EN Official Journal of the European Union C 136/11

Arrangements for reimbursement of the levies intended to finance the National Livestock Fund and wrongfully charged on animals from Member States of the European Union imported into France between 1 January 1996 and 30 September 2004 to be slaughtered there — Interbev (France)

2013/C 136/07

Legal basis:

The reimbursement implements the European Commission Decision of 13 July 2011 on levies for Interbev published on 1 March 2012 in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ L 59, 1.3.2012, p. 14), downloadable from: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:059:0014:0033:EN:PDF

Pursuant to that Decision, France must reimburse the part of the levy imposed on products from other Member States of the European Union (levies on cattle or sheep for the benefit of the FNE ‘Fonds national de l'élevage’ (National Livestock Fund) between 1996 and 2004) to payers of the levies who apply for reimbursement, provided that they can furnish proof of having paid those levies.

Submission of applications:

Applications for reimbursement must be submitted by applicants by post within a period of five years from the date of publication of the European Commission Decision, i.e. 1 March 2012, to:

Interbev service cotisations 207 rue de Bercy 75587 Paris Cedex 12 FRANCE

Applications must be fully completed using the attached two-part form. Part 1 summarises the application and gives a total for all the parts in 2. Part 2 (to be completed for each supporting invoice) details the calculation of the amounts applied for.

Applications must be accompanied by supporting documents (animal sale invoices and bank credit advice messages and/or any proof that the levies for the benefit of the National Livestock Fund were charged and paid).

Amounts claimed in national currencies up to 1 January 2002 will also have to be given in euros.

Examination of files:

Interbev will check the documents and amounts of deductions made between 1996 and 2004.

All soundly substantiated reimbursement applications will be honoured. Inadmissible files (falling outside the period or scope, incomprehensible or incomplete) which do not qualify for any reimbursement will be returned to the sender.

Reimbursement:

Settlement will be in euros within a maximum period of six months from receipt of the application by transfer to the recipient's bank account (to that end, a bank account identification document must be provided corresponding to the applicant's name).

Settlement will be based on the rate in force from 1996 to 2004 for the National Livestock Fund, i.e. EUR 0,0031/kg (or if the sale price of the animal is not established on carcase weight: on the basis of a flat rate of EUR 1/head for adult cattle, EUR 0,40/head for calves and EUR 0,06/head for sheep).

The amount reimbursed will include interest from the date of collection of the levies in question until the date of reimbursement. That interest will be calculated on the basis of the Commission reference rate in force in the applicant's country at the time of reimbursement in accordance with the Communication from the Commission on the revision of the method for setting the reference and discount rates (OJ C 14, 19.1.2008, p. 6) and with the reference and discount rates shown on the Commission website:

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/legislation/reference_rates.html

Reimbursement will therefore comply with Article 11 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 794/2004 of 21 April 2004 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty.