1. The release for free circulation in the Community of the products referred to in Article 1 shall be subject to presentation of a surveillance document issued by the relevant authorities of a Member State.

2. The surveillance document referred to in paragraph 1 shall be issued automatically by the competent authorities in the Member States, without charge and for any quantities requested, within five working days of presentation of an application by any Community importer, wherever it may be established in the Community. This application shall be deemed to have been received by the competent national authority no later than three working days after submission, unless it is proven otherwise.

3. A surveillance document issued by one of the authorities listed in Annex II shall be valid throughout the Community.

4. The surveillance document shall be made out on a form corresponding to the model set out in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 3285/94.

The importer's application shall include the following elements:

the name and full address of the applicant (including telephone and fax numbers, and possible identification number used by the competent national authorities) and VAT registration number, if subject to VAT;

if applicable, the name and full address of the declarant or representative of the applicant (including telephone and fax numbers);

the full name and address of the exporter;

the exact description of the goods, including:

their trade name;

the TARIC code(s);

the country of origin (namely the People’s Republic of China);

the country of consignment;

the quantity of goods expressed in pairs;

the cif value of the goods in euro at the Community frontier by combined nomenclature heading;

the proposed period and place of customs clearance;

whether the application is a repeat of a previous application concerning the same contract;

the following declaration, dated and signed by the applicant with the transcription of his name in capital letters: ‘I, the undersigned, certify that the information provided in this application is true and given in good faith, and that I am established in the Community’. The importer shall also submit a copy of the contract of sale or purchase and of the pro forma invoice. If so requested, and in particular in cases where the goods are not directly purchased in China, the importer shall present a certificate of production issued by the producer.

5. The period of validity of the surveillance documents is hereby fixed at six months. Unused or partly used surveillance documents may be renewed for the same period.

6. The importer shall return surveillance documents to the issuing authority at the end of their period of validity.

7. The competent authorities may allow the submission of declarations or requests to be transmitted or printed by electronic means, under the conditions fixed by them. However, all documents and evidence shall be available to the competent authorities.

8. The surveillance document may be issued by electronic means, on condition that the customs offices involved have access to the document via a computer network.

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 117/2005 of 26 January 2005 introducing Community surveillance of imports of certain footwear products originating in certain third countries ANNEX I ANNEX II ANNEX III