Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1842/81 of 3 July 1981 laying down detailed rules for implementing Regulation (EEC) No 1188/81 relating to general rules for granting refunds adjusted in the case of cereals exported in the form of certain spirituous beverages

Receipt of the export refund for cereals exported in the form of one of the spirituous beverages covered by Regulation (EEC) No 1188/81 shall be subject to the lodging with the competent authorities of a declaration, termed ‘payment declaration’ below, in which the operator states his intention to distil the cereals in order to produce one of the spirituous beverages covered by that Regulation.

The payment declaration shall include all the particulars as are necessary for determining the refund, in particular:

For the purposes of this Regulation, the weight of cereals to be taken into consideration for calculation of the payment shall be the net weight, if the moisture content is not more than 16 %. If the moisture content of the cereals used is more than 16 %, but not more than 17 %, the weight to be taken into consideration shall be the net weight reduced by 1 %. If the moisture content of the cereals used is more than 17 %, but not more than 18 %, the reduction shall be 2 %. If the moisture content of the cereals used is more than 18 % the reduction shall be two percentage points for each percentage point of moisture above 16 %.

At the time of acceptance of the payment declaration, the cereals or malt shall be placed under customs control or under the administrative control referred to in Article 3 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 1188/81 until such time as they have been distilled.

The date of acceptance of the payment declaration shall determine the rate of the refund.

The result of the examination of the payment declaration, whether or not combined with the examination of the cereals or malt, shall be used for determining the refund.

Paragraph 1 shall not preclude any subsequent verification by the competent authorities of the Member State concerned or any consequences of such verification which may result from the application of the provisions in force.

As regards procedures for checking the distillation process, including the yield, the cereals or malt shall be subject to the same rules as apply in respect of inward processing arrangements.

The by-products of processing shall be exempt from control if it has been established that they do not exceed the quantity of by-products normally obtained.

No refund shall be granted where the cereals or malt are not of sound and fair merchantable quality.

The refund shall be paid only upon presentation of a payment declaration, which shall also contain confirmation that the cereals or malt have been distilled. This confirmation shall be provided by the competent authorities.

The refund shall be paid by the Member State in which the payment declaration is accepted.

The refund shall be paid only on written application by the operator. Member States may prescribe a special form to be used for this purpose.

Except in cases of force majeure the documents required for the granting of the refund must be lodged within 12 months of the day on which the competent authorities accepted the payment declaration, otherwise entitlement to the refund shall be lost.

For the purposes of Article 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1188/81:

However, where Member States when authorizing import under inward processing arrangements:

The first indent of paragraph 2 shall not apply where the conditions for application of the first indent of Article 3 (2) or of Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 1188/81 are fulfilled.

Paragraph 2 shall not prejudice adjustment of the coefficient in order to ensure payment of the import levies in respect of the by-products obtained under inward processing arrangement but not intended for export.

Where paragraph 2 applies, cereals released for free circulation referred to in the second indent of that paragraph shall not be eligible for the export refund.

Advance payment, at the time the cereals or malt are placed under control, of a sum equal to the refund shall be subject to the lodging of a security equal to the amount to be paid plus:

The refund due shall be set off against the amount paid in advance when proof of distillation of the cereals or malt is produced and, if paragraph 1 (a) applies, distillation has been carried out within the prescribed period.

The release of the security shall be subject to the production of proof that the cereals or malt have been distilled, where appropriate, before the expiry of the prescribed period. On application by the person concerned, Member States may release the security by instalments in proportion to the quantities of cereals or malt in respect of which the proof of distillation laid down has been provided.

For the purposes of Article 6, the proof of exportation and, where Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 1188/81 is applicable, the proof of importation into a non-member country in respect of which the refund applies shall be the proofs provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 2730/79.

For the purposes of this Regulation, ‘exports’ means:

Products having being placed in a victualling warehouse approved pursuant to Article 26 of Regulation (EEC) No 2730/79 shall also be considered as having been exported.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the declaration submitted when the customs export formalities are completed must contain:

For the purposes of paragraph 1 (c), if the spirituous beverage is obtained from different types of cereals and it results from a subsequent mixture it shall be sufficient to state this in the declaration.

For a quantity of a spirituous beverage to be deemed to have been exported, the proofs referred to in Article 12 must be submitted to the designated authorities within six months of the date on which the customs export formalities are completed.

Where the proofs required cannot be submitted within the prescribed period, although the exporter has acted with all due diligence to obtain them within such period, he may be granted an extension of time. This extension shall not exceed six months.

In the case of cereals or malt placed under the control of a national authority in the period 1 August 1973 to 30 June 1981, operators who wish to qualify for refunds must submit an application to the competent body containing the following details:

The Member States concerned shall provide the Commission as soon as possible with the information specified in Article 16 (2) (a), (b), (c) and (d) relating to the year 1979.

The Member States concerned shall provide the Commission before 16 July 1981 with the information specified in Article 16 (2) (a), (b), (c) and (d) relating to the years 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978.

The Member States concerned shall notify the Commission before 16 October 1981 of the quantities of spirituous beverages in store on 31 December of the years 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979 and of the quantities produced during those years.

Member States shall inform the Commission of the names and addresses of the competent bodies.

Member States shall provide the Commission with the following information before  16 June each year:

Member States shall also provide the Commission with the information listed under (a), (b), (c) and (d) for each calendar quarter before 16 October, 16 January and 16 April, where available.

Member States applying Article 6 (2) shall communicate, together with the information referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3, information as to the quantity of cereals referred to in the second indent of Article 6 (2).