3.2.9% Official Journal of the European Communities No L 27/9 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 207/96¢ of 2 February 1996 laying down for the first six months of 1996 the detailed rules for the application of a tariff quota for cows and heifers of various mountain breeds, other than those intended for slaughter, originating in certain third countries THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3290/94 of 22 December 1994 on the adjustments and transitional arrangements required in the agricultural sector in order to implement the agreements concluded during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations (*), and in particular Article 4 (3) thereof, 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 autono- mous 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 Multilateral Trade Negotia- tions (%), and in particular Article 8 thereof, Whereas Regulation (EC) No 3066/93 provides for the opening of a tariff quota of 2 500 cows and heifers of various mountain breeds originating in the abovemen- tioned countries and benefiting from a 6 % ad valorem rate of customs duty; whereas management measures should be established for the import of these animals; Whereas experience shows that limiting imports can give rise to speculative import applications ; whereas, in order to guarantee that the planned measures function correctly, most of the quantities available should be reserved for so-called traditional importers of cows and heifers of various mountain breeds ; whereas, so as not to introduce rigidity into trade relations in the sector, a second alloca- tion should be made available for operators able to show that they are carrying out a genuine activity involving trade in a significant number of animals with third coun- tries ; whereas in consideration of this and in order to ensure efficient management, a minimum of 15 animals should be required to have been exported or imported between 1 July 1994 and 30 June 1995 by the operators concerned ; whereas a batch of 15 animals in principle constitutes a normal load and whereas experience has () OJ No L 349, 31. 12. 1994, p. 105. (3 OJ No L 328, 30. 12. 1995, p. 31. shown that the sale or purchase of a single batch is a minimum requirement for a transaction to be considered real and viable; whereas verification of those criteria requires that all applications from the same operator be submitted in the same Member State ; Whereas steps must be taken to ensure that importers in the new Member States falling within the first category can participate fairly in the allocation of the quantities available ; whereas for those importers, therefore, the reference quantities to be taken into account as giving access to the quantities reserved for traditional importers should be those imports from countries which are for them third countries on 31 December 1994 carried out between 1 July 1994 and 31 December 1994 as well as imports between 1 January 1995 and 30 June 1995 as part of the quota covered by Council Regulation (EC) No 1800/94 of 18 July 1994 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for bulls, cows and heifers, other than those intended for slaughter, of certain Alpine and mountain breeds (%) ; Whereas, so as to avoid speculation, access to the quota should be denied to operators no longer carrying out an activity in the beef and veal sector on 1 January 1996 ; Whereas the management of the system should be ensured through import licences ; whereas, to tha end, it would be appropriate to define, in particular, the detailed rules for submission of applications, as well as the infor- mation which must be included on the applications and licences, if necessary by derogation from certain provi- sions of Commission Regulation (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 2137/95 (), and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1445/95 of 26 June 1995 on rules of application for import and export licences in the beef and veal sector and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2377/80 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2856/95("); whereas provision () OJ No L 189, 23. 7. 1994, p. 20. () OJ No L 331, 2. 12. 1988, p. 1. % OJ No L 214, 8. 9. 1995, p. 2. (9 OJ No L 143, 27. 6. 1995, p. 35. () OJ No L 299, 12. 12. 1995, p. 10.