Commission Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 of 28 October 1998 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 regarding imports of bananas into the Community (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 1998-10-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: import, import licence, import policy, tariff quota, tropical fruit

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Official Journal of the European Communities

31. 10. 98

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2362/98

of 28 October 1998

laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC)
No 404/93 regarding imports of bananas into the Community

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

supply during the years 1994, 1995 and 1996 —
these being the latest three-year period for which
the Community holds firm data;

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 1637/98 (2), and in particular Article 20 thereof,

(1) Whereas by Regulation (EC) No 1637/98 the
Council amended the rules for
the import of
bananas introduced by Title IV of Regulation (EEC)
No 404/93; whereas, in particular, that Regulation
opened an autonomous tariff quota of 353 000
tonnes at ECU 75/tonne customs duty in addition
to the 2 200 000 tonnes secured under the World
Trade Organisation, and abolished the operator
categories defined in Article 19 in its original form;
whereas all the provisions necessary to implement
those rules should be adopted,
including such
transitional measures as are justified by the speedy
entry into force of this Regulation, as well as provi-
sions concerning imports at the common customs
tariff rate;

if

(2) Whereas Article 18(4) of Regulation (EEC) No 404/
93 stipulates that
there is no possibility of
securing the agreement of producer third countries
with a substantial interest in the supply of bananas
to the Community for the purposes of allocating
tariff quotas and, where necessary, the traditional
ACP quantity — hereinafter called ‘traditional ACP
bananas' — the Commission should be authorised
to carry out that allocation using a single criterion;
whereas the Commission’s negotiations with third
countries having a substantial interest in the supply
of bananas to the Community in accordance with
the Council’s mandate have not achieved an agree-
ment on the allocation of the tariff quotas; whereas
the Commission is therefore obliged to allocate the
tariff quotas on the basis of a single objective
criterion, namely the exports to the Community by
third countries having a substantial interest in that

(1) OJ L 47, 25. 2. 1993, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 210, 28. 7. 1998, p. 28.

(3) Whereas Article 19 of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93
provides that tariff quotas for third-country bananas
and imports of traditional ACP bananas are to be
managed in accordance with the method based on
trade flows (‘tradi-
taking account of
traditional
tionals/newcomers'); whereas,
however, where
necessary other suitable methods may be adopted;
whereas, for the purpose of implementing the new
arrangements in 1999, it is advisable, in the light of
available knowledge on the de facto patterns of
importation, to determine the rights of traditional
operators in accordance with their actual imports
during the three-year period 1994 to 1996; whereas
the choice of that reference period is in keeping
with the general consensus within the Council;

(4) Whereas actual imports should be ascertained on
the basis of
the documents used for placing
bananas in free circulation, namely import licences
and the appropriate customs documents; whereas,
however, in the case of the new Member States
those operations must be established on the basis
of
the administrative documents valid prior to
accession and, for the first three quarters of 1995,
by means of the authorisations issued under the
transitional measures in force during that period;
whereas, in view of the large number of informal
communications and transfers of
import docu-
ments against payment which occurred during the
final period of application of the initial arrange-
ments established by Regulation (EEC) No 404/93,
actual imports can justifiably be based on proof of
payment of the customs duties applicable at the
time at which the goods were imported;

(5) Whereas common administration of

the tariff
quotas and traditional ACP bananas seems likely to
favour an increase in international
trade and
smoother trade flows and avoid unjustified distinc-
tions; whereas, therefore, ‘traditional operators' and

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‘newcomers' should be defined according to the
single criteria regardless of the third country or
ACP country from which they are importing;
whereas the rights of ‘traditional operators' should
imports
be determined on the basis of actual
regardless of origin and supply source and should
allow imports to be made from any origin; whereas
that approach should be reflected in the method of
administering imports by period without differen-
tiation according to their different origins;

(6) Whereas a share of the tariff quotas and traditional
ACP bananas must be reserved for ‘newcomers';
whereas that overall allocation should be sufficient
to allow operators to participate in that import
trade and encourage healthy competition;

(7) Whereas the distribution of available quantities
between ‘traditional operators' and ‘newcomers' is
likely to undergo adjustments in future, to take
account of changes in the number of operators in
the two groups, their imports and the number of
newcomers qualifying for re-classification as tradi-
tional operators as a result of their import activities;
whereas adjustment should also be possible where
necessary to permit satisfactory use of the quant-
ities available during a given year;

(8) Whereas experience from several years of applying
the Community banana import arrangements indi-
cates the need to tighten the eligibility criteria for
new operators so as to avoid the registration of
purely fictitious agents and the grant of allocations
in response to artificial or speculative applications;
whereas, in particular, it is justifiable to demand a
minimum of experience in importing comparable
products — fresh products falling within Chapters
7, 8 and, under certain conditions, 9 of
the
Combined Nomenclature; whereas, also, to avoid
applications for annual allocations which bear little
relation to operators’ actual capacities and which
will not lead to applications for import licences for
the corresponding quantities, submission of an
application for an annual allocation should be
subject to the requirement that a security in lieu of
the import licence security be lodged; whereas that
security should be released without delay in stages

as operators actually use up their annual alloca-
tions; whereas, for the same purpose, the grant of
an annual allocation in subsequent years should be
made subject to a minimum rate of use of the
the
previous annual allocation; whereas,
conditions under which ‘newcomers' can gain
access to the ‘traditional operators' group should be
determined;

lastly,

(9) Whereas operators should be reminded that they
may form mergers or groupings on terms and
conditions defined in national legislation in order
to meet their obligations and exercise the rights
arising under this Regulation;

and checks

(10) Whereas the provisions applying to the registration
of operators and the determination of their refer-
ence quantities or annual allocations, as the case
may be, should be adopted; whereas the verifica-
tions
to be carried out by the
competent national authorities should be specified;
whereas, lastly, the action to be taken in the event
that certain obligations are not fulfilled, in particu-
lar as regards registration and declarations made for
the purpose of obtaining reference quantities or
allocations under the import arrangements, should
also be specified;

for

importing

(11) Whereas, for the purposes of implementing the
tariff quota and traditional ACP banana arrange-
ments in 1999, the administrative rules based on
periods as created by Commission Regulation
(EEC) No 1442/93 of 10 June 1993 laying down
detailed rules for the application of the arrange-
the
ments
Community (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC)
No 1409/96 (2), should be maintained, with adjust-
ments where necessary; whereas 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 of
licence applications and for the issue of licences,
and the issue of licences for the re-use of unused
quantities;

bananas

into

(12) Whereas, for the application of Article 18(7) and (8)
of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93, there is a need to
define the items making up the balance of produc-
tion, consumption, imports and exports which has
to be established before an increase in the auto-
nomous quota can be made in the event of an
increase in demand or of exceptional circumstances
affecting supplies to the Community market;

(13) Whereas, except where derogations are explicitly
provided for, Commission Regulation (EEC) No

(1) OJ L 142, 12. 6. 1993, p. 6.
(2) OJ L 181, 20. 7. 1996, p. 13.

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3719/88 of 16 November 1988 laying down
common detailed rules for the application of the
system of import and export licences and advance-
fixing certificates for agricultural products (1), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1044/98 (2),
should apply; whereas, pursuant to Article 9 of that
Regulation, 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;

(14) Whereas the conditions for and the effects of trans-
ferring licences should be specified in the light of
the definition of operator categories established by
this Regulation; whereas a transfer restricted to a
single transferee per licence or certificate or extract
therefrom will allow trade relations to develop
between the various registered operators; whereas,
however, artificial trade, speculation or disturbance
of normal
trade should not be encouraged by
permitting transfers from ‘newcomers' in favour of
‘traditional operators';

(15) Whereas

all

the

necessary
communications
between operators, Member
States
the
and
Commission in pursuance of
this Regulation
in particular as regards the
should be specified,
establishment of operators’ reference quantities and
allocations, the administration of tariff quotas and
traditional ACP bananas by period and market
monitoring;

(16) Whereas, under the transitional measures necessit-
ated by the application of the new arrangements on
1 January 1999, derogations should be provided for
from the timetable for registering operators and
from the transmission to the competent national
authorities of the documentary evidence needed to
establish their rights; whereas, however, applica-
tions submitted must contain a list of and precise
references for all documentary evidence for the
rights claimed;

(17) Whereas,

further,

the quantities which can be
imported from the various origins for the first
quarter of 1999 under the tariff quotas and as tradi-
tional ACP bananas should be determined and the
licence applications from
ceiling for individual

operators and a strict timetable for the submission
of those applications should be fixed;

(18) Whereas the changes made by this Regulation to
the arrangements for the importation of bananas
into the Community, and in particular the provi-
sions regarding the definition of operators, call for
verifications and checks by the competent national
in cooperation with the
authorities,
Commission; whereas such operations can, if need
be,
reference
quantities or annual allocations; whereas it follows
inter alia that reference quantities and annual allo-
cations may not be regarded as vested rights, nor be
pleaded by operators as legitimate expectations;

lead to corrections of operators’

acting

(19) Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93 and
Commission Regulation (EC) No 478/95 of 1
March 1995 on additional rules for the application
of Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 as regards
the tariff quota
imports of
arrangements
bananas into the Community and amending Regu-
lation (EEC) No 1442/93 (3), as amended by Regu-
lation (EC) No 702/95 (4), should be repealed;

for

(20) Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1637/98 applies from
1 January 1999; whereas, in order to enable opera-
tors to enjoy the benefit of the provisions set out in
that Regulation from that date onwards, transitional
measures
should be enacted which allow the
Member States and the Commission to assemble all
the requisite material for ensuring that licences are
used from 1 January 1999 onwards;

(21) Whereas the Management Committee for Bananas
has not delivered an opinion within the time limit
set by its chairman,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

TITLE I

Introductory provisions

Article 1

This Regulation lays down detailed rules for applying the
arrangements for the importation of bananas under the

(1) OJ L 331, 2. 12. 1988, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 149, 20. 5. 1998, p. 11.

(3) OJ L 49, 4. 3. 1995, p. 13.
(4) OJ L 71, 31. 3. 1995, p. 84.

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tariff quotas provided for in Article 18(1) and (2) of Regu-
lation (EEC) No 404/93 and for the importation of quant-
ities of traditional ACP bananas as referred to in Article
16 of that Regulation, and also the arrangements outside
those quotas.

The tariff quotas shall be divided up among the main
supplier countries and other countries as shown in Annex
I hereto.

bananas on their own account for subsequent marketing
in the Community during a set reference period.

The minimum quantity referred to in the first paragraph
shall be 100 tonnes imported in any one year of the
reference period. This minimum quantity shall be 20
tonnes where the imports consist entirely of bananas with
a length of 10 centimetres or less.

Article 2

Article 4

The tariff quotas and the traditional ACP quantities

1.
shall be made available as follows:

(a) 92 % to ‘traditional operators' as defined in Article 3;

(b) 8 % to ‘newcomers' as defined in Article 7.

2.
The distribution given in paragraph 1 may be
amended to make better use of the tariff quotas and
traditional ACP quantities,
in particular in line with
changes in the numbers of ‘traditional operators' and
‘newcomers', the volumes of their imports, and the acces-
sion of ‘newcomers' to the group of ‘traditional operators'
under Article 10 below.

1.
Each traditional operator registered in a Member
State in accordance with Article 5 shall receive, for each
year and for all the origins listed in Annex I, a single
reference quantity based on the quantities of bananas
actually imported during the reference period.

2.
For imports carried out in 1999 under the tariff
quotas or as traditional ACP bananas, the reference period
shall be made up of the years 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Article 5

3. Where the total provisional reference quantities of
‘traditional operators', or the annual allocations requested
by ‘newcomers', is less than the total amount allowed for
the relevant category of operator, the available quantity
may be allotted to the other category.

The registration of
their

1.
traditional operators and the
reference quantity shall be
determination of
conducted on the basis of a written application submitted
by operators in any one Member State of their choice.

Applications for registration shall be submitted by 1 July.

TITLE II

The competent authorities in each Member State are
listed in Annex II.

Administration of tariff quotas and traditional ACP
bananas

CHAPTER 1

D e f i n i t i o n o f o p e r a t o r s

2.
For the purposes of determining their reference
quantity, each operator shall send to the competent
authority by 1 July each year:

(a) a figure for the total quantity of bananas from the
origins listed in Annex I actually imported during
each of the years making up the reference period;

Section I:

‘Traditional operators'

(b) the supporting documents detailed in paragraph 3.

Article 3

3. Actual
following:

imports shall be attested by both of

the

For the purposes of this Regulation, ‘traditional operators'
shall mean economic agents established in the European
Community during the period for determining their
reference quantities, and also at the time of their registra-
tion under Article 5 below, who have actually imported a
minimum quantity of third-country and/or ACP-country

(a) by presenting copies of

the import

licences used
either by the holder or, in the case of a transfer under
Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 duly
endorsed by the competent authorities, by the trans-
feree, in order to release the relevant quantities for
free circulation; and

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(b) by presenting proof of payment of the customs duties
due on the day on which customs import formalities
were completed. The payment shall be made either
direct to the competent authorities or via a customs
agent or representative.

Operators furnishing proof of payment of customs duties,
either direct to the competent authorities or via a customs
agent or representative, for the release into free circulation
of a given quantity of bananas without being the holder
or transferee holder of the relevant import licence used
for this purpose — or, where appropriate, of the proper
customs documents and import permits in accordance
with paragraph 4 — shall be deemed to have actually
imported the said quantity provided that they have regis-
tered in a Member State under Regulation (EEC) No
1442/93 and/or that they fulfil the requirements of this
Regulation for
registration as a traditional operator.
Customs agents or representatives may not call for the
application of this subparagraph.

