Article 4

The Commission shall check, for each application lodgment day in turn, whether the total quantities applied for pursuant to Article 3 in each product category as referred to in Article 3 (2) exceed the quantity referred to in Article 1,

• F1less the quantities for which licences with advance fixing of the refund have been issued or are in the process of being issued during the current issuing period, not including the licences issued for food aid as provided for in Article 10 (4) of the Agreement on Agriculture concluded during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations,

• F2. . . . .

• . . . . .

• plus any quantities covered by applications withdrawn under paragraph 4 of this Article,

• plus any quantities for which licences have been issued but not used,

• plus any quantities not used within the framework of the tolerance provided for in Article 8 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88.

If they do the Commission shall set a reduction percentage or decide to reject the applications.

Export licences shall be issued on the fifth working day following the day on which the application was lodged, provided that no specific measures as referred to in paragraph 1 have been taken in the interval.

Licences shall be valid for five months from the date of their issue within the meaning of Article 21 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88.

Where a percentage reduction is fixed in accordance with paragraph 1, licence applications may be withdrawn within 10 working days of the date of publication of the percentage reduction. Such withdrawal shall entail release of the security. The security shall also be released where applications are refused.

F3Where a licence has been issued before the application is withdrawn it must be returned for cancellation to the responsible agency referred to in Article 2 at the same time as the notification of withdrawal of the licence application.

Quantities exported within the tolerance provided for in Article 8 (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 shall not be eligible for payment of a refund.