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            COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 117/2005

of 26 January 2005         

introducing Community surveillance of imports of certain footwear products originating in certain third countries

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 of 22 December 1994 on common rules for imports and repealing Regulation (EC) No 518/94 (1), and in particular Article 11(2) thereof,

Whereas:

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER 1

PRIOR SURVEILLANCE

Article 1

The release for free circulation in the Community of certain footwear products originating in the People’s Republic of China listed in Annex I shall be subject to prior Community surveillance in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 3285/94.

Article 2

1.   The release for free circulation in the Community of the products referred to in Article 1 shall be subject to presentation of a surveillance document issued by the relevant authorities of a Member State.

2.   The surveillance document referred to in paragraph 1 shall be issued automatically by the competent authorities in the Member States, without charge and for any quantities requested, within five working days of presentation of an application by any Community importer, wherever it may be established in the Community. This application shall be deemed to have been received by the competent national authority no later than three working days after submission, unless it is proven otherwise.

3.   A surveillance document issued by one of the authorities listed in Annex II shall be valid throughout the Community.

4.   The surveillance document shall be made out on a form corresponding to the model set out in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 3285/94.

The importer's application shall include the following elements:

5.   The period of validity of the surveillance documents is hereby fixed at six months. Unused or partly used surveillance documents may be renewed for the same period.

6.   The importer shall return surveillance documents to the issuing authority at the end of their period of validity.

7.   The competent authorities may allow the submission of declarations or requests to be transmitted or printed by electronic means, under the conditions fixed by them. However, all documents and evidence shall be available to the competent authorities.

8.   The surveillance document may be issued by electronic means, on condition that the customs offices involved have access to the document via a computer network.

Article 3

1.   A finding that the unit price at which the transaction is effected varies from that indicated in the surveillance document by less than 5 % in either direction or that the total quantity of the products presented for import exceeds the quantity given in the surveillance document by less than 5 % shall not preclude the release for free circulation of the products in question.

2.   Applications for surveillance documents and the documents themselves shall be confidential. Access to the information in those applications and documents shall be restricted to the competent authorities and the applicant.

Article 4

1.   The Member States shall communicate the following information to the Commission:

The information provided by Member States shall be broken down by product and combined nomenclature (‘CN’) code.

2.   The Member States shall give notification of any anomalies or cases of fraud which they discover and, where relevant, the basis on which they have refused to grant a surveillance document.

CHAPTER 2

RETROSPECTIVE SURVEILLANCE

Article 5

1.   Footwear products listed in Annex III shall be subject to a system of retrospective statistical surveillance.

2.   After the release for free circulation of the products, the competent authorities of the Member States shall notify the Commission, if possible on a weekly basis but no less frequently than at the end of each month, of the total quantities imported (in pairs) and their value (value of the goods in euro at the Community frontier), indicating the combined nomenclature code and and using the units and, where appropriate, supplementary units used in that code. Imports shall be broken down in accordance with the statistical procedures in force.

CHAPTER 3

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 6

Any notices to be given under this Regulation shall be given to the Commission and shall be communicated electronically via the integrated network set up for this purpose, unless for imperative technical reasons it is necessary to use other means of communication temporarily.

Article 7

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The provisions of Chapter 1 shall apply from the 1 February 2005 until 31 January 2006, at the latest.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 26 January 2005.

For the Commission

Peter MANDELSON            

Member of the Commission

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(1)OJ L 349, 31.12.1994, p. 53. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2474/2000 (OJ L 286, 11.11.2000, p. 1).

(2)OJ L 65, 8.3.2003, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1985/2003 (OJ L 295, 13.11.2003, p. 43).

(3)OJ L 229, 9.9.2000, p. 4. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1669/2001 (OJ L 224, 21.8.2001, p. 3).

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ANNEX I

LIST OF PRODUCTS SUBJECT TO PRIOR SURVEILLANCE (2005)

with the exception of

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ANNEX II

LIST OF THE COMPETENT NATIONAL AUTHORITIES

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ANNEX III

LIST OF PRODUCTS SUBJECT TO RETROSPECTIVE SURVEILLANCE

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