Commission Regulation (EC) No 662/2004 of 7 April 2004 laying down transitional measures as regards import licences applications pursuant to Regulations (EC) No 936/97 and (EC) No 1279/98 providing for the administration of certain tariff quotas for beef and veal products, by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union
Date: 2004-04-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: beef, import licence, tariff quota

8.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 104/103

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 662/2004

of 7 April 2004

laying down transitional measures as regards import licences applications pursuant to Regulations
(EC) No 936/97 and (EC) No 1279/98 providing for the administration of certain tariff quotas for
beef and veal products, by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia,
Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

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 paragraph of
Article 41 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, (herein-
after the new Member States), will accede to the Com-
munity on 1 May 2004 subject to the ratification of the
Treaty of Accession. Tariff quotas opened for beef and
veal products should be made available to operators
established in those countries on the date of their acces-
sion.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 936/97 of 27 May
1997 opening and providing for the administration of
tariff quotas for high-quality fresh, chilled and frozen
beef and for frozen buffalo meat (1) and Commission
Regulation (EC) No 1279/98 of 19 June 1998 laying
down detailed rules for applying the tariff quotas for
beef and veal provided for in Council Decisions 2003/
2003/18/EC
286/EC,
2003/263/EC and 2003/285/EC for Bulgaria, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Romania, the Republic of Poland and
the Republic of Hungary (2) lay down particular require-
ments concerning the eligibility of operators under the
various import schemes for certain tariff quotas.

2003/298/EC,

2003/299/EC,

In order to qualify under those import quotas, licence
applicants established in the new Member States should
prove they carried out a minimum activity in trade with
third countries. Trade which has taken place before 1
May 2004 with the current Member States of the Com-
munity as constituted on the date previous to the entry
into force of the Treaty of Accession of 2003 should be
considered as trade with third countries.

(4)

(5)

It is therefore necessary to adopt transitional measures
concerning the rules of eligibility of operators of the
new Member States under the import schemes provided
for in Regulations (EC) No 936/97 and (EC) No 1279/
98.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
In order to be considered applicants for import licences
within the meaning of Article 4(a) of Regulation (EC) No 936/
97 and Article 3(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1279/98, appli-
cants established in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia,
Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia shall
legal persons who are registered for VAT
be natural or
purposes in a Member State of the Community as constituted
on the date of entry into force of the Treaty of Accession of
2003 and who shall prove, at the time their applications are
submitted, to the satisfaction of the competent authority of the
Member State concerned:

(a) for the purposes of Regulation (EC) No 936/97, that they
have been engaged for at least 12 months in trade in beef
and veal with other countries;

(b) for the purposes of Regulation (EC) No 1279/98, that they
least once during the

have traded in beef and veal at
previous 12 months with other countries.

2.
For the purposes of this Article ‘other countries’ means all
third countries, including the Member States of the Community
as constituted on the date previous to the entry into force of
the Treaty of Accession of 2003.

Article 2

(1) OJ L 137, 28.5.1997, p. 10. Regulation last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 649/2003 (OJ L 95, 11.4.2003, p. 13).

(2) OJ L 176, 20.6.1998, p. 12. Regulation last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1144/2003 (OJ L 160, 28.6.2003, p. 44).

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

L 104/104

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

8.4.2004

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

Done at Brussels, 7 April 2004.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission