L 200/38 Official Journal of the European Union 30.7.2005 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1241/2005 of 29 July 2005 laying down detailed rules for the application of a tariff quota for certain live bovine animals originating in Romania, provided for in Council Decision 2003/18/EC THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal (1), and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 32(1) thereof, Whereas, Council Decision 2003/18/EC of 19 December 2002 concerning the conclusion of a Protocol adjusting the trade aspects of the Europe Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Romania, of the other part, to take account of the outcome of nego- tiations between the Parties on new mutual agricultural concessions (2 provided for concessions as regards the opening of tariff import quotas of certain live bovine animals originating from Romania. Council and Commission Decision 2005/431/EC of 25 April 2005 on the conclusion of the Additional Protocol to the Europe Agreement establishing an asso- ciation between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Romania, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic to the European Union (3), provides for additional concessions as regards imports of certain live bovine animals originating from Romania. Detailed rules should be adopted for the opening and administration of the tariff quota concerning live bovine animals, on a multi-annual basis beginning on 1 August 2005. () OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 1782/2003 (O] L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1). () O] L 8, 14.1.2003, p. 18. (¢) O] L 155, 17.6.2005, p. 26. (4) With a view to preventing speculation, the quantities available within the quota should be made accessible to operators able to show that they are genuinely engaged in trade of a significant scale with third countries. In consideration of this and in order to ensure efficient management, the traders concerned should be required to have imported a certain minimum number of animals during the year previous to the annual quota period in question which, at the same time, should guarantee a fair access to the concessions. Given that the present concessions only apply to imports of animals from Romania and considering the imports which are carried out from this country, a consignment of 50 animals may be considered to be a normal load. Experience shows that the purchase of a single consignment is a minimum requirement for a transaction to be considered real and viable. If such criteria are to be checked, applications should be presented in the Member State where the importer is entered in a VAT register. Furthermore, in order to prevent speculation, importers no longer involved in trade in live bovine animals at 1 January previous to the beginning of the annual quota period in question should be denied access to the quota. Moreover, a security relating to import rights should be submitted in the Member States where the operator is entered in the national VAT register. Import licences should not be transferable and should be issued to traders solely for the quantities for which they have been allocated import rights. To provide a more equal access to the quota while ensuring a commercially viable number of animals per application, maximum and minimum limits should be fixed for the number of animals covered in each appli- cation. It should be established that import rights are to be allocated after a reflection period and where necessary with a fixed percentage reduction applied.