Commission Regulation (EC) No 1580/2006 of 20 October 2006 amending Regulation (EC) No 1043/2005 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 as regards the system of granting export refunds on certain agricultural products exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex I to the Treaty, and the criteria for fixing the amount of such refunds
Date: 2006-10-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: agri-monetary policy, agricultural product, agro-industry, export refund

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Official Journal of the European Union

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1580/2006

of 20 October 2006

amending Regulation (EC) No 1043/2005 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 as
regards the system of granting export refunds on certain agricultural products exported in the
form of goods not covered by Annex I to the Treaty, and the criteria for fixing the amount of
such refunds

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(4)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 of 6
December 1993 laying down the trade arrangements applicable
to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural
products (1), and in particular the first subparagraph of Article
8(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

In accordance with Article 4 of Commission Regulation
(EC) No 1043/2005 (2), and in conjunction with the
second subparagraph of Article 1(1) thereof, Commission
Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 of 15 April 1999 laying
down common detailed rules for the application of the
system of export refunds on agricultural products (3)
applies to exports of products in the form of goods
not covered by Annex I to the Treaty.

In accordance with the second indent of Article 3 of
Regulation (EC) No 800/1999,
to the
export refund is acquired on importation into a specific
third country when a differentiated refund applies for
that third country.

entitlement

Articles 14, 15 and 16 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999
lays down the conditions for the payment of the differ-
entiated refund,
to be
supplied as proof of the goods' arrival at destination.

the documents

in particular

(1) OJ L 318, 20.12.1993, p. 18. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 2580/2000 (OJ L 298, 25.11.2000, p. 5).

(2) OJ L 172, 5.7.2005, p. 24. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 544/2006 (OJ L 94, 1.4.2006, p. 24).

(3) OJ L 102, 17.4.1999, p. 11. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 671/2004 (OJ L 105, 14.4.2004, p. 5).

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 provides that
Member States may,
in certain circumstances, exempt
exporters from furnishing the proof, other than the
transport document, required under Article 16 of that
Regulation.

The volume of specific applications in respect of which
refunds are granted in accordance with Regulation (EC)
No 1043/2005 is high. Most goods to which these appli-
cations relate are manufactured under clearly defined
technical conditions, have constant characteristics and
quality, follow regular export patterns and have manu-
facturing formulas which have been registered and
confirmed by the competent authorities.

In the light of these special circumstances and with a
view to simplifying the administrative work involved in
granting export
refunds under Regulation (EC) No
1043/2005, it is appropriate to adopt special provisions
giving Member States greater flexibility than those set out
in Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 in so far
as
they relate to the maximums below which the
Member States may exempt operators from furnishing
the proof required under Article 16 of the latter Regu-
lation.

It is therefore appropriate, where goods are packaged for
consumer retail sale or where goods follow well estab-
lished regular export patterns involving exports by the
same exporter of goods of the same CN code to the same
consignee, to confer on Member States the flexibility, at
their discretion, to exempt exporters from furnishing the
proof required under Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No
800/1999, provided that
to
submit such proof on a spot check basis.

they require exporters

It is necessary to ensure that on the one hand Member
States can establish that the foregoing exemptions are
limited to the operations for which they are intended
while on the other hand individual exporters know in
advance of export the goods and operations for which a
Member State is prepared to allow them to benefit from
these more flexible arrangements. Therefore, it is appro-
priate to provide for administration by Member States of
an authorisation procedure whereby they can control the
goods and operations for which they are prepared to
allow those more flexible arrangements.

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(9)

the system of

is appropriate to provide that exemptions granted
It
under such provisions be considered as risk factors to
be taken into account for the purposes of Article 2(1) of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 4045/89 (1), which relates
to scrutiny by Member States of transactions forming
part of
financing by the Guarantee
Section of
the European Agricultural Guidance and
Guarantee Fund. In addition, where Member States seek
certain documentation on a risk factors basis, it is also
appropriate that they apply the principles established in
Commission Regulation (EC) No 3122/94 of 20
December 1994 laying down criteria for risk analysis
as regards agricultural products receiving refunds (2).

