L 2088 Official Journal of the European Communities 1.8.2001 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1563/2001 of 31 July 2001 amending Regulation (EC) No 1520/2000 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of granting export refunds on certain agricultural products exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex I to the Treaty, and the criteria for fixing the amount of such refunds THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 of 6 December 1993 laying down the trade arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products ('), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2580/ 2000 (3), and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 8(3) thereof, Whereas: 1) It is necessary to clarify and fine-tune certain provisions regarding refund certificates and certain provisions regarding the use of Annex D as provided for in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1520/2000 (), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2390/2000 (¥. In order to make the use of refund certificates more efficient, they must be made transferable without, however, promoting an increase in the number of applications for purposes of speculation. The transferee should be designated before a certificate is applied for. Operators retain their refund right if they have complied with the applicable rules and have not made a specific refund application within three months of the date on which the customs authority accepted the export declaration. In such cases, the guarantee or part thereof corresponding to the refund certificate is retained. There must be specific provisions covering refund certi- ficates in the case of an open invitation to tender in a non-member country in order to enable European oper- ators to submit a bid on competitive terms. However, for the sake of simplification, the procedure must be based largely on what is already provided for in Article 49 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 of 9 June 2000 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance fixing certificates for agricultural prod- ucts (°), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1095/ 2001 (9. 318, 20.12.1993, p. 18. 298, 25.11.2000, p. 5. 177, 15.7.2000, p. 1. 276, 28.10.2000, p. 3. 152, 24.6.2000, p. 1. 150, 6.6.2001, p. 25. () (10) (11) For reasons of administrative simplification, special procedures should be laid down for the release of the guarantee, including in particular the conditions for partial release and a threshold below which a guarantee that should have been retained may be released. In order to make full use of the scope for exporting agricultural products that benefit from refunds, there must be provisions similar to those set out in Article 35 of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 and operators must be encouraged to swiftly return certificates that have not been fully used throughout the budget period. Because of the amendments under this Regulation, the references to the Articles of Regulation (EC) No 1291/ 2000 will need to be adapted. With a view to more efficient use of the funds available, particularly in view of the need for the Community to meet its international commitments, there must be procedures for adapting the threshold above which the exemption from presenting certificates for certain expor- ters no longer applies. It is also necessary to make special arrangements to enable operators that no longer wish to take advantage of the exemption from presenting certificates when a budgetary period is changed to make efficient use of the threshold provided for in Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1520/2000. Furthermore, in order to ensure that the Community's international commitments have been met by the end of a budget year, there must be procedures for suspending payments in connection with refund certificates issued during the corresponding budget period. Given the experience acquired since the introduction of refund certificates, the procedures provided for in Annex F to Regulation (EC) No 1520/2000 need to be adapted. It has to be possible to apply some of the provisions of this Regulation as from 9 July. The date of entry into force therefore has to be as soon as possible after the date of publication. The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee on Horizontal Questions Concerning Trade in Processed Agricultural Products Not Listed in Annex [,