Commission Regulation (EC) No 142/2007 of 14 February 2007 amending Regulation (EC) No 1610/2006 derogating from Regulations (EC) No 327/98 and (EC) No 1291/2000 as regards certain import licences issued for the July 2006 tranche of tariff quotas for imports of rice and broken rice
Date: 2007-02-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: United States, derogation from EU law, import licence, rice, tariff quota

15.2.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 43/11

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 142/2007

of 14 February 2007

amending Regulation (EC) No 1610/2006 derogating from Regulations (EC) No 327/98 and (EC)
No 1291/2000 as regards certain import licences issued for the July 2006 tranche of tariff quotas
for imports of rice and broken rice

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

States should be allowed 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 (5) and to release, on
a case-by-case basis, the security lodged by importers
where certain conditions are met.

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1095/96 of 18
June 1996 on the implementation of the concessions set out in
Schedule CXL drawn up in the wake of the conclusion of the
GATT XXIV(6) negotiations (1), and in particular Article 1
thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 of 29
September 2003 on the common organisation of the market in
rice (2), and in particular Article 13(4) thereof,

(3)

(4)

(5)

Whereas:

Member States should also be allowed to return to the
licences submitted in
importers concerned the export
support
in
applications
their
accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 327/98.

import

licence

of

Regulation (EC) No 1610/2006 should therefore be
amended.

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

(1)

(2)

Under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1610/2006 (3),
the validity of licences for the import of husked, semi-
milled and wholly milled rice issued for the July 2006
tranche of certain import quotas opened by Commission
Regulation (EC) No 327/98 of 10 February 1998
opening and providing for the administration of certain
tariff quotas for imports of rice and broken rice (4) was,
at the request of the importers concerned, extended until
31 December 2006. In addition, in certain cases, the use
of those licences was facilitated as regards the origin and
CN code of the rice to be imported.

in the flows of

Despite the new provisions, some import licences could
not be used during their period of validity because of
disturbances
into the
rice imports
in particular, by the presence on
Community caused,
the US market of rice contaminated with genetically
modified rice and the resulting risk of
imports being
blocked. Given these special circumstances, Member

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1610/2006 is hereby amended as follows:

1. The following Article 2a is added:

‘Article 2a

By derogation from Article 35(2) of Regulation (EC)
1.
No 1291/2000, Member States may, after examining each
case, release the security provided for in Article 4(2) of
Regulation (EC) No 327/98 lodged for
licences
referred to in Article 1 of this Regulation that were not
used before the end of their period of validity, provided that:

import

(1) OJ L 146, 20.6.1996, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 96. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 797/2006 (OJ L 144, 31.5.2006, p. 1).

(3) OJ L 299, 28.10.2006, p. 11.
(4) OJ L 37, 11.2.1998, p. 5. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 2019/2006 (OJ L 384, 29.12.2006, p. 48).

(a)

the holder returns the unused import licence(s) to the
competent authorities and requests the release of the
relevant security,

(5) OJ L 152, 24.6.2000, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 1913/2006 (OJ L 365, 21.12.2006, p. 52).

L 43/12

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Official Journal of the European Union

15.2.2007

(b) the competent authorities of

the Member State have
sufficient proof
the importer acted in
good faith and made all reasonable efforts to use the
import licence(s) during the period of validity.

to show that

2.
The originals of export licences accompanying import
licence applications in accordance with Article 3 of Regu-
lation (EC) No 327/98 shall be returned to holders of import
licences for which securities are released under paragraph 1
of this Article.’

2. In Article 3, the following paragraph 3 is added:

‘3. Member States shall send the Commission electro-
nically and by 31 March 2007 the serial number(s) of
unused import licence(s) for which the security has been
released under Article 2a, indicating the quantities (tonnes)
of products concerned broken down by Combined Nomen-
clature (CN) code.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publi-
cation in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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

Done at Brussels, 14 February 2007.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission