Commission Regulation (EC) No 670/2009 of 24 July 2009 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards public intervention by invitation to tender for the purchase of durum wheat or paddy rice, and amending Regulations (EC) No 428/2008 and (EC) No 687/2008
Corrected by
  • Corrigendum to Commission Regulation (EC) No 670/2009 of 24 July 2009 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards public intervention by invitation to tender for the purchase of durum wheat or paddy rice, and amending Regulations (EC) No 428/2008 and (EC) No 687/2008, 32009R0670R(01), March 25, 2010
Commission Regulation (EC) No 670/2009of 24 July 2009laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards public intervention by invitation to tender for the purchase of durum wheat or paddy rice, and amending Regulations (EC) No 428/2008 and (EC) No 687/2008 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation)OJ L 299, 16.11.2007, p. 1., and in particular Article 43(a), (c) and (k), in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,Whereas:(1)Pursuant to Article 13(3) and Article 18(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 72/2009OJ L 30, 31.1.2009, p. 1., the Commission may decide, as from 1 July 2009 for durum wheat and 1 September 2009 for paddy rice, on public intervention if the market situation and, particularly, trends in market prices so justify it. There is a need to lay down the conditions under which public intervention may occur, in the event of the Commission deciding that such intervention is necessary and to reiterate which authorities are competent, in this area, in the Member States, in accordance with the provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 884/2006 of 21 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the financing by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) of intervention measures in the form of public storage operations and the accounting of public storage operations by the paying agencies of the Member StatesOJ L 171, 23.6.2006, p. 35., by specifying that such authorities shall intervene, for the purposes of this Regulation, as "intervention agencies", including when paying agencies act directly.(2)In order to ensure that the public intervention system operates as simply and efficiently as possible, the rules relating to the approval of intervention centres by intervention agencies in the Member States should be defined, and the provisions relating to such approval should be decided upon. To this end, the conditions necessary for the approval of storage premises at intervention centres should be defined.(3)The conditions under which offers of durum wheat and paddy rice sent for intervention can be considered admissible, and the conditions for the take-over of products by such agencies must be as uniform as possible throughout the Community. In order to ensure that all operators are treated equally, the procedures applicable to purchases and, specifically, the admissibility of bids, acceptances and checks relating thereto should therefore be defined.(4)If storage premises at an approved intervention centre, situated in a Member State other than that in which the main activity of the operator is carried out, allow operators to deliver their products as cheaply as possible, the said operators should have the possibility of submitting their tenders in the Member State concerned. In order to avoid these operators being subject to additional administrative restrictions, they should therefore be authorised to carry out the formalities relating to the tenders using their VAT registration number in the Member State in which they carry out their main activity and be allowed to lodge, in order to substantiate their bid, a security obtained in the said Member State.(5)In order to ensure simplified and satisfactory management of the intervention measure, a batch presented should be homogenous and, in the case of rice, composed of rice of the same variety. A minimum quantity should also be established, below which the intervention agency is not obliged to accept the bid, but nevertheless taking into account the fact that a minimum additional tonnage may prove necessary in order to take into account the conditions and practices of the wholesale trade or environmental regulations in force in a Member State. In order to provide operators with information regarding applicable minimum amounts, intervention agencies should specify these minimum amounts in each tender notice that they publish and, if necessary, establish such amounts at a level higher than that laid down in this Regulation.(6)Durum wheat and paddy rice whose quality does not permit suitable further use or storage should not be accepted for intervention. The methods necessary for establishing the quality of durum wheat and paddy rice must, to this end, be defined.(7)Durum wheat is a cereal covered by minimum quality criteria for human consumption and must satisfy the health standards laid down by Council Regulation (EEC) No 315/93 of 8 February 1993 laying down Community procedures for contaminants in foodOJ L 37, 13.2.1993, p. 1.. These standards should apply when the product concerned is taken over under the present intervention scheme.(8)The risks inherent in exceeding the maximum admissible contaminant thresholds can be identified by the paying agencies or intervention agencies on the basis of information received from bidders and their own analysis criteria. In order to limit the financial costs, there is therefore justification for requiring analyses, under the responsibility of the agencies prior to the taking-over of products, only on the basis of a risk analysis enabling the quality of the products on entry into the intervention scheme to be guaranteed. Where a Member State takes a decision at the time of purchase of a product and that decision is inadequate in the light of the risk analysis required by these rules, that Member State should however be directly liable if it later emerges that the product did not comply with the minimum standards prescribed. Such a decision would not make it possible to guarantee the quality of the product and, therefore, ensure its proper preservation. Consequently, the circumstances under which a Member State is to be held liable should be specified.(9)When fixing the minimum quality of paddy rice, consideration should be given in particular to weather conditions in the rice-growing areas of the Community.(10)The checks to ensure that the products offered are actually present at the storage premises nominated by the bidder and that the requirements established regarding the weight and quality of goods offered are complied with should be precisely laid down. A distinction should be made between, on the one hand, acceptance of the goods offered after the quantity and compliance with the minimum quality requirements have been checked and, on the other hand, fixing the price to be paid to the bidder after the necessary tests have been carried out to identify the precise characteristics of each lot based on representative samples.(11)To allow sound management of this intervention measure, tenders for durum wheat and rice are firm and definitive. They may not therefore be amended or withdrawn and it is necessary for the submission of bids to be subject to the lodging of a security and to specify the means of its release and possible forfeit to the Community budget in the event of non-compliance with certain conditions regarding the admissibility of the said offers.(12)Article 18(2) and (4)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 states that the intervention price of durum wheat is fixed by the Commission by means of tendering procedures, without prejudice to price increases and reductions for quality purposes. These price variations linked to the main quality criteria for durum wheat need to be specified.(13)Article 18(4)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 states that the intervention price is fixed for paddy rice of a specific standard quality defined in point A of Annex IV to that Regulation and that, if the quality of the rice offered for intervention differs from that standard quality, the intervention price is to be adjusted by applying price increases or reductions. The application of such increases or reductions should reflect price differences observed on the paddy rice market for quality reasons. To this end, the basic characteristics of paddy rice should be taken into account, thereby allowing an objective assessment of its quality to be made; an assessment of moisture content, milling yield and grain defects, using simple and effective methods, meets this requirement.(14)For the purposes of harmonisation, checks on intervention stock should be carried out under the conditions set out in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 884/2006.(15)For the purposes of ensuring the efficient management of the system, the information required by the Commission should be sent electronically and communicated on the basis of methods made available to Member States by the Commission.(16)The provisions relating to the rice sector made in this Regulation replace those currently in force and made in Commission Regulation (EC) No 489/2005 of 29 March 2005 laying down detailed rules for implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1785/2003 as regards determining the intervention centres and the taking over of paddy rice by the intervention agenciesOJ L 81, 30.3.2005, p. 26.. However, in order to harmonise the rules applying to rice and durum wheat, it is appropriate not to repeat certain provisions contained in Regulation (EC) No 489/2005.(17)The provisions relating to durum wheat made in this Regulation replace those currently in force and made in Commission Regulation (EC) No 428/2008 of 8 May 2008 on determining the intervention centres for cerealsOJ L 129, 17.5.2008, p. 8.. Provision should therefore be made for these no longer to apply to durum wheat as of 1 July 2009.(18)The provisions relating to durum wheat made in this Regulation replace those currently in force and made in Commission Regulation (EC) No 687/2008 of 18 July 2008 establishing procedures for the taking-over of cereals by intervention agencies or paying agencies and laying down methods of analysis for determining the quality of cerealsOJ L 192, 19.7.2008, p. 20.. Provision should therefore be made for these no longer to apply to durum wheat as of 1 July 2009.(19)Regulations (EC) No 428/2008 and (EC) No 687/2008 should therefore be amended and Regulation (EC) No 489/2005 repealed.(20)In accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 72/2009, the new provisions relating to public intervention measures made in Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 are to apply as of 1 July 2009 as regards durum wheat and 1 September 2009 as regards the rice sector. The detailed rules for the application of these measures should therefore apply as of the same dates.(21)The Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets has not delivered an opinion within the time limit set by its Chair,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Loading ...