26. 6. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 169/5 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1681/81 of 11 June 1981 amending Regulation (EEC) No 616/78 on proof of origin for certain textile products falling within Chapter 51 or Chapters 53 to 62 of the Common Customs Tariff and imported into the Community, and on the conditions for the acceptance of such proof THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas the arrangements applied since 1 January 1978 to certain textile products falling within Chap- ters 51 and 53 to 62 of the Common Customs Tariff and imported into the Community include quantita- tive limits established or agreed with certain third countries which supply the Community ; whereas, in addition, all imports of the said textile products are subject to a system of surveillance ; Whereas in order to prevent any deflection of trade or abuse which could be detrimental to the application of these arrangements, the Community has adopted in Regulation (EEC) No 616/78(1) a system for the control of the origin of certain textile products imported into the Community, based on the require- ment of a certificate of origin, or in the case of less sensitive products, a declaration of origin ; Whereas, although the control of origin thus created has in general proved to be satisfactorily effective, it has not prevented a certain number of cases of fraud from taking place, in particular with regard to falsifica- tion of certificates of origin; whereas it is consequently necessary to reinforce the methods avail- able to the Community to prevent fraud with regard to the origin of textile products; Whereas prevention of fraud can only be effectively carried out within the framework of well defined admi- nistrative cooperation ; whereas it is necessary to create an appropriate procedure for exchanges of infor- mation between Member States on cases of fraud and between them and the Commission ; Whereas such exchanges of information should enable Member States to coordinate their activities, particularly in cases where fraudulent traffic may have ramifications in several Member States, and the Commission to ensure that measures of commercial () OJ No L 84, 31. 3. 1978, p. 1. policy provided for in the textile sector are correctly applied, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 Regulation (EEC) No 616/78 shall be amended as follows : 1. Article 4 shall be replaced by the following : Article 4 1. In order to enable the Commission to ensure that measures of commercial policy provided for in the textile sector are correctly applied, each Member State shall work together with the Commission in the framework of Council Regula- tion (EEC) No 1468/81 of 19 May 1981 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs or agricultural matters (1). To this end each Member State shall communicate all the useful information in its possession concerning important cases of abuses or irregularities which come to its notice or which it has valid reason to presume exist with regard to origin, should the case arise, with copies of all docu- mentation, possibly in the form of an extract, neces- sary to determine the facts fully and to establish proof of abuses or irregularities with regard to the third countries concerned. The Commission shall inform the other Member States thereof. 2. At the request of a Member State or on the initiative of the Commission, the Committee on Origin shall, at the earliest opportunity and pursu- ant to the procedure laid down in Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 802/68, examine all ques- tions relating to the application of paragraph 1, and proceed with exchanges of views which will enable Member States and the Commission to complete their information and to present any possible observations on cases concerning the appli- cation of paragraph 1.