L 291/8 Official Journal of the European Union 21.10.2006 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1580/2006 of 20 October 2006 amending Regulation (EC) No 1043/2005 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 as regards the system of granting export refunds on certain agricultural products exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex I to the Treaty, and the criteria for fixing the amount of such refunds THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 of 6 December 1993 laying down the trade arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products (1), and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 8(3) thereof, Whereas: (1) In accordance with Article 4 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 10432005 (3, and in conjunction with the second subparagraph of Article 1(1) thereof, Commission Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 of 15 April 1999 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of export refunds on agricultural products (%) applies to exports of products in the form of goods not covered by Annex I to the Treaty. (2 In accordance with the second indent of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999, entitlement to the export refund is acquired on importation into a specific third country when a differentiated refund applies for that third country. (3)  Articles 14, 15 and 16 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 lays down the conditions for the payment of the differ- entiated refund, in particular the documents to be supplied as proof of the goods’ arrival at destination. () OJ L 318, 20.12.1993, p. 18. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 2580/2000 (O] L 298, 25.11.2000, p. 5). (®» OJ L 172, 5.7.2005, p. 24. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 544/2006 (O] L 94, 1.4.2006, p. 24). () OJ L 102, 17.4.1999, p. 11. Regulation as last amended by Regu- lation (EC) No 671/2004 (O] L 105, 14.4.2004, p. 5). (4) Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 provides that Member States may, in certain circumstances, exempt exporters from furnishing the proof, other than the transport document, required under Article 16 of that Regulation. The volume of specific applications in respect of which refunds are granted in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1043/2005 is high. Most goods to which these appli- cations relate are manufactured under clearly defined technical conditions, have constant characteristics and quality, follow regular export patterns and have manu- facturing formulas which have been registered and confirmed by the competent authorities. In the light of these special circumstances and with a view to simplifying the administrative work involved in granting export refunds under Regulation (EC) No 1043/2005, it is appropriate to adopt special provisions giving Member States greater flexibility than those set out in Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 in so far as they relate to the maximums below which the Member States may exempt operators from furnishing the proof required under Article 16 of the latter Regu- lation. It is therefore appropriate, where goods are packaged for consumer retail sale or where goods follow well estab- lished regular export patterns involving exports by the same exporter of goods of the same CN code to the same consignee, to confer on Member States the flexibility, at their discretion, to exempt exporters from furnishing the proof required under Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999, provided that they require exporters to submit such proof on a spot check basis. It is necessary to ensure that on the one hand Member States can establish that the foregoing exemptions are limited to the operations for which they are intended while on the other hand individual exporters know in advance of export the goods and operations for which a Member State is prepared to allow them to benefit from these more flexible arrangements. Therefore, it is appro- priate to provide for administration by Member States of an authorisation procedure whereby they can control the goods and operations for which they are prepared to allow those more flexible arrangements.