Article 1

As regards import and export licences and advance-fixing certificates, the securities lodged shall, at the request of the interested parties, be released, provided that:

• the country of destination, origin or provenance marked in these licences or certificates is the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia or Slovakia,

• their validity had not expired on 1 May 2004,

• they had been used only partially or not at all by that date.

The first subparagraph shall also apply to licences and certificates for which the country of destination, origin or provenance is marked as ‘CEEC’, providing the operator can prove to the satisfaction of the competent authorities that this was an operation to or from a Member State referred to in the first subparagraph.