31. 12. 96 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 345/39 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2514/96 of 23 December 1996 laying down for 1997 detailed rules for the application of a tariff quota for cows and heifers other than for slaughter of certain mountain breeds originating in certain third countries THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3066/95 of 22 December 1995 establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and providing for the adjustment, as an autono- mous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the Europe Agreements to take account of the Agreement on Agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round Multilateral Trade Negotia- tions ('), as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2490/96 (%), and in particular Article 8 thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1926/96 of 7 October 1996 establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and providing for the adjustment, as an autono- mous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the agreements on free trade and trade-related matters with Estonia, Latvia and Lithu- ania, to take account of the Agreement on Agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round Multilateral Trade Negotiations (}), and in particular Article 5 thereof, Whereas Regulations (EC) No 3066/96 and (EC) No 1926/96 provide for the opening for 1997 of a tariff quota of 5000 cows and heifers of certain mountain breeds originating in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia at customs duty of 6 % ad valorem; whereas measures for administering the importing of these animals should be laid down; Whereas experience has shown that limiting imports may lead to speculative import licence applications; whereas, in order to ensure that the planned measures function properly, the greater part of the quantities available should be set aside for ‘traditional’ importers of cows and heifers of certain mountain breeds; whereas, in order to avoid forcing trade relations in this product group into an () OJ No L 328, 30. 12. 1995, p. 31. () OJ No L 338, 28. 12. 1996, p. 13. () OJ No L 254, 8. 10. 199, p. 1. excessively rigid mould, a second tranche should be made available to traders who are able to show that they are engaged in genuine trade of some scale with third coun- tries; whereas, in this connection and in order to ensure efficient management, the traders concerned must be required to have imported at least 15 head in 1996; whereas a batch of 15 animals in principle constitutes a normal load and whereas experience shows that the sale or purchase of a single batch is a minimum requirement for a transaction to be considered genuine and viable; whereas verification of these criteria requires all applica- tions from the same trader to be submitted in the same Member State; Whereas in order to prevent speculation, traders no longer engaged in trade in beef and veal at 1 January 1997 should be denied access to the quota; Whereas provision should be made for the arrangements to be administered by means of import licences; whereas, to that end, where necessary notwithstanding certain provisions of Commission Regulation (EEC) 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 agricul- tural products (*), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2402/96 (), and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1445/95 of 26 June 1995 on rules of application for import and export licences in the beef and veal sector and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2377/80 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2051/96 ("), detailed rules for the submission of applications and the information which should appear in applications and licences should be laid down; whereas, moreover, provision should be made for the licences to be issued after a period of consideration and subject, where necessary, to the application of a single percentage reduction; Whereas experience has shown that importers do not always inform the competent authorities which issued the import licences of the number and origin of animals imported as part of a quota; whereas this information is () OJ No L 331, 2. 12. 1988, p. 1. () OJ No L 327, 18. 12. 1996, p. 14. () OJ No L 143, 27. 6. 1995, p. 35. () OJ No L 274, 26. 10. 1996, p. 18.