Commission Regulation (EC) No 2377/2002 of 27 December 2002 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for malting barley from third countries and derogating from Council Regulation (EC) No 1766/92
Date: 2002-12-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: beverage industry, derogation from EU law, import, import licence, quality label, tariff quota, third country

31.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 358/95

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2377/2002

of 27 December 2002

opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for malting barley from
third countries and derogating from Council Regulation (EC) No 1766/92

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(3)

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 Regulation (EC) No 1666/
2000 (2), and in particular Article 12(1) thereof,

Having regard to the Council Decision of 19 December 2002
concerning the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an
Exchange of Letters between the European Community and the
United States of America, with a view to the modification of
concessions with respect to cereals provided for in schedule
CXL annexed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) (3) and in particular Article 2 thereof,

Having regard to the Council Decision of 19 December 2002
concerning the conclusion of an Agreement in the form of an
Exchange of Letters between the European Community and
Canada pursuant to Article XXVIII of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), with a view to the modification
of concessions with respect to cereals provided for in EC sche-
dule CXL annexed to the GATT (4) and in particular Article 2
thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Following trade negotiations,
the Community has
changed the conditions for the import of common
wheat of low and medium quality and of barley by
creating import quotas from 1 January 2003. For barley,
the Community has decided to replace the ‘margin of
preference’ system by two tariff quotas: one tariff quota
of 50 000 tonnes for malting barley and one tariff quota
of 300 000 for barley. This Regulation concerns the
tariff quota of 50 000 tones of malting barley.

the Community's

international commitments,
Under
malting barley for import must be intended for use in
the manufacture of beer aged in vats containing beech-
wood.
In this respect, provisions should be adopted
relating to the quality criteria for barley and to proces-
sing requirements similar to those of Commission Regu-
lation (EC) No 1234/2001 of 22 June 2001 laying down
detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No
822/1999 and providing for the partial reimbursement
of
levied on a quota of barley for
malting (5).

import duties

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

The opening of this quota means that Regulation (EEC)
No 1766/92 has to be adapted. In order to enable the
quota to be opened on 1 January 2003, provision should
be made to derogate from Regulation (EEC) No 1766/
92, during a transitional period expiring on the date of
entry into force of the amendment to that Regulation,
but until 30 June 2003 at the latest.

To ensure that imports of the barley covered by this
tariff quota are orderly and not speculative, they should
be made subject to the issue of import licences. The
licences will be issued, within the quantities set, at the
request of the interested parties, subject where appro-
priate to the fixing of a reduction coefficient in respect
of the quantities applied for.

To ensure the proper management of this quota, dead-
lines for the lodging of licence applications should be
laid down and the information to be included in applica-
tions and licences should be specified.

To take account of supply conditions, a derogation
should be made concerning the period of validity of the
licences.

Taking account of the obligation to apply a high level of
guarantee to insure adequate execution of the quota and
that this guarantee vwould have to be in place during all
the processing period, it is adequate to exempt importers
whose consignements of malting barley are accompanied
by a certificate of conformity agreed with the govern-
ment of the United States of America according to the
administrative cooperation procedure provided for in
Articles 63 to 65 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No
2454/93 (6), as amended by Commission Regulation (EC)
No 444/2002 (7).

(8) With a view to the sound management of the quota,
provision should be made to derogate 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 (8), as last amended
by Regulation (EC) No 2299/2001 (9), as regards the
the licences and the tolerance
transferable nature of
relating to the quantities released into free circulation.

(1) OJ L 181, 1.7.1992, p. 21.
(2) OJ L 193, 29.7.2000, p. 1.
(3) Not yet published in the Official Journal.
(4) Not yet published in the Official Journal.
(5) OJ L 168, 23.6.2001, p. 12.

(6) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 68, 12.3.2002, p. 11.
(8) OJ L 152, 24.6.2000, p. 1.
(9) OJ L 308, 27.11.2001, p. 19.

L 358/96

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

31.12.2002

(9)

(10)

(11)

To ensure sound management of this quota, the security
on the import licences should be set at a relatively high
level, notwithstanding Article 10 of Commission Regula-
tion (EC) No 1162/95 of 23 May 1995 laying down
special detailed rules for the application of the system of
import and export licences for cereals and rice (1), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1322/2002 (2).