For operators established in Austria, Finland or
4.
Sweden, proof of the quantities released into free circula-
tion in those Member States in 1994, and in 1995 up to
the third quarter thereof, shall be furnished by presenting
copies of the relevant customs documents and import
permits issued by the competent authorities and duly
used.

Article 6

By 30 September at the latest each year, after making
1.
the competent
the necessary checks and verifications,
authorities shall determine, in accordance with Articles 3,
4 and 5, a single, provisional reference quantity for each
traditional operator, on the basis of the average quantities
of bananas actually imported by them from the origins
listed in Annex I during the reference period.

The reference quantities shall be based on a three-year
average even where the operator has not
imported
bananas for part of that period.

than 15 October of each year,

2. No later
the
competent authorities shall notify the Commission of the
list of traditional operators they have registered and the
total provisional reference quantity determined. The same
notification shall contain, for each operator, the quantities
their actual banana imports during the reference
of
licences or
period,
licence extracts used, and their provisional
reference
quantity.

the serial numbers of

the import

As and when required, the Commission shall forward
those lists to the other Member States with a view to
facilitating the detection or prevention of false claims by
operators.

The Commission may publish any of
contained in the notifications from Member States.

the details

3. Using the information received under paragraph 2,
and in light of the total volume of tariff quotas and
traditional ACP bananas as referred to in Article 2, the
Commission shall, where appropriate, set a single adjust-
ment coefficient to be applied to each operator’s provi-
sional reference quantity.

4.
The competent authorities shall then determine the
reference quantity for each operator, applying if need be
the adjustment coefficient calculated under paragraph 3,
and shall notify each operator of the reference quantity
allocated to him, by 15 November at the latest.

Section II:

‘Newcomers'

Article 7

the purposes of

For
this Regulation and as regards
imports under the tariff quotas and as traditional ACP
bananas, ‘newcomers' shall mean economic agents estab-
lished in the European Community who, at the time of
registration:

(a) have been engaged independently and on their own
account in the commercial activity of importing fresh
fruit and vegetables falling within Chapters 7 and 8, of
the Tariff and Statistical Nomenclature and the
Common Customs Tariff, or products under Chapter
9 thereof if they have also imported products falling
within Chapters 7 and 8 in one of the three years
immediately preceding the year in respect of which
registration is sought; and

(b) by virtue of this activity, have undertaken imports to a
declared customs value of ECU 400 000 or more
during the period referred to in point (a).

Article 8

1.
For the purposes of registering as a newcomer in the
Member State of their choice, operators shall send to the
relevant competent authority as listed in Annex II the
following supporting documents:

(a) proof of entry in a commercial register of the Member
State or proof of any alternative registration acceptable
to the said authorities;

referred to in point

(b) evidence of having imported the products of

the
(a) of Article 7, by
sector
presenting the import licences used or, in cases where
such a licence was not compulsory,
the relevant
customs documents;

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(c) a copy of an attestation from an independent, profes-
sionally registered chartered accountant certifying
imports to the value required in point (b) of Article 7,
or a copy of the corresponding customs declarations
stamped by the customs authorities.

2. Applications for registration shall be submitted by 1
July each year.

3. Operators may submit only one application for regis-
tration in only one Member State of their choice.

4.
In order to have their registration renewed, operators
shall provide the competent authorities with proof that
they have actually imported on their own account at least
50 % of the quantity allocated to them for the current
year.

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
on the date of the completion of customs import formal-
ities, and a copy of the licence(s) issued for the current
quarter.

5.
By 10 October each year, the Member States shall
notify the Commission of the list of operators who have
submitted requests for registration and for renewal of
registration, and in the case of
the serial
numbers of licences or any licence extracts, used and
issued.

renewals

As and when required, the Commission shall forward
those lists to the other Member States with a view to
facilitating the detection or prevention of false claims by
operators.

The Commission may publish any of
contained in the notifications from Member States.

the details

The security shall be released in stages, in proportion to
the quantities actually imported.

2.
By 10 October each year, the competent authorities
shall send the Commission a list of the newcomer oper-
ators registered, indicating for each one the annual alloca-
tion requested.

The allocation requests received by the Commission
3.
shall be ranked in ascending order of quantity and an
annual allocation shall
then be determined for each
‘newcomer' operator up to a maximum of the individual
quantity requested, arrived at by a process of allocating to
all operators the smallest requested quantity remaining in
each round. The Commission shall determine without
delay the quantities for which annual allocations are
granted.

If the procedure in the first subparagraph results in an
operator’s receiving an annual allocation smaller than the
amount requested, the security provided for in paragraph
1 shall be released in proportion to the reduction arrived
at.

