Pursuant to the Agreement between the European Union and India2 with respect to rice, approved by Council Decision 2004/617/EC3, the duty applicable to imports of husked rice of certain Basmati varieties originating in India is fixed at zero.

Pursuant to the Agreement between the European Union and Pakistan4 with respect to rice, approved by Council Decision 2004/618/EC5, the duty applicable to imports of husked rice of certain Basmati varieties originating in Pakistan is fixed at zero.

To implement those agreements, Article 138 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/20076 provided that the husked Basmati rice varieties covered by those agreements had to qualify for a zero rate of import duty under the conditions fixed by the Commission. Those conditions have been laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 972/20067.

Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, which repeals and replaces Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, does not contain a provision similar to Article 138 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007. As regards the import duties, Article 183 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 empowers the Commission to adopt implementing acts fixing the level of the applied import duty in accordance with the rules set out, inter alia, in an international agreement concluded in accordance with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

In order to continue to comply with the Agreement between the Union and India and the Agreement between the Union and Pakistan, it should be provided in Regulation (EC) No 972/2006 that the husked Basmati rice varieties covered by those agreements should qualify for a zero rate of import duty under the conditions fixed in that Regulation.

Regulation (EC) No 972/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly,