2006R0969 — EN — 01.01.2008 — 002.001

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 969/2006

of 29 June 2006

opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for imports of maize from third countries







THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1784/2003 of 29 September 2003 on the common organisation of the market in cereals ( 1 ), and in particular Article 12(1) thereof, Whereas: (1) The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the United States of America pursuant to Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 ( 2 ), approved by Council Decision 2006/333/EC ( 3 ), provides for the opening of a Community tariff quota for the import of a maximum annual quantity of 242 074 tonnes of maize. (2) To ensure that imports of the maize covered by this tariff quota are orderly and not speculative, they should be made subject to the issue of import licences. These licences should be issued, within the quantities set, at the request of the interested parties, subject, where appropriate, to the fixing of an allocation coefficient in respect of the quantities applied for. (3) To ensure the proper management of this quota, deadlines should be laid down for the lodging of licence applications and the information to be included in applications and licences should be specified. (4) In order to ensure that the actual quantities being requested by individual traders may be verified, it is necessary to specify that traders must submit only one import licence application per weekly period and to provide for a penalty in the event of failure to meet this requirement. (5) To take account of supply conditions, a derogation should be made concerning the period of validity of the licences. (6) In order to ensure the sound management of the quota, a derogation should be made 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 ( 4 ) as regards the transferable nature of the licences and the tolerance relating to the quantities released into free circulation. (7) With a view to the sound management of the quota, the security for import licences should be set at a relatively high level, by way of derogation from Article 12 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1342/2003 of 28 July 2003 laying down special detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences for cereals and rice ( 5 ). (8) Rapid two-way communication, including electronic communication, should be established between the Commission and the Member States regarding the quantities applied for and imported. (9) The origin of the products covered by this Regulation should be determined in accordance with the rules in force in the Community. In order to verify the origin of the products concerned, a certificate of origin issued by the authorities of the country from which the maize originates should be required on import, in accordance with Community rules. (10) Since the Agreement approved by Decision 2006/333/EC provides for implementation on 1 July 2006, this Regulation must apply from the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. (11) 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

1. A tariff quota is hereby opened for the import of 242 074 tonnes of maize falling within CN codes 1005 10 90 and 1005 90 00 (serial number 09.4131).

2. The tariff quota shall be opened on 1 January each year. The duty on imports within the tariff quota shall be zero.

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3. Commission Regulations (EC) Nos 1291/2000, 1342/2003 and 1301/2006 ( 6 ) shall apply, save as otherwise provided for in this Regulation.

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Article 2

1. The quota shall be divided into two six-monthly subperiods, covering the following dates and quantities:

(a) subperiod No 1: 1 January to 30 June — 121 037 tonnes;

(b) subperiod No 2: 1 July to 31 December — 121 037 tonnes.

2. Where the quantities for subperiod 1 are exhausted, the Commission may bring forward the opening of the following subperiod in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 25(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1784/2003.

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Article 4

1. Notwithstanding Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, applicants may not submit more than one licence application per week. Where applicants lodge more than one application, none of those applications shall be admissible and the securities lodged when the applications were submitted shall be forfeited to the Member State concerned.

Import licence applications shall be lodged with the competent authorities of the Member States each week no later than ►M2 Friday ◄ at 13.00 (Brussels time).

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2. Each licence application shall indicate a quantity in kilograms (whole numbers).

The import licence application and the import licence shall mention a single country of origin.

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3. No later than 18:00 (Brussels time) on the Monday following the week in which the licence application was lodged, the competent authorities shall send the Commission, by electronic means, a notification showing each application, with the origin of the product and the quantity applied for, including ‘nil’ notifications.

4. Licences shall be issued on the fourth working day following the deadline for the notification referred to in paragraph 3.

Member States shall communicate to the Commission, by electronic means, on the day of issue of the import licences, the information on the licences issued as referred to in Article 11(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, with the total quantities for which import licences have been issued.

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Article 5

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 day of issue.

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Article 8

Section 8 of the import licence application and the import licence shall contain the name of the country of origin and ‘Yes’ shall be marked with a cross. Licences shall be valid only for products originating in the country indicated in section 8.

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Article 9

By way of derogation from Article 12(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2003, the security for the import licences provided for in this Regulation shall be EUR 30 per tonne.

Article 10

Importation under the tariff quota provided for in Article 1 shall be subject to the presentation of a certificate of origin issued by the competent authorities of the third country in which the maize originates, in accordance with Article 47 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 ( 7 ). ►M1 ————— ◄

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Article 12

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

It shall apply from 1 July 2006.

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

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