Critical status of tariff quotas
Article 53
1. For the purposes of Article 153 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, a tariff quota shall be considered critical as soon as 90 % of the complete volume of the tariff quota has been used. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, a tariff quota shall be considered critical from the date of its opening in any of the following cases: (a) the tariff quota is opened for less than 3 months; (b) tariff quotas having the same product coverage and origin and an equivalent quota period as the tariff quota in question (‘equivalent tariff quotas’) have not been opened in the previous 2 years; (c) an equivalent tariff quota opened in the previous 2 years had been exhausted on or before the last day of the third month of its quota period or had a higher initial volume than the tariff quota in question. 3. A tariff quota whose sole purpose is the application of either a safeguard measure or a measure resulting from a suspension of concessions as provided for in Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 12 ) shall be considered as critical as soon as 90 % of the complete volume has been used irrespective of whether or not equivalent tariff quotas were opened in the previous 2 years.