Council Regulation (EC) No 797/2006 of  22 May 2006  amending Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 as regards the arrangements for importing rice
Date: 2006-05-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: CCT duties, import, rice

31.5.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 144/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 797/2006

of 22 May 2006

amending Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 as regards the arrangements for importing rice

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 36 and the third sub-
paragraph of Article 37(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

for

licence

imports

Article 10(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003
of 29 September 2003 on the common organisation of
in rice (2) requires the presentation of an
the market
into the
export
import or
Community, or
the
exports
that Regulation. To
products
listed in Article 1 of
the
simplify
economic
applicable
procedures
operators,
it should be possible to derogate from the
obligation to present an import licence where it is not
required for the management of certain imports of rice.
The Commission should therefore be permitted to
derogate from this obligation.

therefrom, of

any of

to

Under the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of
Letters between the European Community and India
pursuant to Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 relating
to the modification of concessions with respect to rice
provided for in EC Schedule CXL annexed to the GATT
1994 (3), approved by Council Decision 2004/617/EC (4),
the duty applicable to imports of husked rice of certain
Basmati varieties originating in India is fixed at zero.

Under the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of
Letters between the European Community and Pakistan
pursuant to Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994 relating to
the modification of concessions with respect
to rice
provided for in EC Schedule CXL annexed to the GATT
1994 (5), approved by Council Decision 2004/618/EC (6),
the duty applicable to imports of husked rice of certain
Basmati varieties originating in Pakistan is fixed at zero.

(4)

The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters
between the European Community and the United States

(1) Not yet published in the Official Journal.
(2) OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 96. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 247/2006 (OJ L 42, 14.2.2006, p. 1).

(3) OJ L 279, 28.8.2004, p. 19.
(4) OJ L 279, 28.8.2004, p. 17. Decision as amended by Decision

2005/476/EC (OJ L 170, 1.7.2005, p. 67).

(5) OJ L 279, 28.8.2004, p. 25.
(6) OJ L 279, 28.8.2004, p. 23. Decision as amended by Decision

2005/476/EC.

of America relating to the method of calculation of
applied duties for husked rice (7), approved by Council
Decision 2005/476/EC (8), lays down the mechanism for
calculating and fixing at
the duty
applicable to imports of husked rice falling within CN
code 1006 20.

intervals

regular

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

in EC Schedule CXL

The Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters
and Thailand
European Community
between the
pursuant to Article XXVIII of GATT 1994 relating to
to rice
the modification of concessions with respect
for
provided
to
annexed
1994 (9),
Council Decision
GATT
2005/953/EC (10),
lays down the mechanism for calcu-
lating and fixing at regular intervals the duty applicable
to imports of semi-milled and milled rice falling within
CN code 1006 30, and fixes the duty applicable to
imports of broken rice
falling within CN code
1006 40 00 at EUR 65 per tonne.

approved

by

The four decisions referred to above allow for
the
Commission to derogate from Regulation (EC) No
1785/2003 to permit the full application of the above
Agreements. Those derogations apply until 30 June 2006
at the latest.

The provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003
relating to the fixing of the duty on the different types
of
should
covered by the above Agreements
therefore be amended.

rice

To be eligible for zero import duty, Basmati rice must
belong to a variety specified in the Agreements. To
ascertain whether the Basmati rice imported at a zero
rate of duty meets those characteristics, specific rules
should be adopted by the Commission.

Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 should therefore be
amended accordingly. To ensure that these new import
arrangements will be retained for operators after the
deadline for
this
the application of
amendment should apply from 1 July 2006,

the derogations,

(7) OJ L 170, 1.7.2005, p. 69.
(8) OJ L 170, 1.7.2005, p. 67.
(9) OJ L 346, 29.12.2005, p. 26.
(10) OJ L 346, 29.12.2005, p. 24.

L 144/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

31.5.2006

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(c) EUR 65 per tonne in the following cases:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 is hereby amended as follows:

1.

in Article 10, the following paragraph shall be inserted:

— where it is noted that the imports of husked rice
made over the course of
the marketing year just
ended exceed the annual reference quantity referred
to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 3, plus
15 %,

‘1a. Where an import
licence is not required for the
the Commission
management of certain imports of rice,
may,
in accordance with the procedure referred to in
Article 26(2), derogate from the obligation provided for in
the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article.’

