L 68/22 Official Journal of the European Communities 16.3.2000 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 562/2000 of 15 March 2000 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 12541999 as regards the buying-in of beef THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 12541999 of 17 May 1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal ('), and in particular Article 27(4), Article 41 and Article 47(8) thereof, Whereas: 1) From 1 July 2002, after a transitional period during which the previous buying-in arrangements are to continue to apply, Regulation (EC) No 12541999 intro- duces a single buying-in scheme to replace the buying-in arrangements provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 (3, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1633/98 (). In view of that new scheme, Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2456/93 of 1 September 1993 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 as regards the general and special intervention measures for beef (¥), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2304/98 (°), must be amended. On the occasion of that amendment, for the sake of clarity, that Regulation should be recast. To ensure a smooth switchover to the new Regulation, the provisions now in force should be maintained until the second invitation to tender of March 2000. Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1627/89 of 9 June 1989 on the buying-in of beef by invitation to tender (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 34/2000 (’), should also be repealed with effect from 1 July 2002. Furthermore, certain rules of application should be supplemented or spelt out more clearly to take account of experience gained and specific problems encountered previously in the way public intervention operated. Such essentially technical rules relate in particular to the presentation, take-over, inspection and storage of the products bought in. Since Article 47 of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 provides for the current buying-in arrangements to continue to apply until 30 June 2002, transitional provi- 160, 26.6.1999, p. 21. 148, 28.6.1968, p. 24. 210, 28.7.1998, p. 17. 288, 27.10.1998, p. 3. 159, 10.6.1989, p. 36. 5, 8.1.2000, p. 34. ) o L (3 o] L () O] L (% O] L 225, 4.9.1993, p. 4. () O] L () O] L () O] L sions setting out detailed rules of application specific to those arrangements must be laid down. Article 27(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1254/1999 ties the opening of public intervention to the average market price in a Member State or region of a Member State. Rules must accordingly be laid down for calculating the market prices in the Member States, in particular as regards the qualities to be used and weighting, the coeffi- cients to be used for converting them into the reference quality grade R3 and the mechanisms for opening and closing buying-in. The conditions for eligibility must rule out products that are not representative of national production of the Member State and that do not meet the health and veterinary rules in force and those over a weight normally sought after on the market. The eligibility of beef carcases of grade O3, which can be bought in in Ireland, should also be extended to Northern Ireland in order to prevent deflections of trade that might disturb the beef market in that part of the Community. Specific rules on identifying eligible carcases should be laid down requiring the slaughter number to be stamped on the inner side of each quarter. As regards presenta- tion, carcases should be cut in a uniform manner to facilitate the disposal of the cuts, improve monitoring of boning operations and as a result ensure that the cuts meet the same definition throughout the Community. To that end, carcases should be straight cut and fore- quarters and hindquarters should be defined as five-rib and eight-rib respectively in order to reduce to the minimum the number of boneless cuts and trimmings and to make the best use of the products obtained. In order to prevent speculation that could distort the true market situation, interested parties should each be able to submit only one tender per category in response to each invitation to tender. In order to prevent the use of frontmen, ‘interested parties’ should be defined as including only the category of operators who are tradi- tionally involved in intervention by virtue of their economic activities.