Commission Regulation (EC) No 1149/98 of 2 June 1998 laying down, for the period 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999, certain detailed rules for the application of a tariff quota for live bovine animals weighing from 80 to 300 kilograms and originating in certain third countries

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1149/98 of 2 June 1998 laying down, for the period 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999, certain detailed rules for the application of a tariff quota for live bovine animals weighing from 80 to 300 kilograms and originating in certain third countries
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 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 Multilateral Trade Negotiations (3), and in particular Article 5 thereof,
Whereas Regulations (EC) No 3066/95 and (EC) No 1926/96 provide for the opening, for the period 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999, of a tariff quota for 153 000 live bovine animals weighing from 80 to 300 kilograms and originating in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and qualifying for an 80 % reduction in customs duties; whereas management measures should be laid down for the import of those animals;
Whereas, with a view to preventing speculation, the quantity available should be made accessible to traders able to show that they are genuinely engaged in trade of a significant scale with third counties; whereas, in that respect and with a view to efficient management, the traders concerned must have exported and/or imported at least 50 animals in 1997; whereas a batch of 50 animals in principle constitutes a normal load and experience has shown that the sale or purchase of a single batch is a minimum requirement for a transaction to be considered real and viable;
Whereas, if such criteria are to be checked, applications must be presented in the Member State where the importer is entered in a VAT register;
Whereas, in order to ensure that imports of the quantities laid down for the period 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999 arrive regularly, the issuing of licences should be staggered over the period concerned;
Whereas provision should be made for the arrangements to be administered by means of import licences; whereas, to that end, detailed rules should be laid down in particular to cover the submission of applications and the particulars to be shown on applications and licences, where applicable 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 of 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 provision should also be made for licences to be issued after a period for reflection, a flat-rate percentage reduction being applied where necessary;
Whereas 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 the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Beef and Veal,