(1)

In the Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 (1), customs duty is suspended, autonomously and for an indefinite period, on certain goods in Chapter 27 when they are intended for specific processes, provided that certain conditions laid down in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (2) are met.

(2)

Certain waste oils intended for recycling, classed under CN code 2710 99 00, do not currently enjoy this exemption.

(3)

For environmental reasons connected to the recycling of waste oils, the same tariff treatment should be applied to waste oils and oils from the same group, provided that the legal and technical conditions are met. It is therefore in the interest of the Community to suspend, autonomously and for an indefinite period, customs duty on such products.

(4)

Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(5)

Since the amendment introduced by this Regulation is to be applied from the same date as the Combined Nomenclature for 2006, laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1719/2005 (3), this Regulation should enter into force immediately and apply from 1 January 2006,

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 3223/94 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in the Annex thereto.

(2)

In compliance with the above criteria, the standard import values must be fixed at the levels set out in the Annex to this Regulation,

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 292/2006 (2) opens an invitation to tender setting the indicative refund rates and indicative quantities for system A3 export licences, which may be issued, other than those tendered for as part of food aid.

(2)

In the light of the tenders submitted, the maximum refund rates and the percentages of quantities to be awarded for tenders quoting those maximum rates should be set.

(3)

In the case of tomatoes, oranges, lemons and apples, the maximum rate necessary to award licences for the indicative quantity up to the quantities tendered for is not more than one-and-a-half times the indicative refund rate,

(1)

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2131/93 (2) lays down the procedure and conditions for the disposal of cereals held by intervention agencies.

(2)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1383/2005 (3) has opened a standing invitation to tender for the export of 20 000 tonnes of barley held by the Polish intervention agency.

(3)

Poland has informed the Commission of its intervention agency’s intention to increase by 44 185 tonnes the quantity put out to tender for export. In view of this request, of the quantity available and of the market situation, the request made by Poland should be granted.

(4)

Regulation (EC) No 1383/2005 should therefore be amended.

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Cereals,

(1)

Article 7 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1148/2001 of 12 June 2001 on checks on conformity to the marketing standards applicable to fresh fruit and vegetables (2), lays down the conditions for the approval of checking operations, performed by certain third countries which so request, prior to import into the Community.

(2)

The Senegalese authorities sent the Commission a request for the approval of checking operations performed under the responsibility of the Directorate for Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water. The request states that the aforementioned Directorate has the necessary staff, equipment and facilities to carry out checks, that it uses methods equivalent to those referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1148/2001 and that the fresh fruit and vegetables exported from Senegal to the Community must meet the Community marketing standards.

(3)

The information sent by the Member States to the Commission shows that, in the period 2001 to 2005, the incidence of non-conformity with marketing standards among imports from Senegal of fresh fruit and vegetables was very low.

(4)

Checks on conformity carried out by Senegal should therefore be approved with effect from the date of implementation of the administrative cooperation procedure provided for in Article 7(8) of Regulation (EC) No 1148/2001.

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,

(1)

Article 7 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1148/2001 of 12 June 2001 on checks on conformity to the marketing standards applicable to fresh fruit and vegetables (2), lays down the conditions for the approval of checking operations performed by certain third countries which so request prior to import into the Community.

(2)

The Kenya authorities sent the Commission a request for the approval of checking operations performed under the responsibility of the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). This request states that the aforementioned inspection bodies have the necessary staff, equipment and facilities to carry out checks, that they use methods equivalent to those referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1148/2001 and that the fresh fruit and vegetables exported from Kenya to the Community meet the Community marketing standards.

(3)

The information sent by the Member States to the Commission shows that, in the period 2001 to 2005, the incidence of non-conformity with marketing standards among imports from Kenya of fresh fruit and vegetables was very low.

(4)

Checks on conformity carried out by Kenya should therefore be approved with effect from the date of implementation of the administrative cooperation procedure provided for in Article 7(8) of Regulation (EC) No 1148/2001.

