with a view to reaching agreement or a mutually acceptable conclusion within a further 15 days at the latest. 3. If necessary, at the request of either of the Parties and in conformity with the provisions of the Geneva Arrangement, consultations shall be held on any problems arising from the application of this Agreement. Any consultations held under this Article shall be approached by both Parties in a spirit of cooperation and with a desire to reconcile the difference between them. Article 17 This Agreement shall apply to the territories within which the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community is applied and under the conditions laid down in that Treaty on the one hand, and to the territory of Macao on the other hand. Article 18 1. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the date on which the Contracting Parties notify each other of the completion of the procedures necessary for this purpose. It shall be applicable until 31 December 1986. 2. This Agreement shall apply with effect from 1 January 1983. 3. Either Party may at any time propose modifications to the Agreement. 4. Either Party may at any time denounce this Agreement provided that at least 90 days'notice is given.