Commission Regulation (EC) No 1143/98 of 2 June 1998 laying down detailed rules for a tariff quota for cows and heifers of specified mountain breeds originating in various third countries, other than for slaughter, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1012/98

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1143/98 of 2 June 1998 laying down detailed rules for a tariff quota for cows and heifers of specified mountain breeds originating in various third countries, other than for slaughter, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1012/98
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3066/95 of 22 December 1995 establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and providing for the adjustment, as an autonomous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the Europe Agreements to take account of the Agreement on agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1595/97 (2), and in particular Article 8 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1926/96 of 7 October 1996 establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and providing for the adjustment, as an autonomous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the agreements on free trade and trade-related matters with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, to take account of the Agreement on agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations (3), and in particular Article 5 thereof,
Whereas Regulation (EC) No 3066/95 provides for the opening of a tariff quota for an annual quantity of 7 000 cows and heifers of specified mountain breeds originating in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia at a customs duty of 6 % ad valorem; whereas that quota should be opened on a multiannual basis for periods of 12 months commencing on 1 July (hereinafter referred to as 'the year of import`) and the detailed rules of application laid down;
Whereas experience has shown that limiting imports may lead to speculative import licence applications; whereas, in order to ensure that the planned measures function properly, the greater part of the quantities available should be allocated to 'traditional` importers of cows and heifers of specified mountain breeds; whereas in certain cases administrative errors by the competent national body threaten to restrict access by importers to this part of the quota; whereas there should be provision to correct any harm caused;
Whereas, in order to avoid forcing trade relations in this product group into an excessively rigid mould, a second tranche should be made available to traders who are able to show that they are engaged in genuine trade of some scale with third countries; whereas, in this connection and in order to ensure efficient management, the trader concerned must be required to have imported at least 15 head during the 12 months preceding the year of import in question; whereas a batch of 15 animals in principle constitutes a normal load and experience shows that the sale or purchase of a single batch is a minimum requirement for a transaction to be considered genuine and viable;
Whereas verification of these criteria requires all applications to be submitted in the Member State where the importer is registered for VAT purposes;
Whereas in order to prevent speculation, traders no longer engaged in trade in beef and veal at 1 July of the year of import in question should be denied access to the quota;
Whereas provision should be made for the system to be administered by means of import licences; whereas to that end detailed rules for the submission of applications and the information which should appear in applications and licences should be laid down, if necessary by way of derogation from certain provisions of Commission Regulation (EEC) 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 (4), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1044/98 (5), and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1445/95 of 26 June 1995 on rules of application for import and export licences in the beef and veal sector and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2377/80 (6), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 759/98 (7); whereas, moreover, provision should be made for the licences to be issued after a period of consideration and subject where necessary to a uniform percentage reduction;
Whereas, so that the destination can be checked, provision should be made for imported animals to be identified in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 of 21 April 1997 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products (8);
Whereas Article 82 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (9), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 82/97 (10), provides for customs supervision of goods released for free circulation at a reduced rate on account of their end-use; whereas the animals imported should be monitored to ensure they are not slaughtered during a certain period; whereas, to ensure that slaughter does not take place, a security should be required to cover the difference between the duties under the Common Customs Tariff (CCT) and the reduced duties applicable when the animals in question were entered for free circulation;
Whereas Article 7(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1012/98 of 14 May 1998 opening and providing for the management of tariff quotas for the import of bulls, cows and heifers, other than for slaughter, of certain alpine and mountain breeds (11) states that, in order to comply with the ban on slaughter of the imported animals within a certain period, a security equivalent to the specific amount of the CCT customs duties should be provided;
Whereas this amount does not cover the whole of the customs debt in the case of non-compliance with the obligations relating to this quota; whereas the amount of the security should therefore be adjusted to reflect the difference between the CCT duties and the reduced duties;
Whereas in certain cases administrative errors by the competent national body threaten to restrict access by traditional importers to the part of the quota covered by the above Regulation; whereas there should therefore be provision to correct any harm caused;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Beef and Veal,