Commission Regulation (EC) No 995/97 of 3 June 1997 laying down, for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, detailed rules of application for the tariff quotas for beef provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 1926/96 for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 995/97 of 3 June 1997 laying down, for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, detailed rules of application for the tariff quotas for beef provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 1926/96 for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
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 (1), and in particular Article 5 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June 1968 on the common organization of the market in beef and veal (2), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2222/96 (3), and in particular Article 9 (2) thereof,
Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1926/96 provides for certain annual tariff quotas for products made from beef and veal; whereas imports under those quotas qualify for an 80 % reduction in the customs duties set out in the Common Customs Tariff (CCT); whereas detailed rules of application for these quotas, for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, should be laid down;
Whereas to ensure orderly importation of the quantities laid down for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, they should be staggered over the year 1997/98;
Whereas, while the provisions of the abovementioned Agreements intended to guarantee the origin of the product should be complied with, the administration of the arrangements should be based on import licences; whereas, to that end, detailed rules should be laid down on, in particular, the submission of applications and the information which must appear in applications and licences, notwithstanding 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 2350/96 (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 266/97 (7); whereas provision should also be made for the licences to be issued after a period for consideration and, where necessary, the application of a single percentage reduction;
Whereas, in view of the risk of speculation inherent in these arrangements for beef and veal, clear conditions should be laid down as regards access by operators; whereas verification of the abovementioned conditions requires that applications be submitted in the Member State in which the importer is entered into the value-added tax register;
Whereas, in order to ensure proper administration of the arrangements, the security for import licences under the system should be set at ECU 12 per 100 kilograms;
Whereas experience has shown that importers do not always inform the competent authorities which have issued the import licences of the quantity and origin of the beef and veal imported under the quotas concerned; whereas that information is important for assessing the market situation; whereas a security relating to provision of that information should be provided for;
Whereas provision must be made for the Member States to forward information on the imports in question;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Beef and Veal,