Commission Regulation (EC) No 1677/2002 of 20 September 2002 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1151/2002 as regards import licences for oats and barley originating in the Republic of Estonia

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1677/2002
of 20 September 2002
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1151/2002 as regards import licences for oats and barley originating in the Republic of Estonia
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1151/2002 of 27 June 2002 establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and providing for an adjustment, as an autonomous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the Europe Agreement with Estonia(1), and in particular Article 1(3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 1151/2002 repealed Council Regulation (EC) No 1349/2000 of 19 June 2000 establishing certain concessions in the form of Community tariff quotas for certain agricultural products and providing for an adjustment, as an autonomous and transitional measure, of certain agricultural concessions provided for in the Europe Agreement with Estonia(2). It thus rendered obsolete Commission Regulation (EC) No 1729/2000 which laid down detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1349/2000. New detailed rules should therefore be laid down, incorporating provisions relating to imports of barley of brewery quality.
(2) The European Community has undertaken to establish, for each marketing year from 1 July 2002 on, an import tariff quota at zero duty of 4800 tonnes of oats falling within CN code 1004 00 00 originating in Estonia, with an annual quota increase of 900 tonnes per marketing year with effect from 1 July 2003.
(3) That import is conditional upon presentation of an import licence. It is therefore necessary to specify the conditions governing the issue of such a licence.
(4) Provision should be made for the licences covering imports of oats, under the fixed quantities, to be issued after a period of reflection and subject, if necessary, to a single percentage reduction in the quantities requested.
(5) The information which must appear on the applications and licences should be laid down by derogation from Articles 8 and 21 of 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(3), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2299/2001(4).
(6) To take account of delivery conditions, the import licences should be made valid from the day on which they are issued up to the end of the month following that in which they are issued.
(7) To ensure efficient management of the quota, the import licences should not be transferable and the import licence security should be fixed at EUR 89 per tonne, by derogation from Article 10 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1162/95(5), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1322/2002(6).
(8) Regulation (EC) No 1151/2002 also provided for the possibility of importing into the Community at zero duty an unlimited quantity of barley for the production of malt falling within CN code ex 1003 00 90.
(9) Special provisions must be laid down to ensure that barley of brewery quality is not diverted from the uses specified. To that end, the granting of the exemption must be made subject to an undertaking by importers to abide by the planned use of the product in question and the lodging of a security equal to the import duty. A reasonable processing time is required for the administration of the arrangements in question. Where the product released for free circulation is dispatched to another Member State for processing, the T5 control copy drawn up by the Member State of release for free circulation pursuant to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93(7), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 444/2002(8), is the appropriate instrument for providing proof of processing.
(10) An element of proportionality must be introduced as regards the release of securities, in particular where the quantities to be processed and/or the time limits laid down by the arrangements have not been met. To this end, a tolerance should also be introduced as regards the quantity processed to take account of weighing losses and various other processing losses.
(11) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Cereals,