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

ELAN1L-TCDOCs, subtype ‘Certificate of authenticity’, or certificates of authenticity based on Annex XIV.4, if their use is allowed by the transitional rules laid down in Articles 72a to 72d, shall be valid for three months from their dates of issue and in any case not beyond the last day of the tariff quota period.

The notified quantities shall be expressed in kilograms of product weight and, where applicable, converted in product weight bone-less equivalent.

For the purposes of this Chapter, ‘frozen meat’ means meat that has an internal temperature of – 12 °C or lower when it enters the customs territory of the Union.

This Article applies to tariff quota with order number 09.4516.

In accordance with the transitional rules laid down in Articles 21a to 21d of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, on licences based on the template laid down in Annex I to that Implementing Regulation, customs authorities shall indicate the serial number of the IMA1 certificate in Section 31 of the import licence.

If allowed by the transitional rules laid down in Articles 72a to 72d, IMA1 certificates may be drawn up in accordance with the model set out in Annex XIV.5.

This Article applies to tariff quotas under order numbers 09.4523, 09.4524 and 09.4525.

In accordance with the transitional rules laid down in Articles 21a to 21d of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, on licences based on the template laid down in Annex I to that Implementing Regulation, customs authorities shall indicate the serial number of the IMA1 certificate in Section 31 of the import licence.

In accordance with the transitional rules laid down in Articles 72a to 72d, IMA1 certificates may be drawn up in accordance with the model set out in Annex XIV.5.

The quantities notified by the competent authorities to the Commission for tariff quotas under order numbers 09.4523, 09.4524 and 09.4525 shall be broken down by CN code.

This Article applies to tariff quotas with order numbers 09.4518, 09.4519 and 09.4520.

Issuing an import licence and release for free circulation of quantities imported under the tariff quotas referred to in paragraph 1 shall be conditional upon presentation of a certificate of eligibility.

Certificates of eligibility shall be drawn up in accordance with the model set out in Annex XIV.7.

Certificates of eligibility shall be completed in one of the official languages of the Union.

Certificates of eligibility shall bear an individual serial number allocated by the issuing authority.

Certificates of eligibility shall be valid only if they are duly completed and endorsed by the issuing authority for the import tariff quota concerned.

Certificates of eligibility shall be considered to have been duly endorsed if they state the date and place of issue and if they bear a printed seal or the stamp of the issuing authority and the signature of the person or persons empowered to sign them.

Certificates of eligibility shall be valid until the end of the applicable tariff quota period.

Tariff quotas managed with documents issued by third countries are listed in Annex I.

Import licences for those tariff quotas shall cover the total net quantity indicated on the IMA1 certificate or the certificate of eligibility.

IMA1 certificates shall be drawn up in accordance with the ELAN1L-TCDOC model in accordance with the provisions laid down in Annex XIV.8 , except when the transitional rules laid down in Articles 72a to 72d allow them to be drawn up in accordance with the model set out in Annex XIV.5. However, box 3, relating to the buyer, and box 6, relating to the country of destination, shall not be completed.

The certificate shall cover the total quantity of products intended to leave the territory of the issuing country.

IMA 1 certificates shall be valid from the date of their issue until the end of the eighth month following their issue. They shall not remain valid beyond 31 December of the year in which they were issued.

By way of derogation from paragraph 3, IMA 1 certificates valid from 1 January may be issued as of 1 November of the previous year. However, the related import licence applications may be lodged only from the first day of the tariff quota period.

The circumstances under which IMA 1 certificates drawn up in accordance with the model set out in Annex XIV.5 in accordance with the transitional rules laid down in Articles 72a to 72d may be cancelled, amended, replaced or corrected are set out in that Annex.

The ELAN1L-TCDOC, subtype ‘IMA 1’, shall be made available via ELAN, along with the corresponding import licence and the products to which they relate, to the customs authorities of the importing Member State at the same time when the declaration of release for free circulation in the Union is lodged.

IMA 1 certificates shall be valid only if duly completed and authenticated by an issuing body listed in Annex XIV.5 and shall be regarded as duly authenticated:

Issuing bodies shall be listed in Annex XIV only if:

Where an issuing body no longer meets the requirements specified in this Article, it shall be removed from Annex XIV.

