11.12.2007   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 325/76

(1)

Commission Regulations (EC) No 2058/96 of 28 October 1996 opening and providing for the management of a tariff quota for broken rice of CN code 1006 40 00 for production of food preparations of CN code 1901 10 (5), (EC) No 2375/2002 of 27 December 2002 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for common wheat of a quality other than high quality from third countries and derogating from Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 (6), (EC) No 2377/2002 of 27 December 2002 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for malting barley from third countries and derogating from Council Regulation (EC) No 1766/92 (7), (EC) No 2305/2003 of 29 December 2003 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for imports of barley from third countries (8), (EC) No 955/2005 of 23 June 2005 opening a Community import quota for rice originating in Egypt (9), (EC) No 969/2006 of 29 June 2006 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for imports of maize from third countries (10) and (EC) No 1964/2006 of 22 December 2006 laying down detailed rules for the opening and administration of an import quota for rice originating in Bangladesh, pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3491/90 (11) provide for different measures for certain matters relating to the management of the quotas concerned. In order to rationalise and simplify the procedures for operators in the rice and cereals sectors, as well as to improve the management of these quotas by the Member States and the Commission, these Regulations should be amended.

(2)

To this end, common, harmonised rules should be laid down for all these quotas with regard to the deadline for submitting import licence applications, stating that this deadline must always be Friday at 13:00, as well as detailed rules concerning the communication of information by Member States to the Commission.

(3)

As regards quotas in the rice sector, the possibility should be provided, in a harmonised way, for an operator to give up quantities below 20 tonnes when this has been allocated to him following application of an allocation coefficient.

(4)

Regarding Regulation (EC) No 955/2005 in particular, it should be specified that the rules applicable to the transport document and the proof of preferential origin on release for free circulation of the product are set out in Protocol IV to Council Decision 2004/635/EC of 21 April 2004 on the conclusion of a Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Arab Republic of Egypt, of the other part (12).

(5)

Regulations (EC) No 2058/96, (EC) No 2375/2002, (EC) No 2377/2002, (EC) No 2305/2003, (EC) No 955/2005, (EC) No 969/2006 and (EC) No 1964/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(6)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Cereals,

1.

Article 2(1) is replaced by the following:

‘1.   Applications for import licences shall relate to a quantity of at least 5 tonnes and at most 500 tonnes.

Each licence application shall indicate a quantity in kilograms (whole numbers).

Applications for import licences shall be lodged with the competent authorities of the Member States no later than 13:00 (Brussels time) every Friday.’

2.

Article 3 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 3

1.   Where the quantities applied for in a given week exceed the quantity available under the quota, the Commission shall fix the allocation coefficient for the quantities applied for during that week, pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, no later than the fourth working day following the last day for the submission of applications for that week, as referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 2(1) of this Regulation, and shall suspend the submission of new licence applications until the end of the quota period.

Applications submitted in respect of the current week shall be considered inadmissible.

Member States shall allow operators to withdraw, within two working days following the date of publication of the Regulation fixing the allocation coefficient, applications for which the quantity for which the licence is to be issued is less than 20 tonnes.

2.   The import licence shall be issued on the eighth working day following the final day for the submission of applications.’

3.

Article 4 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 4

The Member States shall send the Commission, by electronic means:

(a)

paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(b)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   No later than 18:00 (Brussels time) on the Monday following the week in which the licence application was lodged, the competent authorities shall send the Commission, by electronic means, a notification showing, by serial number, each application with the origin of the product and the quantity applied for, including “nil” notifications.’;

(c)

paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4.   Licences shall be issued on the fourth working day following the deadline for the notification referred to in paragraph 3.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission, by electronic means, on the day of issue of the import licences, the information on the licences issued as referred to in Article 11(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, with the total quantities for which import licences have been issued.’

