THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2771/75 of 29 October 1975 on the common organization of the market in eggs ( 1 ) as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2916/95 ( 2 ), and in particular Articles 3 (2), 8 (13) and 15 thereof,

Whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 1371/95 ( 3 ), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2840/95 ( 4 ), lays down detailed rules for implementing the system of export licences in the egg sector,

Whereas it is appropriate, in the light of experience, to improve the outline relative to the lodging of applications with a prolongation of the period for lodging applications; whereas it is necessary to incorporate this change into the various provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1371/95;

Whereas it is necessary to allow the Commission to fix another day for the issuing of export licences when it is not possible for administrative reasons to respect the Wednesday;

Whereas it is necessary to simplify the procedure relative to licences issued immediately referred to in Article 4 by abolishing the quantitative limitation of applications and allowing automatic validating of these licences where the Commission has not taken special measures; whereas it is justified to exclude these licences from the possibility of withdrawing the application at the time of setting a single percentage of acceptance in order to avoid administrative difficulties;

Whereas it is necessary for licences which are issued immediately, to allow for a waiting period relative to the granting of the refund, during which licences may be amended, if need be, according to the special measures taken by the Commission;

Whereas it is necessary to adjust the rates of security set in Annex I to meet the recent amendments in the refund rates;

Whereas in order to facilitate the work of small-scale operators, the time limit set for lodging applications for ex-post export licences for hatching eggs should be slightly prolonged;

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

1. Article 3 is amended as follows:

2. Article 4 is replaced by the following text:

‘Article 4

1.  Upon written request of the operator, at the time of lodging the application, the competent authority shall immediately issue the licence applied for by indicating in section 22 at least one of the following:

2.  Where the Commission has not taken special measures under the terms of Article 3 (4) for the week in question, the licence is validated without other formalities from the Wednesday following the week in question.

3.  Where the Commission has taken special measures under the terms of Article 3 (4) for the week in question, the competent authority requires within five working days as from the date of their publication, the operator to return the licence in order to amend it on the basis of these measures.

To this end, it shall cancel the indication referred to in paragraph 1 and shall indicate in section 22 at least one of the following:

4.  The provisions laid down in Article 3 (6) do not apply to licences issued under the terms of the provisions of this Article.

5.  The refund for licences issued pursuant to the provisions of this Article may be granted at the earliest 15 working days after the date of their issuing.’

3. Article 7 (1) is replaced by the following text:

‘1.  Member States shall communicate to the Commission, each Friday from 13.00 hours, by fax and for the preceding period:

4. Article 9 is amended as follows:

5. Annexes I and II are replaced by the Annexes to this Regulation. Annex III is deleted. Annex IV becomes Annex III.