27.1. 96 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 21/7 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 139/96 of 22 January 1996 amending Regulations (EC) No 3285/94 and (EC) No 519/94 with respect to the uniform Community surveillance document THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 of 22 December 1994 on the common rules for imports and repealing Regulation (EC) No 518/94(') and Council Regulation (EC) No 519/94 of 7 March 1994 on common rules for imports from certain third countries and repea- ling Regulations (EEC) No 1765/82, (EEC) No 1766/82 and (EEC) No 3420/83 (?) established a common surveil- lance document for use in cases of prior Community surveillance ; whereas the mode! for the surveillance document, which is identical for both the Regulations, appears in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 and in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 519/94; Whereas, in the interests of good administrative manage- ment and to assist Community operators, the content and layout of the abovementioned surveillance document should be aligned as far as possible on the common import licence forms provided for in Commission Regu- lations (EC) No 3168/94 (*), (EC) No 3169/94 (%) and (EC) No 1150/95 () and in Commission Recommendation No 3118/94/ECSC (%), bearing in mind the technical characte- ristics of the surveillance document; Whereas, under the current arrangements applications for surveillance documents must be made using a special form which itself fulfils the function of a surveillance document once completed and authenticated by the competent national authorities; whereas, in order to simplify the formalities which importers must complete, it should no longer be required that an application for a surveillance document be made using a Community form specially intended for that purpose ; whereas the informa- tion which must be given in the application for a surveil- lance document must nevertheless be specified ; Whereas transitional arrangements expiring on 31 December 1996 should be made for Community (') OJ No L 349, 31. 12. 1994, p. 53. () OJ No L 67, 10. 3. 1994, p. 89. () OJ No L 335, 23. 12. 1994, p. 23. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1627/95 (O] No L 155, 6.7. 1995, p. 8). () O No L 335, 23. 12. 1994, p. 33. () OJ No L 116, 23. 5. 1995, p. 3. (9 OJ No L 330, 21. 12. 1994, p. 6. Recommendation as last amended by Recommendation No 393/95/ECSC (OJ No L 43, 25. 2. 1995, p. 23). surveillance documents already printed and issued by the Member States by the time this Regulation enters into force, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 is hereby amended as follows : 1. Article 12 (1) and (2) shall be replaced by the follow- ing: ‘1. Products under prior Community surveillance may be put into free circulation only on production of a surveillance document. Such document shall be issued by the competent authority designated by Member States, free of charge, for any quantity requested and within a maximum of five working days of receipt by the national competent authority of an application by any Community importer, regardless of his place of business in the Community. This applica- tion shall be deemed to have been received by the national competent authority no later than three working days after submission, unless it is proved otherwise. 2. The surveillance document shall be made out on a form corresponding to the model in Annex L Except where the decision to impose surveillance provides otherwise, the importer’s application for surveillance documents shall contain only the follow- ing: {a) the full name and address of the applicant (inclu- ding telephone and fax numbers and any number identifying the applicant to the competent national authority), plus the applicant's VAT registration number if he is liable for VAT ; ® ~ where appropriate, the full name and address of the declarant or of any representative appointed by the applicant (including telephone and fax numbers); (c) a description of the goods giving : — their trade name, — their combined nomenclature code, — their place of origin and place of consignment; (d) the quantity declared, in kilograms and, where appropriate, any other additional unit (pairs, items, etc);