No L 65/28 Official Journal of the European Communities 6. 3. 97 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 428/97 of 5 March 1997 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas and tariff ceilings for certain products originating in Slovenia and establishing the provisions for adapting these quotas and ceilings THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 410/97, of 24 February 1997, on certain procedures for applying the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related measures between the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community of the one part and the Republic of Slovenia of the other part ('), and in particular Article 2 thereof, Whereas the Interim Agreement on trade and trade- related matters between the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Slovenia of the other part (), hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agreement’, applies provisionally from 1 January 1997 onwards; Whereas the Agreement stipulates that certain products originating in Slovenia may be imported into the Community, within the limits of tariff quotas or tariff ceilings, at a reduced or zero rate of customs duty; whereas the tariff quotas and tariff ceilings laid down in the Agreement relate to periods of several years; whereas the Agreement has already fixed the level of the annual increase of the tariff quotas and tariff ceilings volume; Whereas the Commission should adopt the implementing measures for the opening of the Community tariff quotas, for the products listed in Annex I; whereas particular care should be taken to ensure that all Community importers have equal and continuous access to those quotas and that the rates laid down for the quotas are applied uninterrupt- edly to all imports of the products in question into all Member States until the quotas are exhausted; whereas, to ensure the efficiency of a common administration of these quotas, there is no obstacle to authorizing the Member States to draw from the quota volumes the neces- sary quantities corresponding to actual imports; whereas, however, this method of administration requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commis- sion and the latter must in particular be able to monitor the rate at which the quotas are used up and inform the Member States accordingly; () OJ No L 62, 4. 3. 1997, p. 5. () O] No L 344, 31. 12. 1996, p. 3. Whereas in the case of the products listed in Annex II which are subject to Community tariff ceilings, Com- munity surveillance may be achieved by means of an ad- ministrative procedure based on charging imports of the products in question against the ceilings at Community level as and when products are entered with the customs authorities for free circulation; Whereas this administrative procedure requires close cooperation between the Member States and the Commis- sion, and the latter must in particular be able to monitor quantities charged against the ceilings and inform the Member States accordingly; whereas this cooperation has to be particularly close, since the Commission must be able to take appropriate measures to re-establish customs duties once a ceiling is reached, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 When products originating in Slovenia and listed in Annexes I and II are put into free circulation in the Community, they shall benefit from tariff quotas or tariff ceilings in accordance with those Annexes. Article 2 1. The tariff quotas referred to in Article 1 shall be administered by the Commission, which may take all appropriate measures in order to ensure efficient adminis- tration thereof. 2. Where an importer declares a product covered by this Regulation for free circulation in a Member State and applies to take advantage of the preferential arrangements, and that declaration is accepted by the customs author- ities, the Member State concerned shall, by notifying the Commission, draw an amount corresponding to its re- quirements from the quota volume. Requests for drawings, indicating the date of acceptance of the said declarations, must be sent to the Commission without delay. The drawings shall be granted by the Commission by reference to the date of acceptance of the declaration for free circulation by the customs authorities of the Member State concerned, to the extent that the available balance SO permits.