2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No896/2001
of7May2001
laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 as regards the
arrangementsforimportingbananasintotheCommunity
(OJ L 126, 8.5.2001, p. 6)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1CommissionRegulation(EC) No 1613/2001 of 7 August 2001 L 214 19 8.8.2001
►M2CommissionRegulation(EC) No 2351/2001 of 30 November 2001 L 315 46 1.12.2001
►M3CommissionRegulation(EC) No 349/2002 of 25 February 2002 L 55 17 26.2.2002
►M4CommissionRegulation(EC) No 323/2003 of 20 February 2003 L 47 12 21.2.2003
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 133, 16.5.2001, p. 19 (896/2001)
▼B
COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No896/2001
of7May2001
laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EEC)
No404/93asregardsthearrangementsforimportingbananasinto
theCommunity
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February
1993 on the common organisation of the market in bananas (1), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 216/2001 (2), and in particular Article
20 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)By Regulation (EC) No 216/2001 the Council amended the rules
for importing bananas introduced by Title IV of Regulation(EEC) No 404/93. Inparticular, that Regulationopen ed an
autonomous C tariff quota of 850000 tonnes at EUR 300/tonne
customs duty in addition to the 2 200000 tonnes secured underthe world Trade Organisation (WTO) and the additional quota of353000 tonnes. All the provisions necessary to implement thoserules should be adopted, including such transitional measures asare justified by the entry into force of this Regulation on 1 July
2001, as well as provisions concerning imports at the Common
Customs Tariff rate.
(2)Under the last subparagraph of Article 18(1) of Regulation(EEC) No 404/93, where there is no agreement with World
Trade Organisation contracting parties with a substantial interest
in the supply of bananas, the tariff quotas ‘A’ and ‘B’ need notbe allocated among supplier countries.
(3)Article 19 of Regulation(EEC) No 404/93 provides that thetariff quotas may be managed in accordance with the method
based on taking account of traditional trade flows (‘traditional/
newcomers’) and/or other methods. To implement the newarrangements from the second half of 2001, it is advisable togrant access to the tariff quotas to traditional operators whohave undertaken on their own account the purchase of fresh
products from producers in third countries, or their production,
as well as their dispatch to and unloading in the customs terri-tory of the Community, during a reference period. For thepurposes of this Regulation, these activities are called ‘primaryimports’.
(4)A single definition of traditional operators should be adopted forall tariff quotas, and their reference quantities should be deter-mined according to the same rules, but separately depending onwhether these operators have supplied the Community marketwith bananas originating in non-ACP third countries and non-
traditional imports from ACP States or with traditional ACP
bananas during the reference period, within the meaning of thedefinitions in Article 16 of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 applic-able before the amendment introduced by Regulation (EC) No216/2001.
(5)The reference period to be used for defining categories of opera-tors and determining the reference quantities of traditionaloperators should be the three-year period 1994 to 1996. Thethree-year period 1994 to 1996 is the most recent for which theCommissionhas sufficien tly reliable data onprimary imports.
Using that period can also resolve a dispute which has been
going on for a number of years with certain of the Community'strading partners. In the light of the available data established for2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 2
(1) OJ L 47, 25.2.1993, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 31, 2.2.2001, p. 2.
▼B
the purpose of administering the quotas opened in 1998, tradi-
tional operators need not be registered.
(6)A share of the tariff quotas must be reserved for non-traditional
operators. That share must allow operators who did not carry out
any primary imports during the reference period to continuetrading and to adapt to the new rules and to allow new operatorsto enter this import trade, thereby encouraging healthy competi-tion.
(7)Experience from several years of applying the Communitybanana import arrangements indicates the need to tighten thecriteria for non-traditional operators and the eligibility criteriafor new operators so as to avoid the registration of purelyfictious agents and the grant of allocations in response to artifi-cial or speculative applications. In particular, it is justifiable to
demand a minimum of experience in importing fresh bananas.
Also, to avoid applications for annual allocations which bearlittle relation to operators' actual capacities and which will notlead to applications for import licences for the correspondingquan tities, submissionof anapplicationfor import licen ces forthe corresponding quantities, submission of an application for
an annual allocation should be subject to the requirement that a
security inlieu of the import licen ce security be lodged. Thatsecurity should be released without delay instages as operatorsactually use up their annual allocations and furnish proof thatthey have dispatched the goods and unloaded them in the
Community and had them released for free circulation on their
own account. For the same purpose, the grant of an annual allo-cation in subsequent years should be made subject to a minimumrate of use of the previous annual allocation.
(8)Operators should be remineded that they may form mergers orgroupings on terms and conditions defined in national legislation
in order to meet their obligations and exercise the rights arising
under this Regulation.
(9)Rules should be adopted for registering non-traditional operatorsand determining their annual allocations and the verificationsand checks to be carried out by the competent national authori-ties should be specified, as should the actionto be takeninthe
event that certain obligations are not fulfilled, in particular as
regards registration and declarations made for the purpose ofobtaining allocations under the import arrangements.
(10)For the purposes of implementing the tariff quota arrangementson 1 July 2001, it is appropriate to maintain the administrative
rules based onperiods as created by CommissionRegulation
(EC) No 2362/98 of 28 October 1998 laying down detailed rulesfor the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93regarding imports of bananas into the Community (
1), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1632/2000 (2), with adjustments
where necessary. Those rules relate in particular to fixing the
indicative quantities for the first three quarters, the ceilings for
individual applications, the frequency for the submission oflicence applications and for the issue of licences, and the issueof licences for the re-use of unused quantities. However, thefact that tariff quotas A and B on the one hand and C on the
other are managed separately as regards the share allocated to
traditional operators means that those operators may submitlicence applications only under the tariff quota for which theyhave been granted and notified of a reference quantity.
(11)For the purposes of Article 18(6) and (7) of Regulation (EEC)No 404/93, there is a need to define the items making up the
balance sheet of production, consumption, imports and exports
which has to be established before an increase in the autono-mous quota can be made in the event of an increase in demand2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 3
(1) OJ L 293, 31.10.1998, p. 32.
(2) OJ L 187, 26.7.2000, p. 6.
▼B
or of exceptional circumstances affecting supplies to the
Community market.
(12)Except where derogations are explicitly provided for, Commis-sion Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 of 9 June 2000 laying
downcommondetailed rules for the applicationof the system
of import and export licences and advance-fixing certificates foragricultural products (
1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
369/2001 (2), should apply. Pursuant to Article 9 of that Regula-
tion, rights resulting from licences may be transferred by the
holder only once per licence or per extract from a licence during
the term of validity thereof.
(13)The rules for transferring licences should be specified in thelight of the definition of operator categories established by thisRegulation. Transfer restricted to a single transferee per licenceor extract therefrom will allow trade relations to developbetweenthe various registered operators. However, artificial
trade, speculation or disturbance of normal trade should not be
encouraged by permitting transfer from non-traditional operatorsto traditional operators.
(14)All the necessary communications between operators, MemberStates and the Commission in pursuance of this Regulationshould be specified, inparticular for the purpose of establishin goperators' reference quantities and allocations, administering
tariff quotas by period and market monitoring.
(15)Under the transitional measures necessitated by the application
of the new arrangements on 1 July 2001, derogations should beprovided for from administrative rules on the timetable for regis-tering non-traditional operators and on the transmission to thecompetent national authorities of the documentary evidencerelating to their registration.
(16)Further, the quantities which can be imported for the third
quarter of 2001 under the tariff quotas should be determined
and the ceiling for individual licence applications from operatorsand a strict timetable for the submission of those applicationsshould be fixed.
(17)The changes made by this Regulation to the arrangements forimporting bananas into the Community to define non-traditionaloperators call for verifications and checks by the competent
national authorities, acting in cooperation with the Commission.
Such operations can, if need be, lead to corrections of operators'allocations. It follows, inter alia , that those allocations may not
be regarded as vested rights, nor be pleaded by operators aslegitimate expectations.
(18)Regulation(EC) No 2362/98 should be repealed.
(19)Pursuant to Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 395/2001(
3), Regulation(EC) No 216/2001 applies from 1 July
2001. In order to enable operators to benefit under that Reguala-
tion from that date onwards, transitional measures should beenacted to allow the Member States and the Commission toassemble all the requisite information for ensuring that licencesare used from 1 July 2001 onwards.
(20)The Management Committee for Bananas has not delivered anopinion within the time limit set by its Chairman,2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 4
(1) OJ L 152, 24.6.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 55, 24.2.2001, p. 41.
(3) OJ L 58, 27.2.2001, p. 11.
