L 183/6 Official Journal of the European Union 22.7.2003 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1296/2003 of 15 July 2003 on common rules for imports of footwear products originating in Vietnam THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, and in particular Article 133 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas: (1)  The common commercial policy must be based on uniform principles. (2)  The Commission anti-fraud services have found evidence that consignments of footwear products were imported into the Community on the basis of fraudulent declara- tions of Vietnamese origin. (3)  The Community and the Government of Vietnam have negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding on the prevention of fraud in trade in footwear products (‘the Memorandum’) which sets out a double-checking system on the exports to the Community of footwear products falling within Chapter 64 of the Harmonised System| Combined Nomenclature ('). (4)  The validity of the Memorandum of Understanding was originally limited until 31 December 2002 but since the risk of fraudulent declarations of origin is still prevalent, the application of the Memorandum of Understanding has been extended through an Exchange of Letters between the Community and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (3) for a further period of two years until 31 December 2004. This Exchange of Letters, which further provides for the possibility of elec- tronic export licensing, was initialled on 28 November 2002 and adopted by the Council on 17 March 2003, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 This Regulation shall apply to all products falling within Chapter 64 of the Harmonised System/Combined Nomencla- ture originating in Vietnam and imported into the Community. Atticle 2 For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘originating products’ shall be as defined by the relevant Community rules in force; the methods for verifying the origin of those products shall be understood accordingly; () OJL 1, 4.1.2000, p. 13. () OJ L 124, 20.5.2003, p. 34. (b) ‘competent authorities’ of the Member States shall mean those designated pursuant to Article 2(7) of Council Regu- lation (EC) No 520/94 of 7 March 1994 establishing a Community procedure for administering quantitative quotas () and as listed in Annex I to Commission Regula- tion (EC) No 738/94 (*). The list of the competent authorities referred to in point (b) has been last published in Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1369/1999 (). Atticle 3 The release for free circulation in the Community of the products referred to in Article 1 shall be subject to the presen- tation of an import certificate issued by the Member States' authorities referred to in Article 2(6) in accordance with the procedure set out in this Regulation. Atrticle 4 1. The competent Vietnamese authorities shall issue an export certificate in respect of the products referred to in Article 1. 2. The export certificate shall conform to the specimen set out in the Annex. 3. The original of the export certificate shall be presented by the importer for the purposes of issuing the import certificate referred to in Article 6. The competent authorities of a Member State shall refuse to issue an import certificate for products which are not covered by export certificates issued in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation. Atrticle 5 Exports shall be recorded under the year in which the products covered by the export certificate were shipped. Atticle 6 1. The forms to be used by the competent authorities of the Member States for issuing the import certificates shall conform to the specimen of the surveillance document set out in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 3285/94 (). () OJ L 66, 10.3.1994, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 806/2003 (O] L 122, 16.5.2003, p. 1). () OJ L 87, 31.3.1994, p. 47. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 983/96 (O] L 131, 1.6.1996, p. 47). () OJ L 162, 26.6.1999, p. 35. () OJ L 349, 31.12.1994, p. 53.