Products falling within CN code 0406 as set out in Annex XIII shall be subject to presentation of an export licence where they are exported to the United States of America under:

By way of derogation from Article 6, applications for export licences shall be lodged with the competent authorities from 1 to 10 September of the year preceding the quota year for which export licences are allocated. All applications shall be lodged simultaneously with the licence issuing authority of a Member State.

Section ‘Product list. CN code’ of the ELAN1L-AGREX, or Section 16 of licence applications and licences based on the template laid down in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, shall show the eight-digit CN code. However, the licences shall also be valid for any other code falling under CN heading 0406 .

Applicants for export licences shall provide evidence that their designated importer is a subsidiary of the applicant.

Applicants for export licences shall indicate in the application:

The export licence application and the export licence shall contain the following information:

For each quota identified in column (3) of Annex XIV.5 – B1, each applicant may lodge one or more licence applications provided that the total quantity applied for per quota does not exceed the maximum quantity limits fixed in the following subparagraphs.

Applications for export licences shall be accompanied by a declaration from the designated United States importer stating its eligibility for import under the United States rules on dairy tariff-rate quota import licensing laid down in part 6 of subtitle A of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations. In case of electronic application, an electronic copy of this declaration may be submitted.

Information on the quotas opened by the United States of America shall be provided together with the export licence application and presented in accordance with the model set out in Annex XIV.

By way of derogation from Article 11 of this Regulation, export licences shall be issued by 15 December of the year preceding the quota year for the quantities for which the licences are allocated.

By 18 September of each year, Member States shall notify the Commission of the applications lodged for each of the cheese quotas opened by the United States of America. The fact that no applications were lodged shall also be notified.

For each quota, the notification shall comprise:

In accordance with the transitional rules laid down in Articles 21a to 21d of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, Member States that do not issue licences using ELAN shall notify the Commission, at the latest on 15 January of each year of the quantities, broken down by CN code, for which they have issued licences.

By way of derogation from Article 10, where applications for export licences for a quota exceed the quantity available for the year concerned, the Commission shall calculate and publish an allocation coefficient by 31 October. If necessary, an allocation coefficient higher than 100 % may be applied.

Where, as the result of applying the allocation coefficient, the allocated quantities would be less than 10 tonnes per quota for an applicant, the applicant may withdraw the licence application. In such cases, the applicant shall notify the licence issuing authority thereof within three working days following the publication by the Commission of the allocation coefficient.

The competent authority shall notify the Commission, within 10 calendar days following the publication of the allocation coefficient, of the quantities, broken down by CN code, for which licence applications were withdrawn.

Where applications for export licences do not exceed the quantity available for the year concerned, the Commission shall allocate the remaining quantities to applicants in proportion to the quantities applied for, by fixing an allocation coefficient. The amount resulting from the application of the coefficient shall be rounded down to the nearest kg. In that case, the operators shall inform the licence issuing authority of the Member States concerned of the supplementary quantity they accept, within a week from the publication of the allocation coefficient. The security to be lodged shall be increased accordingly.

The competent authority shall notify the Commission, within two weeks from the publication of the allocation coefficient, of the supplementary quantities that were accepted by the operators, broken down by CN code.

The names of the designated importers and the quantities allocated shall be communicated by the Commission to the competent authorities of the United States of America.

Where an import licence for the quantities concerned is not allocated to the designated importer, in circumstances which do not cast doubt on the good faith of the operator submitting a declaration of eligibility under the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules on dairy tariff-rate quota import licensing laid down in part 6 of subtitle A of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the operator may be authorised by the licence issuing authority to designate another importer stated on the USDA list of approved importers and communicated in accordance with paragraph 1.

The licence issuing authority shall notify the Commission, as soon as possible, of the change of the designated importer and the Commission shall notify the change to the competent authorities of the United States of America.

In accordance with the Agreement for the conclusion of negotiations between the European Community and Canada under Article XXIV:6 and an Exchange of Letters relating thereto, approved by Council Decision 95/591/EC ([^E0046]), a tariff quota is open for exports to Canada of cheese, subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation.

An export licence shall be required for exports of cheese to Canada under that quota as set out in Annex XIII.

Licence applications shall be admissible only where applicants declare in writing that all material falling within Chapter 4 of the Combined Nomenclature and used in the manufacture of products covered by their application has been produced entirely within the Union from milk produced entirely within the Union. The applicants shall also undertake in writing, to provide, at the request of the competent authorities, evidence that those conditions are met. The competent authorities may verify that evidence through on-the-spot controls.

The export licence application and the export licence shall contain the following information:

When applying for an import licence, an export licence titular holder shall present the original export licence or a certified copy of the export licence to the competent Canadian authority.

The release into free circulation in the Union of pigmeat originating in Canada shall be conditional upon production of an origin declaration. The origin declaration shall be provided on an invoice or any other commercial document that describes the originating product in sufficient detail to enable its identification. The text of the origin declaration shall be as set out in Annex 2 to the Protocol on rules of origin and origin procedures to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada, of the one part, and the European Union and its Member States, of the other part.

The conversion factors laid down in Part B of Annex XVI shall be used to convert product weight to carcass weight equivalent for the tariff quota under order number 09.4282.

Applications for import licences shall be submitted within the first 7 days of the second month preceding each of the sub-periods referred to in Annex X to this Regulation.

If quantities remain available after the first application period within a given sub-period, eligible applicants may submit new applications for import licences during the two following application periods, in accordance with Article 6 of this Regulation. In such cases food business operators with establishments approved in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 may apply without submitting a proof of trade.

Import licences shall be issued as of the 23rd day until the end of the month in which the applications were submitted.

Import licences shall be valid for 5 months from the day of issue within the meaning of Article 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 or the date of the beginning of the sub-period for which the import licence is issued, whichever is later. However, the import licence shall expire on 31 December at the latest.

Licence holders may return unused licence quantities before the expiry of the licence and no later than 4 months prior to the end of the tariff quota period. Each licence holder may return up to 30 % of its individual licence quantity.

Where a part of the licence quantity is returned in accordance with paragraph 7, 60 % of the corresponding security shall be released.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the weight shall be converted into shell egg equivalent according to the standard rates of yield laid down in Part A of Annex XVI to this Regulation. The standard rates of yield shall apply only to import goods of sound, genuine and merchantable quality which conforms to any standard quality laid down in Union legislation and on condition that the compensating products are not obtained by special processing methods in order to meet specific quality requirements.

The reference quantity shall be corrected using the conversion factors laid down in Part A of Annex XVI to this Regulation.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the weight of milk albumins shall be converted into the shell egg equivalent according to the standard rates of yield of 7,00 for dried milk albumins (CN code 3502 20 91 ) and of 53,00 for other milk albumins (CN code 3502 20 99 ) using the principles of conversion laid down in Part A of Annex XVI to this Regulation.

For the purpose of licence applications for tariff quotas under order numbers 09.4275, 09.4401 and 09.4402, the total quantity shall be converted into the shell egg equivalent.

Quantities notified to the Commission under this Regulation shall be expressed in:

The conversion factors laid down in Annex XVI, Part Aa shall be used to convert product weight into shell egg equivalent for the tariff quota with order number 09.4403.

In accordance with the concessions made in the framework of the World Trade Organisation Uruguay Round ([^E0051]), a tariff quota is open for exports to Switzerland of dog and cat food of EU origin, subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation.

Licence applications shall be admissible only where applicants declare in writing that all material used in the manufacture of products covered by their application has been produced entirely within the Union. The applicants shall also undertake, in writing, to provide, at the request of the competent authorities, evidence that those conditions are met, and to accept, where applicable, any checks by those authorities of the accounts and of the conditions under which the products concerned are manufactured. If the applicant is not the manufacturer of the products, it shall present a similar statement and undertaking by the manufacturer in support of his application.

By way of derogation from Article 71(1), the AGREX export licence may be replaced by an invoice or any other commercial document that describes the originating product in sufficient detail to enable its identification.

The export of products subject to export tariff quotas managed by third countries shall be subject to the availability in ELAN of an AGREX export licence as set out in Annex I.1 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239.

Licence applications for those tariff rate quotas shall be admissible only where the conditions referred to in Article 64(3) and in Article 70(2) are fulfilled.

By way of derogation from Article 6, operators may lodge more than one licence application per month, and licence applications may be submitted any day, taking account of Article 3 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239.

Licences shall be issued as soon as possible after admissible applications are lodged.

At the request of the party concerned, a certified copy of the endorsed licence shall be issued.

Export licences may be used for one export declaration only. Licences shall be exhausted once the export declaration has been accepted.

Article 16 shall not apply to export tariff quotas managed by third countries.