▼B
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
TITLE I
INTRODUCTORYPROVISIONS
Article 1
This Regulation lays down detailed rules for applying the arrangements
for importing bananas under the tariff quotas provided for in Article18(1) of Regulation(EEC) No 404/93 an d also outside those quotas.
Article 2
1. Tariff quotas A and B as provided for in Article 18(1)(a) and (b)
of Regulation(EEC) No 404/93 shall be made available as follows:
(a) 83 % to traditional operators A/B as defined in Article 3(2) of this
Regulation;
(b) 17 % to non-traditional operators A/B as defined in Article 6 of
this Regulation.
2. Tariff quota C as provided for inArticle 18(1)(c) of Regulation
(EEC) No 404/93 shall be made available as follows:
(a) 89 % to traditional operators C as defined in Article 3(3) of this
Regulation;
(b) 11 % to non-traditional operators C as defined in Article 6 of this
Regulation.
TITLE II
MANAGEMENTOFTARIFFQUOTAS
Chapter 1
Definitionofoperators
SectionI: ‘Traditional operators’
Article 3
For the purposes of this Regulation:1. ‘traditional operators’ means economic agents, whether natural
persons or entities having legal pesonality, individual agents or
groups, established in the Community during the period for deter-mining their reference quantities, who have, for their own account,purchased a minimum quantity of bananas originating in third coun-tries from the producers or, where applicable, produced, consignedand sold such products in the Community.
Operations as defined in the previous subparagraph shall hereinafter
be called ‘primary imports’.
The minimum quantity referred to in the first subparagraph shall be
250 tonnes imported in any one year of the reference period. This
minimum quantity shall be 20 tonnes where marketing or import
concerns only bananas with a length of 10 centimetres or less;
2. ‘traditional operators A/B’ means traditional operators who have
carried out the minimum quantity of primary imports of ‘third-country bananas’ and/or ‘non-traditional ACP’ bananas in accor-dance with the definitions in Article 16 of Regulation (EEC) No404/93, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1637/98 (
1);
3. ‘traditional operators C’ means traditional operators who have
carried out the minimum quantity of primary imports of ‘traditional2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 5
(1) OJ L 210, 28.7.1998, p. 28.▼M3
▼B
▼B
ACP bananas’ in accordance with the definitons in the abovemen-
tioned Article 16, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1637/98.
Article 4
1. The reference quantity for each traditional operator A/B who
submits a writtenapplicationn o later than11 May 2001 shall be estab-lished onthe basis of the average of primary imports of third-coun trybananas and/or non-traditional ACP bananas during 1994, 1995 and
1996 taken into account for 1998 for the purposes of administering
the tariff quota for imports of third-country bananas and non-traditionalACP bananas, in accordance with the provisions of Article 19(2) ofRegulation(EEC) No 404/93 applicable in1998 to the category ofoperators referred to inparagraph 1(a) of that Article.
For the purposes of applying the preceding subparagraph, the compe-
tent authorities shall take account only of primary imports carried out
in the reference period, on the basis of the reference quantities gener-
ated by the marketing of third-country bananas and/or non-traditionalACP bananas.
2. The reference quantity for each traditional importer C who
submits a writtenapplicationn o later than11 May 2001 shall be estab-lished onthe basis of the average of primary imports of tradition alACP bananas during 1994, 1995 and 1996 carried out for 1998 as
traditional quantities of ACP bananas.
3. Operators resulting from a merger of other traditional operators,
each with their own rights under this Regulation, shall enjoy the samerights as those former operators.
Article 5
1. The Member States shall notify the Commission of the sum of the
reference quantities referred to in Article 4(1) and (2) no later than 15May 2001.
2. Using the information received under paragraph 1, and in light of
the total quantities available under tariff quotas A/B and C, theCommission shall, where appropriate, set a single adjustment coeffi-cient to be applied to each operator's reference quantity.
3. Where paragraph 2 applies, the competent authorities shall notify
each operator of their reference quantity as adjusted by the adjustmentcoefficient not later than 7 June 2001.
4. The competent authorities in each Member State shall be as listed
in the Annex. That list shall be amended by the Commission at the
request of the Member States concerned.