4.
By 15 November each year, the competent author-
ities in the Member States shall determine and notify to
each newcomer operator the quantity allocated to him for
the following year.

Article 10

A newcomer operator shall obtain the status of traditional
operators on applying for registration in accordance with
Article 5, provided that he fulfils the conditions specified
in Article 3 after three years of commercial activity
following the date of first registration.

Article 9

Applications shall be accompanied by the figures and
supporting documents referred to in Article 5(2) and (3).

1. At the same time as the operators concerned apply
for registration or renewal of their registration, they shall
also request their annual quota allocation.

To be accepted, such requests:

(a) shall not cover a quantity greater than 10 % of the
total quantity allocated annually to newcomers; and

(b) shall be accompanied by proof that a security of ECU
18 per tonne requested has been lodged in accordance
with Title III of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
2220/85 (1). This security shall be lodged against an
applicant’s performance of his obligation to apply for
the allocation
import
granted and actually to import the quantity allocated.

licences for the amount of

(1) OJ L 205, 3. 8. 1985, p. 5.

Article 11

The Member States shall be responsible for ensuring

1.
compliance with this Section.

In particular,
the operators
they shall check that
concerned are commercially active for their own account
as importers into the Community in the sector referred to
in Article 7 and as independent economic units 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 al-
locations shall be accepted only subject to the operator’s
providing evidence of compliance which is considered
satisfactory by the national competent authorities.

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The Member States and the Commission shall
2.
exchange all information relevant to the application of
this Article.

quantities from each of the origins listed in Annex I may
be fixed for the purposes of issuing import licences.

Section III: Common provisions

Article 12

For the first three quarters of the year, it may be
2.
decided that applications for licences submitted by a
given operator may not in total exceed a set percentage of
the reference quantity fixed under Article 6(4) or the
annual allocation fixed under Article 9(4).

1.
The competent national authorities shall register as
traditional operators and newcomers all economic agents
who submit an appropriate application, whether physical
persons or legal entities, and whether individual agents or
groups thereof, provided that they are legally constituted
under the national legislation governing the exercise of
the commercial activities in question and that they satisfy
the provisions of this Regulation.

A group of agents may be registered as either a traditional
operator or a newcomer if its members jointly meet the
requirements of this Regulation. The group shall stand for
each of its members in exercising their rights and fulfil-
ling their obligations.

2. Operators resulting from a merger of several other
operators, each with their own rights under this Regula-
tion, shall enjoy the same rights as those former operators.

Article 13

1.
In the case of both traditional operators and
newcomer operators, failure to comply with the obligation
to register in only one Member State shall lead to the
rejection of all applications for registration that have been
submitted and the cancellation, as the case may be, of any
reference quantity or of any annual allocation already
granted. In addition, such failure shall result in a prohibi-
tion on the submission of any further applications 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 unwarranted registration, reference quantity
or, where relevant, annual allocation, such registration,
reference quantity or allocation shall be cancelled,
without prejudice to the application of any relevant
national laws.

In addition, in such cases the operator shall be prohibited
from applying for a new registration in any Member State
during the two years following the year in which the
irregularity is detected.

Article 15

1.
For each quarter of the year, applications for import
licences shall be submitted to the competent authorities
of the Member State in which operators are registered
during the first seven days of the month preceding the
quarter in respect of which the licences are being issued.

2.

Licence applications submitted:

(a) by traditional operators

the wording
‘Licence application traditional operator — Regula-
tion (EC) No 2362/98';

shall bear

(b) by newcomer operators

the wording
‘Licence application newcomer — Regulation (EC)
No 2362/98'.

shall bear

Licence applications presented by an operator shall

3.
only be accepted where:

(a)

they bear the wording shown in paragraph 2;

(b) they indicate, in Box 8, one of the origins listed in

Annex I;

(c) they cover a quantity no greater than that available for
the origin indicated, such quantity being published
periodically before the start of the application period;

(d) they cover a total quantity no greater than the quan-
tity resulting from applying Article 14(2)
for the
quarter concerned; or no greater than the operator’s
remaining reference quantity or annual allocation, as
the case may be.

4.

Licences shall include:

CHAPTER 2

(a)

in Box 20, one of the statements shown in paragraph
2,

R u l e s f o r

i s s u i n g i m p o r t

l i c e n c e s

Article 14

(b) in Box 8, an indication of the country of origin in

accordance with point (b) of paragraph 3.

1.
For the first three quarters of the year, an indicative
quantity expressed as the same percentage of available

Receipt of a licence carries the obligation to import from
the origin indicated.

