(1)

Regulation (EC) No 3223/94 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in the Annex thereto.

(2)

In compliance with the above criteria, the standard import values must be fixed at the levels set out in the Annex to this Regulation,

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 has repealed and replaced Council Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 (2) as from 1 May 2004. Member States may continue to apply the voluntary modulation provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 until 31 December 2004. A system of compulsory modulation introduced under the new scheme starts to apply in 2005.

(2)

The rate of compulsory modulation under Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 will, at the initial stage, be lower than the rate of optional modulation under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 for certain Member States. This could create a deficit as regards the funding of accompanying measures under national or regional rural development programmes which are being financed by additional Community support as presently provided for in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999.

(3)

The Member States concerned should thus be allowed to continue to apply optional modulation after 31 December 2004, in so far as this is necessary to cover the financial needs arising from accompanying measures approved before 1 January 2006.

(4)

Transitional rules are therefore required to facilitate the transition from optional to compulsory modulation.

(5)

For the purpose of a harmonious transition between programming periods, the time limits for the availability of amounts resulting from optional modulation should be extended to the end of the fourth financial year following that during which the amounts are withheld. In this context it is appropriate, for reasons of legal clarity, to amend Article 1(1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 963/2001 of 17 May 2001 on detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 as regards the additional Community support and the transmission of information to the Commission (3).

(6)

Taking into account the amendment to Article 1(1) of Regulation (EC) No 963/2001, it is also necessary to amend Article 6 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 296/96 (4) concerning data to be transmitted by the Member States and the monthly booking of expenditure financed under the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF, in order to ensure the full application of this Article to funds resulting from optional modulation.

(7)

Regulations (EC) No 963/2001 and (EC) No 296/96 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(8)

To ensure traceability, the financing source of each multiannual action should remain the same until the action expires. However, where the funds resulting from optional modulation are exhausted, the Member State must be allowed to finance multiannual actions which are still running by other funds.

(9)

In order to ensure that the funds resulting from optional modulation are properly managed and supervised, the Member States should keep a separate account for the amounts withheld and their use, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 296/96.

(10)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Direct Payments,

(1)

Articles 173 to 177 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 provide that the Commission shall periodically establish unit values for the products referred to in the classification in Annex 26 to that Regulation.

(2)

The result of applying the rules and criteria laid down in the abovementioned Articles to the elements communicated to the Commission in accordance with Article 173(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 is that unit values set out in the Annex to this Regulation should be established in regard to the products in question,

(1)

Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1159/2003 stipulates how the delivery obligations at zero duty of products of CN code 1701, expressed in white sugar equivalent, are to be determined for imports originating in signatory countries to the ACP Protocol and the Agreement with India.

(2)

Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1159/2003 stipulates how the zero duty tariff quotas for products of CN code 1701 11 10, expressed in white sugar equivalent, are to be determined for imports originating in signatory countries to the ACP Protocol and the Agreement with India.

(3)

Article 22 of Regulation (EC) No 1159/2003 opens tariff quotas at a duty of EUR 98 per tonne for products of CN code 1701 11 10 for imports originating in Brazil, Cuba and other third countries.

(4)

In the week of 13 to 17 September 2004 applications were presented to the competent authorities in line with Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1159/2003 for import licences for a total quantity exceeding a country's delivery obligation quantity of ACP-India preferential sugar determined pursuant to Article 9 of that Regulation.

(5)

In these circumstances the Commission must set reduction coefficients to be used so that licences are issued for quantities scaled down in proportion to the total available and must indicate that the limit in question has been reached,

(1)

The applications for import licences lodged for the fourth quarter of 2004 are for quantities less than or equal to the quantities available and can therefore be met in full.

(2)

The surplus to be added to the quantity available for the following period should be determined.

(3)

It is appropriate to draw the attention of operators to the fact that licences may only be used for products which comply with all veterinary rules currently in force in the Community,

(1)

The applications for import licences lodged for the fourth quarter of 2004 are for quantities less than the quantities available and can therefore be met in full.

(2)

It is appropriate to draw the attention of operators to the fact that licences may only be used for products which comply with all veterinary rules currently in force in the Community,

(1)

The applications for import licences lodged for the fourth quarter of 2004 are for quantities less than the quantities available and can therefore be met in full.

(2)

The surplus to be added to the quantity available for the following period should be determined,

(1)

On 22 January 2002 the Council adopted a Decision appointing the members and alternate members of the Committee of the Regions (1).

(2)

The seat of a member of the Committee of the Regions has become vacant following the expiry of the mandate of Mrs Christine MAY, of which the Council was notified on 24 July 2003, the seats of three alternate members of the Committee of the Regions have become vacant following expiry of the mandates of Mrs Diane BUNYAN, Mr Hugh HALCRO-JOHNSTON and Mrs Irene McGUGAN, of which the Council was notified on 24 July 2003; a member’s seat has become vacant following the resignation of Mrs Irene OLDFATHER, of which the Council was notified on 5 May 2004 and two alternate member’s seats have become vacant following the nomination of Mr Jack McCONNELL and Mr Corrie McCHORD as full members,

(a)

(b)

(1)

For certain acts adopted by the European Union, which remain valid beyond 1 May 2004, and require adaptation by reason of accession, the necessary adaptations were not provided for in the 2003 Act of Accession, in particular in Annex II thereto.

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) establishes veterinary conditions applying in particular to non-commercial movements of pet dogs, cats and ferrets, and is one of these acts that must be adapted.

(3)

Malta, which formerly applied a system of six months quarantine for imports for the species concerned, has abandoned this regime in order to transpose and implement Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 as from 3 July 2004.

(4)

In the course of the negotiations for enlargement it was accepted that Malta, being an island with a similar health status for freedom from rabies to that of Ireland, the United Kingdom and Sweden, should be treated in the same category as these three Member States.

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 divides Member States into two categories according to the history of their controls against rabies, and grants Sweden, Ireland and the United Kingdom a transitional period of five years for controls on dogs, cats and ferrets entering their territory.

(6)

Malta should therefore be added to the list of Member States which have been granted a transitional period under Regulation (EC) No 998/2003.

(7)

Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 should therefore be amended accordingly,

1.

Article 6(1):

2.

In Annex II, ‘Lists of countries and territories’, Part A, ‘Malta’ shall be inserted after ‘Ireland’.

(1)

The accounts of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of the national central banks of the Eurosystem are to be audited by independent external auditors recommended by the Governing Council of the ECB and approved by the Council of the European Union.

(2)

The mandate of the current external auditors of the Banca d'Italia has expired and will not be renewed. It is therefore necessary to appoint external auditors from the financial year 2004.

(3)

The Governing Council of the ECB recommended the Council to approve the appointment, starting from the financial year 2004, for a renewable period of three years, of new external auditors of the Banca d'Italia, which were selected by it in accordance with its public procurement rules.

(4)

It is appropriate to follow the recommendation of the Governing Council of the ECB and to amend Decision 1999/70/EC (2) accordingly,

(1)

Commission Decision 2001/376/EC of 18 April 2001 concerning measures made necessary by the occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Portugal and implementing a date-based export scheme (3) contains certain provisions adopted to protect against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) due to the outbreak of that disease in Portugal.

(2)

That Decision lays down specific rules made necessary due to the occurrence of BSE in Portugal including a prohibition on the dispatch of meat meal, bone meal and meat–and-bone meal of mammalian origin and animal feed and fertilisers containing such products (‘the meat-and-bone meal and related products’) from that Member State to other Member States or third countries.

(3)

However, Decision 2001/376/EC provides that Portugal may under certain conditions authorise the dispatch of the meat-and-bone meal and related products to other Member States which have given their authorisation.

(4)

Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 October 2002 laying down health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption (4) lays down the conditions for the categorisation, collection, transportation, disposal, processing, use and intermediate storage of animal by-products. Under that Regulation the meat-and-bone meal and related products containing material from animals suspected or confirmed of having contracted BSE, or from animals killed under a BSE eradication measure are to be disposed of as waste by incineration or co-incineration in an approved incineration or co-incineration plant.

(5)

Portugal has insufficient capacity to incinerate or co-incinerate the meat-and-bone meal and related products originating from animals suspected or confirmed of having contracted BSE, or from animals killed under a BSE eradication measure. The accumulation of stocks of that material could pose a risk for public and animal health.

(6)

It is necessary to amend the conditions provided for in Decision 2001/376/EC for the dispatch of the meat-and-bone meal and related products from Portugal. That Decision should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,