THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas, in accordance with the agreements in the form of exchanges of letters concluded between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Hungary, and Romania, of the other part, approved by Decisions 93/721/EC, 93/723/EC and 93/725/EC ( 1 ), the Community is to open tariff quotas subject to reduced customs duties for certain wines originating in the said countries; whereas access to those quotas shall be confined to the wines in question accompanied by a document issued by a mutually recognized official body certifying that the wines are those covered by the relevant agreement and originating in the countries concerned;

Whereas those tariff quotas should be opened on an annual basis running from 1 January to 31 December;

Whereas it is necessary, in particular, to ensure for all the parties concerned equal and uninterrupted access to the said quotas and to ensure the uninterrupted application of the rate laid down for the quotas to all imports or reimports into all Member States of the products meeting the conditions specified until the quotas have been used up;

Whereas the decision to open the tariff quotas should be taken by the Community in compliance with its international obligations; whereas, to ensure the efficiency of a common administration of these quotas, there is no obstacle to authorizing Member States to draw from the quota-volumes the necessary quantities corresponding to actual imports; whereas, however, this method of administration requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commission, and the latter must in particular be able to monitor the rate at which the quotas are used up and inform the Member States accordingly;

Whereas the rules for the management and adjustment of tariff quotas applicable for the countries concerned are set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 1798/94 of 18 July 1994 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products originating in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia and establishing the detailed provisions for adapting these quotas (1994 to 1997) ( 2 ),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: