COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) N° 3905/92 of 17 December 1992 opening and providing for the  administration of Community tariff quotas for certain fruits and fruit juices
THE  COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article  113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Whereas pursuant to the Agreement with the United States of America on the Mediterranean  preferences, citrus and pasta, the Community has undertaken to suspend provisionally and in part  the customs duties applicable to certain fruits and fruit juices within the limits of Community  tariff quotas of appropriate volumes and of varying duration; whereas in order to ensure the  balance of reciprocal concessions provided for in the Agreement, the Commission may, by means of a  Regulation, suspend the application of the tariff measures in question;
Whereas the use of these tariff quotas is, however, conditional on presentation to the Community  customs authorities of a certificate of authenticity issued by the competent authorities of the  country of origin certifying that the products comply with the specific characteristics laid down;
Whereas Community tariff quotas for sweet oranges of high quality, citrus hybrids known as  'Minneolas` and certain types of frozen concentrated orange juice should therefore be opened for  all or part of 1993;
Whereas all Community importers should be ensured equal and continuous access to the said quotas  and the duty rates laid down for the quotas should be applied consistently to all imports of the  products in question into all Member States until the quotas are exhausted;
Whereas the necessary measures should be taken to ensure efficient administration of the tariff  quotas at Community level by providing for Member States to draw against the quota volumes such  quantities as they may need to cover actual imports as recorded; whereas this method of  administration requires close cooperation between Member States and the Commission;
Whereas since the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of  Luxembourg are united within, and jointly represented by, the Benelux Economic Union, any operation  concerning the administration of quantities drawn by that economic union may be carried out by any  one of its members,
The customs duties applicable to imports of the following products  shall be suspended during the periods, at the levels and within the limits of the Community tariff  quotas shown below:
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1.  For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a) sweet oranges of high quality means oranges of similar varietal characteristics which are  mature, firm, well-formed, at least fairly well coloured, of fairly smooth texture and are free  from decay, broken skins which are not healed, hard or dry skins, exanthema, growth cracks, bruises  (except those incident to normal handling and packing), and are free from damage caused by dryness  or mushy condition, split, rough, wide or protruding navels, creasing, scars, oil spots, scale,  sunburn, dirt or other foreign material, disease, insects or damage caused by mechanical or other  means, provided that not more than 15 % of the fruit in any lot fails to meet these specifications  and, included in this amount, not more than 5 % shall be allowed for defects causing serious damage  and, included in this latter amount, not more than 0,5 % may be affected by decay;
(b) citrus fruit hybrids known as 'Minneolas` means hybrids of the citrus fruit variety 'Minneola`  (Citrus paradisi Macf. cv. Duncan and Citrus reticulata blanca cv. Dancy);
(c) frozen concentrated orange juice having a degree of concentration of up to 50 degrees Brix  means orange juice that has a density of 1,229 g/cm³ or less at 20 °C.
2.  Use of the tariff quotas referred to in paragraph 1 shall be subject to:
- presentation, in support of the entry for release for free circulation, of a certificate of  authenticity conforming to one of the models in Annex I, issued by the competent authorities of the  country of origin - listed in Annex II - certifying that the products shown on it possess the  specific characteristics referred to in paragraph 1, or - in the case of concentrated orange juice, presentation to the Commission before importation of a  general attestation in which the competent authority of the country of origin certifies that  concentrated orange juice produced in that country does not contain the juice of blood oranges. The  Commission shall inform the Member States to enable them to notify the customs departments  concerned.
The tariff quotas referred to in Article 1 shall be managed by the Commission, which  may take any appropriate administrative measures to ensure that they are managed efficiently.
Where an importer presents a product covered by this Regulation for release for free  circulation in a Member State, applying to take advantage of the preferential arrangements, and the  entry is accepted by the customs authorities, the Member State concerned shall, by notifying the  Commission, draw an amount corresponding to its requirements from the quota volume.
Requests for drawings, indicating the date on which the entries were accepted, must be sent to the  Commission without delay.
Drawings shall be granted by the Commission in chronological order of the dates on which the  customs authorities of the Member States concerned accepted the entries for release for free  circulation, to the extent that the available balance so permits.
If a Member State does not use a drawing in full it shall return any unused portion to the  corresponding quota volume as soon as possible.
If the quantities requested are greater than the available balance of the quota volume, the balance  shall be allocated among applicants pro rata. The Commission shall inform the Member States  accordingly.
Each Member State shall ensure that importers of the products in question have equal  and continuous access to the quotas for as long as the balance of the relevant quota volume so  permits.
Member States and the Commission shall cooperate closely to ensure that this Regulation  is complied with.
The Commission may, by means of a Regulation, suspend the application of the tariff  quotas opened for by this Regulation if the reciprocity provided for in the Agreement is no longer  ensured.
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1993.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all  Member States.