Article 4

For the purposes of applying this Regulation:

(a) ‘damaged grains’ means grains of barley, other cereals or
including deterioration
fungus, bad
insects or

wild oats that display damage,
caused by disease,
frost, heat,
weather and all other forms of physical damage;

Rapid two-way communication should be established
between the Commission and the Member States
regarding the quantities applied for and imported.

(b) ‘sound and fair merchantable barley’ means barley grains or
pieces of grains that are not damaged as defined in (a),
except grains damaged by frost or fungus.

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

Article 5

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Notwithstanding Article 10(1) and (2) of Regulation (EEC) No
1766/92, the import duty for malting barley falling in CN code
1003 00 shall be fixed in the framework of the quota opened
by this Regulation.

Article 10(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 shall apply to
imports of the products referred to in this Regulation in excess
of the quantity provided for in Article 2.

Article 2

1.
A tariff import quota of 50 000 tonnes of malting barley
falling in CN code 1003 00 50 to be used in the manufacture
of beer aged in vats containing beechwood is hereby opened.

2.
The tariff quota shall be opened on 1 January each year.
Duties on imports within the tariff quota shall be levied at a
rate of EUR 8 per tonne.

Article 3

All imports under the quota referred to in Article 2(1) shall be
conditional upon the production of an import licence issued in
accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000, subject to the
provisions of this Regulation.

(1) OJ L 117, 24.5.1995, p. 2.
(2) OJ L 194, 23.7.2002, p. 22.

The benefit of this tariff quota shall be granted provided

1.
the imported barley meets the following criteria:

(a) specific weight: minimum 60,5 kg/hl;

(b) damaged grains: maximum 1 %;

(c) moisture: maximum 13,5 %;

(d) sound and fair merchantable barley: minimum 96 %.

Compliance with the quality criteria set out in paragraph

2.
1 shall be certified by one of the following documents:

(a) a certificate of analysis carried out at the importer's request
by the customs office of release for free circulation, or

(b) a certificate of conformity for the imported barley issued by
a government authority of the country of origin and recog-
nised by the Commission.

Article 6

The benefit of access to this quota shall be granted

1.
provided the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) the imported barley must be malted within six months

from the date of release for free circulation;

(b) the resulting malt must be used in the manufacture of beer
aged in vats containing beechwood within no more than
150 days following the date on which the barley is
processed into malt.

Applications for import licences under this tariff quota

2.
shall be accepted only if they are accompanied by:

(a) proof that the applicant is a natural or legal person who
has carried out a commercial activity in the cereals sector
for at least 12 months and is registered in the Member
State in which the application is submitted,

(b) proof that the applicant has lodged a security of EUR 85
per tonne with the competent authority of the Member
State of release for free circulation.
In case the malting
barley consignments are accompanied by a certificate of
conformity issued by the Federal Grain Inspection Service
(FGIS) as referred to in Article 8, the security is reduces to
EUR 10 per tonne

31.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 358/97

(c) a written undertaking by the applicant that all the imported
goods will be processed, within six months from the date
of acceptance of entry for free circulation, into malt for use
in the manufacture of beer aged in vats containing beech-
wood within 150 days following the date on which the
barley was processed into malt. He shall specify the proces-
sing location by stating either 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 of the office of customs clear-
ance in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) No
2454/93. The information required in the first paragraph
and the name and location of the processing plant shall be
given in box 104 of the T5.

Processing of

3.
the imported barley into malt shall be
deemed to have taken place when the malting barley has
undergone steeping. The use of the malt to manufacture beer
aged in vats containing beechwood within no more than 150
days following the date on which the barley is processed into
malt shall be subject to verification by the competent authority.

aged in vats containing beechwood shall be officially recognised
by the Commission under
the administrative cooperation
procedure as specified in Articles 63 to 65 of Regulation (EEC)
No 2454/93. When the analytical parameters entered in the
certificate of conformity issued by Federal Grain Inspection
Service (FGIS) show conformity with the malting barley quality
standards established in Article 5 samples shall be taken of at
least 3 % of the cargoes arriving at each entry port during the
marketing year. Reproduction of
the stamp and signatures
authorised by the Government of the United States of America
shall be published in the C series of the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

Article 9

Applications for import licences shall be lodged with the
the Member States no later than

1.
competent authorities of
13.00 (Brussels time) on the second Monday of each month.

Article 7

Each licence application must be for a quantity that may not
exceed the quantity available for the import of the product
concerned in the year concerned.

The security provided for in Article 6(2)(b) shall be

1.
released provided the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) the quality of the barley, established on the basis of the
certificate of conformity or analysis certificate, meets the
criteria laid down in Article 5(1),

(b) the certificate applicant provides proof of the specific final
use referred to in Article 5(1), certifying that this use has
taken place within the time limit provided for in the
written undertaking referred to in Article 6(2)(c). That
proof, possibly in the form of the T5 control copy, must
demonstrate to the satisfaction of the competent authorities
of the Member State of importation that all the quantities
imported have been processed into the product referred in
Article 6(2)(c).

2. Where the quality criteria and/or the conditions relating
to processing set out in Articles 5 and 6 of this Regulation are
not fulfilled, the security for import licences referred to in
Article 10(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1162/95 and the additional
security referred to in Article 6(2)(b) of this Regulation shall be
forfeit unless the importer is able to produce a new import
licence drawn on the quota administered by Commission Regu-
lation (EC) No 2376/2002 (1).
In that case the security of
EUR 30 for that licence shall be released only in an amount
equal to EUR 22.

No later than 18.00 Brussels time on the day of lodging
2.
of licence applications, the competent authorities shall forward
to the Commission by fax a notification in accordance with the
modelestablished in Annex II, and the total quantity resulting
from the sum of all quantities indicated on the import licence
applications. If the day for lodging the licence applications is a
national holiday, the Member State concerned shall send the
said notification on the working day preceding the national
holiday no later than 18.00 Brussels time.

That information must be communicated separately from the
information on other import licence applications for cereals.

3.
If the total of the quantities since the start of the year and
the quantity referred to in paragraph 2 exceeds the quota for
the year concerned, the Commission shall set, no later than the
third working day after the applications are lodged, a single
reduction coefficient to be applied to the quantities requested.

4. Without prejudice to paragraph 3, licences shall be issued
on the fourth working day following the day on which the
application was lodged. No later than 18.00 Brussels time on
the day the licences are issued, the competent authorities shall
fax the Commission, at the number mentioned in Annex II, the
total quantity resulting from the sum of the quantities for
which import licences has been issued that same day.

Article 8

A blank specimen of the certificates to be issued by the Federal
Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) is given in Annex I. Certificates
issued by the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) for for
malting barley destined to be used in the manufacture of beer

(1) See page 92 of this Official Journal.

Article 10

Import licences shall be valid for 60 days from the day of issue.
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 date of issue.

L 358/98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

31.12.2002

Article 11

Notwithstanding Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000,
the rights resulting from the import licences shall not be trans-
ferable.

Article 12

Notwithstanding Article 8(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1291/
2000,
the quantity released into free circulation may not
exceed that indicated in sections 17 and 18 of the import
licence. The figure ‘0’ shall be entered to that effect in section
19 of the licence.

Article 13

The import licence application and the import licence shall
contain the following information:

(a) in section 20, the processed product to be made from the

cereals and one of the following entries:
— Reglamento (CE) no 2377/2002
— Forordning (EF) nr. 2377/2002
— Verordnung (EG) Nr. 2377/2002

— Κανονισµός (EK) αριθ. 2377/2002
— Regulation (EC) No 2377/2002
— Règlement (CE) no 2377/2002
— Regolamento (CE) n. 2377/2002
— Verordening (EG) nr. 2377/2002
— Regulamento (CE) n.o 2377/2002
— Asetus (EY) N:o 2377/2002
— Förordning (EG) nr 2377/2002

(b) in section 24, the words ‘EUR 8/tonne’.

Article 14

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2003.

It shall apply until the date of entry into force of the Regulation
amending Article 10 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92, but until
30 June 2003 at the latest.

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

Done at Brussels, 27 December 2002.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

31.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 358/99

Blank certificate of conformity authorised by the Government of the United States of America for malting
barley destined to be used in the manufacture of beer aged in vats containing beechwood

ANNEX I

L 358/100

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

31.12.2002

ANNEX II