2002R2375 — EN — 31.03.2006 — 004.001

This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

Amended by:









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COMMISSION REGULATION (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







THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 of 30 June 1992 on the common organisation of the market in cereals ( 1 ), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1666/2000 ( 2 ), and in particular Article 12(1) thereof, Having regard to the Council Decision of 19 December 2002 concerning the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the United States of America, with a view to the modification of concessions with respect to cereals provided for in schedule CXL annexed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) ( 3 ), and in particular Article 2 thereof, Having regard to the Council Decision of 19 December 2002 concerning the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and Canada pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), with a view to the modification of concessions with respect to cereals provided for in EC schedule CXL annexed to the GATT (3) , and in particular Article 2 thereof, Whereas: (1) Following trade negotiations, the Community has changed the conditions for the import of common wheat of low and medium quality, that is common wheat of a quality other than high quality, as defined in Annex I to Commission Regulation (EC) No 1249/96 of 28 June 1996 ( 4 ) on rules of application (cereal sector import duties) for Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1900/2002 ( 5 ), by creating an import quota from 1 January 2003. (2) This import quota relates to a maximum annual quantity of 2 981 600 tonnes, including 572 000 tonnes for imports originating in the United States and 38 000 tonnes for imports originating in Canada. (3) The opening of this quota means that Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 has to be adapted. In order to enable the quota to be opened on 1 January 2003, provision should be made to derogate from Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 during a transitional period expiring on the date of entry into force of the amendment to that Regulation, but until 30 June 2003 at the latest. (4) To ensure that imports of the common wheat covered by these tariff quotas are orderly and not speculative, they should be made subject to the issue of import licences. The licences are to be issued, within the quantities set, at the request of the interested parties, subject where appropriate to the fixing of a reduction coefficient in respect of the quantities applied for. (5) To ensure the proper management of these quotas, deadlines for the lodging of licence applications should be laid down and the information to be included in applications and licences should be specified. (6) To take account of supply conditions, a derogation should be made concerning the period of validity of the licences. (7) With a view to the sound management of the quotas, provision should be made to derogate from Commission Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 of 9 June 2000 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance fixing certificates for agricultural products ( 6 ), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2299/2001 ( 7 ), as regards the transferable nature of the licences and the tolerance relating to the quantities released into free circulation. (8) To ensure sound management of the quotas, the security on the import licences should be set at a relatively high level, notwithstanding Article 10 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1162/95 of 23 May 1995 laying down special detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences for cereals and rice ( 8 ), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1322/2002 ( 9 ). (9) Rapid two-way communication should be established between the Commission and the Member States regarding the quantities applied for and imported. (10) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Cereals, Whereas: HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:







Article 1

Notwithstanding Article 10(1) and (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92, the import duty for common wheat falling in CN code 1001 90 99, of a quality other than high quality as defined in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1249/96, shall be fixed in the framework of the quota opened by this Regulation.

Article 10(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 shall apply to imports of the products referred to in this Regulation in excess of the quantities provided for in Article 3.

Article 2

1. A tariff quota of 2 981 600 tonnes of common wheat falling in CN code 1001 90 99 of a quality other than high quality is hereby opened from 1 January 2003.

2. The tariff quota shall be opened on 1 January each year. Duties on imports within the tariff quota shall be levied at a rate of EUR 12 per tonne.

Article 3

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1. The overall import tariff quota shall be divided into three subquotas:

(a) subquota I (order number 09.4123): 572 000 tonnes for the United States;

(b) subquota II (order number 09.4124): 38 000 tonnes for Canada;

(c) subquota III (order number 09.4125): 2 371 600 tonnes for other third countries.

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2. Where, in the course of a year, it emerges that there is a serious shortfall in the take-up of subquota I or II, the Commission may, with the agreement of the third country concerned, adopt arrangements to transfer the unused quantities to the other subquotas, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 23 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92.

3. Subquota III shall be divided into four quarterly tranches of 592 900 tonnes each for the following periods:

(a) Tranche No 1 — 1 January to 31 March;

(b) Tranche No 2 — 1 April to 30 June;

(c) Tranche No 3 — 1 July to 30 September;

(d) Tranche No 4 — 1 October to 31 December.

4. Unused quantities in any tranche except tranche No 4, referred to in subparagraph 3(d), shall be automatically allocated to the following tranche. Where a tranche is exhausted, the Commission may anticipate the opening of the following tranche in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1766/92.

Article 4

All imports under the quota referred to in Article 2(1) shall be conditional upon the production of an import licence issued in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, subject to the provisions of this Regulation.

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Article 4a

Traders may submit only one import licence application per order number and per weekly period concerned under Article 5(1). Where traders submit more than one application, all their applications shall be rejected and the securities lodged when the applications were submitted shall be taken over by the Member State concerned.

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Article 5

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1. Applications for import licences shall be submitted to the competent authorities of the Member States no later than 13.00, Brussels time, every Monday. Applicants shall submit their licence applications to the competent authorities of the Member State in which they are registered for VAT purposes. They shall lodge a security, in accordance with Article 15(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, for the amount specified in Article 10 of this Regulation.

Each licence application shall indicate a quantity which may not exceed the quantity available per subquota or tranche concerned.

Import licence applications and import licences themselves shall mention a single country of origin.

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2. No later than 18.00 Brussels time on the day of lodging of licence applications, the competent authorities shall forward to the Commission ►M4 electronically ◄ a notification in accordance with the model set out in the Annex and the total quantity resulting from the sum of all quantities indicated on the import licence applications. Notifications shall be made even where no applications have been lodged in a Member State. That information must be communicated separately from the information on other import licence applications for cereals.

If Member States fail to send the notification of applications to the Commission within the prescribed time limits, the Commission shall consider that no applications were lodged in the Member State concerned.

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3. If the combined total of the quantities granted since the start of the period and the quantities referred to in paragraph 2 exceeds the relevant subquota or tranche, the Commission shall fix, no later than the third working day after the applications are lodged, the allocation coefficients to be applied to the quantities requested.

4. After applying, where necessary, the application coefficients fixed in accordance with paragraph 3, the competent authorities of the Member States shall issue, on the fourth working day following the day on which the application is submitted, the import licences corresponding to the applications sent to the Commission in accordance with paragraph 2.

No later than 18.00, Brussels time, on the day the import licences are issued, the competent authorities shall notify the Commission electronically, on the basis of the model annexed hereto, of the total quantity resulting from the sum of the quantities for which import licences have been issued on that same day.

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Article 6

Import licences shall be valid for 45 days from the day of issue. In accordance with Article 23(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, the period of validity of the licence shall be calculated from the actual date of issue.

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Article 7

Notwithstanding Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, the rights resulting from the import licences shall not be transferable.

Article 8

Notwithstanding Article 8(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, the quantity released into free circulation may not exceed that indicated in sections 17 and 18 of the import licence. The figure ‘0’ shall be entered to that effect in section 19 of the licence.

Article 9

The import licence application and the import licence shall contain the following information:

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(a) in section 8, the country of origin of the product and the ‘yes’ box shall be marked with a cross;

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(b) in box 20, one of the following entries: — Reglamento (CE) no 2375/2002 — Nařízení (EC) č. 2375/2002 — Forordning (EF) nr. 2375/2002 — Verordnung (EG) Nr. 2375/2002 — Määrus (EÜ) nr 2375/2002 — Κανονισμός (EK) αριθ. 2375/2002 — Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 — Règlement (CE) no 2375/2002 — 2375/2002/EK rendelet — Regolamento (CE) n. 2375/2002 — Reglamentas (EB) Nr. 2375/2002 — Regula (EK) Nr. 2375/2002 — Regolament (KE) Nru 2375/2002 — Verordening (EG) nr. 2375/2002 — Rozporządzenie (WE) nr 2375/2002 — Regulamento (CE) n.o 2375/2002 — Nariadenie (ES) č. 2375/2002 — Uredba (ES) št. 2375/2002 — Asetus (EY) N:o 2375/2002 — Förordning (EG) nr 2375/2002

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(c) in section 24, the words ‘EUR 12/tonne’.

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Licences shall be valid only for the products originating in the country indicated in section 8.

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Article 10

Notwithstanding Article 10(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No 1162/95, the security for the import licences provided for in this Regulation shall be EUR 30 per tonne.

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Article 11

In the framework of the tariff quota, the release into free circulation in the Community of common wheat of a quality other than high quality originating in a third country shall be conditional upon production of a certificate of origin issued by the competent national authorities of that country, in accordance with Article 47 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 ( 10 ).

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Article 12

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply from 1 January 2003.

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This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

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ANNEX







Model of the notification referred to in Article 5(2) and (4) Import quota for common wheat opened by Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 Subquota Serial No Trader's No Quantity applied for (t) Country of origin Quantity supplied (t)(*)

Total quantities applied for (t):

Total quantities supplied (t) ( 11 ):