Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760
of 17 December 2019
supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the rules for the administration of import and export tariff quotas subject to licences and supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the lodging of securities in the administration of tariff quotas
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007(1), and in particular Article 185, Article 186, and Article 223(2) thereof,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008(2), and in particular Articles 64(6) and 66(3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 lays down rules regarding the management of tariff quota and special treatment of imports by third countries. It also empowers the Commission to adopt related delegated and implementing acts, in order to ensure smooth management of tariff quotas.
(2) In order to guarantee sound management of tariff quotas, eligibility requirements that an operator has to fulfil to submit an application for the licence within a tariff quota need to be laid down.
(3) To ensure that the obligation to import or export is complied with within the period of validity of the licence, the licences within tariff quotas should be issued subject to the lodging of a security. Derogations need to be established for the cases when the export licence is only intended to prove the Union origin of the exported products. Provisions should be laid down on the release and forfeiture of the security lodged for the participation in the tariff quotas.
(4) To ensure transparency and to enable the competent authorities to detect violations of the rules for the administration of tariff quotas, and in particular of the eligibility requirements, it is appropriate to require, for certain over-demanded tariff quotas, that the licence holders’ name and addresses be published on the official website of the Commission for a limited period of time.
(5) To ensure compliance with the rules on eligibility within tariff quotas, it is appropriate to lay down specific rules regarding the transferability of a licence within tariff quotas. Transfers should be possible only to transferees satisfying the same eligibility criteria as the applicant for a licence within a tariff quota.
(6) In order to minimise speculative applications, one of the conditions for applying for a licence within certain tariff quotas listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761(3) should be the past experience and involvement of an operator in the trade concerned with third countries. It is therefore necessary to lay down detailed rules regarding proof of the minimum experience in that trade with third countries.
(7) Certain tariff quotas are considered to be sensitive, among other reasons, because they are over-demanded in a quota period or in one or more sub-periods, concern a product or a country of origin of particular importance for the proper functioning of the Union market, or because the rules for their administration have been circumvented or incorrectly applied in the past. To ensure proper administration of those sensitive tariff quotas, in particular to reduce the risk of circumvention of rules and to enable new, small and medium-sized operators to benefit from those tariff quotas, the maximum quantities to be applied for should be set out in the form of a reference quantity. Rules should also be laid down for the calculation and proof of that reference quantity.
(8) The reference quantity should cover the quantities of the products released for free circulation in the Union under the preferential regime of the tariff rate quota concerned, the quantities of the same products released for free circulation in the Union under other applicable preferential regimes as well as under the non-preferential MFN regime. Consideration should also be given to ensuring a reasonable distribution of licences among different categories of operators, in particular ensuring access of new importers and small and medium sized operators. Therefore, a ceiling of the total reference quantity per operator needs to be introduced that should be proportionate to the total available quantity under a specific tariff quota, ensuring a reasonable balance between import performance of major importers and interests of new and smaller importers wishing to benefit from the tariff quota. To ensure continuity with the rules applicable before the entry into application of this Regulation, and at the same time to harmonise those rules, yet retain certain degree of flexibility, the ceiling of the total reference quantity has been set at 15 %.
(9) To better manage tariff quotas and to discourage speculation with licences and circumvention of the rules for the administration of tariff quotas, it is appropriate to require, for certain sensitive, highly demanded tariff quotas or certain tariff quotas where there has been circumvention in the past, listed in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761, that operators register in a dedicated electronic system prior to applying for an import licence. Rules concerning storage of data in that electronic system should be established. It is also appropriate to provide that only operators that are not linked to another operator applying for the same tariff quota and operators that are linked to another operator applying for the same tariff quota but regularly perform substantial economic activities towards third parties may apply for import licences under those quotas. To this end, they should submit a declaration of independence when applying for an import licence. The format of the declaration of independence should be laid down.
(10) To ensure that the reference quantity, declaration of independence and prior compulsory registration requirements, do not hinder the full use of the tariff quotas concerned, it is appropriate to provide for the suspension of those requirements in exceptional circumstances.
(11) In order to ensure that the specific conditions required for a special treatment on importation into a third country are met, it is appropriate to lay down rules on the issue of export licences.
(12) In order to ensure that applicants provide accurate, up-to-date and truthful documents and information, it is appropriate to provide for a proportionate penalty system for failure to comply with that obligation.
(13) In order to ensure an effective administration of tariff quotas, it is appropriate to lay down rules on the information to be notified by Member States to the Commission.
(14) The accession of Spain and Portugal to the EU resulted in the application of common EU tariff barriers to Spanish and Portuguese imports and the loss of competitiveness for imports from certain non-EU countries. In the context of the agreements concluded under the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations the Union allowed annual imports of 2 000 000 tonnes of maize and 300 000 tonnes of sorghum to Spain and annual imports of 500 000 tonnes of maize to Portugal. In the case of the quotas for imports into Spain, the quantities of certain grain substitutes imported into Spain should be deducted from the total quantities imported.
(15) In order to ensure a sound administration of those quotas, similar methods should be used for booking imports of maize and sorghum in Spain and in Portugal. Moreover, quantities imported under acts by which the Union granted specific trade concessions should not be taken into account.
(16) Taking into account the specificities of the duty-free tariff quotas for imports of maize and sorghum into Spain and Portugal, it is appropriate to lay down specific rules concerning the use of the imported products, customs surveillance and administrative controls, the submission of licence applications, the securities to be lodged for such licences, the release and forfeiture of those securities and the information to be made available to the operators.
(17) As this Regulation replaces the existing rules for the management of tariff quotas, the Union acts containing those rules should be repealed.
(18) In order to avoid disrupting trade flows, it is necessary to provide for the continued application of the repealed acts to import licences that were issued on the basis of those acts prior to the date of entry into force of this Regulation. For the same purpose, it is appropriate to allow licence issuing authorities to establish the reference quantity in accordance with the repealed acts during the first two tariff quota periods following the entry into force of this Regulation.
(19) In order to ensure a smooth transition to the rules provided for in this Regulation, to fulfil the obligation to notify the new rules to the World Trade Organisation prior to their application and to grant operators sufficient time to adapt to the obligation to register in a dedicated electronic system and to submit a declaration of independence through that electronic system for certain over-demanded tariff quotas, it is appropriate to defer the application of this Regulation until 1 January 2021,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 of 17 December 2019 laying down rules for the application of Regulations (EU) No 1306/2013, (EU) No 1308/2013 and (EU) No 510/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the management system of tariff quotas with licences (See page … of this Official Journal).