COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 180/98 of 23 January 1998 on a special intervention measure for maize in Greece
Date: 1998-01-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Greece, award of contract, export refund, intervention agency, maize

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 180/98

of 23 January 1998

on a special intervention measure for maize in Greece

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 organisation of the
market
in cereals (1), as last amended by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 923/96 (2), and in particular Article 6
thereof,

Whereas maize production in the Orestiada region
exceeds local consumption requirements; whereas maize
prices in this region are at the intervention price level;
whereas the geographical situation and local
logistics
restrict the possibilities for the other Greek regions and
indeed the other Community markets to absorb this
surplus of high production in the 1997/98 marketing
year;

Whereas the Greek market can be relieved by the export
of part of this surplus quantity of maize to non-member
countries; whereas,
in view of world market prices for
maize, export is possible only with the aid of a refund;

Whereas, however, the refund arrangements laid down in
Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 apply to
export from any Member State; whereas such arrange-
ments, therefore, are not only unsuitable for solving the
problem in question but may also favour the export of
maize from Member States where the market situation is
different from that in the Orestiada region;

Whereas, in the absence of adequate measures, massive
quantities of maize may be expected to enter intervention
storage in Greece during the marketing year in accord-
ance with Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92, the
only possibility of disposal being in any case export to
non-member countries; whereas, to avoid the abovemen-
tioned intervention,
intervention measure
special
intended to relieve the Greek regional market should be
the said Regulation;
taken pursuant
whereas, furthermore, such a measure should take the
form of a direct export incentive, which would avoid the
high cost to the Community budget of buying in and
storing products which would in any case then have to be
exported; whereas the granting of a refund, the amount of
which would be determined by tendering and which

to Article 6 of

a

(1) OJ L 181, 1. 7. 1992, p. 21.
(2) OJ L 126, 24. 5. 1996, p. 37.

would apply only to products exported from the Greek
region of Orestiada, would be an appropriate measure for
this purpose;

Whereas the purpose of the measure is such that refunds
should be granted only on maize of the quality required
for acceptance for intervention, as defined in Commission
Regulation (EEC) No 689/92 (3), as last amended by Regu-
lation (EC) No 23/98 (4); whereas the competent agency
must make certain maize exported is of this standard;

Whereas the nature and objectives of the said measures
make it appropriate to apply in respect of it, mutatis
mutandis, Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92
and the regulations adopted for the application thereof, in
particular Commission Regulation (EC) No 1501/95 of 29
June 1995 laying down certain detailed rules for the
application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 on
refunds on cereals and the
the granting of export
measures to be taken in the event of disturbance on the
market for cereals (5), as last amended by Regulation (EC)
No 2052/97 (6);

Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1501/95 requires tenderers
to apply for an export licence among their other under-
takings; whereas compliance with this obligation may be
ensured by requiring tenderers to lodge a security of ECU
12 per tonne when they submit their tenders;

the cereals

Whereas
in question should be actually
exported from the Member State for which a particular
intervention measure was implemented; whereas it
is
therefore necessary to limit the use of export licences to
exports from the Member State in which the licence was
applied for and to maize produced in the Orestiada
region; whereas the exit points from Greece should be
stipulated;

in order

Whereas,
concerned,
licences issued to have an identical period of validity;

treatment of all
is necessary to make provision for the

to ensure equal

it

Whereas, in order to ensure the smooth operation of the
export tendering procedure, it is appropriate to prescribe a
minimum quantity to be tendered for and a time limit
and form for the communication of tenders submitted to
the competent authorities;

(3) OJ L 74, 20. 3. 1992, p. 18.
(4) OJ L 4, 8. 1. 1998, p. 48.
(5) OJ L 147, 30. 6. 1995, p. 7.
(6) OJ L 287, 21. 10. 1997, p. 14.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are
in accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Cereals,

Article 5

The refund shall be valid:

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
A special intervention measure in the form of an
export refund shall be applied in respect of 75 000 tonnes
of maize produced in Greece, in the region of Orestiada.

Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 and the provi-
sions adopted for the application of that Article shall
apply, mutatis mutandis, to the said refund.

The Greek intervention agency shall be responsible
2.
for implementing the measure referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 2

Tenders shall be invited in order to determine the

1.
amount of the refund referred to in Article 1.