Where an import tariff quota is managed in accordance with point (iii) of Article 187(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, the document issued by an exporting country shall be:

By way of derogation from Article 6, operators may lodge more than one licence application per month and licence applications may be submitted at any day, taking account of Article 3 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239.

With the exception of tariff quotas referred to in Articles 49 and 50, together with their application for import licence operators shall provide to the licence issuing authority all details necessary to retrieve in ELAN the supporting document issued by the third country referred to in the relevant fiche in Annexes II to XII. The application shall be made within the period of validity of the relevant third country supporting document and no later than the last day of the tariff quota period concerned.

The licence issuing authority shall verify that information on the supporting document issued by the third country is complete and, if that is the case, that licence issuing authority shall issue import licences without delay, no later than six calendar days after receiving the application from the operator.

One certificate of authenticity, certificate of eligibility or IMA 1 certificate shall be used for issuing one import licence only.

The licence issuing authority shall indicate in Section ‘TCDOC number’ of the licence issued in accordance with Annex I.1 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 the serial number of the relevant supporting document issued by the third country. The quantity shall be expressed in whole units, rounded to the nearest kilogram in accordance with the rules set out in Article 8(2), point (a), of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239.

The Commission may request a third country to authorise representatives of the Commission to carry out, where required, on-the-spot checks in that third country. Those checks shall be performed jointly with the competent authorities of the third country concerned.

Once the exporting country has issued one or more of the relevant supporting documents, it shall immediately communicate the issuing of these documents to the Commission in ELAN.

The Commission shall make available to the licence issuing and customs authorities of the Member States the specimens of the stamp imprints used by the issuing authority in the exporting country for issuing the certificate of authenticity or the certificate of eligibility. Names and signatures of the persons authorised to sign the certificate of authenticity or the certificate of eligibility, communicated to the Commission by the authorities of exporting countries, shall also be made available to the licence issuing and customs authorities of the Member States. The access to the Specimen Management System (SMS) database containing this information shall be restricted to authorised persons and shall be made available to Member States by means of an information system set up in accordance with Articles 57 and 58 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447.

From 15 July 2025, issuing authorities of third countries may start issuing or transmitting documents in ELAN (acceptance environment).

Documents made available in ELAN (acceptance environment) shall count as tests performed by the issuing authorities and shall not have legal value.

ELAN (acceptance environment) shall remain available for third countries until the date referred to in Article 72c(1), with the sole purpose of allowing all users of ELAN to test the functioning of the system.

From the date laid down in paragraph 1, issuing authorities of third countries may issue the documents required by the relevant Union legislation using either:

Third countries may make documents available in ELAN before the date referred to in Article 72c(1).

When the documents referred to in paragraph 1 are a precondition to issue import licences and need to be put at disposal of customs authorities on paper, they shall be printed from ELAN by licence issuing authorities upon request of the economic operator.

From 17 January 2028, all the issuing authorities of third countries shall issue the documents required by the relevant Union legislation in accordance with Annex XIV.8.

The issuing authorities of third countries shall issue the documents required by the relevant Union legislation either in ELAN or in their national electronic systems. In the latter case, they shall transmit also the documents to ELAN.

Documents that do not comply with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not have legal value and shall not be used for release for free circulation in the Union territory of agricultural products.

If the documents issued by third countries are a pre-condition to submit applications for import licences and shall also be presented to customs for the release of goods into free circulation, licence issuing authorities of Member States may, upon request of the titular holder or the representative thereof, print the documents issued by third countries from ELAN.

Customs authorities shall accept documents that third countries issued in accordance with the templates for paper documents laid down in Parts A, B and D of Annex XIV.2, in Annexes XIV.3 to XIV.7, and in Annex XVII to this Regulation, as well as those laid down in Annex 22-14 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, in Parts B to G of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1988 and in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2834, provided that they have been issued before the date laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article and that they are still valid in accordance with the relevant Union legislation.

From 6 October 2028, automatic verifications and reporting of clearance information by customs authorities of documents issued by third countries in accordance with Article 72c of this Regulation shall take place via EU CSW-CERTEX in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2022/2399.

Documents issued by third countries before the date laid down in paragraph 1 and printed on paper shall remain valid in accordance with the relevant Union legislation.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall apply to the tariff quota periods starting from 1 January 2021 onwards.