SectionII: ‘Non-traditional operators’
Article 6
For the purposes of this Regulation, ‘non-traditional operators’ means
economic agents established in the Community at the time of theirregistrationwho:
(a) have been engaged independently and on their own account in the
commercial activity of importing into the Community freshbananas falling within CN code 0803 00 19 in one of the two years
immediately preceding the year in respect of which registration is
sought;
(b) by virtue of this activity, have imported produce to a declared
customs value of EUR 1 200000 or more during the periodreferred to in point (a); and
(c) do not have a reference quantity as a traditional operator under the
tariff quota for which they are applying for registration under2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 6
▼M2
▼B
▼M2
▼B
▼B
Article 7 and who are not a natural person or entity having legal
personality related, within the meaning of Article 143 of Commis-sionRegulation(EEC) No 2454/93 (
1), to a traditional operator.
Article 7
1. Operators may be registered, ina sin gle Member State of their
choice, as a non-traditonal operator under tariff quota A/B and/or tariffquota C.
Traditional operators under a tariff quota may be registered as non-
traditional operators under the tariff quota for which they do not havea reference quantity.
However, traditional operators C may be registered as non-traditional
operators under tariff quota A/B only if they can supply proof thatthey have imported third-country bananas and/or non-traditional ACPbananas to the declared customs value specified in point (b) of Article6 during the period indicated.
2. For the purposes of registration, operators shall send to the
competent authority as listed in the Annex the following supportingdocuments:
(a) proof of entry in a commercial register of the Member State or
other alternative proof acceptable to the said authorities; and
(b) evidence of having imported bananas, by presenting the import
licences used; together with;
(c) a copy of an attestation from an independent, professionally regis-
tered chartered accountant certifying imports to the value requiredin point (b) of Article 6, or a copy of the corresponding customsdeclarations stamped by the customs authorities.
3. Applications for registration shall be submitted by 1 October each
year.
4. Inorder to have their registrationren ewed, operators shall provide
the competent authorities with proof that they have actually importedon their own account at least 50 % of the quantity allocated to themfor the current year. For the purposes of renewing registration for
2002, that percentage shall be 30 %.
Applications for renewal shall be submitted by 1 October each year and
be accompanied by copies of import licences used, proof of payment of
the customs duties due onthe date of the completionof customs import
formalities, and a copy of the import licence(s) issued for the currentquarter.
5. By 10 October each year, the Member States shall notify the
Commissionof the list of operators who have submitted requests forregistration and for renewal of registration, and in the case of renewalsthe serial numbers of licences or any licence extracts, used and issued.
As and when required, the Commission shall forward those lists to the
other Member States with a view to facilitating the detection or preven-tionof false claims by operators.
The Commission may publish some of the details contained in the noti-
fications from Member States.
Article 8
1. At the same time as the operators concerned apply for registration
or renewal of their registration, they shall also request their annualquota allocation.2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 7
(1) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1.▼M2
▼B
▼B
To be accepted, such requests:
(a) may not cover a quantity greater than 12,5 % of the total quantity
allocated annually to non-traditional operators; and
(b) shall be accompanied by proof that a security of EUR 150 per
tonne requested has been lodged in accordance with Title III ofCommissionRegulation(EEC) No 2220/85(
1).
2. The security referred to inparagraph 1(b) shall be released in
stages, inproportionto the quan tities actually imported, where opera-tors furnish proof of dispatch and unloading in the customs territoryof the Community on their own account. In cases of force majeure ,
the security shall not be forfeited.
Proof of dispatch shall be furnished by producing copies of the bill of
lading and the ship's manifest or, where applicable, the road or airtransport document, covering dispatch from the country of origin,drawn up in the name of the operator, for the quantities actuallyimported.
Evidence of actual import shall be furnished by producing a copy of
the import licences used and proof of payment of the customs duties
value.
Article 9
1. By 10 October at the latest each year, the competent authorities
shall send the Commission a list of the non-traditional operators regis-
tered, indicating for each one the annual allocation requested.
2. If the total quantity of allocations applied for under a given tariff
quota A/B or C exceeds the quantity available to non-traditional opera-tors, the Commission shall immediately determine the percentagereductionto be applied to each applicationfor anallocation .
If the procedure described inthe first subparagraph results inanopera-
tor's receiving an annual allocation smaller than the amount requested,
the security provided for inArticle 8(1)(b) shall be released inpropor-
tionto the reductionarrived at.
3. By 15 November at the latest each year, the competent authorities
in the Member States shall determine and notify to each non-traditionaloperator the quantity allocated to them for the following year.
Article 10
1. The Member States shall be responsible for ensuring compliance
with this section.