2.
The invitation to tender shall relate to the quantity
of maize referred to in Article 1(1) for export to all third
countries

3.
The invitation shall remain open until 2 April 1998.
During the period of its validity weekly awards shall be
made, for which the time limits for the submission of
tenders shall be as prescribed in the notice of invitation to
tender. Article 4(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1501/95
notwithstanding, the time limit for submitting bids for
the first partial invitation to tender shall be 29 January
1998.

Tenders must be submitted to the Greek interven-

4.
tion agency named in the notice of invitation.

The tendering procedure shall take place in accord-
5.
ance with this Regulation and Regulation (EC) No
1501/95.

Article 3

A tender shall be valid only if:

— it relates to not less than 1 000 tonnes,

— it is accompanied by a written undertaking stipulating
that it relates solely to maize produced in the Ores-
tiada region,

Article 4

Under the tendering procedure referred to in Article 2,
box 20 of applications and the export licences shall indi-
cate the following:

‘Κανονισµ ˜οr (ΕΚ) αριθ. 180/98 — Πιστοποιητικ ˜ο
που ισχ ˜υει µ ˜ονο για το καλαµπ ˜οκι που ˜εχει
παραχθε˜ι στην περιοχ ˜η τηr Ορεστι ˜αδαr στην
Ελλ ˜αδα.»

— in the case of exports over land, only for the following

exit points: Ormenion, Kipi and Kastanies,

— in the case of exports by sea, only for the port of Alex-

androupolis.

Article 6

The security referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EC)
No 1501/95 shall be ECU 12 per tonne.

Article 7

By way of derogation from Article 21(1) of Commis-
1.
sion Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 (1), export
licences
issued in accordance with Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC)
No 1501/95 shall, for the purpose of determining their
period of validity, be deemed to have been issued on the
day on which the tender was submitted.

2.
Export licences issued in connection with the invita-
tion to tender pursuant to this Regulation shall be valid
from their date of issue, as defined in paragraph 1, until
the end of the fourth month following that of the issue.

3. Notwithstanding Article 11 of Regulation (EEC) No
3719/88, export licence under this tendering procedure
shall be valid in Greece only.

Article 8

1.
The Commission shall decide, under the procedure
laid down in Article 23 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92
either:

— to fix a maximum export refund, taking account in
particular of the criteria laid down in Article 1 of
Regulation (EC) No 1501/95, or

— to make no award.

2. Where a maxium export refund is fixed, a contract
shall be awarded to any tenderer whose tender indicates a
rate of refund equal to or less than such maximum export
refund.

3.
A refund awarded shall not be paid unless the maize
exported is of at least intervention quality defined in
Article 2(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 689/92.

The competent agency shall have an analysis made, by an
approved body or company of the landed goods and shall
hold at the Commission’s disposal an additional sample
from each consignment taken and sealed in the presence
of the tenderer or his representative.

Sampling and analysis costs shall be met by the tenderer.

(1) OJ L 331, 2. 12. 1988, p. 1.

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4. Where the quality does not correspond to that
defined in paragraph 3, the refund shall be reduced by
ECU 15 per tonne.

Article 9

icated in the form indicated in Annex I, to the telex or
telefax numbers in Annex II.

If no tenders are received, the Greek intervention agency
shall inform the Commission of this within the period
indicated in the first paragraph.

The times fixed for
correspond to Belgian time.

the submission of

tenders shall

Tenders submitted must reach the Commission through
the intervention of the Greek intervention agency at the
latest one-and-a-half hours after expiry of the period for
the weekly submission of
tenders as specified in the
notice of invitation to tender. They must be commun-

Article 10

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

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

Done at Brussels, 23 January 1998.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

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ANNEX I

Weekly tender for the refund for the export of Greek maize to all third countries

(Regulation (EC) No 180/98)

(Closing date for the submission of tenders (date/time))

1

Number
of tenderer

2

Quantity
in tonnes

3

Amount of export refund
in ecu per tonne

1

2

3

etc.

ANNEX II

The only numbers to use to call Brussels (DG VI-C-1 (Attention: Messrs Thibault and Brus)) are:

— telex:

— fax:

— 22037 AGREC B,
— 22070 AGREC B (Greek characters);

— 295 25 15,
— 296 49 56.