1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1249/96
of28June1996
onrulesofapplication(cereal sectorimportduties)forCouncilRegulation(EEC)No1766/92
(OJ L 161, 29.6.1996, p. 125)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Regulation (EC) No 641/97 of 14 April 1997 L 98 2 15.4.1997
►M2Commission Regulation (EC) No 2092/97 of 24 October 1997 L 292 10 25.10.1997
►M3Commission Regulation (EC) No 2519/98 of 24 November 1998 L 315 7 25.11.1998
►M4Commission Regulation (EC) No 2235/2000 of 9 October 2000 L 256 13 10.10.2000
►M5amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2015/2001 of 12
October 2001L 272 31 13.10.2001
►M6Commission Regulation (EC) No 2104/2001 of 26 October 2001 L 283 8 27.10.2001
►M7Commission Regulation (EC) No 597/2002 of 5 April 2002 L 91 9 6.4.2002
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 30, 5.2.1998, p. 46 (641/97)
NB: This consolidated version contains references to the European unit of account and/or the ecu, which from 1 January 1999
should be understood as references to the euro — Council Regulation (EEC) No 3308/80 (OJ L 345, 20.12.1980, p. 1) andCouncil Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 (OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1).
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COMMISSIONREGULATION(EC)No1249/96
of28June1996
on rules of application (cereal sector import duties) for Council
Regulation(EEC)No1766/92
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 inArticle 1 thereof are imported; whereas however for the products listedin 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 casesto be classed in several standard qualities; whereas the standard quali-ties 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 possibleobjective quality grading criteria for common wheat, protein content,specific weight and miscellaneous impurity (Schwarzbesatz) contentare those most commonly used in the trade and also the easiest touse; whereas for durum wheat these criteria are specific weight, miscel-
laneous 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 howeverwhere the Community has established an official recognition procedurefor quality certificates issued by an authority of the country of origin of
the goods these analyses need be effected merely by way of verifica-
tion 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 cifimport prices are to be regularly established for each of the qualitiesdefined 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 theactual 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 Americawill provide a basis bothtransparent and objective for establish ing
representative cif import prices; whereas addition of the commercial
premium assigned on the United States market to each quality of thevarious cereals will allow the exchange quotation for each cereal tobe converted into a fob export price from the United States; whereasby addition of sea freight costs between the Gulf of Mexico or theGreat 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 andamount of trade at the port of Rotterdam this is the Community desti-nation for which sea freight quotations are most widely known, mosttransparent and most easily available; whereas the port of destination
to be selected for the Community 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 tobe established from commodity exchange quotations for the cereal in1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 2
(1) OJ No L 181, 1. 7. 1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 126, 24. 5. 1996, p. 37.
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question plus the commercial premium assigned to the cereal and sea
freight costs between the Gulf of Mexico or the Great Lakes and theport 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 coastof the Iberian Peninsula and in the United Kingdom, Ireland and theScandinavian countries; whereas the factors of calculation of the repre-sentative 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 forbarely allows the market situation for those two products to be esti-mated and consequently the representative cif import price determinedfor barley applies for these cereals;
Whereas for the purpose of setting the import duty on the cereals indi-
cated 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 determinedon the fifteenth day and the last working day of each month using theaverage 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 thecalculation period for the representative cif import prices or if as aresult of sudden changes in their components they fluctuate verysubstantially 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 previousperiod should continue to be applied and in the case of large fluctua-tions in either the exchange quotation, the commercial premiumsattached 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 representa-tive by means of an adjustment corresponding to the deviation from itthat these changes account for; whereas even where this type of adjust-ment 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 betaken into account, by a flat rate adjustment, in determination of therepresentative 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 ofthe 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 Europeancountries, it must be possible for the amount of the export subsidygranted to be deducted form the representative cif import price calcu-lated 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 calcula-
tion of the representative cif import price may not, either because ofthe particular quality of the goods or because their price includes aquality premium over the normal price, take account of the existenceof sucha premium over normal market terms; wh ereas to take accountof 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 aflat 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 thatpertaining to licences;
Whereas the Management Committee for Cereals has not issued an
opinion within the time limit set by its chairman,1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 3
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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 onthe 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 1000 to 1001 90 99 (exceptmeslin), 1002 00, 1003 00 10, 1003 00 90, 1005 10 90, 1005 90 00 and1007 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 followingmonth. Where the fifteenth is not a Commission working day the dutiesshall be fixed on the working day preceding the fifteenth of the monthin question. However if during the period of application of the dutiesthus 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 asspecified in Article 4 during the previous two weeks. The interventionprice to be used for calculation of the duties shall be that of the monthin 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
publishin th e 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 Canalat 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
in accordance with the model given in Annex VI attesting the quantityof 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,
— EUR 24 per tonne on flint maize meeting the specifications laid
down in Annex I.1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 4
(1) OJ No L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1.▼M7
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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 statingeither:
— 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
withCommission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93(
1). The informa-
tion required under (a) above and the name and location of theprocessing plant shall be given in box 104 of the T5.
(c) The importer must lodge with the competent authority a security
of:
— EUR 14 per tonne for common wheat,
— EUR 24 per tonne for flint maize, and— EUR 8 per tonne for barley.
If however the duty in force on the day of completion of the
customs import formalities is less than EUR 14 per tonne forcommon wheat, EUR 24 for flint maize or EUR 8 per tonne for
barley, the security shall be equal to the duty amount.
The security shall be released on production of proof of the specific
final use warranting a quality premium on the price of the basic
product referred to in point (a). That proof, possibly in the form
of the T5 control copy, must demonstrate to the satisfaction of thecompetent authorities of the Member State of importation that allthe quantities imported have been processed into the productreferred to in point (a).
Processing shall be deemed to have occurred when, within the time
limit laid down in point (b):
— in the case of common wheat, the product referred to in point
(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 point (b),
— the malting barley has undergone steeping; and— the flint maize has been processed to produce a product of CN
codes 1904 1010, 1103 13 or 1104 23.
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 madebetween 1 July 1996 and the date of entry into force of this Regulationand 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 actuallyimported and the amount due had a reduction of ECU 14 per tonnebeen applied.
2. On request by the party concerned the competent authority of the
Member State that issued the import licence shall, in accordance with1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 5
(1) OJ No L 253, 11. 10. 1993, p. 1.▼C1
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Article 880 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, issue a certificate, taking
the form shown in Annex III, specifying the quantity on which partrepayment of the duty as referred to in paragraph 1 may be made.
3. Applications for repayment supported by the certificate referred
to in paragraph2 and th e evidence of specific final use referred to inArticle 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 ofentry 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 of high and medium quality, maize and other feed grains thecomponents determining the representative cif imports prices indicatedin 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 known commercial premiums and discounts attached to this
quotation on the United States market on the quotation day and inparticular, in the case of durum wheat, attached to the meal quality;
(c) the sea freight costs 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.
However, in the case of durum wheat of medium quality a discountof ECU 10 per tonne shall be withheld under (b).
2. The representative cif import prices for durum wheat, barley,
maize and, in the case of common wheat, for each standard quality
shall be the sum of the components referred to in paragraph 1(a), (b)
and (c).
However, where the representative cif price for a lower quality
common wheat is higher than that for higher quality common wheat,
the higher representative cif price shall be used for calculating theduty applicable to the qualities immediately above whose representa-tive cif price is lower.
In cases where third countries grant subsidies on exports of medium or
low quality common wheat to European or Mediterranean basin coun-tries so that world market prices can be undercut, the Commission maytake account of those subsidies in establishing the representative cifprice 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 code1001 90 91, maize seed of CN code 1005 10 90 and barley seed ofCN code 1003 00 10 they shall be those calculated for high qualitycommon wheat, maize and barley respectively.1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 6
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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 withth e relevant competent
body on the date of acceptance of the declaration of release forfree circulation a specific security additional to those required underCommission 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 differ-ence on the day of acceptance of the declaration of release for freecirculation between the highest duty and that applicable to thequality shown, plus a supplement of ECU 5 per tonne.
However, where the import duty applicable to the different qualities is
zero, the commitment referred to in the second indent of the first para-graphsh all not be required.
Article 6
1. The customs office of release for free circulation shall take repre-
sentative samples, in accordance withth e Annex to CommissionDirective 76/371/EEC, of every consignment of durum wheat, ofcommon wheat of standard high or medium quality and of flint maize.
However, sampling shall not take place where the import duty for the
different qualities is the same.
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 thecertified quality only from a sufficiently representative number ofconsignments.
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 speci-
fied in Articles 63 to 65 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. When the
analytical parameters entered on the quality certificate issued by Senasashow conformity with the flint maize quality standards given in AnnexI samples shall be taken from at least 3 % of the cargoes arriving ateach entry port during the marketing year. A blank specimen of thequality certificates to be issued by Senasa is given in Annex IV. Repro-
ductions 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 ofdurum wheat of code CN 1001 10 is lower than that specified in AnnexI for durum wheat of medium quality, the import duty shall be thatapplicable on common wheat of low quality.
2. The standard methods for the determinations referred to in para-
graph 1 shall be those given in Commission Regulations (EEC) Nos
1908/84(
2) 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 (oppositethe germ), or crown, shows no fissure.1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 7
(1) OJ No L 117, 24. 5. 1995, p. 2.
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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 mustaccount 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 productshown on the licence and that on the product actually imported. Thesecurity indicated in Article 5 shall then be released except for theECU 5 per tonne supplement.
If the above difference is not paid within one month the security indi-
cated in Article 5 shall be forfeit.
4. Representative samples of imported cereals taken by the compe-
tent 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.1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 8
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ANNEX I
Classificationstandardsforimportedproducts
(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 100110 1005 90 001005 1090
and
1005 90001002, 1003
and
1007 00 90
Quality (2) HighMedi-
umLow HighMedi-
umLow
1. Minimum
protein percentage14,0 11,5 — — — — — — —
2. Minimum
specific weight
kg/hl77,0 74,0 — 76,0 76,0 — 76,0 — —
3. Maximum
impurity percen-
tage (Schwarzbe-
satz)1,5 1,5 — 1,5 1,5 — — — —
4. Minimum vitr-
eous grain
percentage— — — 75,0 62,0 — 95,0 — —
5. Maximum
flotation index— — — — — — 25,0 — —
(1) Including husked spelt.
(2) The methods of analysis laid down in Article 3 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 824/2000 (OJ L 100,
20.4.2000, p. 31) are applicable.
Tolerances
Permitted tolerance Common/durum wheat Flint maize
Protein percentage -0,7 —
Specific weight -0,5 -0,5Impurity percentage +0,5 —Vitreous grain percentage -2,0 -3,0
Flotation index — +1,01996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 9
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ANNEX II
Quotationexchangesandreference varieties
Product Common wheatDurum
wheatMaizeOther feed
grains
Standard quality HighMedium Low
Reference variety
(type/grade) for
exchange quota-
tion)Hard Red
Spring No
2Hard Red
Winter No
2Soft Red
Winter No
2Hard
Amber
Durum No
2Yellow
Corn No 3US Barley
No 2
Quotation
exchangeMinnea-
polis Grain
ExchangeKansas
City Board
of TradeChicago
Board of
TradeMinnea-
polis Grain
Exchang-
e(1)Chicago
Board of
TradeMinnea-
polis Grain
Exchang-
e(2)
(1) Where no quotation is available that can be used to calculate a respresentative cif import price, fob quotations
publicly available in the USA will be used.
(2) Where no quotation is available that can be used to calculate a respresentative cif import price, fob quotations
publicly available in the USA will be used. In such cases, these quotations are increased by the amount corre-sponding to freight costs between the place of quotation and the Gulf of Mexico.1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 10
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ANNEX III
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ANNEX IV
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ANNEX V
STANDARD METHOD FOR DETERMINING FLOTATION INDEX
(ARTICLE6(2))
Prepare an aqueous solution of sodium nitrate of specific weight 1,25 and
conserve it at 35 ºC.
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 — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 13
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ANNEX VI
1996R1249 — EN — 09.04.2002 — 008.001 — 14