Commission Regulation (EC) No 1176/2002 of 28 June 2002 laying down detailed rules for exports of certain fruit and vegetables and processed fruit and vegetable products to Estonia and amending Regulations (EC) Nos 1961/2001 and 1429/95

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1176/2002
of 28 June 2002
laying down detailed rules for exports of certain fruit and vegetables and processed fruit and vegetable products to Estonia and amending Regulations (EC) Nos 1961/2001 and 1429/95
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the market in fruit and vegetables(1), as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 545/2002(2), and in particular Article 31(2) and Article 35(11) thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the markets in processed fruit and vegetable products(3), as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 453/2002(4), and in particular Article 11(2), Article 16(8) and Article 17(5) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Article 3 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 of 15 April 1999 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of export refunds on agricultural products(5), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2299/2001(6), lays down that, when a differentiated refund applies for a specific third country, entitlement to the refund is acquired on importation into that third country. Articles 14, 15 and 16 of that Regulation lay down the conditions for the payment of the refund when a differentiated refund applies, and in particular the documents to be presented to furnish proof of the arrival of the product at destination.
(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1148/2002(7) establishes concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and provides for an adjustment, as an autonomous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the Europe Agreement with Estonia. One of the concessions provided for is the abolition with effect from 1 July 2002 of refunds on exports to Estonia of Community products covered by the common organisations of the markets in fruit and vegetables and processed fruit and vegetables.
(3) To prevent that concession from leading to the application of the abovementioned Articles 14, 15 and 16 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 when refunds are granted on exports of the products in question to other third countries, Estonia has undertaken to ensure that only products not having qualified for refunds and coming directly from the Community are allowed to be imported into Estonia.
(4) To enable the Estonian authorities to carry out such checks, provision should be made for the obligation when importing the products in question to present to the Estonian authorities, on the one hand, a certified copy of the export licence, bearing specific indications guaranteeing that no export refund has been granted on the products referred to therein and, on the other, a certified copy of the export declaration bearing certain specific references to the export licence. The detailed rules on licence arrangements must be complementary to or derogate from those laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 of 9 June 2000 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance fixing certificates for agricultural products(8), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2299/2001.
(5) Account must also be taken of those special arrangements when applying the abovementioned provisions of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 so as not to impose unnecessary costs on exporters trading with third countries. To that end account should not be taken when determining the lowest rate of the refund of the fact that an export refund has not been fixed for Estonia. The detailed rules for the application of export refunds laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1961/2001(9) for fresh fruit and vegetables and by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1429/95(10), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1962/2001(11), for processed fruit and vegetable products should therefore be amended accordingly.
(6) Lastly, action should be taken to cushion the impact of the abovementioned concessions on the use of licences issued before the entry into force of this Regulation for the grant of refunds on exports to Estonia where import operations could not be completed before 1 July 2002. Cancellation of those licences and reimbursement of the security in proportion to the quantities not used should be permitted.
(7) The exact determination of the products concerned requires reference to the agricultural product nomenclature for export refunds laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 3846/87(12), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1007/2002(13).
(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Joint Meeting of Management Committees for fresh fruit and vegetables and for processed fruit and vegetables,