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables,

(1)

Experience gained from the implementation of Commission Regulation (EC) No 382/2005 (3) has shown that the wording of the third subparagraph of Article 9 of that Regulation should be made more precise.

(2)

Given that the aid referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 71(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 is calculated on the basis of quantities which are potentially eligible for the aid provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1786/2003 for the current marketing year, and that, in accordance with Article 34 of Regulation (EC) No 382/2005, a certain proportion of the dried fodder which has left the undertakings during the 2005/06 marketing year has already been entered in the accounts for the 2004/05 marketing year, the aid for the 2005/06 marketing year would be fixed on the basis of quantities which would not be representative of actual production in the 2005/06 marketing year. Transitional measures should therefore be laid down for stocks held on 31 March 2006. To avoid any discrimination between operators, these measures should apply to all Member States. Provision should be made for the notification of the stocks benefiting from these measures.

(3)

The reference to the ceilings set out in point D of Annex VII to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 should be replaced by a reference to the ceilings set out in Annex IV to Commission Regulation (EC) No 118/2005 of 26 January 2005 modifying Annex VIII to Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and establishing budgetary ceilings for partial or optional implementation of the Single Payment Scheme and annual financial envelopes for Single Area Payment Scheme provided for in that Regulation (4).

(4)

A number of improvements should be made to Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 382/2005 in order to obtain a useful overview of energy consumption.

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 382/2005 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(6)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Joint Management Committee for Cereals and Direct Payments,

1.

the third subparagraph of Article 9 is replaced by the following:

‘Dried fodder leaving a processing undertaking may re-enter it only for the purpose of repackaging, under the supervision of the competent authority and on conditions laid down by it.’;

2.

Article 33(1) is amended as follows:

3.

The following Article 34a is added:

4.

Article 35 is replaced by the following:

(*1)   OJ L 24, 27.1.2005, p. 15.’;"

5.

Annex I is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation.

(1)

Paragraphs 10, 12 and 12a of Article 14a of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1538/91 of 5 June 1991 introducing detailed rules for implementing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1906/90 on certain marketing standards for poultrymeat (2) provide for detailed guidelines regarding the levels of controls and actions to be undertaken by reference laboratories for monitoring water content in poultrymeat.

(2)

The Community Reference Laboratory ‘Het Spelderholt’ provided for in Article 14a(14) of Regulation (EEC) No 1538/91 is no longer in a position to continue its work.

(3)

Experience with the work of the reference laboratories has shown that there is no need for a separate Community Reference Laboratory any more. Instead it appears sufficient to establish a coordinating board for testing activities by national reference laboratories.

(4)

The coordinating board should consist of representatives of the Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC) — Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development and of three national reference laboratories.

(5)

The representative of IRMM should be the chairperson of the board and should appoint the national reference laboratories on rotational basis.

(6)

Annex VIII to Regulation (EEC) No 1538/91 contains the names and addresses of all reference laboratories. Several Member States have informed the Commission of a change of their national reference laboratories. Malta has sent the name and address of the Maltese National Reference Laboratory in a neighbouring Member State. It is therefore necessary to update the name and address of certain Reference Laboratories and introduce the name and address of the Maltese Reference Laboratory.

(7)

Annex IX to Regulation (EEC) No 1538/91 contains the specific tasks to be performed by the Community Reference Laboratory and by the national reference laboratories. The change in organisational structure of reference laboratories for monitoring water content in poultrymeat should be laid down in Annex IX.

(8)

Regulation (EEC) No 1538/91 should be amended accordingly.

(9)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Poultrymeat and Eggs,

1.

Article 14a is amended as follows:

2.

Annex VIII is replaced by the text in Annex I to this Regulation.

3.

Annex IX is replaced by the text in Annex II to this Regulation.

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 887/2005 (2) opened crisis distillation as provided for in Article 30 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 for certain wines in Greece.