(10) Notwithstanding

for

exemptions

the provisions

as
provided in this Regulation, the proofs required under
Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 should be
obligatory in certain instances. Since subjecting the
payment of
refunds to these requirements entails a
substantial change in the administrative procedures for
both the national authorities and exporters, it has admin-
istrative implications and represents a significant financial
burden. Obtaining the proof referred to in Article 16 of
Regulation (EC) No 800/1999 can pose considerable
administrative difficulties in some countries. To alleviate
the administrative and financial constraints
some of
imposed on exporters, and in order to allow the autho-
rities and exporters to set up the new arrangements for
the goods concerned and introduce the procedures
needed to ensure
to be
formalities
all
that
it is appropriate to provide
completed run smoothly,
for a transitional period during which the proof that
customs
been
completed is made easier.

importation

formalities

have

the

for

(11)

Regulation (EC) 1043/2005 should therefore be amended
accordingly.

(12)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
the Management
accordance with the opinion of
Committee on horizontal questions concerning trade in
processed agricultural products not listed in Annex I,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

In Article 54 of Regulation (EC) No 1043/2005, the following
paragraphs 3 to 6 are added:

‘3.
For the goods listed in Annex II to this Regulation and
by way of derogation from Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No
the first
800/1999,
paragraph of
the
country or territory of destination to which the goods are
exported:

that Article shall apply regardless of

the amount set out

in point

(b) of

(a)

in the case of goods which are packaged for consumer
retail sale in immediate packings of net content not
exceeding 2,5 kg or in containers not holding more
than 2 litres, with labelling within the meaning of
Article 1(3)(a) of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council (*) which mentions either
the importer in the country of destination or whose text
is in an official language of the country of destination or
in a language easily understood in that country;

(b) in cases where a particular exporter, at least 12 times in
the two years preceding the date of request for an author-
isation as referred to in paragraph 4, exports goods
containing not more than 90 % by weight of any single
basic product on which refund is payable, which are of
the same eight-digit CN code to the same consignee(s).

4.
In the cases provided for in paragraph 3, Member States
may, on request, grant formal authorisation exempting the
exporter concerned from furnishing the documents required
under Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 800/1999, other than
the transport document.

The authorisation referred to in the first subparagraph shall
be valid, unless revoked, for a maximum period of two years
and shall be renewable. Member States may revoke the
authorisation at their sole discretion and in particular shall
immediately withdraw it where they have reasonable grounds
to suspect that the exporter did not follow the conditions of
the specific authorisation.

Exemptions granted according to the first subparagraph shall
be considered as risk factors to be taken into account for the
purposes of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 4045/89.

(1) OJ L 388, 30.12.1989, p. 18. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 2154/2002 (OJ L 328, 5.12.2002, p. 4).

(2) OJ L 330, 21.12.1994, p. 31. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 2655/1999 (OJ L 325, 17.12.1999, p. 12).

Exporters using the exemption shall mention the authori-
sation number on the single administrative document and
on the specific application for payment as referred to in
Article 32 of this Regulation.

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Notwithstanding paragraph 4, for the cases provided for
5.
in paragraph 3(b), Member States may exempt the exporter
concerned from furnishing the transport documents for all
exports covered by an authorisation, provided that
the
required to furnish the transport
exporter concerned is
documents in respect of a minimum of 10 % of such
export declarations or one per annum, whichever is the
greater,
to be selected by Member States applying the
criteria laid down in Regulation (EC) No 3122/94.

6.
In the case of the goods listed in Annex II to this
Regulation where the export declaration was accepted not
later than 30 September 2007 and for which the exporter
is unable to provide the proof referred to in Article 16(1) of
Regulation (EC) No 800/1999, the goods shall be deemed to
have been imported into a third country on presentation of a
copy of
the
documents listed in Article 16(2) of Regulation (EC) No

the transport document and either one of

800/1999 or a bank document issued by approved interme-
diaries established in the Community, certifying that payment
for the export in question has been credited to the account of
the exporter opened with them, or the proof of payment.

For the purposes of applying Article 20 of Regulation (EC)
No 800/1999 Member States shall take into account the
provisions laid down in the first subparagraph.
___________
(*) OJ L 109, 6.5.2000, p. 29.’

Article 2

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

its publication in the Official

Journal of

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

Done at Brussels, 20 October 2006.

For the Commission

Günter VERHEUGEN
Vice-President