No L 104/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 22, 4. 97 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 703/97 of 18 April 1997 introducing for a trial period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998 a cumulative recovery system for determining certain import duties on rice and amending Regulation (EC) No 1503/96 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 of 22 December 1995 on the common organization of the market in rice ('), and in particular Articles 11 (4) and 21 thereof, Whereas Article 11 (2) (a) of Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 establishes the method for calculating the import duty on husked rice falling within CN code 1006 20 and lays down that the duty is equal to the intervention price valid on importation, increased by 80 % or 88 % depending on the type of rice imported, less the import price; whereas, with a view to the application of that provision, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1503/96 of 29 July 1996 on the detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 3072/95 with regard to import duties on rice (%), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2131/96 (%), lays down that import duties are to be fixed every two weeks on the basis of reference prices established in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1503/96; Whereas, as a result of the negotiations with certain third countries as part of negotiations under Article XXIV:6 of GATT, by Council Decision 95/591/EC(*), the Com- munity concluded an agreement (hereinafter ‘the Agree- ment’) in the form of an exchange of letters with the United States of America on cereals and rice; whereas the Agreement provides, inter alia, that a cumulative re- covery system for husked rice (brown rice) is to be es- tablished by the Commission in consultation with the United States Government and introduced for a 12 month trial period; whereas such a system should therefore be established; Whereas the import regime established by Regulation (EC) No 1503/96 is based on the periodic fixing by the Commission of reference import prices; whereas, in the light of the commitments entered into by the Com- munity in the aforementioned Agreement, the cumulative recovery system (hereinafter referred to as ‘CRS’) must in particular be designed to enable an assessment of the operation of the aforementioned arrangements to be made following the trial period, in terms of the levying of duties () OJ No L 329, 30. 12. 1995, p. 18. OJ No L 189, 30. 7. 1996, p. 71. OJ No L 285, 7. 11. 1996, p. 6. OJ No L 334, 30. 12. 1995, p. 25. on the basis of the actual import prices for consignments imported during that period; whereas it is also necessary to provide that importers may choose, under the CRS, between the definitive levying of duties in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1503/96 and their adjustment in accordance with actual import prices; whereas, in view of the foregoing, Regulation (EC) No 1503/96 will continue to apply in full; whereas, in order to achieve the objectives pursued and to ensure that the system is applied both reliably and effectively and is fraudproof, the CRS needs to include a number of special features as regards organ- ization, procedure and verification, and a sufficient margin of discretion needs to be granted to the compe- tent national authorities; Whereas to that end an administrative system should be set up covering all imports effected during the trial period; whereas, for that system to be fully operational, management of the CRS should be concentrated in one single authority in each Member State (hereinafter referred to as ‘CRS authority’), and provision should be made for each importer to be registered with the com- petent CRS authority prior to the issue of import licences and acceptance of customs declarations, and for importers to be obliged to opt irrevocably, over the entire trial period, for or against the adjustment of their duties deter- mined in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1503/96; Whereas verification by the CRS authorities of the declared import prices requires each consignment presented for release for free circulation to be homo- geneous, requires the relevant customs declarations to contain the information needed for that purpose, and requires consignments imported by importers who have opted for adjustment of their duties (hereinafter referred to as ‘CRS importers’) to be subject to routine sampling; whereas where one or more items of information required in the customs declaration is missing, the release for free circulation of the consignment in question must be subject to the lodging of a security, to be forfeit where the missing information is not provided within a given time- limit; Whereas, in order to ensure that each CRS authority is kept informed of imports falling within its field of responsibility throughout the trial period, provision should be made for all importers to submit a monthly declaration comprising certain essential information; whereas for the purposes of subsequent adjustment of their duties, CRS importers must submit additional in- formation; whereas in this context, the criteria and