11. 10. 94 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 261/3 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2444/94 of 10 October 1994 amending and derogating from Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93 laying down detailed rules for the application of the arrangements for importing bananas into the Community THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 of 13 February 1993 on the common organization of the market in bananas ('), as amended by Commission Regu- lation (EC) No 3518/93 (3, and in particular Article 20 thereof, Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93 of 10 June 1993 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1299/94 (%), lays down detailed rules for implementing the arrangements for importing bananas into the Community, in particular as regards the determination of the category of operators and the conditions under which import licences are granted; Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93 does not lay down conditions to be met by Category C operators ; whereas experience shows that if the tariff quota is to be adminis- tered properly, certain criteria need to be laid down to determine the operators in this category, who should be required in particular to have been engaged beyond a minimum extent in the international trade in fruit and vegetables before applying for registration and, in the case of new allocation applications, to have used up a minimum percentage of the previous annual allocation ; Whereas, since specific criteria are to be laid down for determining operators in Category C, the dates laid down in Article 4 (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93 should be postponed as far as 1994 is concerned ; Whereas, as regards the detailed rules concerning import licences for traditional ACP bananas, for reasons connected with management the period for lodging licence applications should be adjusted and the detailed rules on issue by the Member States should be made clearer ; Whereas this Regulation should enter into force immedi- ately in view of the time limits laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93; Whereas the Management Committee for Bananas has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by its Chairman, () OJ No L 47, 25. 2. 1993, p. 1. () OJ No L 320, 22. 12. 1993, p. 15. () OJ No L 142, 12. 6. 1993, p. . () OJ No L 141, 4. 6. 1994, p. 38. HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 Regulation (EEC) No 1442/93 is hereby amended as follows : 1. The following paragraph is added to Article 3: ‘S.  Economic agents, whether natural or legal persons, individual agents or groups established in the Community who have been engaged in the import and/or export of fruit and vegetables for at least one -year at the date of submission of their applications for annual allocation in accordance with Article 4 (4) shall be deemed Category C “operators” for the purposes of Articles 18 and 19 of Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 and may hold import licences. Compliance with this condition shall be certified by proof of entry in a commercial register of the Member State or by alterna- tive proof accepted by the Member State, and also by evidence of import and/or export of the goods. Where an application for allocation is submitted as from 1995 in respect of a new year by a Category C operator already registered in respect of a preceding year, he must provide proof that he has actually released for free circulation, on his own account, at least 50 % of the quantity allocated to him in respect of the year during which the allocation application is submitted. Member States shall verify compliance with this para- graph. 2. The first sentence of Atrticle 4 (4) is replaced by the "~ following : ‘Category C operators established in the Community must submit their applications for the allocation of annual quantities, together with the proof specified in Article 3 (5), to the competent authorities of any one Member State by 1 October each year. 3. Article 14 (2) is replaced by the following : ‘2. Import licence applications shall be lodged with the competent authorities of any Member State during the first seven days of the last month of the quarter preceding that in respect of which the licences are issued.