CONCEPT OF SURVEILLANCE, TRIGGER LEVEL, REFERENCE QUANTITY AND
TARIFF CEILING
DEFINITIONS
Surveillance is a measure defined to monitor import amounts (in kilograms and
supplementary unit if existing) and values (in Euros) of certain products. Statistics are made
available at the following address:
(http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/surv/surv_consultation.jsp?Lang=en)
A tariff quota constitutes an exception to the normal state of affairs since
they permit, during the period of validity of the measure and for a limited
quantity, the total (total suspension) or partial waiver (partial suspension) of
the normal duties applicable to imported goods (antidumping duties are not
affected by these suspensions).
is a limited quantity of a product, fixed for a certain period of
validity. When the quantity put into free circulation exceeds the
corresponding triggering volume, the Commission shall levy an additional
duty.
A trigger level
is a limited quantity of a product, from a Country or group
or countries, and defined for a certain period of validity. When the quantity
put into free circulation under preferential duty rate exceeds the
corresponding reference quantity volume, the Commission must be able to
take appropriate measures.
A reference quantity
A tariff ceiling is
a limited quantity of a product, originating from a Country or
group or countries, during the period of validity. When the quantity put into
free circulation under preferential duty rate exceeds the corresponding
ceiling, the Commission can propose to re-establish customs duties, upon a
Member State request.
LEGAL BASE
Surveillances, in general, are regulated by Article 308d of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93
laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92
establishing the Community Customs Code.
Each specific surveillance measure, trigger level, reference quantity and ceiling, in particular,
is based on a legal act that is mentioned in the surveillance definition (see data consultation
1.4) after the description of the products.
The updated list of products covered by a surveillance measure is available at the following
address: (open circa address)….
SURVEILLANCE NUMBER, ORDER NUMBER
Each specific surveillance has a Surveillance Number and an Order Number is associated
with each trigger level, reference quantity or ceiling.
Surveillance Number represents a pre-defined set of:
• Goods code(s)
• Origins
• Procedure codes
• Preference codes (if the measure covers only imports under preferential duty
rate or both preferential and not preferential duty rate)
Surveillance number is 6-digits long.
Order Number represents a pre-defined set of:
• Goods code(s)
• Origins
• Procedure codes
• Preference codes (if the measure takes into account only imports under
preferential duty rate or both preferential and not preferential duty rate)
• Threshold
• Period of time to monitor if the threshold has been reached
Order Number is 6-digits long
The two first digits of Surveillance Number and Order Number indicate the type of the measure as
referred in the table:
Surv. Number
/Order Number
12.xxxx
26.xxxx
18.xxxx
65.xxxx
67.xxxx
68.xxxx
78.0014
78.xxxx
Reference
quantities
Surveillances
Surveillances
Surveillances
Surveillance
Trigger levels
Product
or category
Only
preferential
duty rate
Country
Group
countries
YES
ACP
ALL
18
YES
MEDITERRANEAN
AGRICULTURAL
38
42
0
1
22
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
ALL
ALL
ALL
MA
ALL
ALL
TEXTILES
FOOTWEAR
AGRICULTURAL
AGRICULTURAL
Measure type Current
number
of
measures
Ceilings
0
ACCESS
Public access by
DDS (Data Dissemination System) on
(http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/surv/surv_consultation.jsp?Lang=en)
the
web
DATA CONSULTATION
Data related to a surveillance measure can be retrieved by selecting particular fields
(=selection criteria). Four different criteria can be chosen.
1. FIELDS
Country of origin and Surveillance type are drop-down boxes where a single value can be
selected from a fixed set of values. You cannot type any value but only select one existing
value.
Surveillance number and surveillance description are edit boxes where you can type in a
free value.
1.1 Country of origin. Retrieves the measures linked to the selected country. If the
Surveillance Number or Order Number concerns several origins (group of countries), the data
related to this country as well as the information concerning the relevant group of countries
will be displayed.
1.2 Surveillance number. Also covers Order Number in the case of trigger levels, reference
quantities or ceilings. If you want to have access to all the measures belonging to the same
type (ceiling, reference quantity, surveillance or trigger level), you should type in the first two
digits: e.g. 65 will display all measures starting by 65 (650001, 650002, 650003 …..).
1.3 Surveillance type. It can be surveillance, trigger level, reference quantity or ceiling. If it
is blank, the whole list of measures will be displayed.
1.4 Surveillance description. Each measure could be defined according to:
• the concerned product/s
• the origin
• he Regulation on which the surveillance is based
When clicking one or some words of the description, the system retrieves all the measures
containing the word or words in their surveillance description.
If any of the boxes is not filled in, the system retrieves data from all possible values for that
field. E.g. if the surveillance type is left empty, all types of measures will be displayed..
2. KEYS
Once you have selected your search criteria, the results can be displayed by activating two
keys.
2.1 List.
Click the List button: all Surveillance Numbers or Order Numbers that meet the search
criteria are displayed.
2.2 Surveillances.
Click the Surveillance button: all the Surveillance Numbers or Order Numbers that meet the
search criteria are displayed together with their respective surveillance description and the
time ranges.
Click Details in the result of a query: the cumulated data for all the origins are displayed.
Click on the (+) sign on the left of the countries name: import data for that origin Country are
displayed.