24.12.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 333/11 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2771/1999 of 16 December 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 as regards intervention on the market in butter and cream THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products ('), and in particular Articles 10 and 40 thereof, Whereas: (1) Regulation EC) No 1255/1999 replaced Council Regula- tion (EEC) No 804/68 (2, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1587/96 (°), and also inter alia, Council Regula- tion (EEC) No 777/87 (¥, as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1634/91 (), concerning the intervention arrangements for butter and skimmed-milk powder. In view of those new arrangements and in the light of the experience gained, it is appropriate to amend and, where necessary simplify the detailed rules governing interven- tion on the market in butter and cream. In the interests of clarity, therefore, the recasting of the specific Regula- tions governing the various aspects of intervention, namely Commission Regulations (EEC) No 2315/76 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1824/97 (), (EEC) No 1547/87 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1802/95 (), (EEC) No 1589/87 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 124/1999 ('), and (EC) No 454/95 (1%, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 390/1999 (%), should be undertaken. (2)  Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 lays down criteria under which the intervention agencies buy in butter through invitation to tender and under which buying-in is to be suspended. It is necessary, firstly, to specify the cases in which buying-in is to be opened or suspended in the Member State concerned and, secondly, to fix the representative period during which the level of market prices for butter in relation to the intervention price must be recorded. To that end, the ‘market price for butter’ should be defined and arrange- ments set up for recording those prices at national level. For practical reasons, the Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union should be considered a single Member State. 160, 26.6.1999, p. 48. 148, 28.6.1968, p. 13. 206, 16.8.1996, p. 21. 78, 20.3.1987, p. 10. 150, 15.6.1991, p. 26. 261, 25.9.1976, p. 12. 260, 23.9.1997, p. 8. 144, 4.6.1987, p. 12. 174, 26.7.1995, p. 27. 146, 6.6.1987, p. 27. 16, 21.1.1999, p. 19. 46, 1.3.1995, p. 1. 48, 24.2.1999, p. 3. S co00ll0000000 K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘K_‘ A () The intervention agencies may only buy in butter which meets the requirements laid down in Article 6 of Regula- tion (EC) No 1255/1999 as well as the conditions of quality and presentation, which need to be defined. The methods of analysis and detailed rules governing quality control should also be specified and, if the situation so requires, provision should be made for checks of the radioactivity in butter, the maximum levels of which need to be established, where appropriate, by Community legislation. However, it should be possible for Member States to authorise a system of self checking, subject to certain conditions. For practical reasons, the period during which butter offered for intervention is produced should be extensible when the interval between two invitations to tender is longer than 21 days. To ensure that the intervention arrangements function smoothly, it is necessary to specify the conditions for the approval of manufacturing undertakings and verification of compliance therewith. To ensure that the arrange- ments are effective, provision should be made for action to be taken if these conditions are not complied with. Since butter may be bought in by an intervention agency belonging to a Member State other than that on whose territory it was produced, the intervention agency which does the buying-in should in such cases be able to verify that the conditions relating to quality and presentation are complied with. Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 stipulates that buying-in is to be carried out by tendering procedure. To ensure that all interested parties in the Community are treated equally, invitations to tender should be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Communities. The details of the tender, particularly the minimum quantity, deadlines for submission and the maximum buying-in price should be defined. To ensure compliance with the requirements as to the quality and presentation of the butter at the time when the tender is submitted, and after its entry into storage, tenderers should be required to submit a written undertaking to that effect together with their tender. Tenders should also be accompanied by a security, in order to guarantee that the tender will be maintained after the closing date for submission of tenders and that the butter will be delivered within time limits to be laid down. It should be possible to guarantee the quality of the butter, and the terms of buying-in by means of checks at different stages during storage. Failure to comply with