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"B COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1249/96
of 28 June 1996
on rules of application (cereal sector import duties) for Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92
(OJ L 161, 29.6.1996, p. 125)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
"M1 Commission Regulation (EC) No 641/97 of 14 April 1997 L 98 2 15.4.1997
"M2 Commission Regulation (EC) No 2092/97 of 24 October 1997 L 292 10 25.10.1997
Corrected by:
"C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 30, 5.2.1998, p. 46 (641/97)1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 1
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1249/96
of 28 June 1996
on rules of application (cereal sector import duties) for 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 organization of the market in cereals (1), as last amended
by Regulation (EC) No 923/96 (2), and in particular Article 10 (4)
thereof,
Whereas Article 10 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 provides for the
common customs tariff duties to be charged when the products listed in
Article 1 thereof are imported; whereas however for the products listed
in paragraph 2 of that Article the import duty is to be the intervention
price valid at the time of importation increased by 55 % and then reduced
by the cif import price applicable to the consignment;
Whereas for the purposes of grading imported lots the products covered
by Article 10 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 are in certain cases to
be classed in several standard qualities; whereas the standard qualities to
be used should therefore be determined using objective grading criteria
and tolerance rates should also be set allowing products to be given the
most appropriate quality grading; whereas of the possible objective
quality grading criteria for common wheat, protein content, specific
weight and miscellaneous impurity (Schwarzbesatz) content are those
most commonly used in the trade and also the easiest to use; whereas for
durum wheat these criteria are specific weight, miscellaneous impurity
(Schwarzbesatz) content and vitreous grain content; whereas imported
goods are accordingly to be subjected to analysis to determine these
parameters for each lot imported; whereas however where the
Community has established an official recognition procedure for quality
certificates issued by an authority of the country of origin of the goods
these analyses need be effected merely by way of verification on a
sufficiently representative number of imported lots;
Whereas Article 10 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 specifies that
for the purposes of calculation of the import duty representative cif
import prices are to be regularly established for each of the qualities
defined for the products to which that paragraph refers; whereas for
establishment of these prices the use must be stipulated of quotations for
the several wheat qualities and for the other cereals; whereas the actual
quotation sources to be used should be specified;
Whereas the use of quotations for the various wheat types and for other
cereals on the commodity exchanges of the United States of America
will provide a basis both transparent and objective for establishing
representative cif import prices; whereas addition of the commercial
premium assigned on the United States market to each quality of the
various cereals will allow the exchange quotation for each cereal to be
converted into a fob export price from the United States; whereas by
addition of sea freight costs between the Gulf of Mexico or the Great
Lakes and a Community port that are quoted on the freight markets these
fob prices can be converted into representative cif import prices; whereas
given the volume of freight passing through and amount of trade at the
port of Rotterdam this is the Community destination for which sea
freight quotations are most widely known, most transparent and most
easily available; whereas the port of destination to be selected for the
Community should therefore be Rotterdam;!B
(1) OJ No L 181, 1. 7. 1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 126, 24. 5. 1996, p. 37.1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 2
Whereas, accordingly, for the sake of transparency the representative cif
import prices of the cereals indicated at (a) in Article 10 (3) are to be
established from commodity exchange quotations for the cereal in
question plus the commercial premium assigned to the cereal and sea
freight costs between the Gulf of Mexico or the Great Lakes and the port
of Rotterdam; whereas however freight cost differences by port of
destination justify flat rate adjustment of the import duty for Community
ports located in the Mediterranean, on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian
Peninsula and in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Scandinavian
countries; whereas the factors of calculation of the representative cif
import prices so established should be monitored daily so that the trend
of these prices can be followed; whereas, in the case of sorghum and rye,
the representative cif import price calculated for barely allows the market
situation for those two products to be estimated and consequently the
representative cif import price determined for barley applies for these
cereals;
Whereas for the purpose of setting the import duty on the cereals
indicated in Article 10 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 a period of
two weeks recording of the representative cif import prices for each
cereal will reflect market trends without introducing uncertainty;
whereas import duties for these products can therefore be determined
on the fifteenth day and the last working day of each month using the
average representative cif import price recorded over two weeks;
whereas the import duty thus calculated can be applied for two weeks
without any appreciable distorting effect on the duty paid import price;
whereas however if no exchange quotation is available during the
calculation period for the representative cif import prices or if as a result
of sudden changes in their components they fluctuate very substantially
during the period, action must be taken to maintain a properly
representative price for the product in question; whereas in the case of
absence of quotations the duty amount set for the previous period should
continue to be applied and in the case of large fluctuations in either the
exchange quotation, the commercial premiums attached to the quotation,
the sea freight costs or the rate of exchange used to calculate the
representative cif import price of the product the price used for
calculation of the import duty should be kept representative by means of
an adjustment corresponding to the deviation from it that these changes
account for; whereas even where this type of adjustment is made the
timing of the next determination need not be affected;
Whereas when imported cereals arrive in the Community overland, by
river transport or by sea on vessels from ports in the Mediterranean,
Black or Baltic Seas transport costs will be markedly lower than those
used for calculation of import duties; whereas this difference should be
taken into account, by a flat rate adjustment, in determination of the
representative cif import prices for the products concerned;
Whereas in cases where, according to the Commission’ s information,
certain quotations or prices are not representative of the real trend of the
import market in the Community for medium or low quality common
wheat owing to the granting by third countries of subsidies on
exportation of these products to Mediterranean basin or European
countries, it must be possible for the amount of the export subsidy
granted to be deducted form the representative cif import price
calculated for the product;
Whereas in the case of imports of very high quality common wheat,
malting barley or flint maize the exchange quotation used for calculation
of the representative cif import price may not, either because of the
particular quality of the goods or because their price includes a quality
premium over the normal price, take account of the existence of such a
premium over normal market terms; whereas to take account of these
quality premiums over prices or quotations importers who show that they
have used the goods to make high quality products justifying the
existence of such a premium should be reimbursed, at a flat rate, part of
the import duty paid;!B1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 3
Whereas in order to ensure that importers respect the provisions of this
Regulation security should be required from them additional to that
pertaining to licences;
Whereas the Management Committee for Cereals has not issued an
opinion within the time limit set by its chairman,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
The Common Customs Tariff duty rates as indicated in Article 10 (1) and
(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 shall be those applicable on the date
stipulated by Article 67 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2913/92 (1)
Article 2
1. The import duties indicated in Article 10 (2) of Regulation (EEC)
No 1766/92 on products of CN codes 1001 10 00 to 1001 90 99 (except
meslin), 1002 00, 1003 00 10, 1003 00 90, 1005 10 90, 1005 90 00 and
1007 00 90 shall be calculated daily but fixed on the fifteenth day and
the last working day of each month by the Commission for application
from the sixteenth day of the month and the first day of the following
month. Where the fifteenth is not a Commission working day the duties
shall be fixed on the working day preceding the fifteenth of the month in
question. However if during the period of application of the duties thus
fixed the average import duty calculated differs by ECU 5 per tonne or
more from that fixed the corresponding adjustment shall be made.
2. The price to be used for calculation of the import duty shall be the
average of the daily representative cif import prices determined as
specified in Article 4 during the previous two weeks. The intervention
price to be used for calculation of the duties shall be that of the month in
which the import duty applies.
3. Import duties fixed as provided for in this Regulation shall be
applicable until a new fixing comes into force.
If however for a particular product no quotation is available for the
reference exchange as indicated at the first indent of Article 4 (1) during
the two weeks preceding a fixing the import duty previously fixed shall
remain in force.
On the occasion of each fixing or adjustment the Commission shall
publish in the Official Journal of the European Communities the import
duties and the data used for their calculation.
4. The Commission shall reduce the import duty by the following
amounts on goods arriving via the Atlantic Ocean or the Suez Canal at
the following ports of unloading:
— Mediterranean ports (beyond the Strait of Gibraltar): ECU 3 per
tonne,
— Atlantic ports of the Iberian Peninsula, United Kingdom and Irish
ports: ECU 2 per tonne,
— ports in Denmark, Finland and Sweden: ECU 2 per tonne.The customs authority at the port of unloading shall issue a certificate
attesting the quantity of each product unloaded. For the duty reduction to
be granted this must accompany the goods until completion of the
customs import formalities.
5. Import duties shall be reduced by:
— ECU 14 per tonne on standard high quality common wheat,— ECU 8 per tonne on malting barley,!B
(1) OJ No L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1.!M11996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 4
— ECU 14 per tonne on flint maize meeting the specifications of
Annex I.
For granting of the reduction the following requirements must be met:
(a) The applicant must enter in box 20 of the import licence the
processed product to be made from the cereals;
(b) The importer must give a written undertaking along with the import
licence application that all the cereals will be processed in line with
box 20 of the licence within six months of the date of entry for free
circulation. He shall specify the processing location by stating either:
— a processing firm and Member State, or
— a maximum of five processing plants.
Before the goods are consigned for processing a control copy T5
shall be made out in the office of customs clearance in accordance
with Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (1). The in-
formation required under (a) above and the name and location of
the processing plant shall be given in box 104 of the T5.
(c) The importer must lodge with the competent authority a security of
ECU 14 per tonne for common wheat and flint maize and ECU 8 per
tonne for barley. If however the duty in force on the day of
completion of the customs import formalities is less than ECU 14
per tonne for common wheat or flint maize or ECU 8 per tonne for
barley the security shall be equal to the duty amount.
The security shall be released on production of evidence of the
specific final use warranting a quality premium on the price of the
basic product mentioned at (a). This evidence, possibly by means of
the control copy T5, must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the
competent authorities of the Member State of importation that all the
cereals imported have been processed into the product indicated at
(a).
Processing shall be deemed to have occurred when, within the time
limit specified at (b):
— in the case of common wheat the product indicated at (a) has
been produced at either:
— one or more of the plants belonging to the firm in the
Member State, or
— the plant or one of the plants referred to in (b).
— the malting barley has undergone steeping,
— the flint maize has been processed to produce a product of CN
code 1904 10 10 or 1103 13.
Article 2a
1. In the case of imports of flint maize of CN code 1005 90 00 into the
Community for which import licence applications were made between 1
July 1996 and the date of entry into force of this Regulation and on
which a duty reduction of ECU 8 per tonne was granted, payment shall
be made, at the request of the importer or his agent, of the difference
between the import duty paid on the quantities actually imported and the
amount due had a reduction of ECU 14 per tonne been applied.
2. On request by the party concerned the competent authority of the
Member State that issued the import licence shall, in accordance with
Article 880 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, issue a certificate, taking
the form shown in Annex III, specifying the quantity on which part
repayment of the duty as referred to in paragraph 1 may be made.!M1
(1) OJ No L 253, 11. 10. 1993, p. 1.!C1
!M1
!C1
!M11996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 5
3. Applications for repayment supported by the certificate referred to in
paragraph 2 and the evidence of specific final use referred to in Article 2
(5) (c) must be presented within 30 days of the date of entry into force of
this Regulation. They must be accompanied by the import licence, the
certificate referred to in paragraph 2 and the declaration of entry for free
circulation of the cereals in question.
Article 3
The quality standards to be met on importation into the Community and
the tolerances allowed shall be those shown in Annex I.
Article 4
1. For Common wheat of high, medium and low quality, durum wheat,
maize and other feed grains the components determining the represen-
tative cif import prices indicated in Article 10 (2) of Regulation (EEC)
No 1766/92 shall be:
(a) the representative exchange quotation on the market of the United
States of America;
(b) the know commercial premium attached to this quotation on the
United States market on the quotation day;
(c) the sea freight cost between the United States (Gulf of Mexico or
Duluth) and the port of Rotterdam for a vessel of at least 25 000
tonnes.
The Commission shall record each working day:
— component (a) from the exchanges and using the reference qualities
shown in Annex II,
— components (b) and (c) from publicly available information.
2. The representative cif import prices for durum wheat, barley and
maize and in the case of common wheat for each standard quality shall
be the sum of components (a), (b) and (c) indicated in paragraph 1.
However the representative cif import prices for imports of durum wheat,
barley, maize and in the case of common wheat each standard quality
that are made;
— overland or by river,— by sea on vessels arriving in the Community from ports located in
the Mediterranean, Black Sea or Baltic Sea ports
shall be reduced by ECU 10 per tonne. In this case the import duty
reductions provided for in Article 2 (4) shall not be applicable.
In cases where third countries grant subsidies on exports of standard
medium or low quality common wheat to European or Mediterranean
basin countries so that world market prices can be undercut the
Commission may take account of these subsidies in establishing the
representative cif price for importation into the Community.
3. The representative cif import prices for rye and sorghum shall be
those calculated for barley. For common wheat seed of CN code
1001 90 91, maize seed of CN code 1005 10 90 and barley seed of CN
code 1003 00 10 they shall be those calculated for high quality common
wheat, maize and barley respectively.
Article 5
Import licence applications for common wheat and durum wheat shall be
valid only if the applicant:
— enters the quality to be imported in box 20 of the import licence,— gives a written commitment to lodge with the relevant competent
body on the date of acceptance of the declaration of release for free!M1
!B1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 6
circulation a specific security additional to those required under
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1162/95 (1), if the import duty on
the quality shown in box 20 is not the highest duty for the product
category in question. The amount of the security shall be the
difference on the day of acceptance of the declaration of release for
free circulation between the highest duty and that applicable to the
quality shown, plus a supplement of ECU 5 per tonne.
Article 6
1. Representative samples shall be taken of every consignment of
durum wheat, common wheat of standard high or medium quality and
flint maize by the customs office of entry for free circulation, the
provisions of the Annex to Commission Directive 76/371/EEC (2)
applying, for determination of:
— in the case of common wheat of standard high or medium quality,
protein content, specific weight and impurity content (Schwarzbes-
atz) as defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2731/75 (3),
— in the case of durum wheat, specific weight, impurity content
(Schwarzbesatz) and vitreous grain content,
— in the case of flint maize, flotation index, specific weight and
vitreous grain content.
If however the Commission officially recognizes a quality certificate for
common wheat, durum wheat or flint maize issued by the country of
origin of the cereals samples shall be taken for verification of the
certified quality only from a sufficiently representative number of
consignments.
Certificates issued by the Argentine Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y
Calidad Agroalimentaria (Senasa) shall be officially recognized by the
Commission under an administrative cooperation procedure as specified
in Articles 63 to 65 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. When the
analytical parameters entered on the quality certificate issued by Senasa
show conformity with the flint maize quality standards given in Annex I
samples shall be taken from at least 3 % of the cargoes arriving at each
entry port during the marketing year. A blank specimen of the quality
certificates to be issued by Senasa is given in Annex IV . Reproductions
of the stamp and signatures authorized by the Argentine Government
shall be published in the ‘C’ series of the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
The goods shall be classed in the standard quality for which all the
requirements indicated in Annex I are met. However if the quality of
durum wheat of code CN 1001 10 imported is lower than that specified
in Annex I the import duty shall be that applicable on common wheat of
low quality.
2. The standard methods for the determinations referred to in paragraph
1 shall be those given in Commission Regulations (EEC) Nos 1908/84 (4)
and 2731/75.
Flint maize is maize of the species Zea mays indurata the grains of which
present a dominantly vitreous endosperm (hard or horny texture). They
are generally orange or red. The upper part (opposite the germ), or
crown, shows no fissure.
Vitreous grains of flint maize are defined as grains meeting two criteria:— their crown shows no fissure,!B
(1) OJ No L 117, 24. 5. 1995, p. 2.
(2) OJ No L 102, 15. 4. 1976, p. 1.
(3) OJ No L 281, 1. 11. 1975, p. 22.
(4) OJ No L 178, 5. 7. 1984, p. 22.!M1
!B
!M11996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 7
— when cut lengthwise their endosperm shows a central mealy part
completely surrounded by a horny part. The horny part must account
for the dominant part of the total cut surface.
The vitreous grain percentage shall be established by counting in a
representative sample of 100 grains the number meeting these criteria.
The reference method for determining the flotation index is given in
Annex V .
3. If the analysis results show the imported wheat to be of a lower
standard quality than entered on the import licence the importer shall pay
the difference between the import duty applicable to the product shown
on the licence and that on the product actually imported. The security
indicated in Article 5 shall then be released except for the ECU 5 per
tonne supplement.
If the above difference is not paid within one month the security
indicated in Article 5 shall be forfeit.
4. Representative samples of imported cereals taken by the competent
authority of the Member State shall be retained for six months.
Article 7
The provisions of this Regulation shall apply to import licences issued
before 1 July 1996 that are used after that date.
Article 8
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 1996.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.!M1
!B1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 8
ANNEX I
CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS FOR IMPORTED PRODUCTS
(on the basis of a moisture content of 12 % by weight or equivalent)
ProductCommon wheat and spelt (1) excluding
meslinDurum wheat Flint maizeMaize other
than flintOther grains
CN code 1001 90 1001 10 1005 90 001005 10 90
and
1005 90 001002, 1003
and
1007 00 90
Quality High Medium Low
1. Minimum protein percen-
tage14,0 11,5 — — — — —
2. Minimum specific weight
kg/hl77,0 74,0 — 76,0 76,0 — —
3. Maximum impurity per-
centage (Schwarzbesatz)1,5 1,5 — 1,5 — — —
4. Minimum vitreous grain
percentage— — — 75,0 95,0 — —
5. Maximum flotation index — — — — 25,0 — —
(1)Including husked spelt.
PERMITTED TOLERANCES
Permitted tolerances Common/durum wheat Flint maize
Protein percentage − 0,7 —
Specific weight − 0,5 − 0,5
Impurity percentage + 0,5 —Vitreous grain percentage − 2,0 − 3,0Flotation index — + 1,0!
M11996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 9
ANNEX II
Quotation exchanges and reference varieties
Product Common wheat Durum wheat MaizeOther feed
grains
Standard quality High Medium Low
Reference variety (type/grade) for
exchange quotationHard Red
Spring No 2Hard Red
Winter No 2Soft Red
Winter No 2Hard Amber
Durum No 2Y ellow Corn
No 3US Barley
No 2
Quotation exchange Minneapolis
Grain
ExchangeKansas City
Board of
TradeChicago
Board of
TradeMinneapolis
Grain
Exchange (1)Chicago
Board of
TradeMinneapolis
Grain
Exchange (1)
(1)Where no quotation is available that can be used to calculate a representative cif import price, fob quotations publicly available in the
US will be used.!B1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 10
ANNEX III
!M11996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 11
!M1
ANNEX IV
1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 12
!M1
ANNEX V
STANDARD METHOD FOR DETERMINING FLOTATION INDEX (AR-
TICLE 6(2))
Prepare an aqueous solution of sodium nitrate of specific weight 1,25 and
conserve it at 35 °C.
Place in the solution 100 grains of maize from a representative sample of
maximum moisture content 14,5 %.
Shake the solution at 30 second intervals for five minutes to eliminate air bubbles.Separate the floating from the submerged grains and count them.
Flotation index for trial =
number of floating grains
number of submerged grains100
Repeat five times.
The flotation index is the arithmetic mean for the five trials excluding the two
extreme values.1996R1249 — EN — 01.07.1998 — 003.001 — 13