Regulation (EC) No 1610/2006 is hereby amended as follows:
1.
The following Article 2a is added:
‘Article 2a
1. By derogation from Article 35(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, Member States may, after examining each case, release the security provided for in Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 327/98 lodged for import licences referred to in Article 1 of this Regulation that were not used before the end of their period of validity, provided that:
(a)
the holder returns the unused import licence(s) to the competent authorities and requests the release of the relevant security,
(b)
the competent authorities of the Member State have sufficient proof to show that the importer acted in good faith and made all reasonable efforts to use the import licence(s) during the period of validity.
2. The originals of export licences accompanying import licence applications in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 327/98 shall be returned to holders of import licences for which securities are released under paragraph 1 of this Article.’
2.
In Article 3, the following paragraph 3 is added:
‘3. Member States shall send the Commission electronically and by 31 March 2007 the serial number(s) of unused import licence(s) for which the security has been released under Article 2a, indicating the quantities (tonnes) of products concerned broken down by Combined Nomenclature (CN) code.’