Commission Regulation (EC) No 250/2000 of 1 February 2000 on imports of bananas under the tariff quotas and of traditional ACP bananas, and fixing the indicative quantities for the second quarter of 2000

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 250/2000
of 1 February 2000
on imports of bananas under the tariff quotas and of traditional ACP bananas, and fixing the indicative quantities for the second quarter of 2000
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February 1993 on the common organisation of the market in bananas(1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999(2), and in particular Article 20 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) On 19 November 1999 the Commission sent the Council a proposal for a Regulation amending the arrangements for importing bananas into the Community. Pending the Council's decision on this proposal, and without prejudice to that decision, uninterrupted supplies to the market and continued trade must be ensured pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 of 28 October 1998 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 regarding imports of bananas into the Community(3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 756/1999(4).
(2) To achieve that objective, traditional operators must have the right to apply for import licences on the basis of the reference quantity for 1999 determined and notified by the competent national authority. In the case of newcomer operators, deadlines must be laid down for the submission of applications for the renewal of registrations in respect of 1999, or for registering as newcomers where applicable, and of applications for quota allocations.
(3) Under Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 an indicative quantity, expressed as the same percentage of available quantities from each of the countries of origin listed in Annex I thereto, may be fixed for the purposes of issuing import licences for the first three quarters of the year. An analysis of the data relating, on the one hand, to the quantities of bananas marketed in the Community in 1999 and to actual imports during the second quarter in particular and, on the other hand, to the outlook for supplies to and consumption on the Community market during that second quarter of 2000 shows that, to ensure satisfactory supplies to the Community as a whole, an indicative quantity should be fixed for each country of origin listed in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 at 29 % of the quantity allocated to it.
(4) The ceiling provided for in Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 on quantities covered by individual licence applications must be set to avoid prejudging any amendment to the import arrangements in question during 2000.
(5) This Regulation is adopted with a view to ensuring uninterrupted supplies to the market and continued trade with the supplier countries but does not prejudge any measures that may subsequently be adopted by the Council or the Commission, in particular with a view to complying with the international commitments entered into by the Community within the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and cannot be invoked by operators as grounds for legitimate expectations regarding the extension of the import arrangements.
(6) This Regulation must enter into force immediately.
(7) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Bananas,