----

            COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 958/2006

of 28 June 2006         

on a standing invitation to tender to determine refunds on exports of white sugar for the 2006/07 marketing year

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 of 20 February 2006 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector (1), and in particular Articles 23(4) and 40(1)(g) thereof,

Whereas:

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.   A standing invitation to tender shall be opened in order to determine export refunds on white sugar covered by CN code 1701 99 10 for all destinations excluding Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro (5), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and for Romania. During the period of validity of this standing invitation, partial invitations to tender shall be issued.

2.   The standing invitation to tender shall be open until 27 September 2007.

Article 2

1.   The notice of invitation to tender shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. On this basis, the Member States shall draw up a notice of invitation to tender which they may publish or have published elsewhere.

2.   The notice shall indicate, in particular, the terms of the invitation to tender.

3.   The notice may be amended during the period of validity of the standing invitation to tender. It shall be so amended if the terms of the invitation to tender are modified during that period.

Article 3

1.   The period during which tenders may be submitted in response to the first partial invitation to tender shall:

2.   The periods during which tenders may be submitted in response to the second and subsequent partial invitations shall:

Article 4

1.   Tenders in connection with this tendering procedure:

2.   Tenders shall be valid only if the following conditions are met:

3.   A tender may stipulate that it is to be regarded as having been submitted only if one or both of the following conditions is/are met:

4.   A tender which is not submitted in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2, or which contains conditions other than those indicated in the present invitation to tender, shall not be considered.

5.   Once submitted, a tender may not be withdrawn.

Article 5

1.   A security of EUR 11 per 100 kilograms of white sugar to be exported under this invitation to tender must be lodged by each tenderer.

Without prejudice to Article 12(3), where a tender is successful this security shall become the security for the export licence at the time of the application referred to in Article 11(2).

2.   The security referred to in paragraph 1 may be lodged at the tenderer’s choice, either in cash or in the form of a guarantee given by an establishment complying with criteria laid down by the Member State in which the tender is submitted.

3.   The security referred to in paragraph 1 shall be released:

In the case referred to under (b) of the first subparagraph, the releasable part of the security shall be reduced, as applicable, by the difference between the maximum amount of the export refund fixed for the partial invitation concerned and the maximum amount of the export refund fixed for the following partial invitation, when the latter amount is higher than the former.

Except in cases of force majeure, the part of the security or the security which is not released shall be forfeit in respect of the quantity of sugar for which the corresponding obligations have not been fulfilled.

4.   In cases of force majeure, the competent authority of the Member State concerned shall take such action for the release of the security as it considers necessary having regard to the circumstances invoked by the party concerned.

Article 6

1.   Tenders shall be examined in private by the competent authority concerned. The persons present at the examination shall be under an obligation not to disclose any particulars relating thereto.

2.   Tenders submitted in accordance with this Regulation shall be communicated, if eligible, to the Commission by the Member States without the tenderers being mentioned by name and must be received by the Commission within one hour and thirty minutes of the expiry of the deadline for the weekly submission of tenders stipulated in the notice of invitation to tender.

Where no tenders are submitted, the Member States shall notify the Commission of this within the same time-limit.

Article 7

1.   After the tenders received have been examined, a maximum quantity may be fixed for the partial invitation concerned.

2.   A decision may be taken to make no award under a specific partial invitation to tender.

Article 8

1.   If the Commission decides to make an award under the partial tendering procedure, it shall fix, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 39(2) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006, the maximum amount of the export refund. This amount shall be fixed in the light of the current state and foreseeable development of the Community and world sugar markets.

2.   Without prejudice to Article 9, a contract shall be awarded to every tenderer whose tender quotes a rate of refund equal to or less than such maximum refund.

Article 9

1.   Where a maximum quantity has been fixed for a partial invitation to tender, contracts shall be awarded to the tenderer whose tender quotes the lowest refund. If the maximum quantity is not fully covered by that award, awards shall be made to other tenderers in ascending order of export refunds quoted until the entire maximum quantity has been accounted for.

2.   Where an award to a particular tenderer in accordance with paragraph 1 would result in the maximum quantity being exceeded, that award shall be limited to such quantity as is still available. Where two or more tenders quote the same refund, and awards to all of them would result in the maximum quantity being exceeded, the quantity available shall be allocated to the tenderers concerned in one of the following ways:

Article 10

1.   The competent authority of the Member State concerned shall immediately notify applicants of the result of their participation in the invitation to tender. It shall also send statements of award to the successful tenderers.

2.   Statements of award shall indicate at least:

Article 11

1.   Every successful tenderer shall have the right to receive, in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 2, an export licence covering the quantity awarded, indicating the export refund quoted in the tender.

2.   Every successful tenderer shall be obliged to lodge, in accordance with the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, an application for an export licence in respect of the quantity that has been awarded to it, the application not being revocable in derogation from Article 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 120/89.

The application shall be lodged not later than:

3.   Every successful tenderer shall be obliged to export the tendered quantity and, if this obligation is not fulfilled, to pay, where necessary, the amount referred to in Article 12(3).

4.   The rights and obligations referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not be transferable.

Article 12

1.   For the purposes of determining the period of validity of the licences, Article 23(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 shall apply.

2.   Export licences issued in connection with a partial invitation to tender shall be valid from the day of issue until the end of the fifth calendar month following that in which the partial invitation was issued.

However, export licences issued in respect of the partial invitations held from 1 May 2007 will be valid only until 30 September 2007.

3.   Except in cases of force majeure, the holder of the licence shall pay the competent authority a specific amount in respect of the quantity for which the obligation to export resulting from the export licence referred to in Article 11(2) has not been fulfilled, if the security referred to in Article 5(1) is less than the difference between the export refund referred to in Article 33(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 in force on the last day of validity of the licence, and the refund indicated on that licence.

The amount to be paid referred to in the first subparagraph shall be equal to the difference between the difference referred to in the first subparagraph and the security referred to in Article 5(1).

Article 13

Regulation (EC) No 1138/2005 is hereby repealed.

Article 14

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, 28 June 2006.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL            

Member of the Commission

----

(1)OJ L 58, 28.2.2006, p. 1.

(2)OJ L 152, 24.6.2000, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 410/2006 (OJ L 71, 10.3.2006, p. 7).

(3)OJ L 16, 20.1.1989, p. 19. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 910/2004 (OJ L 163, 30.4.2004, p. 63).

(4)OJ L 185, 16.7.2005, p. 3.

(5)  Including Kosovo, under the aegis of the United Nations, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999.

----