Official Journal of the European Communities No L 165/7 24. 6. 97 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1141/97 of 23 June 1997 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 as regards the labelling of beef and beef products THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 of 21 April 1997 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products ('), and in particular Article 18 thereof, Whereas detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 820/97 should be laid down, in particular as regards sales between Member States so that the labelling system will not lead to distortions of trade on the beef market; Whereas it is necessary to provide for an accelerated or simplified approval procedure for prime beef cuts in indi- vidual packages or beef in small retail packages, labelled in a Member State according to an approved specification and introduced into the territory of another Member State; Whereas operators and organizations should keep an identification and registration system in order to ensure full compliance with the specification; Whereas with a view to guaranteeing the reliability of the specification, it is necessary for the independent body and the competent authority to have access to all records kept by the operators and organizations and to carry out regular spot checks on the basis of risk analysis; Whereas it is necessary for Member States to carry out checks in order to guarantee a sufficient accuracy of the labels used; Whereas sanctions should be imposed on operators where it has been found that operators have not fulfilled the requirements of the specification; Whereas a transitional period should be provided during which beef labelled in accordance with previous arrange- ments may be sold without changing the existing labels; () OJ No L 117, 7. 5. 1997, p. 1. Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Beef and Veal, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Mutual recognition 1.  The period provided for in the second subparagraph of Article 14 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 820/97 during which an approval has not been refused or given or supplementary information has not been asked for by the competent authority of the importing Member State, from the day following the date of submission of the applica- tion, shall be two months. However, for a transitional period until 1 January 1998, that period shall be four months. 2.  Pursuant to Article 14 (5) of Regulation (EC) No 820/97 for prime beef cuts in individual packages, labelled in a Member State, according to an approved specification and introduced into the territory of another Member State, where no information is added to the initial label, the period provided for in the second sub- paragraph of Article 14 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 820/97 shall be 14 days. However, for a transitional period until 1 January 1998, that period shall be two months. 3. For the purposes of Article 14 (5) of Regulation (EC) No 820/97, beef in small retail packages which have been labelled in a Member State according to an approved specification may be introduced into the territory of another Member State and marketed therein without prior approval of the labelling specification by this Member State, provided that: (a) the packages in question remain unchanged; (b) the specification approved by the Member State of packaging also covers the marketing of the packaged beef in other Member States; (c) the Member State approving such a specification provides all necessary information in advance to all other Member States, where, according to the approved specification, packaged beef is to be marketed.