(a)

in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, ‘Monday’ is replaced by ‘Friday’;

(b)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   No later than 18:00 (Brussels time) on the Monday following submission of the licence application, the competent authorities shall send the Commission, by electronic means, a notification showing each application with the quantity applied for, including “nil” notifications.;’

(c)

paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4.   Licences shall be issued on the fourth working day following the deadline for the notification referred to in paragraph 3.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission, by electronic means, on the day of issue of the import licences, the information on the licences issued as referred to in Article 11(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, with the total quantities for which import licences have been issued.’

(a)

paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(b)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   No later than 18:00 (Brussels time) on the Monday following the week in which the licence application was lodged, the competent authorities shall send the Commission, by electronic means, a notification showing each application with the quantity applied for, including “nil” notifications.’;

(c)

paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4.   Licences shall be issued on the fourth working day following the deadline for the notification referred to in paragraph 3.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission, by electronic means, on the day of issue of the import licences, the information on the licences issued as referred to in Article 11(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, with the total quantities for which import licences have been issued.’

1.

In Article 2(1) the following second subparagraph is added:

‘Each licence application shall indicate a quantity in kilograms (whole numbers).’

2.

Article 3(4) is replaced by the following:

‘4.   Release for free circulation as part of the quotas referred to in Article 1 of this Regulation shall be subject to the presentation of a transport document and proof of preferential origin, issued in Egypt and relating to the consignments in question, in accordance with Protocol 4 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement.’

3.

Article 4 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 4

1.   Import licence applications shall be lodged with the competent authorities of the Member States no later than each Friday at 13:00 (Brussels time).

2.   Where the quantities applied for in a given week exceed the quantity available under the quota, the Commission shall fix the allocation coefficient for the quantities applied for during that week, pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, no later than the fourth working day following the last day for the submission of applications for that week, as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, and suspend the submission of new licence applications until the end of the quota period.

Applications submitted in respect of the current week shall be considered inadmissible.

Member States shall allow operators to withdraw, within two working days following the date of publication of the Regulation fixing the allocation coefficient, applications for which the quantity for which the licence is to be issued is less than 20 tonnes.

3.   The import licence shall be issued on the eighth working day following the final day for the lodging of licence applications.

Notwithstanding Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2003, import licences shall be valid until the end of the month following that in which they were issued.’

4.

Article 5 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 5

The Member States shall send the Commission, by electronic means:

(a)

paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(b)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   No later than 18:00 (Brussels time) on the Monday following the week in which the licence application was lodged, the competent authorities shall send the Commission, by electronic means, a notification showing each application, with the origin of the product and the quantity applied for, including “nil” notifications.’;

(c)

paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4.   Licences shall be issued on the fourth working day following the deadline for the notification referred to in paragraph 3.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission, by electronic means, on the day of issue of the import licences, the information on the licences issued as referred to in Article 11(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, with the total quantities for which import licences have been issued.’

(a)

Article 4(3) is replaced by the following:

‘3.   Import licence applications shall be lodged with the competent authorities of the Member States no later than each Friday at 13:00 (Brussels time).

Each licence application shall indicate a quantity in kilograms (whole numbers).’;

(b)

Article 5 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 5

1.   Where the quantities applied for in a given week exceed the quantity available under the quota, the Commission shall fix the allocation coefficient for the quantities applied for during that week, pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, no later than the fourth working day following the last day for the submission of applications for that week, as referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 4(3) of this Regulation, and shall suspend the submission of new licence applications until the end of the quota period.

Applications submitted in respect of the current week shall be considered inadmissible.

Member States shall allow operators to withdraw, within two working days following the date of publication of the Regulation fixing the allocation coefficient, applications for which the quantity for which the licence is to be issued is less than 20 tonnes, whereas the licence application was for a greater quantity.

2.   The import licence shall be issued on the eighth working day following the final day for the submission of applications.

3.   The import licence, issued for a quantity not exceeding that entered on the certificate of origin referred to in Article 2, shall oblige the importer to import from Bangladesh.’

(c)

Article 7 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 7

The Member States shall send the Commission, by electronic means: