in Protocol A. 2. The competent authorities in the Member States are required to issue import authorizations or documents automatically within five working days of the submission of a request by an importer in accordance with Protocol A. The said import authorizations or documents shall be valid for six months. Article 71. Exports of textile products not subject to the quantitative limits established in Annex II may be made subject to quantitative limits on the conditions laid down in the following paragraphs. 2. Where the Community finds, under the system of administrative control set up, that the level of imports ofproducts in a given category not listed in Annex II originating in Bulgaria exceeds, in relation to the preceding year's total imports into the Community of products in that category, the following rates: - for categories of products in Group I: 0,4 %, - for categories of products in Group II: 2,4 %, - for categories of products in Group III: 8 %, it may request the opening of consultations in accordance with the procedure described in Article 14 of this Agreement, with a view to reaching agreement on an appropriate restraint level for the products in such category. 3. Pending a mutually satisfactory solution, Bulgaria undertakes, from the date of notification of the request for consultations, to suspend or limit at the level indicated by the Community exports of the category of products in question to the Community or to the region or regions of the Community market specified by the Community. The Community shall authorize the importation of products of the said category shipped from Bulgaria before the date on which the request for consultations was submitted. 4. Should the Parties be unable in the course of consultations to reach a satisfactory solution within the period specified in Article 14, the Community shall have the right to introduce a definitive quantitative limit at an annual level not lower than the level resulting from the application of the formula set out in paragraph 2, or 106 % of the level of imports reached during the calendar year preceding that in which imports exceeded the level resulting from the application of the formula set out in paragraph 2 and gave rise to the request for consultations, whichever is the higher. The annual level so fixed shall be revised upwards after consultations in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 14 with a view to fulfilling the conditions set out in paragraph 2, should the trend of total imports into the Community of the product in question make this necessary. 5. The limits introduced pursuant to paragraphs 2 or paragraph 4 may in no case be lower than the level of Community imports of products in that category originating in Bulgaria in 1985. 6. In accordance with the procedures set out in paragraphs 2 and 4, a quantitative limit may be fixed on a regional basis where imports of a given product into any region of the Community exceed the following regional percentages of the amounts determined as laid down in paragraph 2: Federal Republic of Germany25,5 %. Benelux9,5 %. France16,5 %. Italy13,5 %. Denmark2,7 %. Ireland0,8 %. United Kingdom21,0 %. Greece1,5 %. Spain7,5 %. Portugal1,5 %. 7. The annual growth rate for the quantitative limits introduced under this Article shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Protocol C. 8. The provisions of this Article shall not apply where the percentages specified in paragraph 2 have been reached as a result of a fall in total imports into the Community, and not as a result of an increase in exports of products originating in Bulgaria. 9. In the event of the provisions of paragraph 2 or paragraph 4 being applied, Bulgaria undertakes to issue export licences for products covered by contracts concluded before the introduction of the quantitative limit, up to the volume of the quantitative limit fixed for the current year. 10. Up to the date on which the statistics referred to in Article 9 (6) are provided, the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article shall be applied on the basis of the annual statistics previously communicated by the Community. 11. The provisions of this Agreement which concern exports of products subject to the quantitative limits established in Annex II shall also apply to products for which quantitative limits are introduced under this Article. Article 81. Bulgaria and the Community agree to cooperate fully in preventing the circumvention of the present Agreement by transhipment, rerouting or whatever other means. 2. Where information available to the Community as a result of the investigations carried out in accordance with the procedures set out in Protocol A constitutes evidence that products of Bulgarian origin subject to quantitative limits established under this Agreement have been transhipped, rerouted or otherwise imported into the Community in circumvention of this Agreement, the Community may request the opening of consultations in accordance with the procedures described in Article 14 of this Agreement, with a view to reaching agreement on an equivalent adjustment of the corresponding quantitative