CELEX: 31997R1773
Language: en
Date: 1997-09-12 00:00:00
Title: COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1773/97 of 12 September 1997 on a special intervention measure for cereals in Finland and Sweden

13 . 9 . 97         r en             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  L 250/ 1
                                                             I
                                           (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                                    COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1773/97
                                                  of 12 September 1997
                        on a special intervention measure for cereals in Finland and Sweden
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                      the fixing of refunds on the basis of Article 13 favours
                                                                 primarily those other Member States; whereas it is anticip­
                                                                 ated therefore that the production of oats in the two
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            Nordic countries will give way increasingly to that of
Community,                                                       barley; whereas, consequently, in coming years, substantial
                                                                 quantities of barley must be expected to enter interven­
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92             tion storage in Finland and Sweden pursuant to Article 4
of 30 June 1992 on the common organization of the                of Regulation (EEC) No \766/92, the only possibility of
market in cereals ('), as last amended by Commission             disposal being export to third countries; whereas exports
Regulation (EC) No 923/96 (2), and in particular Article 6       from intervention storage are more costly to the Com­
thereof,                                                         munity budget than direct exports;
Whereas oats are one of the products covered by the
common organization of the market in cereals; whereas it         Whereas a special intervention measure within the
is not, however, included among the basic cereals referred       meaning of Article 6 of that Regulation could prevent
to in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 for which         these additional costs; whereas this intervention measure
provision is made for intervention buying-in;                    should be taken in the form of a measure intended to
                                                                 relieve the market in oats in Finland and Sweden; whereas
                                                                 the grant of a refund by a tendering procedure which
Whereas oats is a major traditional crop in Finland and          would apply only to oats produced and exported from
Sweden which is well suited to the weather conditions            those two countries would be the most appropriate
obtaining in those countries; whereas production far             measure in the circumstances;
exceeds requirements in those countries with the result
that they are required to dispose of surpluses by exporting
them to third countries; whereas membership of the
Community has not altered the previously existing situa­         Whereas the nature and objectives of the said measure
tion ;                                                           make it appropriate to apply to it, mutatis mutandis,
                                                                 Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 and the Regu­
Whereas any reduction in the quantity of oats grown in           lations adopted for its implementation, in particular
Finland and Sweden would be beneficial to other cereals          Commission Regulation (EC) No 1501 /95 of 29 June
qualifying for the intervention arrangements, especially          1995 laying down certain detailed rules for the applica­
barley; whereas production of barley is in surplus both in       tion of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 on the
the two Nordic countries and across the whole of the             granting of export refunds on cereals and the measures to
                                                                 be taken in the event of disturbance on the market for
Community; whereas a switch from oats to barley would
only worsen the situation and create further surpluses;          cereals (3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No
whereas it is necessary therefore to ensure that exports of       1259/97 (4);
oats to third countries can continue;
Whereas refunds may be granted in respect of oats                Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1501 /95 requires tenderers
pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92;           to apply for an export licence among their other under­
whereas the geographical situation of Finland and Sweden         takings; whereas compliance with this obligation may be
places them in a less favourable position from the point         ensured by requiring tenderers to lodge a security of ECU
of view of exporting than other Member States; whereas           12 per tonne when they submit their tenders;
(') OJ L 181 , 1 . 7. 1992, p. 21 .                              (3) OJ L 147, 30. 6. 1995, p. 7.
(2) OJ L 126, 24. 5. 1996, p. 37.                                (4) OJ L 174, 2. 7. 1997, p. 10 .
 ---pagebreak--- L 250 /2              EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                   13 . 9. 97
Whereas the cereals in question should actually be                 5. The tendering procedure shall take place in accord­
exported from the Member States for which a special                ance with this Regulation and Regulation (EC) No
intervention measure was implemented; whereas it is                1501 /95.
necessary therefore to limit the use of export licences to
exports from the Member State in which application for
the licence was made and to oats produced in Finland                                         Article 3
and Sweden ;
                                                                  A tender shall be valid only if:
Whereas, in order to ensure equal treatment for all
concerned, it is necessary to make provision that the             (a) it relates to not less than 1 000 tonnes;
licences issued have an identical period of validity;             (b) it is accompanied by a written undertaking from the
                                                                       tenderer specifying that it relates solely to oats grown
Whereas, in order to ensure the smooth operation of the                in Finland and Sweden which are to be exported from
export tendering procedure, it is necessary to prescribe a             those countries .
minimum quantity and a time limit and form for the
submission of tenders to the competent agencies;                  Where the undertaking referred to in paragraph (b) is not
                                                                   fulfilled, the security provided for in Article 10 of
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are          Commission Regulation (EC) No 11 62/95 (') shall be
in accordance with the opinion of the Management                  forfeited, except in cases of force majeure.
Committee for Cereals,
                                                                                             Article 4
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                  Under the tendering procedure referred to in Article 2,
                                                                  one of the following entries shall be made in box 20 of
                            Article 1                             applications and export licences:
                                                                  — Asetus (EY) N:o 1773/97 — Todistus on voimassa
1 . A special intervention measure in the form of an                   ainoastaan Suomessa ia Ruotsissa',
export refund shall be implemented in respect of 250 000
tonnes of oats produced in Finland and Sweden and                 — Förordning (EG) nr 1773/97 — Licensen giltig endast
intended for export from Finland and Sweden to all third               i Finland och Sverige'.
countries.
                                                                                             Article 5
Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 and the provi­
sions adopted for the application of that Article shall
apply, mutatis mutandis, to the said refund.                      The refund shall be valid only for exports from Finland
                                                                  and Sweden .
2.     The Finnish and Swedish intervention agencies shall
be responsible for implementing the measure referred to                                      Article 6
in paragraph 1 .
                                                                  The security referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EC)
                            Article 2                              No 1501 /95 shall be ECU 12 per tonne.
 1.    Tenders shall be invited in order to determine the
amount of the refund referred to in Article 1 .                                              Article 7
2. The invitation to tender shall relate to the quantity           1 . Notwithstanding Article 21 ( 1 ) of Commission
of oats referred to in Article 1 ( 1 ) for export to all third     Regulation (EEC) No 3719/88 (2), export licences issued in
countries .                                                        accordance with Article 8 (1 ) of Regulation (EC) No
                                                                   1501 /95 shall, for the purpose of determining their period
3. The invitation shall remain open until 25 June                 of validity, be deemed to have been issued on the day on
 1998 . During its period of validity weekly awards shall be      which the tender was submitted .
made, for which the time limits for the submission of
tenders shall be specified in the notice of invitation to         2.      Export licences issued under this tendering proced­
tender.                                                           ure shall be valid from their date of issue, as defined in
                                                                  paragraph 1 , until the end of the fourth month following
Notwithstanding Article 4 (4) of Regulation (EC) No               that of issue .
1501 /95, the time limit for the submission of tenders for
the first partial invitation to tender shall be 18 September      3.      Notwithstanding Article 1 1 of Regulation (EEC) No
1997.                                                             3719/88, export licences issued under this tendering pro­
                                                                  cedure shall be valid in Finland and Sweden only.
4.     Tenders must be submitted to the Finnish and
Swedish intervention agencies named in the notice of              (') OJ L 117, 24. 5. 1995, p. 2.
invitation .                                                      (2) OJ L 331 , 2. 12. 1988, p. 1 .
 ---pagebreak--- 13 . 9 . 97           EN              Official Journal of the European Communities                                 L 250/3
                           Article 8                             the weekly submission of tenders as specified in the
                                                                 notice of invitation to tender. They must be communic­
1.     On the basis of tenders notified, the Commission          ated in the form shown in Annex I to the telex or fax
shall decide, in accordance with the procedure laid down         numbers given in Annex II.
in Article 23 of Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92, either:
— to fix a maximum export refund, taking into account            If no tenders are received, the Finnish and Swedish inter­
     in particular the criteria laid down in Article 1 of        vention agencies shall inform the Commission thereof
     Regulation (EC) No 1501 /95, or                             within the period specified in the first paragraph .
— to make no award .
                                                                 The times fixed for the submission of tenders shall corres­
2. Where a maximum export refund is fixed, a contract
shall be awarded to any tenderer whose tender specifies a        pond to Belgian time .
rate of refund not exceeding such maximum export
refund .
                                                                                         Article 10
                           Article 9
Tenders submitted must reach the Commission via the              This Regulation shall enter into force on the day follow­
Finnish and Swedish intervention agencies not later than         ing its publication in the Official Journal of the Euro­
one and a half hours following expiry of the deadline for        pean Communities.
                  This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                  States .
                  Done at Brussels, 12 September 1997.
                                                                          For the Commission
                                                                            Franz FISCHLER
                                                                      Member of the Commission
 ---pagebreak--- L 250/4    EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  13 . 9 . 97
                                                     ANNEX I
        Weekly tender for the refund for the export of oats from Finland and Sweden to all third
                                                     countries
                                           (Regulation (EC) No 1773/97)
                            (Closing date for the submission of tenders (date/time))
                  1                  2                                         3
               Number             Quantity                         Amount of export refund
             of tenderer         in tonnes                            in ecus per tonne
                  1
                  2
                  3
                 etc.
                                                     ANNEX II
        The only numbers to use to call Brussels (DG VI-C-1 , (Attention : Messrs Thibault and Brus)) are:
        — telex:            — 22037 AGREC B,
                            — 22070 AGREC B (Greek characters);
        — fax:              — 295 25 15,
                            — 296 49 56 .