(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2377/2002 of 27 December 2002 opening and providing for the administration of a Community tariff quota for malting barley from third countries and derogating from Council Regulation (EEC) No 1766/92 (4) has been substantially amended several times (5). In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Regulation should be codified.

(2)

Following trade negotiations, the Community has changed the conditions for the import of common wheat of low and medium quality and of barley by creating import quotas. For barley, the Community has decided to replace the ‘margin of preference’ system by two tariff quotas: one tariff quota of 50 000 tonnes for malting barley and one tariff quota of 300 000 for barley. This Regulation concerns the tariff quota of 50 000 tonnes of malting barley.

(3)

Under the Community’s international commitments, malting barley for import must be intended for use in the manufacture of beer aged in vats containing beechwood. In this respect, provisions should be adopted relating to the quality criteria for barley and to processing requirements similar to those of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1234/2001 of 22 June 2001 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 822/2001 and providing for the partial reimbursement of import duties levied on a quota of barley for malting (6).

(4)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006 of 31 August 2006 laying down common rules for the administration of import tariff quotas for agricultural products managed by a system of import licences (7) applies to import licences for tariff quota periods starting from 1 January 2007.

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006 applies without prejudice to additional conditions or derogations which might be laid down by this Regulation.

(6)

To ensure that imports of the barley covered by this tariff quota are orderly and not speculative, they should be made subject to the issue of import licences.

(7)

To ensure the proper management of this quota, deadlines for the lodging of licence applications should be laid down and the information to be included in applications and licences should be specified.

(8)

To take account of supply conditions, a derogation should be made concerning the period of validity of the licences.

(9)

Taking account of the obligation to apply a high level of guarantee to ensure sound management of the quota and that this guarantee would have to be in place during all the processing period, it is appropriate to exempt importers whose consignments of malting barley are accompanied by a certificate of conformity agreed with the government of the United States of America according to the administrative cooperation procedure provided for in Articles 63, 64 and 65 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (8).

(10)

To ensure sound management of this quota, the security on the import licences should be set at a relatively high level, notwithstanding Article 12 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1342/2003 of 28 July 2003 laying down special detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences for cereals and rice (9).

(11)

Rapid two-way communication should be established between the Commission and the Member States regarding the quantities applied for and imported.

(12)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,

(a)

‘damaged grains’ means grains of barley, other cereals or wild oats that display damage, including deterioration caused by disease, frost, heat, insects or fungus, bad weather and all other forms of physical damage;

(b)

‘sound and fair merchantable barley’ means barley grains or pieces of grains that are not damaged as defined in point (a), except grains damaged by frost or fungus.