Article 6 Special provisions for system B

Notwithstanding Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999, exporters may apply to the competent bodies of the Member States for a licence under system B as referred to in Article 1(4) no later than the second working day following the date of acceptance of the export declaration for the products with a view to obtaining a refund at the valid rate for the export period in question.

Licence applications shall be deemed to have been submitted on the date of acceptance of the export declaration for the products.

However, applications for licences to export apples to one or more of the destinations indicated in Annex I shall be accepted only during the period 15 July to the end of February the following year.

Licence applications must be accompanied by a copy of the export declaration for the products. The declaration must contain at least one of the entries listed in Annex Ie.

Article 18(3) of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 shall apply to B licences. The destinations or groups of destinations shall be indicated in box 7 of licence applications and licences.

Box 20 of licence applications and licences shall show at least one of the entries listed in Annex If.

The Member States shall inform the Commission, in accordance with Article 7(3), of:

• the quantities covered by licence applications, broken down by date of submission within the meaning of the second subparagraph of paragraph 1,

• any quantities for which licence applications have been withdrawn during the current export period,

• any quantities not used during the current export period.

This information shall not include quantities for which licence applications are rejected under paragraph 6.

If the quantities of a product applied for in respect of a destination or group of destinations exceed or threaten to exceed the indicative quantity set for the current export period, the Commission may set a date from which licence applications will be rejected if the relevant export declaration has been accepted after that date during the current export period.

After each export period, the Commission shall check, on the basis of the information available to it, for each product and each destination or group of destinations, whether the quantities applied for exceed the indicative quantities set, and shall fix the definitive refund rates. If they do exceed the indicative quantities, the Commission may reduce the rate of refund for those transactions.

Furthermore, in order to comply with the annual limits arising under agreements concluded in accordance with Article 300 of the Treaty, the Commission may determine for what percentage of the quantities applied for licences may be issued.

Export licences shall be issued on the 14th working day after the end of the export period for that period. Box 22 of licences shall contain at least one of the entries listed in Annex Ig, along with the refund rate fixed in accordance with the first subparagraph of paragraph 7, and the quantity, reduced if necessary by the percentage referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 7.

However, if the refund rate or percentage as referred to in paragraph 7 is zero, the applications shall be rejected.

Article 24 of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 shall not apply to licences as referred to in this Article.

These licences shall be submitted direct to the body responsible for payment of the export refund, which shall enter the quantity and stamp the licence.