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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 — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 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 validat the time of importation increased by 55 % and then reduced by the cifimport 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 usedshould therefore be determined using objective grading criteria and tolerancerates 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 alsothe 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 todetermine these parameters for each lot imported; whereas however where theCommunity 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 sufficientlyrepresentative 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 usemust 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 willprovide a basis both transparent and objective for establishing representativecif 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 pricefrom 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 cifimport prices; whereas given the volume of freight passing through andamount 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 theCommunity should therefore be Rotterdam;
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 costsbetween 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 theUnited Kingdom, Ireland and the Scandinavian countries; whereas the factors!B
(1) OJ No L 181, 1. 7. 1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 126, 24. 5. 1996, p. 37.1996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 2
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, inthe case of sorghum and rye, the representative cif import price calculated forbarely 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 reflectmarket 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 pricerecorded over two weeks; whereas the import duty thus calculated can beapplied 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 aresult of sudden changes in their components they fluctuate very substantiallyduring 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 andin the case of large fluctuations in either the exchange quotation, thecommercial 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 keptrepresentative 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 ofimport duties; whereas this difference should be taken into account, by a flatrate 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 toMediterranean 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 particularquality of the goods or because their price includes a quality premium overthe 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 tomake high quality products justifying the existence of such a premium shouldbe reimbursed, at a flat rate, part of the import duty paid;
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)!B
(1) OJ No L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1.1996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 3
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 90shall 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 isnot a Commission working day the duties shall be fixed on the working daypreceding 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 correspondingadjustment 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 specifiedin Article 4 during the previous two weeks. The intervention price to be usedfor 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
theOfficial 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 followingports 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 begranted 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,— 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 freecirculation. 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 information required
under (a) above and the name and location of the processing plant shall begiven 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!B
!M1
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!M11996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 4
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 commonwheat or flint maize or ECU 8 per tonne for barley the security shall beequal 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 copyT5, must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the competent authorities ofthe 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 therequest of the importer or his agent, of the difference between the import dutypaid 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 Article880 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, issue a certificate, taking the formshown in Annex III, specifying the quantity on which part repayment of the
duty as referred to in paragraph 1 may be made.
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 thisRegulation. 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 representative cif
import prices indicated in Article 10 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92shall 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,!M1
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!B1996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 5
— 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 aremade;
— 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 takeaccount of these subsidies in establishing the representative cif price forimportation 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 barleyrespectively.
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 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 dutyand that applicable to the quality shown, plus a supplement of ECU 5 pertonne.
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 bythe customs office of entry for free circulation, the provisions of the Annex toCommission 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 (Schwarzbesatz) 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 ofthe 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 to65 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. When the analytical parameters entered
on the quality certificate issued by Senasa show conformity with the flint!B
(1) OJ No L 117, 24. 5. 1995, p. 2.!M11996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 6
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. Ablank specimen of the quality certificates to be issued by Senasa is given inAnnex 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 durumwheat 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 (
1) 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 aregenerally 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,— 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 inArticle 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
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!B1996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 7
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 percentage 14,0 11,5 — — — — —
2. Minimum specific weight
kg/hl77,0 74,0 — 76,0 76,0 — —
3. Maximum impurity percen-
tage (Schwarzbesatz)1,5 1,5 — 1,5 — — —
4. Minimum vitreous grain per-
centage—— — "M262,03 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 − 0,5Impurity percentage + 0,5 —Vitreous grain percentage − 2,0 − 3,0Flotation index — + 1,0!
M11996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 8
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 — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 9
ANNEX III
!M11996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 10
!M1
ANNEX IV
1996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 11
!M1
ANNEX V
STANDARD METHOD FOR DETERMINING FLOTATION INDEX
(ARTICLE 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 grains/C2100
Repeat five times.
The flotation index is the arithmetic mean for the five trials excluding the two extreme
values.1996R1249 — EN — 26.10.1997 — 002.001 — 12