COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 19.01.1998 
COM(1998) 12 final 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 
Application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1522/96 opening and providing for the 
administration of certain tariff quotas for imports of rice and broken rice under 
GATT Article XXIV (6). 

1. Introduction 
Under the negotiations conducted pursuant to GATT Article XXI V(6) in the wake of the 
accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden to the European Union, it was agreed to open 
from 1 January 1996 annual import quotas for 63 000 tonnes of semi-milled and wholly 
milled rice at zero duty and for 20 000 tonnes of husked rice at a fixed duty of ECU 88 
per tonne. 
Under the consultations with Thailand pursuant to GATT Article XXIII, an annual quota 
for 80 000 tonnes of broken rice at an import duty reduced by ECU 28 per tonne was 
opened from 1 January 1996. 
The arrangements for managing these quotas were laid down by Council Regulation (EC) 
No 1522/96. • The quotas are broken down by country of origin and, in order to prevent 
them causing disturbance in the normal marketing of Community-grown rice, the issue of 
import licences is staggered over the year in a number of tranches so that the quantities 
imported can be absorbed more easily by the Community market. 
Management of the quotas for imports from Thailand, Australia and the United States is 
the responsibility of the supplier countries acting by means of export licences. The 
Commission, pursuant to Article 9(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1522/96, is required make 
an annual report to the Council on the application of the Regulation, and in particular on 
compliance with the maximum quantity of 33 428 tonnes of rice imported in small 
packages, any changes in flows of trade with the Community and the risk of cross-subsidy 
between exports to the Community benefiting directly from Regulation (EEC) No 
1522/96 and exports subject to the normal duties on imports. 
OJNoL 190, 31.7.1996. p. 1. 
The measures proposed by the Commission were no! in accordance with the opinion of the 
Management Committee for Cereals as regards imports in small packages (5 kilograms or less) and 
the risk of cross-subsidy In accordance with Article 23(3) of Regulation (liliC) No 1766/92, the 
Council therefore took a different decision. 
The quota allocated to the United States has not yet been opened. Under Article 1(4) of 
Regulation (EC) No 1522/96 import quotas cannot be opened for wholly milled or semi-
milled rice originating in the United States until consultations with that country have been 
completed. 
However, although consultations are still in progress, a quota equivalent to one year's 
quantity was opened in December 1997 but no rice had yet been imported at the time of 
writing. 
2. Small packages 
The quantities imported in packages of five kilograms or less are entered on the relevant 
import licence (Article 9(3)). The Member States are required to notify the Commission 
"by the last working day of each month following the month of release for free circulation, 
of the quantities, broken down by CN code and country of origin, actually released for 
free circulation." (Article 8(b)) 
According to the information sent by the Member States to the Commission, the quantity 
of rice in small packages imported during the first year of application of this Regulation 
(August 1996 to July 1997) was 1 940 tonnes, well below the 33 428 tonnes allowed. 
The Annex shows the imports into the Community of small packages broken down by 
country of origin. 
3. Cross-subsidy 
During the first year of application of the Regulation, the Commission received no proof 
of cross-subsidy. 
The Thai authorities issue export licences on the basis of past exports to the rest of the 
world, excluding the European Union. 
4. Flows of trade with the Community 
Applications for import licences submitted in 1996 and 1997 for rice originating in 
Thailand and Australia did not exceed the maximum quantities laid down in the quotas 
This meant that, in terms of compliance with quantities, the management of export 
licences by those supplier countries did not give rise to complications. 
As regards the quantities allocated to Thailand in 1996 and 1997, it may be noted that the 
annual quantities of I 812 tonnes of husked rice and 21 455 tonnes of wholly milled or 
semi-milled rice were almost fully used while the quota of 3 I 200 tonnes of broken rice 
was not filled. In January 1997, in order to take account of certain administrative 
problems experienced by Thailand in managing the quota for broken rice, a supplementary 
tranche of almost 12 500 tonnes of broken rice was granted to that country. That tranche 
has not been fully used. 
The 1996 and 1997 quotas allocated to Australia resulted in the issue of import licences 
for all the quantities available. 
Regulation (EC) No 1522/96 - Article 9(2) 
Packages of 5 kg or less: maximum (t) 
Total notified to date (t): 33 428 
1 940 
Member States 
Sweden 
Sweden 
Portugal 
Portugal 
France 
France 
Sweden 
UK 
UK 
UK 
France 
France 
France 
France 
Sweden 
Sweden 
Sweden CN code 
1006 30 
1006 40 
1006 20 
1006 30 
1006 40 
1006 30 
1006 30 
1006 30 
1006 30 
1006 40 
1006 40 
1006 40 
1006 30 
1006 40 
1006 30 
1006 30 
1006 30 Origin 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Argentina 
Argentina 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand 
India 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand 
Thailand Date 
17 October 1996 
17 October 1996 
29 October 1996 
29 October 1996 
December 1996 
January 1997 
January 1997 
May 1997 
May 1997 
June 1997 
July 1997 
April 1997 
April 1997 
April 1997 Tonnes 
539 020 
163.200 
17.560 
61.868 
20.000 
10.500 
94.043 
26.510 
10.000 
20.000 
19 500 
: i ooo 
378 000 
20.000 
2 13 000 
25 500 
300 600 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(98) 12 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 03 11 
Catalomie number : CB-CO-98-0(K)-KN-C 
SBN l)2-7S-3()()92-() 
Office for Official Publications oi Mic Kuropcan Communities 
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