In particular, they shall check that the operators concerned are
commercially active for their ownaccoun t as importers inthe Commu-nity in the sector referred to in Article 6 and as independent economicunits in terms of management, staffing and operations. Where there are
grounds for suspecting that these conditions are not met, applications
for registration and requests for annual allocation shall be acceptedonly subject to the operator's providing evidence of compliance whichis considered satisfactory by the competent national authorities.
2. The Member States and the Commission shall exchange all infor-
mationrelevan t to the applicationof this Article.
Article 11
1. The competent national authorities shall register as non-traditional
operators all economic agents who submit an appropriate application,whether physical persons or legal entities, and whether individualagents or groups thereof, provided that they are legally constituted2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 8
(1) OJ L 205, 3.8.1985, p. 5.▼M1
▼B
▼B
under the national legislation governing the exercice of the commercial
activities in question and that they satisfy the provisions of this Regu-lation.
A group of agents may be registered as a non-traditional operator if its
members jointly meet the requirements of this Regulation. The groupshall stand for each of its members in exercising their rights andfulfilling their obligations.
2. Operators resulting from a merger of other non-traditional opera-
tors, each with their own rights under this Regulation, shall enjoy the
same rights as those former operators.
Article 12
1. Failure by non-traditional operators to comply with the obligation
to register in only one Member State shall lead to the rejection of allapplications for registration that have been submitted and the cancella-tion of any annual allocation already granted. In addition, such failure
shall result ina prohibitiononthe submissionof an y further applica-
tions in the year following detection of the irregularity.
2. Where fraudulent manipulations are undertaken or fraudulent
documentation is supplied with a view to obtaining an unwarrantedregistration or annual allocation, such registration or allocation shallbe cancelled, without prejudice to the application of any relevant
national laws. In such cases, the security referred to in Article 8(1)(b)
shall be forfeit infull.
Inaddition , insuch cases the operator shall be prohibited from
applying for a new registration in any Member State during the twoyears following the year in which the irregularity is detected.
Chapter 2
Rulesforissuingimportlicences
Article 13
1. For the purposes of administration, the quantities of tariff quotas
A and B provided for in Article 18(1)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EEC)No 404/93 shall be added together. Applications under quotas A and Bshall be dealt with together.
Tariff quota C, provided for inArticle 18(1)(c) of the above Regula-
tion, shall be administered separately.
2. Traditional operators A/B may submit licence applications only
under tariff quota A/B.
Traditional operators C may submit licence applications only under
tariff quota C.
Traditional operators as referred to in the first two subparagraphs may
submit licence applications under the other tariff quota if they are
registered as non-traditional operators for that quota.
3. Non-traditional operators may submit import licence applications
under tariff quotas A/B or C, or under both if they are registered forquotas A/B and C.
Article 14
1. For the first three quarters of the year, an indicative quantity
expressed as the same percentage of available quantities from each of
the tariff quotas may be fixed for the purposes of issuing import
licences.
2. For the first three quarters of the year, it may be decided that
applications for licences submitted by a given operator may not in totalexceed a set percentage of the reference quantity fixed under Article 5of the annual allocation fixed under Article 9(3).2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 9
▼B
Article 15
1. For each quarter, applications for import licences shall be
submitted to the competent authorities of the Member State listed inthe Annex to this Regulation during the first seven days of the monthpreceding the quarter for the licences are being issued.
Applications for import licences shall be submitted to the competent
authorities of the Member State which established the reference quan-
tity, in the case of traditional operators, and of the Member in which
the operators are registered, in the case of non-traditional operators.
2. Licence applications submitted:
(a) by traditional operators A/B shall bear the wording ‘Licence appli-
cationtradition al operator A/B — Regulation(EC) No 896/2001’;
(b) by traditional operators C shall bear the wording ‘Licence applica-
tiontradition al operator C — Regulation(EC) No 896/2001’;
(c) by non-traditional operators shall bear the wording ‘Licence appli-
cation non-traditional operator A/B — Regulation (EC) No 896/2001’, or ‘Licence application non-traditional operator C — Regu-lation(EC) No 896/2001’, as the case may be.
3. Licence applications submitted by an operator shall only be
accepted where:
(a) they bear the wording shown in paragraph 2;
(b) they cover a quantity no greater than that available for the tariff
quota indicated in the application, such quantity being published
periodically before the start of the applicationperiod;
(c) they cover a total quantity no greater than the quantity resulting
from applying Article 14(2) for the quarter concerned, or than theremaining balance of that operator's reference quantity or annualallocation, as the case may be.
