Council Regulation (EC) No 1499/2002
of 20 June 2002
concerning the export of certain steel products from Romania to the Community for the period from 1 July to 31 December 2002 (double-checking system)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 133 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas:
(1) The Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Romania, of the other part(1), entered into force on 1 February 1995.
(2) The Parties have agreed, by Decision No 3/2002 of the EU-Romania Association Council(2), to reintroduce the double-checking system for the period 1 July to 31 December 2002,
1. For the period 1 July to 31 December 2002, in accordance with the provisions of Association Council Decision No 3/2002, imports into the Community of certain iron and steel products originating in Romania, as listed in Annex I, shall be subject to the presentation of an import document issued by the authorities in the Community.
2. The import document shall be made out on a form corresponding to the European Community Surveillance Document model set out in Annex II.
3. The classification of the products covered by this Regulation is based on the tariff and statistical nomenclature of the Community (hereinafter referred to as the combined nomenclature or, in abbreviated form, CN). The origin of the products covered by this Regulation shall be determined in accordance with the rules in force in the Community.
4. For the period specified in paragraph 1, imports into the Community of the products listed in Annex I shall also be subject to the issue of an export document issued by the competent Romanian authorities. The importer must present the original of the export document no later than 31 March of the year following that in which the goods covered by the document were shipped.
5. Shipment is considered to have taken place on the date of loading on to the exporting means of transport.
6. The export document shall conform to the model shown in Annex III. It shall be valid for exports throughout the customs territory of the Community.
7. Goods shipped before 1 July 2002 shall be excluded from the scope of this Regulation.
1. The import document referred to in Article 1(1) shall be issued automatically by the competent authority in the Member States, without charge for any quantities requested, within five working days of presentation of an application by any Community importer, wherever established in the Community. This application shall be deemed to have been received by the competent national authority no later than three working days after submission, unless it is proven otherwise.
2. An import document issued by one of the competent national authorities listed in Annex IV shall be valid throughout the Community.
3. The importer's application shall include the following elements:
(a) the name and full address of the applicant (including telephone and fax numbers, and any identification number used by the competent national authorities) and VAT registration number, if subject to VAT;
(b) if applicable, the name and full address of the declarant or representative of the applicant (including telephone and fax numbers);
(c) the full name and address of the exporter;
(d) the exact description of the goods, including:
- their trade name,
- the combined nomenclature (CN) code(s),
- the country of origin,
- the country of consignment;
(e) the net weight, expressed in kg, and the quantity in the unit prescribed where other than net weight, by combined nomenclature heading;
(f) the cif value of the goods in euro at the Community frontier by combined nomenclature heading;
(g) whether the products concerned are seconds or of substandard quality(3);
(h) the proposed period and place of customs clearance;
(i) whether the application is a repeat of a previous application concerning the same contract;
(j) the following declaration, dated and signed by the applicant with the transcription of his name in capital letters: "I, the undersigned, certify that the information provided in this application is true and given in good faith, and that I am established in the Community."
The importer shall also submit a copy of the contract of sale or purchase, the pro forma invoice and/or, in cases where the goods are not directly purchased in the country of production, a certificate of production issued by the producing steel mill.
4. Import documents may be used only for such time as arrangements for liberalisation of imports remain in force in respect of the transactions concerned. Without prejudice to possible changes in the import regulations in force or measures taken in the framework of an agreement or the management of a quota:
- the period of validity of the import document is hereby fixed at four months,
- unused or partly used import documents may be renewed for an equal period.
5. The importer shall return import documents to the issuing authority at the end of their period of validity.
1. A finding that the unit price at which the transaction is effected exceeds that indicated in the import document by less than 5 % or that the total value or quantity of the products presented for import exceeds the value or quantity given in the import document by less than 5 % shall not preclude the release for free circulation of the products in question.
2. Applications for import documents and the documents themselves shall be confidential. They shall be restricted to the competent authorities and the applicant.
1. Within the first 10 days of each month, Member States shall communicate to the Commission:
(a) details of the quantities and values (calculated in euro) for which import documents were issued during the preceding month;
(b) details of imports during the month preceding the month referred to in (a).
The information provided by Member States shall be broken down by product, CN code and by country.
2. Member States shall report any anomalies or cases of fraud which they discover and, where relevant, the basis on which they have refused to grant an import document.
All reports provided for in these provisions shall be addressed to the Commission of the European Communities and sent electronically via the integrated network set up for this purpose, save where overriding technical reasons provisionally make it necessary to use another means of communication.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from 1 July 2002.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.