Commission Regulation (EC) No 1632/2000 of 25 July 2000 amending Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 regarding imports of bananas into the Community
Date: 2000-07-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: customs formalities, exchange of information, import, import licence, tariff quota, tropical fruit

26.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 187/27

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1632/2000

of 25 July 2000

amending Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 regarding imports of bananas into the Community

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

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 1257/
1999 (2), and in particular Article 20 thereof,

The following Article 26a is added to Regulation (EC) No
2362/98:

Article 1

Whereas:

‘Article 26a

(1)

(2)

Articles 27 and 28 of Commission Regulation (EC) No
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 (3), as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1127/1999 (4), contain the provisions applic-
able to communication between the Member States and
the Commission of information on licences and licence
extracts and on irregularities and infringements relating
to them.

The rules to be applied for the correct management of
import arrangements in the banana sector should be
specified and to that end Commission Regulation (EC)
No 2362/98 (5), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 756/
1999 (6), should be amended. Those rules should cover
the keeping of documents and the forwarding of licence
copies and licence extracts by the customs authorities of
the Member States in which the procedures for release
into free circulation are carried out and by the
competent authorities of
the Member States which
issued the documents concerned. The rules should also
specify the checks on the authenticity and regularity of
documents and the conformity of
their use by the
competent authorities of the Member State issuing the
licences and extracts.

(3)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Bananas,

(1) OJ L 47, 25.2.1993, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80.
(3) OJ L 331, 2.12.1988, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 135, 29.5.1999, p. 48.
(5) OJ L 293, 31.10.1998, p. 32.
(6) OJ L 98, 15.4.1999, p. 10.

1.
The customs offices at which the import declarations
are lodged with a view to the release into free circulation of
bananas from the origins listed in Annex I, under the tariff
quota and traditional ACP banana arrangements, shall:

(a) keep a copy of each import licence and extract there-
from issued on acceptance of a declaration of release
into free circulation, and

(b) forward at the end of each fortnight a second copy of
that import licence or extract therefrom to the Member
State authorities listed in Annex II to this Regulation
responsible for issuing the licences. Those authorities
shall at the end of each fortnight forward a copy of the
licences and extracts received to the competent authori-
ties of the Member States listed in the abovementioned
Annex which issued those documents.

2. Where there is doubt as to the authenticity of the
licence, the extract, or any information in, or signatures on
the documents presented, or as to the status of the opera-
tors completing the formalities for release into free circula-
tion or for the account of whom those formalities are
the
completed, and where irregularities are suspected,
customs offices at which those documents were presented
shall immediately inform thereof by telecommunication the
competent authorities of their Member State as indicated in
immediately forward that
paragraph 1. The latter shall
information by telecommunication to the
competent
authorities which issued the documents and to the
Commission, for the purposes of a thorough check.

The Commission shall
forward to the Member States'
customs authorities the list of operators registered in the
Community for the import arrangements in question who
may be holders or transferors of an import licence or
extract therefrom.

L 187/28

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

26.7.2000

On the basis of the information received pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2, the Member States'
3.
competent authorities listed in Annex II shall carry out the additional checks needed to guarantee the
correct application of the tariff quota arrangements, in particular verification of the quantities 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
in particular verify the authenticity and
conformity of the documents used and that the documents have been used by operators registered
pursuant to the provisions of Title I.’

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

Article 2

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

Done at Brussels, 25 July 2000.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission