COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 811/92 of 31 March 1992 fixing the export refunds on beef and veal and amending Regulation (EEC) No 3846/87 establishing an agricultural product nomenclature for export refunds

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June 1968 on the common organization of the market in beef and veal (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1628/91 (2), and in particular Article 18 thereof,

Having regard to the opinion of the Monetary Committee,

Whereas Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 provides that the difference between prices on the world market for the products listed in Article 1 of that Regulation and prices for those products within the Community may be covered by an export refund;

Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 885/68 (3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 427/77 (4), lays down general rules for granting export refunds and criteria for fixing the amount of such refunds;

Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 32/82 (5), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3169/87 (6), Regulation (EEC) No 1964/82 (7), as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3169/87, and Regulation (EEC) No 2388/84 (8), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3988/87 (9), lay down the conditions for granting special export refunds on certain cuts of beef and veal and certain preserved beef and veal products;

Whereas it follows from applying those rules and criteria to the foreseeable situation on the market in beef and veal that the refund should be as set out below;

Whereas, given the current market situation in the Community and the possibilities of disposal in certain third countries in particular, export refunds should be granted on adult male bovine animals of a live weight of at least 300 kilograms and other bovine animals of a live weight of at least 250 kilograms; whereas experience gained in recent years has shown that live pure-bred breeding animals weighing at least 250 kilograms in the case of females and 300 kilograms in that of males should be trated in the saame way as other bovine animals, subject to certain special administrative formalities;

Whereas export refunds should be granted for certain destinations on some fresh or chilled meat listed in Annex I under CN code 0201, on some frozen meat listed in Annex I under CN code 0202, on some meat or offal listed in Annex I under CN code 0206 and on some other prepared or preserved meat or offal listed in Annex I under CN code 1602 50 10;

Whereas, in view of the wide differences in products covered by CN codes 0201 20 90 700 and 0202 20 90 100 used for refund purposes, refunds should only be granted on cuts in which the weight of bone does not exceed one third;

Whereas a minimum content of lean bovine meat should be fixed for boneless cuts wrapped individually and covered by CN codes 0201 30 and 0202 30;

Whereas refunds should also be granted on fresh or frozen boned or boneless pieces, even where each piece is not individually wrapped, and on minced meat, and the wording of the tariff subheadings for fresh boned or boneless pieces specified;

Whereas, in the case of meat of bovine animals, boned or boneless, salted and dried, there are traditional trade flows to Switzerland; whereas, to allow this trade to continue, the refund should be set to cover the difference between prices on the Swiss market and export prices in the Member States; whereas there are possibilities for exporting such meat and also salted, smoked and dried meat to certain African, Near and Middle Eastern countries; whereas a refund should accordingly be set;

Whereas, in the case of certain other cuts and preserves of meat or offal shown in Annex I under CN code 1602 50 90, the Community share of international trade may be maintained by granting a refund corresponding to that at present available;

Whereas, in the case of other beef and veal products, a refund need not be fixed since the Community's share of world trade is not significant;

Whereas, if the refund system is to operate normally, refunds should be calculated using the following basis:

- in the case of currencies which are maintained in relation to each other at any given moment within a band of 2,25 %, a rate of exchange based on their central rate, multiplied by the corrective factor provided for in the last subparagraph of Article 3 (1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1676/85 (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2205/90 (2),

- for the other currencies, an exchange rate based on an average of the ecu rates published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, C series, over a period to be determined, multiplied by the factor referred to in the preceding indent;

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3846/87 (3), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 704/92 (4); establishes the agricultural product nomenclature for the purposes of export refunds;

Whereas, in order to simplify customs export formalities for operators, the refunds on all frozen cuts should be brought in line with those on fresh or chilled cuts other than those from adult male bovine animals;

Whereas experience has shown that in certain cases it is often difficult to determine the relevant quantities of beef, veal and other meat contained in prepared or preserved meat covered by CN code 1602 50; whereas exclusively beef and veal products should accordingly be set apart and a new heading should be created for mixtures of meats or offals; whereas checks on products other than mixtures of meat or offal should be stepped up by making the granting of refunds on these products conditional on manufacture under the arrangements provided for in Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 565/80 of 4 March 1980 on the advance payment of export refunds in respect of agricultural products (5), as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2026/83 (6);

Whereas the analytical criteria for preparations and preserves covered by CN code 1602 50 90 should be supplemented by fixing in particular a maximum collagen/protein ratio in terms of the meat content of such products;

Whereas refunds on female animals should vary depending on their age in order to prevent abuses in the export of certain pure-bred breeding animals;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Beef and Veal,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The list of products on which export refunds as referred to in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 are granted and the amount thereof shall be as set out in Annex I hereto.

The description of CN code 0102 10 00 in Section 6 of the Annex to Regulation (EEC) No 3846/87 is hereby replaced by Annex II hereto.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 April 1992.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 31 March 1992. For the Commission Ray MAC SHARRY Member of the Commission

ANNEX I

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(1) Entry under this subheading is subject to the submission of the certificate appearing in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 32/82.

(2) Entry under this subheading is subject to compliance with the condition laid down in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1964/82.

(3) The refund on beef in brine is granted on the net weight of the meat, after deduction of the weight of the brine.

(4) OJ No L 336, 29. 12. 1979, p. 44.

(5) OJ No L 221, 19. 8. 1984, p. 28.

(6) The lean bovine meat content excluding fat is determined in accordance with the procedure described in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2429/86 (OJ No L 210, 1. 8. 1986, p. 39).

(7) The destinations are as follows:

01 Third countries.

02 North African, Near and Middle East third countries, West, Central East and South African third countries, except Cyprus, Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

03 European third countries, the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, Cyprus, Greenland, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, North Korea and Hong Kong and the destinations referred to in Article 34 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3665/87 (OJ No L 351, 14. 12. 1987, p. 1), except Austria, Sweden and Switzerland.

04 Austria, Sweden and Switzerland.

05 The United States of America, carried out in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2973/79 (OJ No L 336, 29. 12. 1979, p. 44).

06 French Polynesia and New Caledonia.

07 Canada.

08 North, West, Central, East and Southern African third countries, except Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

09 Switzerland.

(8) Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 885/68 provides that no export refunds shall be granted on products imported from third countries and re-exported to third countries.

(9) The refund is granted only on products manufactured under the arrangement provided for in Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 565/80.

NB: The countries are as defined in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3518/91 (OJ No L 334, 5. 12. 1991, p. 10). The descriptions corresponding to the product codes and the footnotes are set out in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3846/87 as amended.

ANNEX II

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