21970A0720(01)

Additional Agreement to the Agreement concerning products of the clock and watch industry between the European Economic Community and its Member States and the Swiss Confederation

Official Journal L 118 , 30/04/1974 P. 0012 - 0017

Finnish special edition: Chapter 11 Volume 2 P. 0004

Swedish special edition: Chapter 11 Volume 2 P. 0004

Spanish special edition: Chapter 11 Volume 5 P. 0110

Portuguese special edition Chapter 11 Volume 5 P. 0110

ADDITIONAL AGREEMENT to the Agreement concerning products of the clock and watch industry between the European Economic Community and its Member States and the Swiss Confederation

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

of the one part, and

THE SWISS FEDERAL COUNCIL,

of the other part,

WHEREAS an Agreement concerning products of the clock and watch industry between the European Economic Community and its Member States and the Swiss Confederation was signed in Geneva on 30 June 1967;

WHEREAS it is necessary for the proper functioning of that Agreement to adopt additional provisions;

WHEREAS the ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council of 23 December 1971 governs the use of the description "Swiss" for watches;

WHEREAS close cooperation exists in the clock and watch industry between the European Economic Community and Switzerland;

TAKING NOTE of the abolition, at the same time as this Agreement comes into force, of the rationalization grants accorded by Ebauches SA and ASUAG and of the simultaneous abolition of the quota referred to in point B 3 (b) of the abovementioned Agreement,

(1)The Agreement has been drawn up in the French language only.

HAVE AGREED as follows:

Article 1

The tariff reductions specified in Articles 1 and 5 of the Agreement of 30 June 1967 shall enter into force at the same time as this Agreement.

Article 2

In order that a watch with a movement of Swiss manufacture as regards not less than 50 % of the value of all the constituent parts including the cost of assembly by virtue of Article 2 (2) (b) of the ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council of 23 December 1971 governing the use of the description "Swiss" for watches can be considered to be Swiss, a certification procedure shall be established between Switzerland and the Community in accordance with the following rules:

1. Rough watch movements manufactured in the Community and listed in the Annex to the Agreement, and the regulating organs and other constituent watch-movement parts manufactured in the Community and complementary to rough movements of Swiss or Community manufacture, shall be considered to be equivalent in quality to rough movements and parts of Swiss manufacture with comparable technical characteristics. It shall be understood that watches and watch movements assembled from these rough movements and parts must satisfy the statutory technical control requirements in Switzerland.

2. The list specified in paragraph 1 of this Article of rough movements manufactured in the Community shall be brought up to date regularly in the following manner:

(a) Applications for new calibres of rough movements to be entered on the list shall be sent to the Chambre suisse de l'horlogerie by the associations of clock and watch makers in the Community or any manufacturer of rough movements established in the Community. applications shall be accompanied by a technical description of the calibre of the rough movements. The Chambre suisse de l'horlogerie shall enter the new calibre or calibres on the said list forthwith.

Should the entry be requested for a calibre of rough movements which has already been used in Switzerland and has failed to pass the statutory control in Switzerland, the Chambre suisse de l'horlogerie may contest the entry. In this event, the applicant may resort to the procedure provided for in paragraph 3 of this Article.

(b) The withdrawal of calibres of rough movements appearing on the list shall be communicated to the Chambre suisse de l'horlogerie by the associations of the clock and watch makers in the Community or by the manufacturer who had previously applied for the calibre to be entered on the list.

(c) Should the statutory technical-control requirements in Switzerland not be satisfied, the Chambre suisse d'horlogerie may request that the calibres of rough movements concerned be struck off the list and shall notify the party concerned of this request. In the event of a disagreement, the party concerned may, within two months, resort to the procedure provided for in paragraph 3 of this Article.

(d) All applications for amendments to the list, in accordance with subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) above, shall be notified to the Joint Committee by the Chambre suisse de l'horlogerie forthwith.

3. In the event of a dispute about the equivalence of quality, the matter shall be referred forthwith by any interested party to the Joint Committee provided for in Article 9 of the Agreement of 30 June 1967.

The first party so to decide shall, on its own initiative, seek a joint expert opinion from the institute for official quality control in the Swiss clock and watch industry and a corresponding qualified institute in the Community nominated by the Community interested party.

The institutes shall have three months in which to give the expert opinion requested.

For the purposes of giving this expert opinion, the institutes shall agree between themselves to take two sufficiently representative batches of watches or watch movements, each normally containing not more than 50 watches or watch movements, one in a Swiss enterprise, the other in a Community enterprise.

After testing these batches in accordance with the technical control standards statutory in Switzerland, the institutes shall compare their results and shall jointly draw up a report for the Joint Committee containing their conclusions and any proposals they may have.

The Joint Committee shall consider this report at its following meeting.

Article 3

The Agreement and the annexed list shall be published in the official journals of the contracting parties and shall be communicated to the watch and clock manufacturers by the trade associations concerned.

Changes in the annexed list shall be published and communicated in the same manner.

Every three years at least, beginning from the entry into force of the Agreement, the Joint Committee shall review the list to take into account any items which have in the meantime been entered on or struck off the list. The new list shall be published and communicated in the same manner.

Any further information can be obtained from the trade associations concerned.

Article 4

Either Contracting Party may denounce the Agreement by giving 12 months'notice.

Article 5

The Agreement shall be concluded and ratified by the Contracting Parties in accordance with their own procedures.

The Agreement shall enter into force on 1 January 1973 provided that the Contracting Parties have exchanged their instruments of ratification by that date.

Should the instruments of ratification be exchanged between 1 January and 30 November 1973, the Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following that exchange.

ANNEX

List specified in Article 2