Commission Regulation (EC) No 2028/2003 of 18 November 2003 derogating from Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 opening and providing for the administration of Community tariff quotas for common wheat of a quality other than high quality from third countries
Date: 2003-11-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: common wheat, derogation from EU law, tariff quota, third country

19.11.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 301/3

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2028/2003

of 18 November 2003

derogating from Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 opening and providing for the administration of
Community tariff quotas for common wheat of a quality other than high quality from third
countries

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 1104/
2003 (2), and in particular Article 12(1) thereof,

Having regard to Council Decision 2003/253/EC 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 GATT
1994 for the modification of concessions with respect
to
cereals provided for in EC Schedule CXL annexed to the GATT
1994 (3), and in particular Article 2 thereof,

Having regard to Council Decision 2003/254/EC of 19
December 2002 on the conclusion of an Agreement in the
form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Commu-
nity and the United States of America relating to the modifica-
tion of concessions with respect to cereals provided for in EC
Schedule CXL to the GATT 1994 (4), and in particular Article 2
thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 (5), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1111/2003 (6), opens
and provides for the administration of a Community
tariff quota for poor- and medium-quality common
wheat from third countries. Article 3(1) of that Regula-
tion lays down that
import quota of
2 981 600 tonnes is to be divided into three subquotas:
572 000 tonnes for the United States, 38 000 tonnes for
Canada and 2 371 600 tonnes for other third countries.

the annual

Since the beginning of the third quarter of 2003, the
take-up of subquota III, covering most imports of poor-
and medium-quality wheat onto the Community market,
has slowed down considerably compared with the begin-
ning of 2003. This is because of a large fall in Russian
and Ukrainian cereal exports following very large falls in
production during the 2003/04 marketing year.

(1) OJ L 181, 1.7.1992, p. 21.
(2) OJ L 158, 27.6.2003, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 95, 11.4.2003, p. 36.
(4) OJ L 95, 11.4.2003, p. 40.
(5) OJ L 358, 31.12.2002, p. 88.
(6) OJ L 158, 26.6.2003, p. 21.

In addition,
following the return to normal wheat
production levels in Canada and the United States, those
two countries have become more competitive on the
Community market at the beginning of the 2003/04
marketing year. Subquota II has now been used up and,
on the basis of the principal international price quota-
tions, subquota I will also probably be fully used up by
the end of 2003.

(4)

(5)

On the internal market, Community production of
common wheat has also fallen by around 10 million
tonnes compared with the previous marketing year and
this cannot be offset by other forage cereals. This situa-
tion is causing tensions on the wheat market, particu-
larly as regards animal feed.

Under these circumstances, in order to ensure full use of
all the subquotas, a derogation should be made from
Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 to make
subquota III available to all third countries until the end
of the first year of application of the tariff quota arrange-
ments. There will be no need to require the presentation
of a certificate of origin for that subquota.

(6)

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
Notwithstanding Article 3(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No
2375/2002, subquota III shall be available to all third coun-
tries.

Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 2375/2002 shall not

2.
apply to imports of common wheat under subquota III.

Article 2

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

It shall apply until 31 December 2003.

L 301/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

19.11.2003

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

Done at Brussels, 18 November 2003.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission