L 159/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 3. 6. 98 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1143/98 of 2 June 1998 laying down detailed rules for a tariff quota for cows and heifers of specified mountain breeds originating in various third countries, other than for slaughter, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1012/98 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 auto- nomous 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 of multilateral trade negoti- ations ('), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1595/97 (3, 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 of multilateral trade negotiations (°), and in particular Article 5 thereof, Whereas Regulation (EC) No 3066/95 provides for the opening of a tariff quota for an annual quantity of 7 000 cows and heifers of specified mountain breeds originating in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia at a customs duty of 6 % ad valorem; whereas that quota should be opened on a multiannual basis for periods of 12 months commencing on 1 July (hereinafter referred to as ‘the year of import’) and the detailed rules of applica- tion 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 allocated to ‘traditional’ importers of cows and heifers of specified mountain breeds; whereas in certain cases administrative errors by the competent national () OJ L 328, 30. 12. 1995, p. 31. () OJ L 216, 8. 8. 1997, p. 1. () OJ L 254, 8. 10. 1996, p. 1. body threaten to restrict access by importers to this part of the quota; whereas there should be provision to correct any harm caused; Whereas, in order to avoid forcing trade relations in this product group into an 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 countries; whereas, in this connection and in order to ensure efficient management, the trader concerned must be required to have imported at least 15 head during the 12 months preceding the year of import in question; whereas a batch of 15 animals in principle constitutes a normal load and experience shows that the sale or purchase of a single batch is a minimum require- ment for a transaction to be considered genuine and viable; Whereas verification of these criteria requires all applica- tions to be submitted in the Member State where the importer is registered for VAT purposes; Whereas in order to prevent speculation, traders no longer engaged in trade in beef and veal at 1 July of the year of import in question should be denied access to the quota; Whereas provision should be made for the system to be administered by means of import licences; whereas to that end detailed rules for the submission of applications and the information which should appear in applications and licences should be laid down, if necessary by way of de- rogation from certain provisions of Commission Regula- tion (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 agricultural products (*), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1044/98 (°), and Commission Regula- tion (EC) No 1445/95 of 26 June 1995 on rules of appli- cation 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 759/98 ("), whereas, moreover, provision should be made for the licences to be issued after a period of consideration and subject where necessary to a uniform percentage reduction; 4 () OJ L 331, 2. 12. 1988, p. 1. () OF L 149, 20. 5. 1998, p. 11. () OJ L 143, 27. 6. 1995, p. 35. () OJ L 105, 4. 4. 1998, p. 7. 5