
Article 1 

1. Refund certificates issued in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1520/2000 in respect of exports of the goods for which export refunds have been abolished by Decision 2005/45/EC may, at request of the interested party, be reduced under the conditions provided for in paragraph 2.
2. To be eligible for reduction of the amount of the refund certificate, the certificates referred to in paragraph 1 must have been applied for before 1 February 2005 and their validity period must expire after 31 January 2005.
3. The certificate shall be reduced by the amount for which the interested party is unable to claim export refunds from 1 February 2005, as demonstrated to the satisfaction of the national competent authority.In making their appraisal the competent authorities shall, in cases of doubt, have regard in particular to the commercial documents referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 4045/89.
4. The relevant security shall be released in proportion to the reduction concerned.
Article 2 

1. To be eligible for consideration under Article 1, the national competent authority must receive the requests by 7 March 2005, at the latest.
2. Member States shall notify the Commission not later than 14 March 2005 of the amounts for which reductions have been accepted in accordance with Article 1(3) of this Regulation. The notified amounts shall be taken into account for the determination of the amount for which refund certificates for use from 1 April 2005 shall be issued, pursuant to point (d) of Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1520/2000.
Article 3 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.Done at Brussels, 18 February 2005.
For the Commission
Günter VERHEUGEN
Vice-President