Commission Regulation (EC) No 359/2004 of 27 February 2004 laying down transitional measures applicable to Regulation (EC) No 2125/95 by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia
Date: 2004-02-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: CCT duties, customs regulations, import licence, mushroom-growing, preserved product, tariff quota

28.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 63/11

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 359/2004

of 27 February 2004

laying down transitional measures applicable to Regulation (EC) No 2125/95 by reason of the
accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland,
Slovenia and Slovakia

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Article 1

Having regard to the Treaty of Accession of
the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta,
Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, and in particular Article 2(3)
thereof,

Having regard to the Act of Accession of the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland,
Slovenia and Slovakia, and in particular the first subparagraph
of Article 41 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Transitional measures should be laid down in order to
allow importers
from the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland,
Slovenia and Slovakia (hereinafter referred to as ‘the new
Member States’) to benefit from the provisions contained
in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2125/95 of 6
September 1995 opening and providing for the adminis-
tration of tariff quotas for preserved mushrooms (1).

Arrangements should be laid down for the year 2004 to
ensure that, as from the date of accession, a distinction
between traditional importers and new importers within
the meaning of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2125/
importers and new importers from
95 and traditional
new Member States is made.

To ensure the correct use of quotas and allow traditional
importers from the new Member States to be in a posi-
tion to apply for sufficient quantities during the year
2004, provisions should be made for the year 2004 to
applications
adjust
from the new
presented by traditional
Member States may relate.

the quantity to which licence

importers

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Products Processed from Fruit and Vege-
tables,

For the purposes of this Regulation:

1.

2.

‘current Member States’ shall mean the Member States of the
Community as constituted on 30 April 2004;

‘new Member States’
shall mean the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland,
Slovenia and Slovakia.

Article 2

By way of derogation from Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation (EC)
No 2125/95, for the year 2004 and only in the new Member
States,
importers’ shall mean importers who can
prove that:

‘traditional

(a) they have imported,

from origins other than the new
Member States or the current Member States, the products
referred to in Article 1(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2125/95
in at least two of the three calendar years preceding 2004;

(b) they have also imported and/or exported during the year
2003 at least 100 tonnes of processed fruit and vegetable
products, as referred to in Article 1(2) of Council Regu-
lation (EC) No 2201/96 (2).

Imports shall have taken place in the new Member State where
the importer concerned is established or has its head office,
and exports shall have been sent to destinations other than the
new Member States or the current Member States.

Article 3

By way of derogation from Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC)
No 2125/95, for the year 2004, and only in the new Member
States, ‘new importers’ shall mean importers other than tradi-
tional importers within the meaning of Article 2 of this Regu-
lation who are traders, natural or legal persons, individuals or
groups, which can prove that they have imported, from origins
other than the new Member States or the current Member
States, and/or exported at least 50 tonnes of processed fruit
and vegetable products, as referred to in Article 1(2) of Regu-
lation (EC) No 2201/96,
in each of the two calendar years
preceding 2004.

(1) OJ L 212, 7.9.1995, p. 16. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

(2) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996, p. 29. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1142/2003 (OJ L 160, 28.6.2003, p. 39).

lation (EC) No 1239/2001 (OJ L 171, 26.6.2001, p. 1).

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Official Journal of the European Union

28.2.2004

Imports shall have taken place in the new Member State where
the importer concerned is established or has its head office,
and exports shall have been sent to destinations other than the
new Member States or the current Member States.

Article 4

1.
By way of derogation from Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC)
No 2125/95, licence applications presented in May 2004 by
the traditional importers of the new Member States shall not
relate to a quantity exceeding 65 % of the average annual quan-
tity of imports in the Member State concerned originating in
countries other
than the current Member States, Poland,
Bulgaria and Romania in the three previous calendar years.

By way of derogation from Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC)
2.
No 2125/95, licence applications presented in May 2004 by
the new importers of the new Member States shall not relate to
a quantity exceeding 8 % of the quantity allocated pursuant to
Article 3 of this Regulation.

Article 5

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 May 2004 subject
to the entry into force of the Treaty of Accession of the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta,
Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.

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

Done at Brussels, 27 February 2004.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission