Commission Regulation (EC) No 531/2003 of 25 March 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for common wheat of a quality other than high quality from third countries and derogating from Council Regulation (EC) No 1766/92
Date: 2003-03-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common wheat, import, import licence, product quality, tariff quota, third country

26.3.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 79/3

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 531/2003

of 25 March 2003

amending Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 opening and providing for the administration of a
Community tariff quota for common wheat of a quality other than high quality from third coun-
tries and derogating from Council Regulation (EC) 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 organisation of the market in
cereals (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1666/
2000 (2), and in particular Article 12(1) thereof,

(4)

(5)

apply taking into account
the potential number of
exporting countries concerned. These provisions have to
be amended retroactively, in order to avoid discrimina-
tion between operators.

Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 should therefore be
amended accordingly.

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

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)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 (5) opens a
tariff quota for the import of 2 981 600 tonnes of low
and medium quality common wheat from third coun-
tries, including 572 000 tonnes for imports originating
in the United States of America and 38 000 tonnes for
imports originating in Canada. The implementation of
the tariff quota gave rise to a number of practical diffi-
culties.

leading to the exhaustion of

In the first week of bidding for imports under subquota
III, which covers all third countries except the United
there was substantial
States of America and Canada,
oversubscription,
the
subquotas until the subsequent quarter, due to open on
1 April 2003. It is important to take measures to reduce
oversubscription, namely by harmonising the dates of
application in all Member States in national holidays,
import
and by reducing the period of validity of
licences.

(3)

The provisions relating to certificates of origin, namely
the ones concerning administrative cooperation with
to
exporting authorities, have proven to be difficult

(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 358, 31.12.2002, p. 88.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 is amended as follows:

1. In Article 5(2), the first subparagraph is replaced by the

following:

‘No later than 18.00 hours Brussels time on the day of
lodging of licence applications, the competent authorities
shall forward to the Commission by fax a notification in
accordance with the model annexed hereto, and the total
quantity resulting from the sum of all quantities indicated
on the import licence applications.’

2. Article 6 is deleted.

3. Article 9 is amended as follows:

(a) point (a) is replaced by the following:

‘(a) in section 8, the country of origin of the product
and the “yes” box shall be marked with a cross;’

(b) the following subparagraph is added:

‘Licences shall be valid only for the products originating
in the country indicated in section 8.’

4. Article 11 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 11

In the framework of the tariff quota, the release into free
circulation in the Community of common wheat of a
quality other than high quality originating in a third country
shall be conditional upon production of a certificate of
origin issued by the competent national authorities of that
country,
in accordance with Article 47 of Commission
Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (*).

(*) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1.’

L 79/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.3.2003

Article 2

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 April 2003 with the exception of Article 1(4), which shall apply from 1 January
2003.

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

Done at Brussels, 25 March 2003.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission