(1)

Article 3(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1215/2009 of 30 November 2009 introducing exceptional trade measures for countries and territories participating in or linked to the European Union’s Stabilisation and Association process (2) as amended by Regulation (EU) No 1336/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), has provided for an annual import tariff quota of 475 tonnes expressed in carcase weight for ‘baby-beef’ products as defined in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1215/2009 and originating in the customs territory of Kosovo (4).

(2)

This annual tariff quota should be administrated in line with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1255/2010 of 22 December 2010 laying down detailed rules for the application on the import tariff quotas for ‘baby beef’ products originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia (5).

(3)

Regulation (EU) No 1255/2010 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(4)

Since Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 1255/2010 provides that the tariff quotas are opened yearly from 1 January, this Regulation should apply as from 1 January 2012.

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,

(1)

the title is replaced by the following:

‘ Commission Regulation (EU) No 1255/2010 of 22 December 2010 laying down detailed rules for the application of the import tariff quotas for “baby beef” products originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo  (*1)

(*1)  This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.’;"

(2)

in Article 1, paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(3)

the Annexes are amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

(1)

Pursuant to Article 6(1)(e) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 Member States’ accredited paying agencies are to ensure that documents in respect to payments made by them are accessible and kept in a manner which ensures their completeness, validity and legibility over time. In order to reflect the evolution in information and communication technology which makes it possible to store aid claim supporting documents in electronic form, in a secure and cost-effective way, Member States should be allowed to store aid claim support documents electronically rather than in paper form. Member State should be able to use that option where national law permits the use of electronic documents as evidence of the underlying transactions in national court proceedings. Electronic documents should be protected in line with international information security standards in the same way as other information held by the paying agency in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 885/2006 (2), in order to ensure that they are available to Commission scrutiny as required, in a form which exactly reflects the original paper documents.

(2)

According to Article 31(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 if expenditure has been incurred in a way that has infringed Union rules, the Commission is to decide what amounts are to be excluded from Union financing. In the interest of the effectiveness and efficiency of the conformity clearance procedure, it should be possible for the Commission not to pursue cases where the findings of its inquiry lead to conclude that the presumed maximum amounts concerned would not exceed EUR 50 000 and 10 % of the relevant expenditure.

(3)

In order to ensure that the procedure for executing decisions taken pursuant to Articles 30 and 31 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, in the area of EAFRD, is effective and transparent, it is necessary to ensure that the Member State concerned is in a position to take the financial effects of such decisions into account when submitting its declaration of expenditure referred to in Article 27 of that Regulation.

(4)

Having regard to the possibility that a Member State may experience severe financial difficulties caused by a serious deterioration in the international economic environment, the Commission should have the possibility to defer deductions from Union financing of expenditure which have been incurred in a way that has infringed Union rules, if the Member State concerned so requests. Deferral of deductions for a period not exceeding 18 months should also be granted to those Member States which so request while being subject to financial assistance in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 332/2002 of 18 February 2002 establishing a facility providing medium-term financial assistance for Member States’ balances of payments (3), Council Regulation (EU) No 407/2010 of 11 May 2010 establishing a European financial stabilisation mechanism (4), the European Financial Stability Facility Framework Agreement signed on 7 June 2010 and the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism signed on 11 July 2011. The Member State benefiting from a deferral decision shall ensure that the deficiencies which have been the reasons for the deductions and which still persist at the time of the decision are being remedied on the basis of an action plan, established in consultation with the Commission, with clear progress indicators. If a Member State benefiting from such a deferral fails to remedy the deficiencies in accordance with the action plan and, thus, exposes the Union budget to additional financial risks, the Commission should revoke its decision deferring the date for the execution of the deductions while respecting the principle of proportionality.

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 885/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(6)

The Committee on the Agricultural Funds has not given an opinion within the time limit set by its President,

(1)

in Article 9, the following paragraph 5 is added:

(2)

in Article 10(2), the second sentence of the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘The Commission shall deduct that amount from or add it to the first payment for which the declaration of expenditure is submitted by the Member State after the decision pursuant to Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 has been adopted.’;

(3)

Article 11 is amended as follows:

(1)

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 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 Annex XVI, Part A thereto.

(2)

The standard import value is calculated each working day, in accordance with Article 136(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, taking into account variable daily data. Therefore this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

(1)

According to the Protocol on Transitional Provisions annexed to the Treaty on European Union, to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, the legal effects of the acts of the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union adopted prior to the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon are preserved until those acts are repealed, annulled or amended in implementation of the Treaties.

(2)

Accordingly, Article 25 of Decision 2008/615/JHA is applicable and the Council must unanimously decide whether the Member States have implemented the provisions of Chapter 6 of that Decision.

(3)

Article 20 of Decision 2008/616/JHA provides that decisions referred to in Article 25(2) of Decision 2008/615/JHA are to be taken on the basis of an evaluation report based on a questionnaire. With respect to automated data exchange in accordance with Chapter 2 of Decision 2008/615/JHA, the evaluation report is to be based on an evaluation visit and a pilot run.

(4)

According to Chapter 4, point 1.1, of the Annex to Decision 2008/616/JHA, the questionnaire drawn up by the relevant Council Working Group concerns each of the automated data exchanges and has to be answered by a Member State as soon as it believes it fulfils the prerequisites for sharing data in the relevant data category.

(5)

Poland has completed the questionnaire on data protection and the questionnaire on Vehicle Registration Data (VRD).

(6)

A successful pilot run has been carried out by Poland with the Netherlands.

(7)

An evaluation visit has taken place in Poland and a report on the evaluation visit has been produced by the Belgian/Dutch evaluation team and forwarded to the relevant Council Working Group.

(8)

An overall evaluation report, summarising the results of the questionnaire, the evaluation visit and the pilot run concerning VRD has been presented to the Council,