(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)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1961/2001 (2) lays down the detailed rules of application for export refunds on fruit and vegetables.

(2)

Article 35(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 provides that, to the extent necessary for economically significant exports, the products exported by the Community may be covered by export refunds, within the limits resulting from agreements concluded in accordance with Article 300 of the Treaty.

(3)

Under Article 35(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, care must be taken to ensure that the trade flows previously brought about by the refund scheme are not disrupted. For this reason and because exports of fruit and vegetables are seasonal in nature, the quantities scheduled for each product should be fixed, based on the agricultural product nomenclature for export refunds established by Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3846/87 (3). These quantities must be allocated taking account of the perishability of the products concerned.

(4)

Article 35(4) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96 provides that refunds must be fixed in the light of the existing situation and outlook for fruit and vegetable prices on the Community market and supplies available, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, prices on the international market. Account must also be taken of the transport and marketing costs and of the economic aspect of the exports planned.

(5)

In accordance with Article 35(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2200/96, prices on the Community market are to be established in the light of the most favourable prices from the export standpoint.

(6)

The international trade situation or the special requirements of certain markets may call for the refund on a given product to vary according to its destination.

(7)

Tomatoes, oranges, lemons and apples of classes Extra, I and II of the common quality standards can currently be exported in economically significant quantities.

(8)

In order to ensure the best use of available resources and in view of the structure of Community exports, it is appropriate to proceed by an open invitation to tender and to set the indicative refund amount and the scheduled quantities for the period concerned.

(9)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,

(1)

In order to ensure uniform application of the Combined Nomenclature annexed to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, it is necessary to adopt measures concerning the classification of the goods referred to in the Annex to this Regulation.

(2)

Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 has laid down the general rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature. Those rules apply also to any other nomenclature which is wholly or partly based on it or which adds any additional subdivision to it and which is established by specific Community provisions, with a view to the application of tariff and other measures relating to trade in goods.

(3)

Pursuant to those general rules, the goods described in column 1 of the table set out in the Annex to this Regulation should be classified under the CN code indicated in column 2, by virtue of the reasons set out in column 3 of that table.

(4)

It is appropriate to provide that binding tariff information which has been issued by the customs authorities of Member States in respect of the classification of goods in the Combined Nomenclature but which is not in accordance with this Regulation can, for a period of three months, continue to be invoked by the holder, under Article 12(6) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (2).

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment.

(2)

It is necessary to specify the format and the procedure for the transmission of the required data in order to produce comparable and harmonised data between Member States, to reduce the risk of errors in the transmission of data and to increase the speed with which the data collected can be processed and made available to users. Implementing rules should therefore be laid down to supplement the instructions contained in the Eurostat Balance of Payments Vademecum, as revised yearly.

(3)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Balance of Payments Committee set up by Regulation (EC) No 184/2005,

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of Community statistics on balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment.

(2)

It is necessary to regularly update the data requirements and to readjust the level of breakdown required to meet changing needs due to economic and technical developments.

(3)

In the field of portfolio investment, extra-EU liabilities are difficult to measure directly. In practice, they are calculated by subtracting intra-EU net assets from total world liabilities. As a consequence, data on intra-EU net assets are necessary for calculating extra-EU liabilities.

(4)

Some geographical breakdowns should be changed in order to improve the quality of the balance of payments statistics and to meet users’ needs more effectively.

(5)

Correct and precise definitions of all concepts and terms used in the Annex of the Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 should be provided in order to avoid misinterpretation.

(6)

The measures provided for in this Regulation, are in accordance with the opinion of the Balance of Payments Committee set up by Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 184/2005,

(1)

The representative prices and additional duties applicable to imports of white sugar, raw sugar and certain syrups for the 2005/2006 marketing year are fixed by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1011/2005 (3). These prices and duties were last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 580/2006 (4).

(2)

The data currently available to the Commission indicate that the said amounts should be changed in accordance with the rules and procedures laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1423/95,

(1)

Fully integrated and efficient financial markets are fundamental to the functioning of modern economies. Completing the single market in financial services is therefore a crucial part of the Lisbon economic reform process and essential for the EU's global competitiveness.

(2)

The White Paper on Financial Services Policy 2005-2010 (White Paper) (1) presents the European Commission's financial services policy priorities up to 2010. One of the objectives of the Commission’s financial services policy is to implement, enforce and continuously evaluate the existing legislation and to apply rigorously the better regulation agenda to future initiatives.

(3)

The White Paper identifies various practical steps to understand better how Community law is applied in practice, and to ensure that the level of legal coherence that markets need is in fact being delivered in line with the Commission’s better regulation agenda. Since the first sectoral consistency check will be in the securities field, it has been decided to set up a group of securities markets practitioners and experts to assist the Commission in analysing the main problems in this field. This necessarily involves studying the transposition and application of Community law at the national level, to understand better how Community law is applied in practice, and to ensure that the level of legal coherence that cross-border investment services and securities markets need is in fact being delivered.

(4)

In addition to the advice of practitioners on issues related to the legal evaluation of EU securities Directives, the Commission considers it important to receive the expert group’s analysis on the economic impact of the EU securities Directives as well as their practical implementation and application in the Member States. Consequently, the expert group will also assist the Commission to prepare its reports on the application of various provisions of Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments amending Council Directives 85/611/EEC and 93/6/EEC and Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 93/22/EEC (2), Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and amending Directive 2001/34/EC (3), Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on insider dealing and market manipulation (market abuse) (4) and Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market and amending Directive 2001/34/EC (5). The expert group will also provide technical advice on the Commission's request on issues of contemporary relevance in the EU securities markets, such as credit rating agencies and financial analysts.

(5)

The expert group should be made up of persons having legal expertise or direct commercial experience in respect of the matters covered by the mandate. Provision shall be made for the participation of experts or observers from other expert groups or consumers/investors associations.

(6)

This Decision gives effect to the Commission's commitment in the White Paper to create the expert group, and defines procedures for its composition and methods of operation.

(7)

Considering that the duration of expert group’s activities should be limited, the expert group will commence in 2006 and continue until the end of 2009 unless the Commission decides to prolong the mandate of the expert group,

—

provide advice to the Commission for its analysis of the legal coherence of the EU framework and, where appropriate, its implementation in national law, by carrying out a sectoral consistency check of the EU securities directives, reading across the relevant law to identify — from the perspective of the regulated community and users of the securities markets — points of legal uncertainty in the legislative framework which impair the functioning of those markets;

—

assist the Commission by providing advice that will contribute to the Commission’s reports on the application of various provisions of Directive 2004/39/EC, Directive 2003/71/EC and Directive 2004/109/EC and on the operation of Directive 2003/6/EC. The advice of the group will also require an analysis of the economic impact of those Directives;

—

provide technical advice on the Commission’s request on issues of contemporary relevance in the EU securities markets, such as credit rating agencies and financial analysts. As regards credit rating agencies, the Commission intends to gauge the opinions of market participants, and especially those purchasing complex financial instruments, by requesting advice of the group on specific issues related to the functioning of credit rating agencies. In relation to financial analysts, the group could be asked for its views as to whether the existing regulatory requirements are adequate.

(1)

By Decision 1999/659/EC (2), the Commission determined the initial allocations to the Member States for rural development measures part-financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section for the period 2000 to 2006.

(2)

The third paragraph of Article 1 of Decision 1999/659/EC limits the maximum amount eligible under EAGGF for the period 16 October to 31 December 2006. Following the transitional measures included in Article 39(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (3) that provision is no longer applicable.

(3)

In accordance with Article 46(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999, initial allocations shall be adjusted on the basis of actual expenditure and revised expenditure forecasts submitted by the Member States taking into account programmes objectives.

(4)

In accordance with Article 57(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 817/2004 of 29 April 2004 laying down detailed rules for the application of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (4), the Commission shall adapt the initial allocations per Member State fixed by Decision 1999/659/EC within two months of the adoption of the budget for the financial year concerned.

(5)

The adaptation of the initial allocations has to take into account the financial execution realised by Member States in the years 2000-2005 and the revised forecasts for the year 2006, submitted before 1 October 2005. Following the provisions of Article 55(1)(b) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 817/2004, the expenditure forecasts for 2006 indicate that an amount of the budget appropriations for 2006 will be left unspent. In accordance with Article 46(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999, the Commission shall reallocate the unused funds among the Member States which foresee to fully use their financial envelopes for the programming period 2000-2006, following the distribution key of the initial allocations included in Decision 1999/659/EC.

(6)

Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulations (EEC) No 2019/93, (EC) No 1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001, (EC) No 1454/2001, (EC) No 1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999, (EC) No 1254/1999, (EC) No 1673/2000, (EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001 (5) provides that the amounts resulting from the modulation shall be available as additional Community support for measures under rural development programming financed under the EAGGF ‘Guarantee’ Section to Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999.

(7)

By Commission Decision C(2005) 5314 of 19 December 2005 (6), amounts resulting from the modulation pursuant to Article 10(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 have been allocated to the Member States. Those allocations need to be added to the allocations to the Member States for the budgetary year 2006 as fixed by Decision 1999/659/EC.

(8)

Decision 1999/659/EC should therefore be amended accordingly,

(a)

The third paragraph of Article 1 is deleted.

(b)

The Annex is replaced by the text set out in the Annex to this Decision.

(1)

Directive 64/432/EEC provides that Member States or parts or regions thereof may be declared officially free of tuberculosis, brucellosis and enzootic bovine leukosis as regards bovine herds subject to compliance with certain conditions set out in that Directive.

(2)

The lists of regions of Member States declared free of bovine tuberculosis, bovine brucellosis and enzootic bovine leukosis are set out in Commission Decision 2003/467/EC of 23 June 2003 establishing the official tuberculosis, brucellosis and enzootic-bovine-leukosis-free status of certain Member States and regions of Member States as regards bovine herds (2).

(3)

Italy has submitted to the Commission documentation demonstrating compliance with the appropriate conditions provided for in Directive 64/432/EEC as regards the Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in order that that region may be declared officially free of tuberculosis as regards bovine herds.

(4)

Italy has also submitted to the Commission documentation demonstrating compliance with the appropriate conditions provided for in Directive 64/432/EEC as regards the Region of Molise in order that that region may be declared officially free of enzootic bovine leukosis as regards bovine herds.

(5)

Slovakia as regards its territory has submitted to the Commission documentation demonstrating compliance with the appropriate conditions provided for in Directive 64/432/EEC in order that the whole territory of Slovakia may be declared officially free of enzootic bovine leukosis as regards bovine herds.

(6)

Following evaluation of the documentation submitted by Italy, the Regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Molise should be declared officially free of bovine tuberculosis and of enzootic bovine leukosis respectively.

(7)

Following evaluation of the documentation submitted by Slovakia, the whole of that Member State should be declared officially free of enzootic bovine leukosis.

(8)

Decision 2003/467/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9)

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