L 126/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 8.5.2001 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 896/2001 of 7 May 2001 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 as regards the arrangements for importing bananas into the Community THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February 1993 on the common organisation of the market in bananas ('), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 216/ 2001 (3, and in particular Article 20 thereof, Whereas: 1) By Regulation (EC) No 216/2001 the Council amended the rules for importing bananas introduced by Title IV of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93. In particular, that Regula- tion opened an autonomous C tariff quota of 850 000 tonnes at EUR 300/tonne customs duty in addition to the 2 200 000 tonnes secured under the world Trade Organisation (WTO) and the additional quota of 353 000 tonnes. All the provisions necessary to imple- ment those rules should be adopted, including such transitional measures as are justified by the entry into force of this Regulation on 1 July 2001, as well as provisions concerning imports at the Common Customs Tariff rate. Under the last subparagraph of Article 18(1) of Regula- tion (EEC) No 404/93, where there is no agreement with World Trade Organisation contracting parties with a substantial interest in the supply of bananas, the tariff quotas ‘A’ and ‘B’ need not be allocated among supplier countries. Article 19 of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 provides that the tariff quotas may be managed in accordance with the method based on taking account of traditional trade flows (‘traditional/newcomers’) and/or other methods. To implement the new arrangements from the second half of 2001, it is advisable to grant access to the tariff quotas to traditional operators who have undertaken on their own account the purchase of fresh products from producers in third countries, or their production, as well as their dispatch to and unloading in the customs terri- tory of the Community, during a reference period. For the purposes of this Regulation, these activities are called ‘primary imports’. A single definition of traditional operators should be adopted for all tariff quotas, and their reference quant- ities should be determined according to the same rules, but separately depending on whether these operators have supplied the Community market with bananas originating in non-ACP third countries and non-tradi- tional imports from ACP States or with traditional ACP bananas during the reference period, within the meaning of the definitions in Article 16 of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 applicable before the amendment introduced by Regulation (EC) No 216/2001. The reference period to be used for defining categories of operators and determining the reference quantities of traditional operators should be the three-year period 1994 to 1996. The three-year period 1994 to 1996 is the most recent for which the Commission has suffi- ciently reliable data on primary imports. Using that period can also resolve a dispute which has been going on for a number of years with certain of the Communi- ty's trading partners. In the light of the available data established for the purpose of administering the quotas opened in 1998, traditional operators need not be registered. A share of the tariff quotas must be reserved for non- traditional operators. That share must allow operators who did not carry out any primary imports during the reference period to continue trading and to adapt to the new rules and to allow new operators to enter this import trade, thereby encouraging healthy competition. Experience from several years of applying the Community banana import arrangements indicates the need to tighten the criteria for non-traditional operators and the eligibility criteria for new operators so as to avoid the registration of purely fictious agents and the grant of allocations in response to artificial or specula- tive applications. In particular, it is justifiable to demand a minimum of experience in importing fresh bananas. Also, to avoid applications for annual allocations which bear little relation to operators' actual capacities and which will not lead to applications for import licences for the corresponding quantities, submission of an application for import licences for the corresponding quantities, submission of an application for an annual allocation should be subject to the requirement that a security in lieu of the import licence security be lodged. That security should be released without delay in stages as operators actually use up their annual allocations and furnish proof that they have dispatched the goods and unloaded them in the Community and had them