4. The words referred to inparagraph 2 shall be en tered inbox 20 of
the licence.
Article 16
The competent authorities shall notify the Commission of the quantities
covered by licence applications within two working days of the end ofthe applicationperiod.
This notification shall present the quantities requested, broken down for
both tariff quota A/B and tariff quota C as between traditional and non-traditional operators.
Article 17
Where, for a givenquarter, the quan tities applied for appreciably
exceed any indicative quantity fixed under Article 14, or exceed thequantities available, a percentage reduction to be applied to theamounts requested shall be fixed.
Article 18
1. The competent authorities shall issue import licences not later
thanthe 23rd day of the mon th inwhich the applicationis made.
Where that day is not a working day, the licences shall be issued onthe first following working day at the latest.
2. Notwithstanding Article 23(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000,
the term of validity of import licences shall run from the date on whichthey are actually issued and shall expire on the seventh day of thefourth month following the month in which they are issued. The dateof actual issue shall be included in the term of validity of a licence.2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 10
▼M2
▼B
Article 19
1. Unused quantities covered by a given licence shall be reallocated
to the same operator — whether holder or transferee — upon applica-tion, for use in a subsequent quarter but still within the year of issue of
the original licence. This reallocation shall be made for an importation
of bananas under the quota for which the original, fully or partiallyunused licence was issued.
The security for the initial licence shall be retained in proportion to the
quantities not used up.
2. Applications for reallocation shall be submitted within the time
limit laid down in Article 15(1) and accompanied by the original or acertified copy of the unused or partly used licence(s), as well as proofas the security referred to inArticle 24 has beenlodged.
Applications for reallocation and the reallocation licences themselves
shall bear the following wording in Box 20: ‘Reallocation licence —Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 896/2001’ and one of the four
following entries, as the case may be: ‘traditional operator A/B’, ‘tradi-
tional operator C’, ‘non-traditional operator A/B’ or ‘non-traditionaloperator C’.
3. Applications for reallocation shall not be subject to any reduction
percentage that may be set under Article 17.
4. The competent authorities shall notify the Commission of the
quantities covered by any applications for reallocation licencesreceived, withinthe time limit laid downinArticle 16.
Article 20
1. Rights arising under licences issued in accordance with this
Chapter shall be transferable to a single transferee operator on theterms and conditions laid down in Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No1291/2000, without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Article.
2. Rights may be transferred only:
(a) between traditional operators, under a single tariff quota, either A/
B or C, as the case may be;
(b) from traditional operators to non-traditional operators registered
under Article 7, under a single tariff quota, either A/B or C, as
the case may be.
(c) between non-traditional operators registered under a single tariff
quota, either A/B or C, as the case may be.
Article 21
1. Operators shall declare without delay to the competent authorities,
before the term of validity of the import licences concerned expires, allquantities of bananas which have been released for free circulation andthenre-exported out of the Commun ity. They shall returnto the sameauthorities the originals of the import licences involved.
2. Within a month of the end of each quarter, the competent autho-
rities shall notify the Commission of all quantities re-exported,
specifying in each case the category of operators (traditional or non-
traditional) to whom the import licences were issued and quoting theserial numbers of the relevant import licences or licence extracts.
3. One or more import licences shall be issued, up to the amount of
the quantities re-exported, either to the holder or to the transferee ofthe original licence, during a subsequent quarter but still within theyear in which the original licence(s) was, or were, issued.
4. The competent authorities shall check that the quantities declared
under paragraph 1 have actually been re-exported from the Community.
5. The quantities of bananas re-exported shall not be taken into
account in calculating the reference quantities of traditional operatorsand the allocations of non-traditional operators.2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 11
▼B
The first subparagraph shall also cover re-exports carried out in1994
from Member States to Austria, Finland or Sweden, and re-exportsfrom the latter countries to third ocuntries, including the Community
as constituted on 31 December 1994.
TITLE III
RULES FOR IMPORTING BANANAS OUTSIDE THE TARIFF
QUOTAS
Article 22
1. Import licence applications may be submitted in any Member
States.
2. Licence applications and the licences themselves shall bear the
following wording in Box 20: ‘Non-quota imports — Article 22 ofRegulation(EC) No 896/2001’.
3. Licences shall be issued immediately, in accordance with Article
23(1) of Regulation(EC) No 1291/2000. The term of validity oflicences shall be three months.
4. Within a month of the end of each quarter, Member States shall
notify the Commission of the quantities covered by licences issued
under this Article.
TITLE IV
GENERALPROVISIONS
Article 23
For the purposes of Article 18(6) and (7) of Regulation (EEC) No 404/
93, the balance sheet showing Community production, consumption,imports and exports shall be based on:
(a) available data on the quantities of bananas marketed in the
Community during the preceding year, broken down by origin;
(b) forecast production and sales of Community bananas;
(c) forecast imports of bananas from all origins;
(d) forecast consumption on the basis, in particular, of recent consump-
tion trends and movements in market prices.
Article 24
1. Import licence applications shall be accompanied by proof that a
security has beenlodged un der Title III of Regulation(EEC) No 2220/
85. This security shall amount to EUR 50 per tonne. However, this
requirement shall not apply to licence applications submitted by non-traditional operators under the import arrangements provided for inTitle II.
2. Where licences are issued for quantities lower than those applied
for, the security shall be released forthwith inrespect of the quan titynot allocated.
Article 25
Regulation(EC) No 1291/2000 shall apply, with the exceptionof the
fourth indent of Article 5(1) and Article 8(4) and (5) thereof, accountbeing taken of the derogations contained in this Regulation.
Notwithstanding Article 35(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, proof
of acceptance of an import declaration for the quantity concerned shallbe furnished within 30 days of expiry of the validity of an importlicence, except in cases of force majeure .2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 12
▼B
Article 26
1. The customs offices at which the import declarations are lodged
with a view to the release into free circulation of third-country bananasunder the tariff quota arrangements shall:
(a) keep a copy of each import licence and extract therefrom endorsed
on acceptance of a declaration of release into free circulation; and
(b) forward at the end of each fortnight a second copy of each import
licence or extract endorsed to the Member State authorities listed in
the Annex to this Regulation responsible for issuing the licences.
Those authorities shall at the end of each fortnight forward a copyof the licences and extracts received to the competent authorities ofthe Member States listed in the abovementioned Annex whichissued those documents.
2. Where there is doubt as to the authenticity of the licence, the
extract, or any information in or signatures on the documentspresented, or as to the status of the operators completing the formalitiesfor relase into free circulation or for the account of whom those form-
alities are completed, and where irregularities are suspected, the
customs offices at which those documents were presented shall imme-diately inform the competent authorities of their Member State, asreferred to in paragraph 1, thereof by telecommunication. The lattershall immediately forward that information by telecommunication to
the competent authorities which issued the documents and to the
Commission, for the purpose of a thorough check.
The Commissionshall forward to the Member States' customs authori-
ties the list of traditional and non-traditional operators operating under
the import arrangements concerned who may be holders or transfereesof animport licen ce or extract therefrom.
3. On the basis of the information received under paragraphs 1 and
2, the Member States' competent authorities listed in the Annex shallcarry out the additional checks needed to ensure the correct applicationof the tariff quota arrangements, in particular verification of the quan-tities imported under those arrangements, by means of a precise
comparison of the licences and extracts issued with the licences and
extracts used. To that end, they shall verify in particular the authenti-city and conformity of the documents used and that the documentshave beenused by operators registered un der Title II.
Article 27
The Member States shall forward to the Commissionthe followin g
statistical and economic data:
(a) every Wednesday: wholesale prices for yellow bananas, broken
down by country of origin, as recorded the previous week on the
representative markets listed in Article 3 of Commission Regula-
tion(EC) No 3223/94 (
1);
(b) details, broken down by origin, of the quantities of bananas falling
withinCN code 0803 00 19 released for free circulationinaccor-dance with Article 308d of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 for thepurposes of the surveillance of imports under the tariff quotas and
otherwise;
(c) on the 10th day of the month following expiry of the validity of
import licences for each quarter: the quantities covered by importlicences issued, the quantities covered by licences used andreturned to the issuing body, and the quantities covered by unusedlicences;
(d) onrequest: forecasts of productionan d sales.2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 13
(1) OJ L 337, 24.12.1994, p. 66.
▼B
TITLE V
TRANSITIONALARRANGEMENTS
Article 28
1. For the second half of 2001, the quantities available shall be:
— for tariff quotas A/B: 1 137159 tonnes,
— for tariff quota C: 509 359 tonnes.
