26.7.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities L 187/27 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1632/2000 of 25 July 2000 amending Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 regarding imports of 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 1257/ 1999 (3, and in particular Article 20 thereof, Whereas: Articles 27 and 28 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 3719/88 of 16 November 1988 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance fixing certificates for agricultural products (?), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 11271999 (¥, contain the provisions applic- able to communication between the Member States and the Commission of information on licences and licence extracts and on irregularities and infringements relating to them. The rules to be applied for the correct management of import arrangements in the banana sector should be specified and to that end Commission Regulation (EC) No 2362/98 (%), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 756/ 1999 (%), should be amended. Those rules should cover the keeping of documents and the forwarding of licence copies and licence extracts by the customs authorities of the Member States in which the procedures for release into free circulation are carried out and by the competent authorities of the Member States which issued the documents concerned. The rules should also specify the checks on the authenticity and regularity of documents and the conformity of their use by the competent authorities of the Member State issuing the licences and extracts. The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Bananas, 47, 25.2.1993, p. 1. 160, 26.6.1999, p. 80. 331, 2.12.1988, p. 1. 293, 31.10.1998, p. 32. 98, 15.4.1999, p. 10. () O] L () O] L () O] L () O] L 135, 29.5.1999, p. 48. () O] L () O L HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 The following Article 26a is added to Regulation (EC) No 2362/98: ‘Article 26a 1. The customs offices at which the import declarations are lodged with a view to the release into free circulation of bananas from the origins listed in Annex I, under the tariff quota and traditional ACP banana arrangements, shall: (a) keep a copy of each import licence and extract there- from issued on acceptance of a declaration of release into free circulation, and (b) forward at the end of each fortnight a second copy of that import licence or extract therefrom to the Member State authorities listed in Annex II to this Regulation responsible for issuing the licences. Those authorities shall at the end of each fortnight forward a copy of the licences and extracts received to the competent authori- ties of the Member States listed in the abovementioned Annex which issued those documents. 2. Where there is doubt as to the authenticity of the licence, the extract, or any information in, or signatures on the documents presented, or as to the status of the opera- tors completing the formalities for release into free circula- tion or for the account of whom those formalities are completed, and where irregularities are suspected, the customs offices at which those documents were presented shall immediately inform thereof by telecommunication the competent authorities of their Member State as indicated in paragraph 1. The latter shall immediately forward that information by telecommunication to the competent authorities which issued the documents and to the Commission, for the purposes of a thorough check. The Commission shall forward to the Member States' customs authorities the list of operators registered in the Community for the import arrangements in question who may be holders or transferors of an import licence or extract therefrom.