COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 687/2008
of 18 July 2008
establishing procedures for the taking-over of cereals by intervention agencies or paying agencies and laying down methods of analysis for determining the quality of cereals
(Codified version)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation) (1), and in particular Article 43 in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Commission Regulation (EC) No 824/2000 of 19 April 2000 on establishing procedures for the taking-over of cereals by intervention agencies and laying down methods of analysis for determining the quality of cereals (2) has been substantially amended several times (3). In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Regulation should be codified.
(2)
The intervention price for common wheat, durum wheat, barley, maize and sorghum is fixed for qualities corresponding as far as possible to the average quality of the cereals harvested in the Community.
(3)
In order to simplify the management of intervention operations and, in particular, to permit the establishment of homogeneous lots for each type of cereal offered to intervention, a minimum quantity, below which the paying agency or intervention agency is not obliged to accept the offer, should be fixed. However, it may be necessary to provide for a greater minimum tonnage in certain Member States, so that the agencies may take account of pre-existing conditions and practices of the wholesale trade in those countries.
(4)
Methods of determining the quality of common wheat, durum wheat, barley, maize and sorghum must be defined.
(5)
The second subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 limits the quantities of maize which may be bought in by the paying agencies or intervention agencies throughout the Community to a total of 700 000 tonnes in the 2008/2009 marketing year and 0 tonnes from the 2009/2010 marketing year onwards.
(6)
To ensure the satisfactory management of the system for intervention buying-in of maize, and to give economic operators in all Member States access to the intervention system under equivalent conditions, detailed procedures should be laid down specific to the award of the quantities of maize eligible for intervention. To this end, a mechanism should be introduced for the award of those quantities, covering the periods of the marketing year in which operators may submit offers, giving them sufficient time to submit their offers and allowing a uniform award coefficient to be fixed for all offerers where the quantities offered exceed those available. Provision should therefore be made for the offers to be examined in two periods, and timetables should be laid down for the submission of offers for maize and for deliveries and the associated takeovers.
(7)
Taking into account the periods for intervention buying-in laid down in the first subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, and to ensure equivalent treatment of operators, provision should be made for a first period for the submission of offers for maize running from 1 August in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, from 1 December in Sweden and from 1 November in the other Member States, with 31 December as the last day for the submission of offers in all Member States. At the end of this first period the Commission will be obliged, where appropriate, to fix an award coefficient for the admissible offers submitted during this first period and to close the intervention for the remainder of the marketing year where the quantities offered exceed the quantity laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007. To avoid placing administrative and financial burdens on the paying agencies or intervention agencies and on operators, in particular by requiring securities to be lodged which could prove unnecessary in the absence of quantities to be awarded, provision should be made for a break in the submission of offers between 1 January and the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of the quantity remaining available for intervention in the second period.
(8)
Given the time needed to fix the award coefficient for the first period where necessary, the second period for the submission of offers should commence on the day following the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of the quantity remaining available for intervention, this being the first day for the submission of offers in all Member States. In this second period, the acceptance of offers should take place once a week, starting the first Friday following the publication of that quantity, on the basis of offers submitted by operators by 12.00 (Brussels time) on the Friday at the latest. Each week, by Wednesday at the latest, the Commission should post on its Internet site information for operators as to the remaining quantity available for intervention. Where the quantity laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 is exceeded, the Commission should fix and publish an award coefficient and close the intervention for the marketing year in question. In view of the intervention buying-in periods provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the second period for the submission of offers should in any case end at the latest by 30 April in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, 30 June in Sweden and 31 May in the other Member States.
(9)
To allow sound management of the award mechanism, it should be laid down that offers for maize may not be altered or withdrawn. Moreover, to ensure that offers are genuine, they should be subject to the lodging of a security, and the terms for checking that offers are genuine and for releasing the security should be laid down. To this end, this check should follow the same rules and conditions as those applicable to checks on stocks in public storage under Commission Regulation (EC) No 884/2006 of 21 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the financing by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) of intervention measures in the form of public storage operations and the accounting of public storage operations by the paying agencies of the Member States (4). In addition, between the start of the submission of offers in the first period and 31 December, several months may elapse. To avoid placing a financial burden on operators submitting offers in this first period, it should be allowed for the security that has to be lodged on submission of the offers, when it is lodged in the form of a bank guarantee, not to be payable until the day following the final day for the submission of offers.