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Article 16

Within two working days following either the closing
date for the submission of import licence applications for
the first period under Article 15(1) or the closing date
fixed under point
the competent
authorities shall notify the Commission of the quantities
covered by licence applications.

(a) of Article 18(1),

This notification shall present the quantities requested,
broken down according to the origins listed in Annex I
and as between traditional operators and newcomers.

Article 17

Where, for a given quarter and for any one or more of the
origins listed in Annex I, the quantities applied for appre-
ciably exceed any indicative quantity fixed under Article
14, or exceed the quantities available, a percentage reduc-
tion to be applied to the amounts requested shall be fixed.

Article 18

1. Where a percentage reduction has been fixed for one
or more given origins under Article 17, operators who
have applied for
the origin(s)
concerned may:

licences

import

for

(a) either renounce their use of the licence by informing
the relevant issuing authority accordingly within 10
working days of publication of the Regulation fixing
the reduction percentage, whereupon the security
lodged against the licence shall be released imme-
diately; or

(b) submit one or more fresh licence applications for the
origins
for which available quantities have been
published by the Commission, up to an amount equal
to or smaller than the quantity applied for but not
covered by the original licence issued. Such requests
shall be submitted within the time limit laid down in
point (a) and shall be subject to all the conditions
governing licence applications.

The Commission shall immediately determine the
2.
quantities for which licences can be issued for each of the
origins concerned.

Article 19

The

competent

1.
import
authorities
licences for the following quarter not later than the 23rd
day of the last month of each quarter. Where that day is
not a working day, licences shall be issued no later than
the first working day following.

issue

shall

licences shall be issued
Where Article 18 is applied,
immediately after publication of the Decision referred to
in Article 18(2).

By way of derogation from Article 21(1) of Regula-
2.
tion (EEC) No 3719/88, the term of validity of import
licences shall run from the date on which they are
actually issued and shall expire on the seventh day of the
fourth month following the month in which they are
issued. The date of actual issue shall be included in the
term of validity of a licence.

Licences issued under Article 18 shall have a term of
the month
validity expiring on the seventh day of
following the end of the quarter in which they have been
issued.

Article 20

1. Unused quantities covered by a given licence shall
be re-allocated to the same operator — whether holder or
transferee — upon application, for use in a subsequent
quarter but still within the year of issue of the original
licence. The security shall be retained in proportion to
the quantities not used up.

2. Applications for
re-allocation shall be submitted
within the time limit laid down in Article 15(1) and
accompanied by the original or a certified copy of the
unused or partly used licence(s), as well as proof that the
security referred to in Article 25 has been lodged.

for

re-allocation and the

Applications
re-allocation
licences themselves shall bear the following wording in
Box 20: ‘Re-allocation licence — Article 20 of Regulation
(EC) No 2362/98.'

3. Applications for re-allocation shall not be subject to
any reduction percentage that may be set under Article
17.

4.
The competent authorities shall notify the Commis-
sion of the quantities covered by any applications for
re-allocation received, within the time limit laid down in
Article 16.

Article 21

import

1. Rights arising under
issued in
accordance with this chapter shall be transferable to a
single transferee operator on the terms and conditions
laid down in Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88,
without prejudice to paragraph 2 of this Article.

licences

2. Rights may be transferred:

(a) between traditional operators registered under Article

5;

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(b) from traditional operators
registered under Article 8;

to newcomer operators

The quantities of bananas re-exported shall not be
5.
taken into account in calculating the actual imports of
traditional operators or of newcomers.

(c) between newcomer operators.

The transfer of rights from newcomers to traditional oper-
ators shall not be permitted.

3.

In the event of a transfer of rights:

(a) between traditional operators, the quantity transferred
shall be taken into account in calculating the refer-
ence quantities of the two operators for the purposes
of Articles 4(1) and 6(1), in order to reduce the refer-
ence quantity of the transferor and increase that of the
transferee;

(b) between a traditional operator and a newcomer, the
quantity transferred shall be taken into account by
reducing the reference quantity of the transferor for
the purposes of the same provisions as referred to in
(a);

(c) to newcomer operators in accordance with paragraph
2(b) or (c), the quantity transferred shall be taken into
account when a newcomer applies to register as a
traditional operator under Article 10.

Article 22

shall

declare

immediately

the
1. Operators
competent authorities all quantities of bananas which
have been released for free circulation and then re-
exported out of
the Community before the term of
validity of the import licence concerned expires. They
shall return to the same authorities the originals of the
import licences involved.

to

re-exported,

2. Within a month of the end of each quarter, the
competent authorities shall notify the Commission of all
quantities
specifying in each case the
category of operators (traditional or newcomer) to whom
the import licences had been issued and quoting the
serial numbers of the relevant import licences or licence
extracts.

