Article 2 Intra-Community surveillance
United Kingdom
Where there is a danger that imports into a Member State of a product referred to in Article 1 will give rise to economic difficulties, imports of that product may, following an authorization given by the Commission for a specific period, be made subject to the issue of an import document.
As a general rule the Commission will not give the authorization referred to in paragraph 1 unless:
there have been significant imports of the product in question from other Member States in the calendar year preceding the year in which the application is made;
import opportunities for the product in question opened by the Community vis-à-vis the third country of origin exceed 1 % of the total import opportunities opened by the Community vis-à-vis all third countries subject to similar rules.
Without prejudice to Article 3, the import document shall be issued by the Member State concerned, for any quantity requested and free of charge, within a maximum period of five working days from the date of application by the importer irrespective of where he has his place of business in the Community.
For the purpose of obtaining the authorization referred to in paragraph 1, the Member State shall supply the following particulars in its request to the Commission:
a description of the product and details of its trade designation, its heading number in the Common Customs Tariff, the NIMEXE code and its country of origin;
the rules governing direct imports vis-à-vis the country of origin and other third countries, including where appropriate the tariff arrangements, the volume and/or quantity of import opportunities and also the economic considerations on which the rules are based;
the volume or quantity of imports of the product in question:
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originating in the third country concerned, broken down between direct imports and products in free circulation,
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originating in all third countries,
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originating in the Community;
the economic difficulties of which there is alleged to be a danger, as indicated by factors such as consumption of the product and respective market shares held by national production, the third country concerned and all third countries.
The information required under subparagraphs (c) and (d) shall cover the two preceding years and the current year. Where this information cannot be supplied with the accuracy required or cannot be supplied in time, the Member State's request shall contain the information available.
The Member State that has received the authorization referred to in paragraph 1 may require from an applicant for an import document only the following information and data:
details identifying the importer and the consignor in the exporting Member State;
the country of origin and the exporting Member State;
a description of the product with details of:
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its trade designation,
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its heading number in the Common Customs Tariff and the NIMEXE code;
the value and the quantity of the product in the units customarily in use in trade;
the scheduled date or dates for delivery;
supporting evidence that the product is in free circulation: if the products are not yet in free circulation on the date when the application for importation is made or if the supporting evidence cannot be provided by this date, the import document shall be granted but its validity shall be limited to one month following receipt of the document by the applicant.