(10)
Common wheat and durum wheat are covered by minimum quality criteria for human consumption and must satisfy the health standards laid down by Council Regulation (EEC) No 315/93 of 8 February 1993 laying down Community procedures for contaminants in food (5). The other cereals are mainly intended for animal feed and must comply with Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 May 2002 on undesirable substances in animal feed (6). Provision should be made for those standards to be applicable when the products concerned are taken over under the present intervention scheme.
(11)
Cereals of inadequate quality for use or storage should not be accepted into intervention. To this end, account should be taken of the situation regarding intervention, in particular the long-term storage of certain cereals and its effects on product quality.
(12)
Therefore, in order to protect intervention products from deterioration and to maintain their suitability for subsequent use, the quality criteria for maize should be upgraded. To this end, the maximum moisture content and the maximum percentage of broken grains and grains overheated during drying should be reduced. Given the agronomic similarities of sorghum and maize, and in the interests of consistency, the same measures should be laid down for sorghum.
(13)
To improve the quality of storage conditions and provide a guarantee of this from the time the offers are submitted, the places where the cereals are stored at the time of the offer should be such as to guarantee the best possible conservation, in particular over a long period as regards maize. It is therefore necessary to limit the possibility of taking over the cereals in the offerer’s store and to authorise this kind of takeover only where the cereals are kept by storers within the meaning of Article 2(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 884/2006. In such cases, the offerer should undertake to apply mutatis mutandis in his relations with the storer, as from submission of his offer, the same rules and conditions of storage and control as are applicable under Regulation (EC) No 884/2006.
(14)
The potential for mycotoxin formation has proved to be linked to specific conditions, identifiable essentially on the basis of the weather conditions recorded during the period of growth and, in particular, flowering of the cereals.
(15)
The risks entailed by exceeding the maximum thresholds for admissible contaminants can be identified by the paying agencies or intervention agencies on the basis of the information received from applicants and their own analysis criteria. In order to limit the financial costs, therefore, there is justification for requiring analyses, under the responsibility of the agencies prior to the taking-over of the products, only on the basis of a risk analysis enabling the quality of the products to be guaranteed on entry into the intervention scheme.
(16)
The conditions under which cereals are offered to and taken over by the paying agencies or intervention agencies must be as uniform as possible throughout the Community in order to avoid any discrimination between producers.
(17)
Intervention prices should be increased or reduced to reflect price differences observed on the market for different qualities.
(18)
In addition to requiring an annual stock statement pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 884/2006, the Member States must check the state of preservation of the intervention stocks held.
(19)
Article 2, Articles 6(2)(d) and 7(2)(b) of, and Annex XII(1) to Regulation (EC) No 884/2006, lay down the rules on responsibility. Those Articles and said Annex specify in particular that Member States are to take all measures necessary to ensure the proper preservation of products which have been the subject of Community intervention and that quantities which have deteriorated on account of the normal physical storage conditions or by reason of overlong preservation are to be recorded in the accounts as having left the intervention stock on the date when the loss or deterioration was established. They also specify that a product is to be deemed to have deteriorated if it no longer meets the quality requirements applicable when it was bought in. Consequently, only such deterioration as that laid down in those provisions may be covered by the Community budget. Where a decision taken by a Member State at the time of purchase of a product is inadequate in the light of the risk analysis required by these rules, that Member State should therefore be liable if it later emerges that the product did not comply with the minimum standards. Such a decision would not make it possible to guarantee the quality of the product and, therefore, ensure its proper preservation. Consequently, the circumstances in which a Member State is to be held liable should be specified.
(20)
Details should be given of the information that Member States must forward to the Commission so that a fortnightly statistical report on the state of intervention stocks of cereals can be compiled.
(21)
In the interests of sound management of the system, the information required by the Commission should be sent by electronic means.
(22)
Specific information should also be obtained and listed on a standard regional basis. The regional levels set out in Council Regulation (EEC) No 837/90 of 26 March 1990 concerning statistical information to be supplied by the Member States on cereals production (7) should be used, and Member States should be asked to forward this information to the Commission.
