7.6.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 1415 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 977/2003 of 6 June 2003 opening and providing for the administration of an import tariff quota for young male bovine animals for fattening (1 July 2003 to 30 June 2004) 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 (), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 806/ 2003 (3, and in particular Article 32(1) thereof, Whereas: The WTO schedule CXL requires the Community to open an annual import tariff quota for 169 000 head of young male bovine animals for fattening. Implementing rules should be laid down for the period 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2004. There should be a guarantee in particular of equal and continuing access to the said quota for all interested traders within the Community. However, pursuant to Article 32(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999, the method of administration may give due weight to the supply requirements on the Community market. The requirements of certain Member States which have a shortfall of bovine animals for fattening may therefore be taken into account. As those requirements are parti- cularly evident in Italy and Greece, priority should be given to satisfying demand in those two Member States. For the allocation of the tariff quota methods which have been applied in the past to this quota should be applied again. Consequently, in Italy and Greece the method referred to in the third indent of Article 32(2) should be applied while the method referred to in the second indent of that paragraph shall be used for appli- cations in other Member States. Importers who can show that they have been involved in trade with live animals with third countries should be able to apply for import rights. Proof of that involve- ment calls for evidence to be presented of recent import or export of some significance. () OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21. () OJ L 122,16.5.2003, p. 1. (6) (10) Checks of criteria for participation in the quota alloca- tion call for applications to be submitted in the Member State where the trader is entered in the value added tax (VAT) register. Italy and Greece are an exception to this rule: traders entered in the VAT register of another Member State may submit their applications in these two countries. In order to prevent speculation: — importers no longer involved in trade in live bovine animals at 1 January 2003 should be denied access to the quota, — a security should be fixed for import rights, — licences should not be transferable, — import licences should be issued to traders solely for the quantities for which they have been allocated import rights. In order to provide for more equal access to the quota while ensuring a commercially viable number of animal per application, each application should respect a maximum and a minimum number of heads. To oblige traders to apply for import licences for all import rights allocated, it should be established that this obligation is a primary requirement within the meaning of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85 of 22 July 1985 laying down common detailed rules for the appli- cation of the system of securities for agricultural products (°), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1932/1999 (9. With a view to using up quota quantities completely, a closing date should be set for the submission of import licence applications and provision should be made for a further allocation of quantities not covered by licence applications submitted by that date. In the light of experience it should also be laid down that this final allocation is open only to importers who have applied for import licences for the total quantity to which they are entitled. () OJ L 205, 3.8.1985, p. 5. () OJ L 240, 10.9.1999, p. 11.