8.6.2004 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 203/7
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1077/2004
of 7 June 2004
opening and providing for the administration of an autonomous tariff quota for garlic
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to the Treaty of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia,
Having regard to the Act of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, and in particular the first paragraph of Article 41 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Commission Regulation (EC) No 565/2002 (1) established the method for managing tariff quotas and introduced a system of certificates of origin for garlic imported from third countries.
(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 228/2004 of 3 February 2004 laying down transitional measures applicable to Regulation (EC) No 565/2002 by reason of the accession of the new Member States (2) adopted measures to allow importers from those countries to benefit from Regulation (EC) No 565/2002. The aim of these measures was to make a distinction between traditional importers and new importers in the new Member States, and to adapt the concept of the reference quantity so that these importers could benefit from this system.
(3) To ensure uninterrupted supplies to the enlarged Community market while taking account of the economic supply conditions in the new Member States prior to accession, an autonomous and temporary import tariff quota should be opened for fresh or chilled garlic falling within CN code 0703 20 00.
(4) Setting such a quota must be transitional and may not prejudge the outcome of the negotiations underway in the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a result of the accession of new members.
(5) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,
1.   An autonomous tariff quota of 4 400 tonnes (serial number 09.4107), hereinafter the ‘autonomous quota’, shall be opened from 1 May 2004 for Community imports of fresh or chilled garlic falling within CN code 0703 20 00.
2.   The ad valorem tariff rate applicable to products imported under the autonomous quota shall be 9,6 %.
Regulations (EC) No 565/2002 and (EC) No 228/2004 shall apply to the management of the autonomous quota, subject to the provisions of this Regulation.
However, Articles 1, 5(5) and 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 565/2002 shall not apply to the management of the autonomous quota.
Import licences issued under the autonomous quota, hereinafter ‘licences’, shall be valid until 31 December 2004.
Box 24 of the licences shall show one of the entries listed in Annex I.
1.   Importers may submit licence applications to the competent authorities of the Member States in the five working days following the date of entry into force of this Regulation.
Box 20 of the licences shall show one of the entries listed in Annex II.
2.   Licence applications submitted by an importer may relate to a quantity equal to at most 10 % of the autonomous quota.
The autonomous quota shall be allocated as follows:
— 70 % to traditional importers,
— 30 % to new importers.
If the quantity allocated to one of the categories of importers is not used in full, the balance may be allocated to the other category.
1.   The Member States shall notify the Commission, on the seventh working day following the entry into force of this Regulation, of the quantities for which licence applications have been made.
2.   Licences shall be issued on the 12th working day following the entry into force of this Regulation, unless the Commission has taken special measures pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Article.
3.   If the Commission finds, on the basis of the information notified pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article, that licence applications exceed the quantities available for a category of importers according to Article 5 of this Regulation, it shall adopt, by means of a regulation, a single reduction percentage for the applications in question.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.