(2)

As several distillation measures are simultaneously in place, the Greek authorities have found that neither the distilleries nor the supervisory authorities have sufficient capacity to ensure proper distillation performance. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the measure introduced by Regulation (EC) No 887/2005, the period laid down by the Regulation in which the alcohol can be delivered to the intervention agency should be extended to 30 April 2006.

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 887/2005 should be amended accordingly.

(4)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Wine,

(1)

Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1784/2003 provides that the rates of duty in the Common Customs Tariff are to be charged on import of the products referred to in Article 1 of that Regulation. However, in the case of the products referred to in paragraph 2 of that Article, the import duty is to be equal to the intervention price valid for such products on importation and increased by 55 %, minus the cif import price applicable to the consignment in question. However, that duty may not exceed the rate of duty in the Common Customs Tariff.

(2)

Pursuant to Article 10(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1784/2003, the cif import prices are calculated on the basis of the representative prices for the product in question on the world market.

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 1249/96 lays down detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1784/2003 as regards import duties in the cereals sector.

(4)

The import duties are applicable until new duties are fixed and enter into force.

(5)

In order to allow the import duty system to function normally, the representative market rates recorded during a reference period should be used for calculating the duties.

(6)

Application of Regulation (EC) No 1249/96 results in import duties being fixed as set out in Annex I to this Regulation,

(1)

The accounts of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of the national central banks of the Eurosystem are to be audited by independent external auditors recommended by the Governing Council of the ECB and approved by the Council of the European Union.

(2)

Pursuant to Article 37(1) of the Federal Act on the Österreichische Nationalbank, the General Meeting of the Österreichische Nationalbank (ÖNB) shall elect two auditors and two alternate auditors each year. The alternate auditors will be mandated only in the event that the auditors are not able to perform the audit.

(3)

The mandate of the current external auditors of the ÖNB cannot be renewed for a further term of office after the audit for the financial year 2005. It is therefore necessary to appoint external auditors from the financial year 2006.

(4)

The ÖNB has selected KPMG Alpen-Treuhand GmbH, TPA Horwath Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH, Moore Stephens Austria Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft mbH and BDO Auxilia Treuhand GmbH as its new external auditors in accordance with Community as well as Austrian public procurement legislation, and the ECB considers that they fulfil the necessary requirements for appointment.

(5)

The Governing Council of the ECB recommended that the mandate of the external auditors should be renewed on a yearly basis, not exceeding a total term of five years.

(6)

It is appropriate to follow the recommendation of the Governing Council of the ECB and to amend Council Decision 1999/70/EC (2) accordingly,

(1)

Directive 89/106/EEC envisages that in order to take account of different levels of protection for construction works at national, regional or local level, it may be necessary to establish in the interpretative documents classes corresponding to the performance of products in respect of each essential requirement. Those documents have been published as the ‘Communication of the Commission with regard to the interpretative documents of Directive 89/106/EEC’ (2).

(2)

With respect to the essential requirement of safety in the event of fire, interpretative document No 2 lists a number of interrelated measures which together define the fire safety strategy to be variously developed in the Member States.

(3)

Interpretative document No 2 identifies one of those measures as the limitation of the generation and spread of fire and smoke within a given area by limiting the potential of construction products to contribute to the full development of a fire.

(4)

The level of that limitation may be expressed only in terms of the different levels of reaction-to-fire performance of the products in their end-use application;

(5)

By way of harmonised solution, a system of classes was adopted in Commission Decision 2000/147/EC of 8 February 2000 implementing Council Directive 89/106/EEC as regards the classification of the reaction-to-fire performance of construction products (3).

(6)

In the case of wood flooring and solid wood panelling and cladding it is necessary to use the classification established in Decision 2000/147/EC.

(7)

The reaction-to-fire performance of many construction products and/or materials, within the classification provided for in Decision 2000/147/EC, is well established and sufficiently well known to fire regulators in Member States that they do not require testing for this particular performance characteristic.

(8)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Construction,