(23)
Equally, the information required by the Commission should be sent on the basis of models containing the information required to manage intervention, made available by the Commission to the Member States, and these models should apply once the Management Committee has been informed and then, where applicable, adapted and updated by the Commission under the same conditions.
(24)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
CHAPTER I
OFFERS AND TAKEOVERS OF CEREAL FOR INTERVENTION
Article 1
During the periods referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, any holder of a homogeneous batch of not less than 80 tonnes of common wheat, barley, maize or sorghum or 10 tonnes of durum wheat, harvested within the Community, shall be entitled to offer the batch to the paying agency or intervention agency (hereinafter both referred to as the ‘intervention agency’).
However, the intervention agencies may fix a greater minimum tonnage.
Article 2
1. To be valid, all offers for intervention shall be made using a form issued by the intervention agency, containing in particular the following details:
(a)
name of the applicant;
(b)
cereal offered;
(c)
place of storage of the cereal offered;
(d)
quantity, main characteristics and harvesting year of the cereal offered;
(e)
the intervention centre for which the offer is made and, where the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation is applied, the offerer’s undertaking to ensure, in his relations with the storer, that the rules and conditions of storage and control provided for under Article 2(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 884/2006 are applied mutatis mutandis to the place of storage referred to in point (c) of this paragraph.
The form shall also contain a declaration that the products are of Community origin or, in the case of cereals admitted to intervention under specific conditions according to their zone of production, details of the region in which they were produced.
However, the intervention agency may regard as valid offers submitted in another written form, in particular telecommunications, provided that all the details to be shown on the form referred to in the first subparagraph are included.
Without prejudice to the validity from the date of presentation of an offer submitted in accordance with the third subparagraph, Member States may require that it be followed by the forwarding or direct submission to the competent agency of the form provided for in the first subparagraph.
2. Should an offer be inadmissible, the operator concerned shall be informed by the intervention agency accordingly within five working days following receipt.
3. Should an offer be admissible, operators shall be informed as soon as possible of the store at which the cereals are to be taken over and of the delivery schedule.
At the request of the offerer or the storekeeper, the said schedule may be amended by the intervention agency.
4. In the case of cereals offered into intervention other than maize, the final delivery shall be made not later than the end of the fourth month following the month during which the offer was received, without, however, being later than 1 July in Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal and 31 July in the other Member States.
For maize, the delivery shall be made between 1 February and 30 April in the case of offers made in period 1 as laid down in Article 3, and not later than the end of the third month following the month in which the offer was received in the case of offers made in period 2 as laid down in Article 3, without, however, being later than 1 July in Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal and 31 July in the other Member States.
Article 3
1. Without prejudice to Article 2 of this Regulation, the quantities of maize eligible for intervention in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, shall be awarded, for the marketing year 2008/2009, in two periods, ‘period 1’ and ‘period 2’, in accordance with the terms and procedures laid down in paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article.
Period 1 shall start on 1 August in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, 1 December in Sweden and 1 November in the other Member States and shall run until 31 December, the final day for the submission of offers for all Member States for this period.
Period 2 shall start on the day following the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of the quantity which remains available for intervention in that period, as referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 2. That day shall be the first day for the submission of offers in all the Member States and that period shall end not later than 30 April in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal, 30 June in Sweden and 31 May in the other Member States.
2. At the end of period 1, the Commission shall enter in the accounts the admissible offers for maize submitted by operators to the intervention agencies of the Member States by 12.00 (Brussels time) on 31 December, on the basis of the notifications made each week by the Member States in accordance with Article 13(1)(a)(i).
If the total quantity offered exceeds the maximum quantities laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the Commission shall fix and publish, not later than 25 January, an award coefficient to six decimal places to be applied to the quantities. If there is no overrun, this award coefficient shall be 1 and the Commission shall publish the quantity which remains available for intervention in period 2.
Not later than 31 January, the intervention agency of the Member State shall notify the offerer that the offer has been accepted for a quantity equal to the quantity offered multiplied by the award coefficient.
3. From the first Wednesday in February, the Commission shall enter in the accounts each week the admissible offers for maize submitted by operators to the intervention agencies of the Member States by the Friday of the previous week at 12.00 (Brussels time), on the basis of the notifications made by the Member States in accordance with Article 13(1)(a)(i).
