Commission Regulation (EC) No 414/2004 of 5 March 2004 adopting specific measures with a view to adapting the arrangements for administering tariff quotas on banana imports as a result of the accession of new Member States on 1 May 2004
Date: 2004-03-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: accession to the European Union, enlargement of the Union, import, tariff quota, tropical fruit

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Official Journal of the European Union

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 414/2004

of 5 March 2004

adopting specific measures with a view to adapting the arrangements for administering tariff
quotas on banana imports as a result of the accession of new Member States on 1 May 2004

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

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), and in particular Article 20 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

regards

Commission Regulation (EC) No 896/2001 (2) lays down
detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EEC) No
404/93 as
importing
bananas into the Community. Titles I and II of that
Regulation define the categories of traditional and non-
traditional operators who may supply the Community
under the tariff quotas opened each year.

the arrangements

for

In view of the accession to the Community of 10 new
Member States on 1 May 2004, it is necessary to identify
the operators established in the Community as consti-
tuted on 30 April 2004, whether or not already regis-
tered, who have supplied the markets of the countries
acceding on 1 May 2004 and who meet the conditions
laid down in Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EC) No
896/2001, in the case of traditional operators, and Arti-
cles 6 to 12 of that Regulation, in the case of non-tradi-
tional operators.

In order to draw up a list of operators who qualify to
participate in the tariff quota arrangements for banana
imports in accordance with the criteria laid down by
Community law, reference periods should be adopted
which are representative of developments in trade. To
that end, the three-year period 2000 to 2002, for which
import statistics are available, should be used for tradi-
tional operators. For non-traditional operators, 2002
and 2003, which immediately precede the year of regis-
tration, may be used for the purposes of Article 6 of
Regulation (EC) No 896/2001.

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

In the case of traditional importers, it should be made
clear that only primary imports within the meaning of
Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 896/2001 which have
actually been used to supply accession countries and
which have resulted in quantities of bananas being
released for free circulation in an accession country may
be taken into account for determining a specific addi-
tional reference quantity. Such operators should there-
fore be required to produce the customs documents
attesting to release for free circulation in the accession
countries.

In the case of non-traditional operators,
in order to
avoid excessive applications for allocations bearing no
relation to their actual capacity, a maximum limit
should be set for each application for an allocation,
expressed as a percentage of
the quantities actually
released for free circulation during one of the years
preceding registration and for which the operator must
produce the appropriate supporting documents.

In order to facilitate the scrutiny of operators' applica-
tions and harmonise how they are processed, the main
supporting documents which may be produced as
evidence that the requirements have been met for admis-
sion to each of the two categories of operators should
be specified.

The necessary provisions should also be laid down to
ensure adequate communication between the Member
States and the Commission and to organise the addi-
tional verifications and checks needed to detect and
prevent false claims, prevent irregularities and ensure the
smooth functioning of the arrangements for adminis-
tering tariff quotas for banana imports.

This Regulation will apply without prejudice to any rules
which the Commission might subsequently adopt with a
view to full application of the arrangements introduced
by Regulations (EEC) No 404/93 and (EC) No 896/2001
in the enlarged Community.

(1) OJ L 47, 25.2.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 2587/2001 (OJ L 345, 29.12.2001, p. 13).

(2) OJ L 126, 8.5.2001, p. 6. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1439/2003 (OJ L 204, 13.8.2003, p. 30).

(9)

The Management Committee for Bananas has not issued
an opinion by the time limit laid down by its Chairman,

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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

2.

For the purposes of paragraph 1:

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation:

— traditional operators registered in a Member State shall
submit a written application for allocation of a specific
reference quantity to the competent authorities of
that
Member State;

— operators not registered in a Member State shall submit a
written application for registration and allocation of a
specific reference quantity to the competent authorities of
the Member State of their choice.

(a) ‘Community of 15’ means the Community as constituted

on 30 April 2004;

Applications shall be submitted no later than 15 March 2004.

(b) ‘new Member States’ means the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia
and Slovakia;

(c) ‘the enlarged Community’ means the Community as consti-

tuted on 1 May 2004;

(d) ‘primary import’ means the economic operation defined in
the first subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No
896/2001;

(e) ‘minimum quantity’ means the minimum quantity defined
in the third subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC)
No 896/2001;

(f) ‘competent authorities’ means the competent authorities

listed in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 896/2001.

Article 2

This Regulation determines the operators established in the
Community as constituted on 30 April 2004 who may be
given access to participate in the tariff quota arrangements for
banana imports on the basis of their activities in supplying the
markets of the new Member States prior to their accession.

Article 3

Traditional operators

1.
Traditional operators established in the Community of 15
during the years referred to below and meeting the require-
ments laid down in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 896/
2001 who have carried out a minimum quantity of primary
imports of bananas with a view to their sale in one or more of
the new Member States during either 2000, 2001 or 2002 may
submit a written application for allocation of a specific refer-
ence quantity with a view to the issue of import licences from
1 May 2004 under the tariff quota arrangements for banana
imports.

Compliance with the minimum quantity requirement shall be
established on the basis of all primary imports carried out with
a view to supplying the markets of the new Member States.

3.

Applications as referred to in paragraph 2 shall indicate:

(a) for 2000, 2001 and 2002,

the quantities of primary
imports of bananas carried out and followed by release for
free circulation in the new Member States,

(b) the respective quantities released for free circulation in the
the years

for each of

different new Member States
concerned.

Article 4

Non-traditional operators

1.
Non-traditional operators established in the Community
of 15 at the time of registration and meeting the requirements
laid down in Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 896/2001 who
have been engaged in the commercial activity of importing
fresh bananas falling within CN code 0803 00 19 into one or
more of the new Member States to a declared customs value of
EUR 1 200 000 or more during either 2002 or 2003 may
submit an application for registration in the Member State of
their choice with a view to the issue of import licences from 1
May 2004 under the tariff quota arrangements for imports of
bananas.

To that end, operators shall address their application for regis-
tration together with an application for a specific allocation to
the competent authorities of the Member State of their choice.

Applications shall be submitted no later than 15 March 2004.

To be accepted, applications for registration as referred to

2.
in paragraph 1:

(a) may not cover a quantity greater than 70 % of the quantity
for which proof of import has been supplied under Article
6(3);

(b) shall be accompanied by proof that a security of EUR 150
per tonne requested has been lodged in accordance with
title III of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85 (1),
together with the appropriate supporting documents.

(1) OJ L 205, 3.8.1985, p. 5.

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Article 5

Article 7

Operators may not apply to be registered as both a tradi-

1.
tional and a non-traditional operator under this Regulation.

Bananas re-exported outside the new Member States shall

2.
not be taken into account for the purposes of this Regulation.

Article 6

Supporting documents

1.
Operators shall provide the necessary supporting docu-
ments along with their applications as referred to in Articles 3
and 4.

2.
For primary imports, operators must provide proof that
they have, on their own account, purchased bananas from the
producers, dispatched and sold them with a view to their
release for free circulation in one of the new Member States.
To that end, the following documents in particular may be
supplied in support of applications as referred to in Article 3:

(a) the purchase contract in the producer country;

(b) the bill of lading and the ship's manifest;

(c) the insurance policy covering sea transport;

Checks and verifications by the Member States

The Member States shall make the necessary checks to
1.
ensure that operators meet all the necessary conditions for
recognition as either a traditional or a non-traditional operator
in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 896/2001 and this
Regulation.

2.
the
Following the checks referred to in paragraph 1,
Member States shall draw up a list of traditional operators
within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 896/
2001 who have carried out primary imports followed by
release for free circulation in the new Member States during
2000, 2001 and 2002, and a list of non-traditional operators.

The Member States shall forward the lists referred to in
3.
paragraph 2 to the Commission no later than 15 April 2004,
together with the following information:

(a) for each traditional operator,

the average of primary
imports during 2000 to 2002 as referred to in Article 3(1);

(b) for each operator, the quantities actually released for free
circulation in the new Member States each year during
2000, 2001 and 2002, in the case of traditional operators,
and during 2002 and 2003 in the case of non-traditional
operators.

Article 8

Additional notifications and checks

(d) the invoices and proof of payment for the purchase of the

goods;

(e) the invoices and proof of payment of sea transport;

(f) the proof of payment of the insurance policy covering sea

transport;

The Commission shall notify the lists of traditional and non-
traditional operators to all the Member States.

The Commission shall request that the Member States make
any necessary additional verifications and, as and when
required, organise the appropriate checks in collaboration with
the competent national authorities with a view to detecting and
preventing false claims by operators.

(g) the invoices and/or sales documents relating to the supply

of the new Member States;

Article 9

and any other document attesting to the performance of a
primary import.

Articles 3 to 10 in title II of Regulation (EC) No 896/2001
shall apply subject to this Regulation.

Proof of release for free circulation in the new Member States
shall take the form of import declarations or other appropriate
customs documents.

For the purposes of this Regulation, Articles 11 and 12 of
Regulation (EC) No 896/2001 shall apply to operators as
referred to in Articles 3 and 4.

The supporting documents to be produced shall be original
documents or certified copies thereof.

Article 10

Entry into force

3.
The supporting documents to be provided for applica-
tions as referred to in Article 4 shall be those referred to in
Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 896/2001.

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

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

Done at Brussels, 5 March 2004.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission