1996R1249 — EN — 18.04.1997 — 001.001 — 1
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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
Corrected by:
►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 30, 5.2.1998, p. 46 (641/97)
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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 inArticle 1 thereof are imported; whereas however for the products listedin paragraph 2 of that Article the import duty is to be the interventionprice valid at the time of importation increased by 55 % and thenreduced 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 gradingcriteria and tolerance rates should also be set allowing products to begiven the most appropriate quality grading; whereas of the possibleobjective quality grading criteria for common wheat, protein content,specific weight and miscellaneous impurity (Schwarzbesatz) content arethose most commonly used in the trade and also the easiest to use;whereas for durum wheat these criteria are specific weight, miscella-neous 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 ofthe goods these analyses need be effected merely by way of verificationon 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 forestablishment of these prices the use must be stipulated of quotationsfor 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 both transparent and objective for establishingrepresentative cif import prices; whereas addition of the commercialpremium assigned on the United States market to each quality of thevarious cereals will allow the exchange quotation for each cereal to beconverted into a fob export price from the United States; whereas byaddition of sea freight costs between the Gulf of Mexico or the GreatLakes and a Community port that are quoted on the freight marketsthese fob prices can be converted into representative cif import prices;whereas given the volume of freight passing through and amount oftrade at the port of Rotterdam this is the Community destination forwhich sea freightquot at ions are mostwidely known, mostt ransparentand most easily available; whereas the port of destination to be selectedfor the Community should therefore be Rotterdam;
(1) OJ No L 181, 1. 7. 1992, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 126, 24. 5. 1996, p. 37.
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Whereas, accordingly, for the sake of transparency the representative cifimport prices of the cereals indicated at (a) in Article 10 (3) are to beestablished from commodity exchange quotations for the cereal in ques-tion plus the commercial premium assigned to the cereal and sea freightcosts between the Gulf of Mexico or the Great Lakes and the port ofRotterdam; whereas however freight cost differences by port of destina-tion justify flat rate adjustment of the import duty for Community portslocated in the Mediterranean, on the Atlantic coast of the IberianPeninsula and in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Scandinaviancountries; whereas the factors of calculation of the representative cifimport prices so established should be monitored daily so that the trendof these prices can be followed; whereas, in the case of sorghum andrye, the representative cif import price calculated for barely allows themarket situation for those two products to be estimated and conse-quently the representative cif import price determined for barley appliesfor 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 oftwo weeks recording of the representative cif import prices for eachcereal will reflect market trends without introducing uncertainty;whereas import duties for these products can therefore be determined onthe 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 weekswithout 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 aproperly representative price for the product in question; whereas in thecase of absence of quotations the duty amount set for the previousperiod should continue to be applied and in the case of large fluctu-ations in either the exchange quotation, the commercial premiumsattached to the quotation, the sea freight costs or the rate of exchangeused to calculate the representative cif import price of the product theprice used for calculation of the import duty should be kept repres-entative by means of an adjustment corresponding to the deviation fromit that these changes account for; whereas even where this type ofadjustment is made the timing of the next determination need not beaffected;
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 thoseused 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 of theimport market in the Community for medium or low quality commonwheat owing to the granting by third countries of subsidies on exporta-tion of these products to Mediterranean basin or European countries, itmust be possible for the amount of the export subsidy granted to bededucted form the representative cif import price calculated for theproduct;
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 of theparticular quality of the goods or because their price includes a qualitypremium over the normal price, take account of the existence of such apremium over normal market terms; whereas to take account of thesequality premiums over prices or quotations importers who show thatthey have used the goods to make high quality products justifying theexistence of such a premium should be reimbursed, at a flat rate, part ofthe import duty paid;
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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,
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 10 00 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 andthe last working day of each month by the Commission for applicationfrom 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 pertonne or more from that fixed the corresponding adjustment shall bemade.
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) duringthe two weeks preceding a fixing the import duty previously fixed shallremain 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 atthe 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 reductionto be granted this must accompany the goods until completion of thecustoms import formalities.
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5. Importdut ies shall be reduced by:
(1) OJ No L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1.
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— 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 applicantmustent er in box 20 of t he importlicence t he
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 withbox 20 of the licence within six months of the date of entry for freecirculation. He shall specify the processing location by statingeither:
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C1 — a processing firm and Member State, or
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— 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 accordancewith Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (
1). The informa-
tion required under (a) above and the name and location of theprocessing plantshall be given in box 104 of t he T5.
(c) The importer must lodge with the competent authority a security of
ECU 14 per t onne for common wheatand flintmaize and ECU 8per tonne for barley. If however the duty in force on the day ofcompletion of the customs import formalities is less than ECU 14per t onne for common wheator flintmaize or ECU 8 per t onne forbarley 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 thebasic productment ioned at(a). This evidence, possibly by means ofthe control copy T5, must demonstrate to the satisfaction of thecompetent authorities of the Member State of importation that allthe cereals imported have been processed into the product indicatedat(a).
Processing shall be deemed to have occurred when, within the time
limitspecified at(b):
— in the case of common wheat the product indicated at (a) has
been produced ateit her:
— 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,
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— the flint maize has been processed to produce a product of CN
code 1904 10 10 or 1103 13.
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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, ofthe difference between the import duty paid on the quantities actuallyimported and the amount due had a reduction of ECU 14 per tonne beenapplied.
2. On request by the party concerned the competent authority of the
Member State that issued the import licence shall, in accordance withArticle 880 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, issue a certificate, takingthe form shown in Annex III, specifying the quantity on which partrepayment of the duty as referred to in paragraph 1 may be made.
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3. Applications for repayment supported by the certificate referred to
in paragraph 2 and the evidence of specific final use referred to inArticle 2 (5) (c) must be presented within 30 days of the date of entryinto force of this Regulation. They must be accompanied by the importlicence, the certificate referred to in paragraph 2 and the declaration ofentry for free circulation of the cereals in question.
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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 wheatof high, medium and low qualit y, durum
wheat, maize and other feed grains the components determining therepresentative 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 000tonnes.
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 shallbe 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 standardquality 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 Mediterraneanbasin countries so that world market prices can be undercut theCommission may take account of these subsidies in establishing therepresentative 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 code1001 90 91, maize seed of CN code 1005 10 90 and barley seed of CNcode 1003 00 10 they shall be those calculated for high quality commonwheat, maize and barley respectively.
Article 5
Importlicence applicat ions for common wheatand durum wheatshall
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 freecirculation 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 productcategory in question. The amount of the security shall be the differ-ence on the day of acceptance of the declaration of release for free
(1) OJ No L 117, 24. 5. 1995, p. 2.
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circulation between the highest duty and that applicable to thequality shown, plus a supplement of ECU 5 per tonne.
Article 6
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1. Representative samples shall be taken of every consignment ofdurum wheat, common wheat of standard high or medium quality andflint maize by the customs office of entry for free circulation, theprovisions 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 (Schwarzbe-satz) 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 oforigin 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 specifiedin Articles 63 to 65 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. When theanalytical parameters entered on the quality certificate issued by Senasashow conformity with the flint maize quality standards given in Annex Isamples shall be taken from at least 3 % of the cargoes arriving at eachentry port during the marketing year. A blank specimen of the qualitycertificates to be issued by Senasa is given in Annex IV. Reproductionsof the stamp and signatures authorized by the Argentine Governmentshall be published in the ‘C' series of the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
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The goods shall be classed in the standard quality for which all therequirements indicated in Annex I are met. However if the quality ofdurum wheat of code CN 1001 10 imported is lower than that specifiedin Annex I the import duty shall be that applicable on common wheat oflow quality.
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2. The standard methods for the determinations referred to in para-graph 1 shall be those given in Commission Regulations (EEC) Nos1908/84 (
1) and 2731/75.
Flintmaize is maize of t he 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), orcrown, 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 accountfor 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.
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3. If the analysis results show the imported wheat to be of a lowerstandard quality than entered on the import licence the importer shallpay 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 the ECU5 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 sixmonths.
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.
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ANNEX I
CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS FOR IMPORTED PRODUCTS
(on the basis of a moisture content of 12% by weight or equivalent)
Product Common wheatand spelt(1) excluding meslin Durum wheat Flintmaize Maize other than flint Other grains
CN code 1001 90 1001 10 1005 90 00 1005 10 90and 1005 90 001002, 1003 and
1007 00 90
Quality High Medium Low
1. Minimum protein
percentage14,0 11,5 — — — — —
2. Minimum specificweightkg/hl 77,0 74,0 — 76,0 76,0 — —
3. Maximum impuritypercentage (Schwarzbe-satz) 1,5 1,5 — 1,5 — — —
4. Minimum vitreousgrain percentage — — — 75,0 95,0 — —
5. Maximum flotationindex — — — — 25,0 — —
(1) Including husked spelt.
PERMITTED TOLERANCES
Permitted tolerances Common/durum wheat Flintmaize
Protein percentage − 0,7 −
Specific weight − 0,5 − 0,5
Impurity percentage + 0,5 −
Vitreous grain percentage − 2,0 − 3,0
Flotation index − + 1,0
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ANNEX II
Quotation exchanges and reference varieties
Product Common wheat Durum wheat Maize Other feed grains
Standard quality High Medium Low
Reference variety
(type/grade) forexchange quotationHard Red Spring No 2 Hard Red Winter No 2 SoftRed Wint er No 2 Hard Amber Durum No 2 Yellow Corn No 3 US Barley No 2
Quotation exchange Minneapolis Grain Exchange Kansas City Board of Trade Chicago Board of Trade Minneapolis Grain
Exchange (1)Chicago Board of Trade Minneapolis 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 us ed.
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ANNEX III

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ANNEX IV

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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 itat35 °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× 100
Repeatfive t imes.
The flotation index is the arithmetic mean for the five trials excluding the two
extreme values.