Dan Neville
Question:157 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if the ?10 per tonne import tariff on cereals will be reinstated, and the calculation based on true world prices. [18007/02]
Adjournment Debate. - Import Duties.
Brian O'Shea
Question:173 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the proposals he has to re-introduce the levy on imported grain; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18284/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 157 and 173 together.
Under the rules for calculation of import duties for cereals following the GATT agreement, an allowance is made for the cost of shipping cereals to the EU. When these rules were first drawn up in 1995, a deduction of €10 was made from import prices from Black Sea and Baltic ports to take account of lower shipping costs from those regions. This effectively put a premium of €10 per tonne on duties for such imports compared to cereals coming from the USA.
Following a review of this premium last year, the European Commission concluded that it was not justified and evidence of comparative shipping costs was produced to prove this point. The premium was dropped in November despite strong opposition from a number of member states, including Ireland which voted against the proposal. The problem of eastern European imports has been discussed on a number of occasions subsequently. The Commission is adamant that the €10 premium was not justified and has ruled out any possibility of it being restored.
However, the real problem lies in the reference price system which is used to calculate import duties. Under that system, US prices are used as a reference for cereals entering the EU from all sources, including eastern Europe, where prices are considerably lower than US prices. This has the effect of allowing imports from eastern Europe at lower duties than would be warranted if prices for that region were used. Negotiations are currently taking place between the EU and its WTO trading partners aimed at resolving this problem and I am hopeful that a satisfactory solution will be found in the not too distant future.