2. 4. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 90/3 COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 945/87 of 30 March 1987 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81 on mutual assistance between the admi- nistrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs or agricultural matters THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43 and 235 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parli- ament (3), Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81 (%) laid down rules according to which the administrative authorities of the Member States must mutually provide each other with assistance and cooperate with the Commission both to prevent and detect infringements of the law on customs or agricultural matters and to discover any activity which is, or seems to be, contrary thereto; Whereas experience shows that the importance of comba- ting fraud having ramifications in several Member States justifies the reinforcing of the scope of action of the Commission and the Member States in this field; Whereas, with regard to fraud involving certain textile products imported into the Community, a partial solution to these problems appears in Regulation (EEC) No 616/78 (*), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3626/83 (%) ; whereas it appears desirable to incorporate all the provisions affecting administrative cooperation in the fields of customs and agriculture into Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81; whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81 should, accordingly, be amended, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION : Article 1 Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81 is hereby amended as follows : (1) The following Article is inserted : ‘Article 14a 1. Where the competent authorities of a Member State become aware of operations which are, or appear to be, contrary to the law on customs or agricultural () OJ No C 267, 18. 10. 1985, p. 6. () OJ No C 120, 20. 5. 1986, p. 152. () O No L 144, 2. 6. 1981, p. 1. () OJ No L 84, 31. 3. 1978, p. 1. () OJ No L 360, 23. 12. 1983, p. 5. 2 matters and which are of particular interest at- Community level, and in particular: — where they have, or might have, ramifications in other Member States, or — where it appears to the said authorities likely that similar operations have been also carried out in other Member States, they shall pass on to the Commission as quickly as possible, either on their own initiative or at the reasoned request of the Commission, all relevant information, where appropriate in the form of docu- ments or copies or extracts from documents, necessary to determine the facts so as to enable the Commission to coordinate the action undertaken by the Member States. The Commission shall pass this information on to the competent authorities of the other Member States. 2. Information relating to natural or legal persons shall be communicated as provided for in paragraph 1 only -to the extent strictly necessary to enable opera- tions which are contrary to the law on customs or agricultural matters to be noted. 3.  Where the competent authorities of a Member State make use of paragraph 1, they need not commu- ‘nicate information as provided in Article 12 (b) and in Article 13 to the competent authorities of the other Member States concerned. Atticle 15 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 15 The Commission shall organize meetings with the representatives of the Member States during which : — the operation of the mutual assistance arrange- ments provided for in this Regulation shall be examined in general terms, — a practical procedure for forwarding the informa- tion referred to in Articles 14 and 14a shall be laid down, — the information sent to the Commission pursuant to Articles 14 and 14a shall be examined with a view to drawing the relevant conclusions, determi- ning the measures required to put an end to any operations found to be contrary to the law on customs or agricultural matters and, where neces- sary, suggesting amendments to existing Commu- nity provisions or the drawing up of additional ’ ones.