3. One or more import licences shall be issued, up to
the amount of quantities re-exported, either to the holder
or to the transferee of the original
licences, during a
subsequent quarter but still within the year in which the
original licence(s) was, or were, issued.

The competent authorities

4.
the
quantities declared under paragraph 1 have actually been
re-exported from the Community.

shall check that

The first subparagraph shall also cover re-exports carried
out in 1994 from Member States to Austria, Finland or
Sweden, and re-exports from the latter countries to third
countries, including the Community as constituted on 31
December 1994.

TITLE III

Rules for imports of bananas outside the tariff
quotas and of traditional ACP bananas

Article 23

Import licence applications may be submitted in any

1.
Member State.

Licence applications and the licences themselves
2.
shall bear the following wording in Section 20:
‘Non-
quota imports and traditional ACP bananas — Regulation
(EC) No 2362/98, Article 23'.

3.
Licences shall be issued immediately, in accordance
with Article 21(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88. The
term of validity of licences 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

General provisions

Article 24

For the purposes of Article 18(7) and (8) of Regulation
(EEC) No 404/93,
the balance showing Community
production and consumption and its 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 consumption trends and movements in market
prices.

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Article 25

TITLE V

Import
licence applications from traditional operators
shall be accompanied by proof that a security has been
lodged in accordance with Title III of Regulation (EEC)
2220/85. This security shall amount to ECU 18 per tonne.

Where licences are issued for quantities less than those
applied for, the security shall be released immediately in
respect of the quantity not allocated.

Transitional arrangements

Article 28

1.
By way of derogation from Articles 5(1) and 8(2),
operators shall submit their applications for registration
for 1999 as either ‘traditional operators' or as ‘newcomers'
in the Member State of their choice by 13 November
1998 at the latest.

Article 26

To be accepted, applications shall include:

Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 shall apply, with the
exception of the fourth indent of Article 5(1) and Article
8(4) and (5) thereof, regard being had to the derogations
contained in this Regulation.

By way of derogation from Article 33(5) of Regulation
(EEC) No 3719/88, proof of acceptance of an import
declaration for the quantity concerned shall be furnished
within 30 days of expiry of the validity of an import
licence, except in cases of force majeure.

Article 27

The Member States shall send the Commission the
following statistical and commercial data:

(a)

in the case of ‘traditional operators':

(i) a figure for the total quantity of bananas actually
imported in each of the years of the reference
period 1994 to 1996 and the serial numbers of all
the import licences and licence extracts used for
these imports, or, should Article 5(4) apply, the
customs documents and import permits; and

(ii) a list, complete with references, summarising all
the documentary evidence showing that duties
have been paid, in accordance with point (b) of the
first subparagraph of Article 5(3);

(b) in the case of ‘newcomers':

(i) a request for an annual allocation under Article

9(1);

(ii) a list, complete with references, summarising all
the documentary evidence required under Article
8(1).

(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 Regulation (EC) No 3223/
94 (1);

shall hold all

Operators
the documentary evidence
referred to in the second subparagraph at the disposal of
the competent authorities so as to enable the checks and
verifications required by them to be carried out.

(b) on the 20th day of each month, in respect of the
preceding month: figures for the volume and value of
bananas which have been released for free circulation
in their territory, broken down by country of origin;

(c) on the 10th day of the month following expiry of the
validity of import licences for each quarter: the quan-
tities covered by import licences issued, the quantities
covered by licences used and returned to the issuing
body, and the quantities covered by unused licences;

(d) on request: forecasts of production and sales.

(1) OJ L 337, 24. 12. 1994, p. 66.

operators'

2.
By 30 November 1998 at the latest, the Member
States shall send the Commission separate lists of the
‘newcomers' who have
‘traditional
submitted applications for registration under the second
subparagraph, together with their total provisional refer-
ence quantities and total requests for annual allocations,
as appropriate. The following additional items shall be
included:

and

(a)

for each ‘traditional operator': the quantity of bananas
imported by them during each year in the period
1994 to 1996, their provisional reference quantity and
the serial numbers of the licences and licence extracts
used, or, should Article 5(4) apply, the customs docu-
ments and import licences;

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(b) for each ‘newcomer' operator: a figure for the annual

(b) 26 % of the annual allocation of a ‘newcomer' oper-

allocation requested.

ator.

3.
In the light of the notifications received in accord-
ance with point (a) of paragraph 2, the Commission shall
if necessary fix a single adjustment coefficient as provided
for in Article 6(3).

4.
the
By way of derogation from Article 6(4),
competent authorities shall determine the reference quan-
tity of each operator and shall notify it to them by 10
December 1998.