Where there is an overrun of the quantity which remains available for intervention, the Commission shall fix and publish not later than the fourth working day following the deadline for the submission of offers, an award coefficient to six decimal places to be applied to the quantities. If there is no overrun, this award coefficient shall be 1, the quantities offered shall be deemed to have been accepted and each week, by Wednesday at the latest, the Commission shall post on its Internet site http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/markets/crops/index_en.htm information for operators as to the remaining quantity available for intervention in the week in question.
Not later than the ninth working day following the deadline for the submission of offers, the intervention agency of the Member State shall notify the offerer that the offer has been accepted for a quantity equal to the quantity offered multiplied by the award coefficient.
4. The offers referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be entered in the accounts by the competent intervention agency on the date of their receipt.
Once submitted, offers may not be altered or withdrawn.
5. To be admissible, the offers shall be accompanied by proof that the offerer has lodged a security of EUR 15 per tonne. This security shall be lodged on submission of the offer, but may be payable, if lodged during period 1 in the form of a bank guarantee, only from the day following the deadline for the submission of offers referred to in paragraph 2.
6. The security shall cover the quantities offered by the offerer in accordance with paragraphs 2 or 3.
Except in cases of force majeure or in exceptional circumstances, the security shall be fully forfeit to the Community budget where:
(a)
the quantities present in the place of storage, between the submission of the offer and the takeover of the maize, are below the quantities declared by the offerer in accordance with Article 2(1), without prejudice to a 5 % margin of tolerance;
(b)
the quantities awarded are not in fact supplied by the offerer for takeover by the intervention agency in accordance with Articles 4 and 6.
For the purposes of applying point (a) of the second subparagraph of this paragraph, the intervention agencies shall carry out checks on the quantities present in the places of storage by applying mutatis mutandis the rules and conditions laid down in Regulation (EC) No 884/2006 as regards checks on the physical presence of products stored under public storage operations, and more specifically those provided for under point B.III of Annex I to that Regulation. These controls shall be carried out on at least 5 % of the offers and 5 % of the quantities offered, on the basis of a risk analysis. These minimal control rates shall apply only during period 1.
The security shall be released in its entirety:
(a)
for quantities offered but not awarded; and
(b)
for quantities offered and awarded, from the moment that 95 % of the quantity awarded has actually been taken over by the intervention agency.
Article 4
1. In order to be accepted for intervention, the cereals must be sound, fair and of marketable quality.
2. The cereals shall be considered sound, fair and of marketable quality if they are of the typical colour of the cereal in question, are free from abnormal smell and live pests (including mites) at every stage of their development, if they meet the minimum quality requirements set out in Annex I hereto, and if their levels of contaminants, including radioactivity, do not exceed the maximum levels permitted under Community regulations. The maximum contaminant level which must not be exceeded shall be as follows:
(a)
for common wheat and durum wheat, those permitted under Regulation (EEC) No 315/93, including the requirements regarding the Fusarium-toxin level for common wheat and durum wheat laid down in points 2.4 to 2.7 of Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 (8);
(b)
for barley, maize and sorghum, those set by Directive 2002/32/EC.
Member States shall check levels of contaminants, including radioactivity, on the basis of a risk analysis, taking account in particular of the information supplied by the applicant and the commitments of the latter regarding compliance with the standards set, especially in the light of the results of the analyses. If necessary, the rate and scope of the controls shall be determined in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 195(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, particularly where the market situation may be seriously disrupted by contaminants.
In addition, in cases where analyses indicate that the Zeleny index of a batch of common wheat is between 22 and 30, for this wheat to be deemed sound, fair and of marketable quality within the meaning of paragraph 1 of this Article, the dough obtained from it must be judged to be non-sticky and machinable.
3. For the purposes of this Regulation, matter other than basic cereals of unimpaired quality shall be as defined in Annex II.
Grains of basic cereals and other cereals which are damaged, affected by ergot or decayed shall be classified as ‘miscellaneous impurities’ even if they have defects which belong to other categories.
Article 5
To determine the quality of cereals offered for intervention under of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the following methods shall be used:
(a)
the standard method for determining matter other than basic cereals of unimpaired quality shall be that set out in Annex III;
(b)
the standard method for determining moisture content shall be that set out in Annex IV. However, Member States may also use other methods based on the principle set out in Annex IV, method ISO 712:1998, or a method based on infrared technology. In case of dispute, only the results of using the method set out in Annex IV shall be accepted;
(c)
the standard method for determining the tannin content of sorghum shall be method ISO 9648:1988;
(d)
the standard method for determining the non-stickiness and machinability of the dough obtained from common wheat shall be that set out in Annex V;
(e)
the standard method for determining the protein content of ground common wheat shall be that recognised by the International Association for Cereal Chemistry (ICC), the standards of which are laid down under heading No 105/2: ‘method for the determination of the protein content of cereals and cereal products’;
However, Member States may use any other method. In such a case, they must furnish the Commission with evidence of recognition by the ICC that the method in question gives equivalent results;
(f)
the method for determining the Zeleny index of ground common wheat shall comply with method ISO 5529:1992;
(g)
the method for determining the Hagberg falling number (amylase activity test) shall comply with method ISO 3093:2004;
(h)
the standard method for determining the rate of loss of vitreous aspect of durum wheat shall be that set out in Annex VI;
(i)
the standard method for determining the specific weight shall comply with method ISO 7971/2:1995;
(j)
the sampling methods and reference analysis methods for determining mycotoxin rates shall be those mentioned in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 and set out in Annexes I and II to Commission Regulation (EC) No 401/2006 (9).
Article 6
1. The cereals offered shall be taken over by the intervention agency when the quantity and the minimum required standards, as set out in Annex I, have been established by the intervention agency or its representative for the entire lot in respect of the goods delivered to the intervention store.
This takeover may take place in the store in which the cereals are being held at the time of the offer, provided that the storage is on the premises of a ‘storer’ within the meaning of Article 2(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 884/2006 and that the same rules and conditions as applicable to those premises, after takeover of the cereals for intervention, apply as from submission of the offer.
For maize, the quantity taken over may not exceed the quantity awarded in accordance with Article 3(2) and (3) of this Regulation.
2. The quality characteristics shall be established on the basis of a representative sample of the lot offered, consisting of samples taken at the rate of once every delivery for at least every 60 tonnes.
3. The quantity delivered must be weighed in the presence of the offerer and a representative of the intervention agency who is independent vis-à-vis the offerer.
The representative of the intervention agency may also be the storekeeper. In that case:
(a)
within 45 days of takeover, the intervention agency shall itself conduct an inspection involving at least a volumetric check; any difference between the quantity determined by weighing and the quantity estimated in accordance with the volumetric method may not exceed 5 %;
(b)
where the tolerance is not exceeded, the storekeeper shall bear all costs relating to any difference observed, at a later weight check, from the weight entered in the accounts on when the cereals were taken over;
(c)
where the tolerance is exceeded, the cereals shall be weighed forthwith. The costs of weighing shall be borne by the storekeeper, where the weight determined is less than that recorded, or by the Member State, where it is more.
4. In the case of takeover in the store in which the cereals are being held at the time of the offer, the quantity may be established on the basis of the stock records, which must satisfy professional requirements and those of the intervention agency, and provided that:
(a)
the stock records show the weight recorded on weighing, the physical quality characteristics at the time of weighing, and, in particular, the moisture content, transsilages if any, and treatments carried out; the weighing may not have been carried out more than 10 months previously;
(b)
the storekeeper declares that the lot offered corresponds in all respects to the details contained in the stock records;
(c)
the quality characteristics established at the time of weighing are the same as those of the representative sample made up from the samples taken by the intervention agency or its representative at a rate of one for every 60 tonnes.
5. Where paragraph 4 is applied:
(a)
the weight to be recorded shall be that entered in the stock records, adjusted, where appropriate, to take account of any difference between the moisture content and/or the percentage of miscellaneous impurities (Schwarzbesatz) recorded at the moment of weighing and those determined on the basis of the representative sample. A difference between the percentages of miscellaneous impurities may only be taken into account to reduce the weight entered in the stock records;
(b)
within 45 days of takeover the intervention agency shall make a further volumetric check; the difference between the quantity determined by weighing and the quantity estimated in accordance with the volumetric method may not exceed 5 %;
(c)
where the tolerance is not exceeded, the storekeeper shall bear all costs relating to any difference observed, at a later weight check, from the weight entered in the accounts on takeover;
(d)
where the tolerance is exceeded, the cereals shall be weighed forthwith. The costs of weighing shall be borne by the storekeeper, where the weight determined is less than that recorded, or by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, where it is more, account being taken of the tolerance provided for in the first indent of Annex XI(1) of Regulation (EC) No 884/2006.
6. The last takeover shall take place, in the case of cereals other than maize, at the latest at the end of the second month following the month of the final delivery referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 2(4) and, in the case of maize, not later than the end of the second month following each of the final deliveries referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 2(4), and in any event not later than 31 July in Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal and 31 August in the other Member States.
Article 7
1. The intervention agency shall see that the physical and technical characteristics of the samples taken are analysed under its responsibility within 20 working days of the representative sample being made up.
2. The offerer shall bear the costs relating to:
(a)
determination of the tannin content of sorghum;
(b)
the amylasic activity (Hagberg) test;
(c)
determination of the protein content of durum wheat and common wheat;
(d)
the Zeleny test;
(e)
the machinability test;
(f)
analyses of contaminants.
3. If the analyses referred to in paragraph 1 show that the cereals offered do not meet the minimum quality required for intervention, those cereals shall be withdrawn at the offerer’s expense. The offerer shall also bear all the costs incurred.
4. In cases of dispute, the intervention agency shall have the necessary tests on the cereals in question carried out again, the cost being met by the losing party.
Article 8
A takeover record shall be drawn up by the intervention agency for each lot. It shall indicate:
(a)
the date on which the quantity and minimum characteristics were checked;
(b)
the weight delivered;
(c)
the number of samples taken to make up the representative sample;
(d)
the physical characteristics established;
(e)
the agency responsible for analysing the technological criteria and the results thereof.
The record shall be dated and sent to the storekeeper for countersigning.
CHAPTER II
RULES FOR PAYMENTS AND CHECKS
Article 9
1. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, the price payable to the offerer shall be the reference price referred to in Article 8(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, valid on the date specified as the first day of delivery when notice was given of acceptance of the offer, for goods delivered at warehouse, before unloading. This price shall be adjusted in accordance with the increases and reductions referred to in Article 10 of this Regulation.
However, where delivery takes place in a month in which the reference price is lower than that of the month of the offer, the higher price shall be paid. This provision shall not apply to sorghum offered in August and September.
2. On receipt of an offer, in compliance with Article 10(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the intervention agency shall decide on the place and the first date for the cereals to be taken over.
Transport costs from the place where the goods are stored when the offer is made to the intervention centre to which they can be transported at least expense shall be borne by the offerer.
Should the intervention agency take over the goods at a place other than the intervention centre to which they may be transported at least expense, it shall determine and bear the additional transport costs. In this case, the transport costs referred to in the second subparagraph shall be determined by the intervention agency.
If the intervention agency, in agreement with the offerer, stores the goods at the place at which they are located at the time the offer is made, the costs referred to in the second sentence of the third subparagraph and the costs of removal from the warehouse, the latter being assessed on the basis of the rates actually recorded in the Member State concerned, shall be deducted from the intervention price.
3. Payment shall be made between the 30th and the 35th day following the date of takeover, as referred to in Article 6.
Article 10
The price increases or reductions by which the intervention price is increased or decreased shall be expressed in euro per tonne and applied jointly, as provided below:
(a)
where the moisture content of cereals offered for intervention is less than 13 % for maize and sorghum and 14 % for other cereals, the price increases to be applied shall be those listed in Table I of Annex VII. Where the moisture content of these cereals offered for intervention is higher than 13 % and 14 % respectively, the price reductions to be applied shall be those listed in Table II of Annex VII;
(b)
where the specific weight of cereals offered for intervention differs from the weight/volume ratio of 76 kg/hl for common wheat, and 64 kg/hl for barley, the reductions to be applied shall be those listed in Table III of Annex VII;
(c)
where the percentage of broken grains exceeds 3 % for durum wheat, common wheat and barley, and 4 % for maize and sorghum, a reduction of EUR 0,05 shall be applied for each additional 0,1 percentage point;
(d)
where the percentage of grain impurities exceeds 2 % for durum wheat, 4 % for maize and sorghum, and 5 % for common wheat and barley, a reduction of EUR 0,05 shall be applied for each additional 0,1 percentage point;
(e)
where the percentage of sprouted grains exceeds 2,5 %, a reduction of EUR 0,05 shall be applied for each additional 0,1 percentage point;
(f)
where the percentage of miscellaneous impurities (Schwarzbesatz) exceeds 0,5 % for durum wheat and 1 % for common wheat, barley, maize and sorghum, a reduction of EUR 0,1 shall be applied for each additional 0,1 percentage point;
(g)
where the percentage of piebald grains in durum wheat exceeds 20 %, a reduction of EUR 0,2 shall be applied for each additional percentage point or fraction thereof;
(h)
where the protein content of common wheat is less than 11,5 %, the reductions to be applied shall be those listed in Table IV of Annex VII;
(i)
where the tannin content of sorghum offered for intervention is higher than 0,4 % of the dry matter, the reduction to be applied shall be calculated in accordance with the method laid down in Annex VIII.
Article 11
1. Any operator who stores bought-in products on behalf of the intervention agency shall monitor their presence and state of preservation regularly and inform the aforesaid agency without delay of any problem arising in that respect.
2. The intervention agency shall check the quality of the stored product at least once a year. Samples for that purpose may be taken when the inventory is established as provided for in point A.I of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 884/2006.
3. Where the checks provided for under this Regulation are to be carried out on the basis of the risk analysis referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 4(2), the Member States shall be liable for the financial consequences of any failure to comply with the maximum admissible contaminant level. Such liability shall be established, without prejudice to any action which the Member State may itself take against the offerer or storekeeper, in the event of a failure to respect their commitments or obligations.
However, in the case of ochratoxin A and aflatoxin, if the Member State concerned is able to prove to the Commission’s satisfaction that the standards were met on entry, that normal storage conditions were observed and that the storekeeper’s other commitments were respected, the financial liability shall be borne by the Community budget.
Article 12
The intervention agencies shall, where necessary, adopt additional procedures and conditions for taking over, compatible with this Regulation, to take account of any special conditions existing in the Member State in question. In particular, they may request periodic stock returns.
CHAPTER III
INFORMATION TO BE FORWARDED TO THE COMMISSION
Article 13
1. For every cereal listed in Article 10(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, each Member State shall forward by electronic means the information required to manage intervention, and in particular:
(a)
every Wednesday by 12.00 (Brussels time):
(i)
the quantities of cereals offered into intervention submitted by operators not later than 12.00 (Brussels time) on the Friday of the previous week, in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of this Regulation;
(ii)
the quantities of cereals, other than maize, offered into intervention, for which the offer has been withdrawn by the offerer since the start of the intervention period;
(iii)
the total quantities of cereals offered for intervention after the start of the intervention period, net of the quantities referred to in point (ii);
(iv)
the total quantities of cereals taken over since the start of the intervention period, in accordance with Article 6 of this Regulation;
(b)
on the Wednesday following the publication of the invitation to tender, the quantities of cereals put up for tender in accordance with Article 2(2) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2131/93 (10);
(c)
on the Wednesday following the date on which the Member State defines the lots concerned, the quantities of cereals intended for distribution free of charge to the most deprived persons in the Community in accordance with Article 27 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007;
(d)
by the end of the month following the takeover deadline referred to in Article 6(6) of this Regulation, by region set out in Annex III to Regulation (EEC) No 837/90, the average results of specific weight, moisture content, percentage of broken grains and protein content recorded for the lots of cereals taken over.
2. The notifications referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made even if no quantity has been offered. In the absence of any notification of the information referred to in paragraph 1(a)(i), the Commission shall consider that no offer has been submitted in the Member State concerned.
3. The form and content of the notifications referred to in paragraph 1 shall be defined on the basis of models made available by the Commission to the Member States. These models shall not apply until the Committee referred to in Article 195(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 has been informed. They shall be adapted and updated by the Commission under the same conditions.
CHAPTER IV
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 14
Regulation (EC) No 824/2000 is repealed.
References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation Table in Annex X.
Article 15
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 1 July 2008.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 18 July 2008.