Commission Regulation (EC) No 408/2006 of  9 March 2006  amending Regulation (EC) No 936/97 opening and providing for the administration of tariff quotas for high-quality fresh, chilled and frozen beef and for frozen buffalo meat
Date: 2006-03-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: beef, fresh meat, frozen product, labelling, product quality, refrigerated product, tariff quota

10.3.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 71/3

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 408/2006

of 9 March 2006

amending Regulation (EC) No 936/97 opening and providing for the administration of tariff quotas
for high-quality fresh, chilled and frozen beef and for frozen buffalo meat

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Decision 2006/106/EC of 30 January
2006 on the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an
Exchange of Letters between the European Community and
Australia pursuant to Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 relating
to the modification of concessions in the schedules of the Czech
Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the
Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of
Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the
Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic in the course of
their accession to the European Union (1), and in particular
Article 2 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 936/97 (2) provides for
the opening and administration, on a multi-annual basis,
of a number of quotas of high-quality beef.

the negotiations which led to the
As a result of
Agreement approved by Decision 2006/106/EC,
the
Community undertook to incorporate in its schedule
for all Member States an increase of 150 tonnes of the
annual import tariff quota of high-quality beef.

Moreover, qualification for the quota of high-quality beef
allocated to Australia is subject to the conditions laid
down in Regulation (EC) No 936/97. In order to refer
the
to parameters which are verifiable and auditable,
that
definition of high-quality beef
in Article 2(b) of
to
Regulation should be modified and should refer
official categories defined on the day of entry into
force of
this Regulation by the competent Australian
authorities.

(4)

It is also appropriate to specify that the provisions of
Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of
the
European Parliament and of the Council (3), which estab-

(1) OJ L 47, 17.2.2006, p. 52.
(2) OJ L 137, 28.5.1997, p. 10. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 2186/2005 (OJ L 347, 30.12.2005, p. 74).

(3) OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1. Regulation as amended by the 2003 Act

of Accession.

lishes a system for the identification and registration of
bovine animals and sets out provisions regarding the
labelling of beef and beef products, should be applicable
to the import of high quality beef referred to in Article
2(b) of Regulation (EC) No 936/97.

Regulation (EC) No 936/97 should be
accordingly.

amended

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

(5)

(6)

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 936/97 is amended as follows:

1. Article 1(1) is amended as follows:

(a)

in the first indent of the first subparagraph,
tonnes’ is replaced by ‘60 250 tonnes’;

‘60 100

(b) the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘However,
59 675 tonnes in the 2005/2006 import year.’

the total volume of

tariff quotas shall be

2. In Article 2, point (b) is amended as follows:

(a)

in the first subparagraph,
‘7 150 tonnes’;

‘7 000 tonnes’ is replaced by

(b) the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘Selected cuts obtained from steer or heifer carcasses
which have been classified under one of the following
official categories “Y”, “YS”, “YG”, “YGS”, “YP” and “YPS”
as defined by AUS-MEAT Australia. Beef colour shall
conform to AUS-MEAT meat
reference
standards 1 B to 4,
to AUS-MEAT fat
fat colour
colour
reference standards 0 to 4 and fat depth
(measured at the P8 site) to AUS-MEAT fat classes 2
to 5.

colour

L 71/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

10.3.2006

The cuts shall be labelled according to Article 13 of
Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of
the European
Parliament and of the Council (*).

The indication “High-quality Beef” may be added to the
information on the label.

However, for the 2005/2006 import year the tariff quota
shall be 7 075 tonnes product weight for meat corre-
sponding to the CN codes mentioned in the first subpar-

agraph and complying with the requirements provided
for in the second, third ant fourth subparagraphs;

___________
(*) OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1.’

Article 2

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

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

Done at Brussels, 9 March 2006.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission