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"B "M2 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1599/97
of 28 July 1997
laying down detailed rules for the application of the system of minimum import prices for certain soft fruits
originating in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania 3
(OJ L 216, 8.8.1997, p. 63)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
"M1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 2371/1999 of 8 November 1999 L 286 8 9.11.1999
"M2 Commission Regulation (EC) No 538/2000 of 13 March 2000 L 65 11 14.3.20001997R1599 — EN — 01.03.2000 — 002.001 — 1
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1599/97
of 28 July 1997
laying down detailed rules for the application of the system of minimum
import prices for certain soft fruits originating in Bulgaria, Hungary,
Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3066/95 of 22 December 1995
establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for
certain agricultural products and providing for the adjustment, as anautonomous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessionsprovided for in the Europe Agreements to take account of the Agreement on
Agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round Multilateral Trade
Negotiations (
1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1595/97 (2), and in
particular Article 8 thereof,
Whereas detailed rules should be laid down for the application of the new
system of minimum import prices for certain soft fruits originating inBulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic and
intended for processing, introduced in the Annexes to the Annexes to
Regulation (EC) No 1595/97; whereas in the interests of clarity andpresentation the minimum prices set in the Annexes to the aforementionedAnnexes should be included in a single table attached to this Regulation;
Whereas the word ‘lot’ used in paragraph 2 of the Annexes to the Annexes to
Regulation (EC) No 1595/97 needs to be defined;
Whereas, for the sound application of the system, the characteristics enabling
each frozen product to be classified in one of the classes listed in the Annexesto the Annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1595/97 should be specified;
Whereas regular communication by the Member States of information
concerning imports is needed; whereas provisions concerning thesecommunications will replace those laid down in Commission Regulation
(EEC) No 1226/92 of 13 May 1992 on communication by the Member States
to the Commission of information on imports of certain products processedfrom fruit and vegetables (
3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
2480/96 (4); whereas, however, the provisions of that Regulation concerning
products originating in third countries other than those referred to in this
Regulation and adopted pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 1926/96 (5)
should be maintained;
Whereas Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1595/97 repeals Council Regulation
(EEC) No 1988/93 of 19 July 1993 on the system of minimum import pricesfor certain soft fruits originating in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria (
6); whereas, consequently, Commission
Regulation (EEC) No 2140/93 of 28 July 1993 laying down detailed rules forthe application of the minimum import price system for certain soft fruitsoriginating in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and
Bulgaria and fixing the minimum import prices applicable until 30 April
1994 (
7), Commission Regulation (EC) No 767/97 of 28 April 1997 fixing the
minimum import prices for certain soft fruits originating in Hungary, Poland,the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria for the 1997/98
marketing year (
8) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 517/97 of 21 March
1997 on the application of a minimum price for certain soft fruits originatingin Poland (
9) should be repealed;!B
(1) OJ No L 328, 30. 12. 1995, p. 31.
(2) See page 1 of this Official Journal.
(3) OJ No L 128, 14. 5. 1992, p. 18.
(4) OJ No L 335, 24. 12. 1996, p. 28.
(5) OJ No L 254, 8. 10. 1996, p. 1.
(6) OJ No L 182, 24. 7. 1993, p. 4.
(7) OJ No L 191, 31. 7. 1993, p. 98.
(8) OJ No L 112, 29. 4. 1997, p. 11.
(9) OJ No L 82, 22. 3. 1997, p. 20.!M2
!B1997R1599 — EN — 01.03.2000 — 002.001 — 2
Whereas, during the period 1 July 1997 to the date of entry into force of this
Regulation, importers should be given the choice as regards the importcharge, comprising the ad valorem duty and where applicable the counter-
vailing charge, between the old and the new systems; whereas this Regulation
should apply therefore from 1 July 1997 at the request of the operator only;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with
the opinion of the Management Committee for Products Processed from Fruitand Vegetables,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Regulation ‘lot’ means the goods intended for
processing presented under a declaration of release for free circulation. Each
declaration may cover only goods of one and the same origin falling within asingle combined nomenclature code and, in the case of frozen products, asingle Taric code as shown in the Annex to this Regulation.
Article 2
1. The value shown in the customs declaration shall be accompanied by all
the information necessary for its verification.
2. Where:(a) the invoice presented to the customs authorities has not been drawn up by
the exporter in the country of origin of the product;
or
(b) the authorities are not persuaded that the value shown in the declaration
represents the true import price;
or
(c) the price has not been paid to the seller within a period of three months
from the day following the date of acceptance of the declaration of
release for free circulation by the customs authorities,
the competent authorities shall take the necessary steps to determine the
import price, in particular with reference to the resale price applied by theimporter.
3. The importer shall keep evidence of the payment to the seller. The
evidence together with commercial documents such as invoices, contracts or
correspondence concerning the purchase and sale of the products shall be keptat the disposal of the customs authorities for purposes of verification for threeyears.
Article 3
1. For each lot and each origin concerned, during the completion of the
customs import formalities with a view to release for free circulation, thecompetent authorities shall make a comparison of the value shown in thecustoms declaration and the minimum import price shown in the Annex.
2. Where the value shown in the customs declaration is below the minimum
price shown in the Annex, a countervailing charge shall be levied equal to the
difference between that value and the minimum price.