2. For the second half of 2001, the reference quantity for each tradi-
tional operator established in accordance with Article 4 and after the
applicationof Article 5(2) shall be multiplied by the coefficien t0,4454 in the case of traditional operators A/B and by the coefficient0,5992 inthe case of tradition al operators C.
Notwithstanding Article 5(3), the competent authorities shall notify
each operator of their reference quantity as adjusted by the adjustmentcoefficient not later than 7 June 2001.
Article 29
1. Notwithstanding Article 7, non-traditional operators shall submit
their applications for registration for the second half of 2001 in theMember State of their choice by 18 May 2001 at the latest.
2. For the second half of 2001, the Member States shall notify the
information on non-traditional operators required under Article 7(5) by
29 May 2001 at the latest.
3. Using the information received under paragraph 2, the Commis-
sion shall determine the quantities for which the allocations for non-traditional operators are granted for the second half of 2001.
4. The competent authorities shall notify each non-traditional
operator of their allocation for the second half of 2001 by 7 June atthe latest.
Article 30
1. Notwithstanding Article 15, operators shall submit applications
for import licences for the third quarter of 2001 between 11 and 14June 2001.
To be accepted, applications for licences submitted by a single operator
must not exceed a total quantity greater than:
(a) 54 % of the reference quantity in the case of traditional operators;
(b) 54 % of the allocation in the case of non-traditional operators.
2. The competent national authorities shall issue import licences by
30 June 2001 at the latest.
Import licences shall be issued with a view to release for free circula-
tionas from 1 July 2001.
Licence applications and the licences themselves shall bear the
following wording in Box 24: ‘Issued with a view to release for free
circulationas from 1 July 2001’.
TITLE VI
FINALPROVISIONS
Article 31
Regulation(EC) No 2362/98 is repealed from 1 July 2001.
It shall, however, continue to apply to import licences issued for 2001.
Article 32
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publica-
tioninthe Official Journal of the European Communities .2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 14
▼B
It shall apply from 1 July 2001.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
inall Member States.2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 15
▼M4
ANNEX
The competent authorities of the Member States:
Belgium
Bureau d'intervention et de restitution belge/Belgisch Interventie- en Restitutie-
bureau
Rue de Trèves, 82/Trierstraat 82B-1040 Bruxelles/Brussel
DenmarkMinisteriet for Fødevarer, Landbrug og Fiskeri
Direktoratet for Fødevareerhverv; EksportstøttekontoretKampmannsgade 3DK-1780 København V
GermanyBundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung
Referat 322Adickesallee, 40D-60322 Frankfurt am Main
GreeceOPEKEPE (ex-GEDIDAGEP)
Directorate Fruits and Vegetables, Wine and Industrial Products241, Acharnon StreetGR-10446 Athens
SpainMinisterio de Economía
Secretaría General de Comercio ExteriorPaseo de la Castellana, 162E-28046 Madrid
FranceOffice de développement de l'économie agricole des départements d'outre-mer
(ODEADOM)
31, quai de GrenelleF-75738 ParisCedex 15
IrelandDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development
Horticulture DivisionAgriculture House (7W)Kildare StreetDublin2Ireland
ItalyMinistero delle Attività Produttive
DG Politica Commerciale e Gestione Regime Scambi — Div. IIViale Boston25I-00144 Roma
LuxembourgMinistère de l'agriculture/Administration des services techniques de l'agriculture
Service de l'horticulture16, route d'EschBoîte postale 1904L-1014 Luxembourg
NetherlandsProduktschap Tuinbouw
Louis Pasteurlaan6Postbus 2802700 AG ZoetermeerNetherlands
AustriaBundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft
Abteilung III 10 — Obst, Gemüse, SonderkulturenStubenring 1A-1012 Wien
PortugalMinistério das Finanças
Direcção-Geral das Alfândegas e dos Impostos Especiais sobre o ConsumoDirecção de Serviços de Licenciamento2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 16
▼M4
Rua Terreiro do Trigo — Edifício da Alfândega
P-1149-060 Lisboa
Finland
Maa- ja Metsätalousministeriö
PL 30
FIN-00023
Valtioneuvosto, Helsinki
Sweden
Jordbruksverket
Vallgatan8–10
S-551 82 Jönköping
UnitedKingdomRural Payments Agency
External Trade Division
Lancaster House
Hampshire Court
Newcastle UponTyn e
NE4 7YH
United Kingdom2001R0896 — EN — 24.02.2003 — 004.001 — 17