2. Member States shall notify the Commission of the
total quantities covered by applications
import
licences, broken down by the origins listed in Annex I
and separately for the two categories of operator, by 18
December 1998 at the latest.

for

3.
The Commission shall determine immediately the
quantities for which licences may be issued in respect of
the origins concerned.

Article 29

If the quantities covered by applications for licences in
respect of the first quarter of 1999 covering imports from
one or more of the origins listed in Annex I exceed 26 %
of the quantities set out in that Annex, the Commission
fix a percentage reduction to be applied to all
shall
applications in respect of the origin(s) concerned.

Article 30

1.
By way of derogation from Article 15(1), operators
shall submit applications for import licences between 14
and 16 December 1998 in the Member State where they
have applied for registration.

To be accepted, applications for licences submitted by a
single operator must not exceed a total quantity greater
than:

(a) 26 % of the reference quantity of a ‘traditional opera-

tor';

The competent national

4.
import licences by 31 December 1998 at the latest.

authorities

shall

issue

Import licences shall be issued with a view to release for
free circulation as from 1 January 1999.

Licence applications and the licences themselves shall
‘Issued with a view to free
bear the wording, in Box 24:
circulation as from 1 January 1999'.

TITLE VI

Final provisions

Article 31

Regulations (EEC) No 1442/93 and (EC) No 478/95 are
hereby repealed as from 1 January 1999.

Article 32

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

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

Done at Brussels, 28 October 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

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ANNEX I

Distribution of the tariff quotas and the traditional ACP quantity

Tariff quotas (Article 18(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 404/93) — 2 200 000 t/353 000 t

Ecuador:
Costa Rica:
Colombia:
Panama:

Subtotal:
Other:

26,17 %
25,61 %
23,03 %
15,76 %

(90,57 %)
9,43 %

Traditional ACP quantity: 857 700 tonnes.

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ANNEX II

The authorities of the Member States competent for compiling the lists of operators and of quantities
marketed are as follows:

— Belgium

Bureau d’Intervention et de Restitution belge/Belgisch Interventie- en Restitutiebureau
Rue de Tr(cid:138)ves, 82/Trierstraat 82
B-1040 Bruxelles/Brussel

— Denmark

EU-Direktoratet
Kampmannsgade 3
DK-1780 København V

— Germany

Bundesanstalt f(cid:129)r Landwirtschaft und Ern(cid:132)hrung
Referat 322
Adickesallee, 40
D-60322 Frankfurt am Main

— Greece

Ministry of Agriculture
GEDIDAGEP
Directorate Fruits and Vegetables, Wine and Industrial Products
241, Acharnon
GR-10446

— Spain

Ministerio de Econom(cid:146)a y Hacienda
Secretar(cid:146)a General de Comercio Exterior
Paseo de la Castellana, 162
E-28046 Madrid

— France

Office de D(cid:130)veloppement de l’(cid:130)conomie agricole des D(cid:130)partements d’Outre-Mer (ODEADOM)
28, Boulevard de Grenelle
F-75737 Paris Cedex 15

— Ireland

Department of Agriculture and Food Horticulture Division
Agriculture House (7W)
Kildare Street
IRL-Dublin 2

— Italy

Ministero del Commercio con l’Estero
DG Politica Commerciale e Gestione Regime Scambi — Div. II
Viale Boston 25
I-00144 Roma

— Luxembourg

Minist(cid:138)re de l’Agriculture
Administration des Services Techniques de l’Agriculture
Service de l’Horticulture
16, Route d’Esch
Bo(cid:140)te Postale 1904
L-1014 Luxembourg

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— Netherlands

Produktschap Tuinbouw
Bezuidenhoutseweg 153
Postbus 93099
NL-2594 AG Den Haag

— Austria

Bundesministerium f(cid:129)r Land- und Forstwirtschaft
Abteilung III A 5 — Handelspolitik und Außenhandel
Stubenring 12
A-1012 Wien

— Portugal

Minist(cid:130)rio da Economia
Direc(cid:135)(cid:209)o-Geral das Rela(cid:135)(cid:210)es Economicas Internacionais
Direc(cid:135)(cid:209)o de Servi(cid:135)os de Licenciamento do Com(cid:130)rcio Externo
Avenida da Rep(cid:156)blica, 79
P-1094 Lisboa Codex

— Finland

Maa-ja Mets(cid:132)talousministeri(cid:148)
Mariankatu 23
P.O. Box 232
SF-00171 Helsinki

— Sweden

Jordbruksverket
Vallgatan 8
S-551 82 J(cid:148)nk(cid:148)ping

— United Kingdom

Intervention Board
External Trade Division
Lancaster House
Hampshire Court
UK-Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 7YE