— where it is noted that the imports of husked rice
made over the course of the first six months of the
marketing year exceed the partial reference quantity
referred to in the second subparagraph of para-
graph 3, plus 15 %.

2.

in Article 11, paragraph 2 shall be deleted.

3. the following Articles shall be inserted:

‘Article 11a

The Commission shall fix the applicable duty only if the
calculations performed under
this paragraph indicate a
need to change it. Until such time as a new applicable
duty is fixed, the duty previously fixed shall apply.

Notwithstanding Article 11(1),

1.
the import duty on
husked rice falling within CN code 1006 20 shall be fixed
the
by the Commission within ten days of
reference period concerned at:

the end of

(a) EUR 30 per tonne in the following cases:

— where it is noted that the imports of husked rice
made over the course of
the marketing year just
ended did not reach the annual reference quantity
referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 3,
less 15 %,

— where it is noted that the imports of husked rice
made over the course of the first six months of the
marketing year do not reach the partial reference
quantity referred to in the second subparagraph of
paragraph 3, less 15 %;

In order

2.
referred to in
to calculate the imports
paragraph 1, account shall be taken of the quantities for
which import
licences for husked rice falling within CN
code 1006 20 were issued under the first subparagraph of
Article 10(1) in the corresponding reference period, except
for
rice referred to in
Article 11b.

licences for Basmati

the import

The annual reference quantity shall be 437 678 tonnes
3.
for the 2005/06 marketing year. This quantity shall be
increased by 6 000 tonnes a year for the 2006/07 and
2007/08 marketing years.

The partial reference quantity for each marketing year shall
correspond to half the annual reference quantity referred to
in the first subparagraph.

(b) EUR 42,5 per tonne in the following cases:

Article 11b

— where it is noted that the imports of husked rice
made over the course of
the marketing year just
ended exceed the annual reference quantity referred
to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 3,
less
15 %, but do not exceed that same annual reference
quantity plus 15 %,

falling within CN codes

rice
Notwithstanding Article 11(1),
varieties
and
1006 20 98 listed in Annex IIIa shall qualify for a zero
rate of
import duty under the conditions fixed by the
Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to
in Article 26(2).

the husked Basmati
1006 20 17

— where it is noted that the imports of husked rice
made over the course of the first six months of the
marketing year exceed the partial reference quantity
referred to in the second subparagraph of para-
graph 3,
less 15 %, but do not exceed that same
partial reference quantity plus 15 %;

Article 11c

Notwithstanding Article 11(1),

1.
the import duty for
semi-milled or wholly milled rice falling within CN code
1006 30 shall be fixed by the Commission within ten days
after the end of the reference period concerned at:

31.5.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 144/3

(a) EUR 175 per tonne in the following cases:

Article 11d

— where it is noted that imports of semi-milled and
wholly milled rice made over the course of
the
marketing year just ended exceed 387 743 tonnes,

— where it is noted that imports of semi-milled and
wholly milled rice made over the course of the first
six months of the marketing year exceed 182 239
tonnes;

Notwithstanding Article 11(1), the import duty for broken
rice falling within CN code 1006 40 00 shall be EUR 65 per
tonne.’;

4. the following Annex shall be inserted:

‘ANNEX IIIa

(b) EUR 145 per tonne in the following cases:

Varieties of Basmati rice referred to in Article 11b

— where it is noted that imports of semi-milled and
wholly milled rice made over the course of
the
marketing year just ended do not exceed 387 743
tonnes,

— where it is noted that imports of semi-milled and
wholly milled rice made over the course of the first
six months of
the marketing year do not exceed
182 239 tonnes.

The Commission shall fix the applicable duty only if the
this paragraph indicate a
calculations performed under
need to change it. Until such time as a new applicable
duty is fixed, the duty previously fixed shall apply.

2.
In order to calculate the imports as referred to in
paragraph 1, account shall be taken of the quantities for
which import
licences for semi-milled or wholly milled
rice falling within CN code 1006 30 were issued under the
first subparagraph of Article 10(1)
in the corresponding
reference period.

Basmati 217

Basmati 370

Basmati 386

Kernel (Basmati)

Pusa Basmati

Ranbir Basmati

Super Basmati

Taraori Basmati (HBC-19)
Type-3 (Dehradun)’.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following
that of
the European
Union.

its publication in the Official

Journal of

It shall apply from 1 July 2006.

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

Done at Brussels, 22 May 2006.

For the Council
The President

J. PRÖLL