Commission Regulation (EC) No 260/98 of 30 January 1998 amending both Regulation (EC) No 1445/95 on rules of application for import and export licences in the beef and veal sector and Regulations (EC) No 589/96, (EC) No 935/97, (EC) No 936/97, (EC) No 995/97, (EC) No 996/97, (EC) No 1006/97, (EC) No 1042/97, (EC) No 1376/97, (EC) No 1939/97 and (EC) No 1940/97

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 260/98 of 30 January 1998 amending both Regulation (EC) No 1445/95 on rules of application for import and export licences in the beef and veal sector and Regulations (EC) No 589/96, (EC) No 935/97, (EC) No 936/97, (EC) No 995/97, (EC) No 996/97, (EC) No 1006/97, (EC) No 1042/97, (EC) No 1376/97, (EC) No 1939/97 and (EC) No 1940/97
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June 1968 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2634/97 (2), and in particular Articles 9 and 25 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 715/90 of 5 March 1990 on the arrangements applicable to agricultural products and certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products originating in the ACP States or in the overseas countries and territories (OCT) (3), as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 619/96 (4), and in particular Article 27 thereof,
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 (Article XXIV (6)) negotiations (5), and in particular Article 1(1) thereof,
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 (6), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1595/97 (7), 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 (8), and in particular Article 5 thereof,
Whereas the securities against import licences for live animals and meat are not consistent in the various regulations; whereas they should be updated and harmonised;
Whereas Article 6 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 (9), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2616/97 (10), lays down the time limits by which and the ways in which the Member States must notify the Commission of the quantities of products for which import licences have been issued;
Whereas there are serial numbers in the Integrated Tariff of the European Communities (TARIC) that enable identification of the preferential arrangements, the products involved and in certain cases their origin; whereas the Member States should be required to put these numbers on the import licences or extract(s) therefrom and to use them in their notifications to the Commission;
Whereas not all of the regulations laying down detailed implementing rules for import quotas include TARIC serial numbers for quotas; whereas the numbers should be included in the regulations in question;
Whereas some regulations laying down rules of application for imports of bovine products require the Member States to notify the Commission of the quantities actually imported; whereas, to bring clarity and to reduce the extra administrative burden, these provisions must be simplified and introduced into Regulation (EC) No 1445/95;
Whereas the competent national authority issuing the import licence does not always know the country of origin of the quantities imported under tariff quotas opened for several countries or of the quantities imported subject to CCT duties; whereas identification of the country of origin in the case of tariff quotas or in the case of non-preferential imports should be made a primary requirement within the meaning of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85 of 22 July 1985 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of securities for agricultural products (11), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 3403/93 (12), and entry of the country of origin for the quotas in question and for non-preferential imports in column 31 of the import licence or extract thereof should therefore be required;
Whereas each import licence must in all cases be accompanied by a security, if it is greater than ECU 5; whereas a derogation should be made from the second subparagraph of Article 14(3) 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 (13), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1404/97 (14);
Whereas, to speed up the return of the import licence or its extract, a derogation should be made from the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 as regards the percentage partial forfeiture of the security and the maximum time limit for providing proof of import;
Whereas the inclusion of the above provisions in a single regulation means that the corresponding provisions in the other regulations already in force must be deleted; whereas the following Commission regulations must accordingly be amended:
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 589/96 of 2 April 1996 laying down detailed rules for the application in the beef and veal sector of Council Regulation (EEC) No 715/90 on the arrangements applicable to agricultural products and certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products originating in the African, Caribbean and Pacific States or in the overseas countries and territories (15),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 935/97 of 27 May 1997 opening and providing for the administration of tariff quotas for the import of bulls, cows and heifers, other than those intended for slaughter, of certain Alpine and mountain breeds, for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998 (16),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 936/97 of 27 May 1997 opening and providing for the administration of tariff quotas for high-quality fresh, chilled and frozen beef and for frozen buffalo meat (17), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 31/98 (18),
- 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 (19),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 996/97 of 3 June 1997 on the opening and administration of an import tariff quota for frozen thin skirt of bovine animals falling within CN code 0206 29 91 (20), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2048/97 (21),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 1006/97 of 4 June 1997 opening and providing for the administration of an import tariff quota for frozen beef intended for processing (1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998) (22),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 1042/97 of 10 June 1997 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 1997 to 30 June 1998) (23),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 1376/97 of 17 July 1997 opening and providing for the administration of an import tariff quota for young male bovine animals for fattening (1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998) (24),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 1939/97 of 3 October 1997 laying down, for the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, rules for the application of the tariff quotas for beef and veal provided for by Council Regulation (EC) No 3066/95 for the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania and amending Regulations (EC) Nos 2512/96 and 1441/97 (25),
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 1940/97 of 3 October 1997 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, in the period 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998, and amending Regulation (EC) No 2514/96 (26);
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Beef and Veal,