Article 4
1. A lot of frozen strawberries or raspberries shall be classified as ‘whole
fruit’ for the purposes of this Regulation if it consists of fruit frozen
individually which meets the following maximum requirements:
— 10 % by weight of damaged fruit that has lost not more than 20 % of its
original size, and
— 3 % by weight of fruit in pieces not exceeding 80 % of their original size,
and
— 5 % by weight of fruit that has undergone enzyme deterioration.!B1997R1599 — EN — 01.03.2000 — 002.001 — 3
In the case of strawberries, a lot of ‘whole fruit’ may contain only fruit
classified, prior to removal of stalks from the fresh fruit, in the ‘Extra’ or ‘I’classes.
2. A lot of frozen black or red currants shall be classified as ‘without stalk’
for the purposes of this Regulation if it meets the following maximumrequirements:
— one whole stalk per 500 g net of fruit, and— a total of 2 cm
2of foreign plant material per 500 g net of fruit.
Article 5
1. For the products listed in the Annex hereto, Member States shall
communicate to the Commission the quantities put into free circulation andtheir values, broken down by origin and CN code and, for frozen products, by
Taric code.
2. This communication shall take place by the 25th of each month for
products put into free circulation between the 1st and the 15th of the month,
and by the 10th of the following month at the latest for products put into freecirculation between the 16th and the last day of the month.
3. If no products have been put into free circulation during the course of one
of the periods referred to in paragraph 2, the Member State shall inform theCommission thereof on the dates indicated in that paragraph.
Article 6
Regulations (EEC) No 2140/93, (EC) No 517/97 and (EC) No 767/97 are
hereby repealed.
Article 7
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in
theOfficial Journal of the European Communities .
This Regulation shall apply at the request of the operator concerned from 1
July 1997.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all
Member States.!B
!M2
!B1997R1599 — EN — 01.03.2000 — 002.001 — 4
ANNEX
Minimum import prices
(EUR 100/kg net)
CN code TARIC code Description Bulgaria Hungary Poland Romania SlovakiaCzech
RepublicEstonia Latvia Lithuania
ex 0810 10 — Strawberries for processing 51,4 — — 51,4 — — 51,4 — —
ex 0810 20 10 — Raspberries for processing 63,1 63,1 63,1 63,1 63,1 63,1 — — —
ex 0810 30 10 — Blackcurrants for processing 38,5 38,5 38,5 38,5 38,5 38,5 38,5 — 38,5ex 0810 30 30 — Redcurrants for processing 23,3 23,3 23,3 23,3 23,3 23,3 23,3 — —
ex 0811 10 11 0811 10 11*10 Frozen strawberries, with added sugar or other
sweetening agents, with a sugar content
exceeding 13 % by weight, whole fruit — — 75,0 — — — 75,0 75,0 —
0811 10 11*90 Frozen strawberries, with added sugar or other
sweetening agents, with a sugar contentexceeding 13 % by weight, other — — 57,6 — — — 57,6 57,6 —
ex 0811 10 19 0811 10 19*10 Frozen strawberries, with added sugar or other
sweetening agents, with a sugar content notexceeding 13 % by weight, whole fruit — — 75,0 — — — 75,0 75,0 —
0811 10 19*90 Frozen strawberries, with added sugar or other
sweetening agents, with a sugar content not
exceeding 13 % by weight, other — — 57,6 — — — 57,6 57,6 —
ex 0811 10 90 0811 10 90*10 Frozen strawberries, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, whole fruit 75,0 75,0 75,0 75,0 75,0 75,0 75,0 75,0 —
0811 10 90*90 Frozen strawberries, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, other 57,6 57,6 57,6 57,6 57,6 57,6 57,6 57,6 —
ex 0811 20 19 0811 20 19*11 Frozen raspberries, with added sugar or other
sweetening agents, with a sugar content notexceeding 13 % by weight, whole fruit — 99,5 99,5 — 99,5 99,5 99,5 — —
0811 20 19*19 Frozen raspberries, with added sugar or other
sweetening agents, with a sugar content notexceeding 13 % by weight, other — 79,6 79,6 — 79,6 79,6 79,6 — —!
M21997R1599 — EN — 01.03.2000 — 002.001 — 5
(EUR 100/kg net)
CN code TARIC code Description Bulgaria Hungary Poland Romania SlovakiaCzech
RepublicEstonia Latvia Lithuania
ex 0811 20 31 0811 20 31*10 Frozen raspberries, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, whole fruit 99,5 99,5 99,5 99,5 99,5 99,5 99,5 — —
0811 20 31*90 Frozen raspberries, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, other 79,6 79,6 79,6 79,6 79,6 79,6 79,6 — —
ex 0811 20 39 0811 20 39*10 Frozen blackcurrants, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, without stalk — 62,8 62,8 62,8 62,8 62,8 62,8 — —
0811 20 39*90 Frozen blackcurrants, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, other — 44,8 44,8 44,8 44,8 44,8 44,8 — —
ex 0811 20 51 0811 20 51*10 Frozen redcurrants, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, without stalk — 39,0 39,0 — 39,0 39,0 39,0 — —
0811 20 51*90 Frozen redcurrants, without added sugar or
other sweetening agents, other — 29,5 29,5 — 29,5 29,5 29,5 — —!M21997R1599 — EN — 01.03.2000 — 002.001 — 6