Commission Regulation (EC) No 1141/96 of 25 June 1996 opening and providing for the administration of a tariff quota for frozen meat of bovine animals falling within CN code 0202 and products falling within CN code 0206 29 91 (1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997)

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1141/96 of 25 June 1996 opening and providing for the administration of a tariff quota for frozen meat of bovine animals falling within CN code 0202 and products falling within CN code 0206 29 91 (1 July 1996 to 30 June 1997)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1095/96 of 18 June 1996 on the implementation of the concessions set out in Schedule CXL drawn up in the wake of the conclusion of the GATT XXIV.6 negotiations (1), and in particular Article 1 (1) thereof,
Whereas under the agreement concluded during the World Trade Organization multilateral trade negotiations the Community has undertaken to open an annual import quota of 53 000 tonnes of frozen beef falling within CN code 0202 and products falling within CN code 0206 29 91; whereas the rules of application for the quota year 1996/97 starting 1 July 1996 must be established;
Whereas a method of administration should be applied which is similar to the one used in the past for corresponding quotas; whereas those arrangements consist of the allocation by the Commission of the quantities available partly to traditional operators and partly to operators engaging in trade in beef and veal;
Whereas the traditional importers should be allocated 80 % of the quota i.e. 42 400 tonnes on application and in proportion to the quantities imported by them under the same type of quota during the most recent reference period; whereas steps should be taken to ensure that operators of the new Member States can participate on equal terms in the allocations of the quantities available;
Whereas, on the basis of the submission of applications from interested parties and subject to their acceptance by the Commission operators who can demonstrate the genuine nature of their business and who apply for quantities of some significance should be granted access to the second part of the quota i.e. 10 600 tonnes; whereas the genuine nature of their business should be demonstrated through the presentation of proofs of a certain size of trade in beef and veal with countries which were third countries on the day of import or export in question;
Whereas verification of the abovementioned criteria requires that applications be submitted in the Member State in which the importer is entered into the value-added tax register;
Whereas operators no longer engaged in trade in beef and veal at 1 April 1996 should be barred access to the quota in order to prevent speculation;
Whereas subject to the provisions of this Regulation, Commission Regulations (EEC) No 3719/88 (2), laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance-fixing certificates for agricultural products (3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2137/95 (4), and (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, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2856/95 (5), shall apply to import licences issued under this Regulation;
Whereas the effective management of this quota and in particular the prevention of fraud require that the licences used are returned to the competent authorities in order that they may verify that the quantities shown therein are correct; whereas, to that end, an obligation should be imposed on the competent authorities to carry out such verification; whereas the amount of the security to be lodged on the issue of the licences should be fixed in such a way as to ensure that the licences are used and returned to the competent authorities;
Whereas the Management Committee for Beef and Veal has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by its chairman,