
Article 1 
Notwithstanding Article 135 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, the import duty for malting barley falling within CN code 1003 00 shall be fixed in the framework of the quota opened by this Regulation.
Article 135 of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 shall apply to imports of the products referred to in this Regulation, in excess of the quantity provided for in Article 2 of this Regulation.
Article 2 

1. A tariff import quota of 50 000 tonnes of malting barley falling within CN code 1003 00 to be used in the manufacture of beer aged in beechwood vats is hereby opened on 1 January each year. It carries the serial number 09.4061.
2. Duties on imports within the tariff quota shall be levied at a rate of EUR 8 per tonne.
3. Commission Regulation (EC) No 376/2008 and Regulations (EC) No 1342/2003 and (EC) No 1301/2006 shall apply, save as otherwise provided for in this Regulation.
Article 3 
For the purposes of applying this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

((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.
Article 4 

1. The benefit of the tariff quota shall be granted provided the imported barley meets the following criteria:
(a) specific weight: minimum 60,5 kg/hl;
(b) damaged grains: maximum 1 %;
(c) moisture: maximum 13,5 %;
(d) sound and fair merchantable barley: minimum 96 %.
2. Compliance with the quality criteria set out in paragraph 1 shall be certified by one of the following documents:
(a) a certificate of analysis carried out at the importer’s request by the customs office of release for free circulation; or
(b) a certificate of conformity for the imported barley issued by a government authority of the country of origin and recognised by the Commission.
Article 5 

1. The benefit of access to this quota shall be granted provided the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a) the imported barley must be malted within six months from the date of release for free circulation;
(b) the resulting malt must be used in the manufacture of beer aged in vats containing beechwood within no more than 150 days following the date on which the barley is processed into malt.
2. Applications for import licences under the tariff quota shall be accepted only if they are accompanied by:
(a) the proof or proofs provided for in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006;
(b) proof that the applicant has lodged a security of EUR 85 per tonne with the competent authority of the Member State of release for free circulation. In case the malting barley consignments are accompanied by a certificate of conformity issued by the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) as referred to in Article 7, the security shall be reduced to EUR 10 per tonne;
(c) a written undertaking by the applicant that all the imported goods will be processed, within six months from the date of acceptance of entry for free circulation, into malt for use in the manufacture of beer aged in vats containing beechwood within 150 days following the date on which the barley was processed into malt. He shall specify the processing location by stating either a processing firm and Member State or a maximum of five processing plants. Before the goods are consigned for processing a control copy T5 shall be made out of the office of customs clearance in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. The information required in the first sentence of this point (c) and the name and location of the processing plant shall be given in Box 104 of the T5.
3. Processing of the imported barley into malt shall be deemed to have taken place when the malting barley has undergone steeping. The use of the malt to manufacture beer aged in vats containing beechwood within no more than 150 days following the date on which the barley is processed into malt shall be subject to verification by the competent authority.
Article 6 

1. The security provided for in Article 5(2)(b) shall be released provided the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a) the quality of the barley, established on the basis of the certificate of conformity or analysis certificate, meets the criteria laid down in Article 4(1);
(b) the certificate applicant provides proof of the specific final use referred to in Article 5(1), certifying that this use has taken place within the time limit provided for in the written undertaking referred to in Article 5(2)(c). That proof, possibly in the form of the T5 control copy, must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the competent authorities of the Member State of importation that all the quantities imported have been processed into the product referred in Article 5(2)(c).
2. Where the quality criteria and/or the conditions relating to processing set out in Articles 4 and 5 of this Regulation are not fulfilled, the security for import licences referred to in Article 12(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2003 and the additional security referred to in Article 5(2)(b) of this Regulation shall be forfeited.
Article 7 
A blank specimen of the certificates to be issued by the FGIS is given in Annex I. Certificates issued by the FGIS for malting barley destined to be used in the manufacture of beer aged in vats containing beechwood shall be officially recognised by the Commission under the administrative cooperation procedure as provided for in Articles 63, 64 and 65 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. When the analytical parameters entered in the certificate of conformity issued by FGIS show conformity with the malting barley quality standards established in Article 4 of this Regulation samples shall be taken of at least 3 % of the cargoes arriving at each entry port during the marketing year. Reproduction of the stamp and signatures authorised by the Government of the United States of America shall be published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union.
Article 8 

1. Notwithstanding Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, applicants may not submit more than one licence application per month. Where applicants lodge more than one application, none of those applications shall be admissible and the securities lodged when the applications were submitted shall be forfeited to the Member State concerned.Import licence applications shall be lodged with the competent authorities of the Member States no later than the second Friday of each month at 13.00 (Brussels time).
2. Each licence application shall indicate a quantity in kilograms (whole numbers).
3. No later than 18:00 (Brussels time) on the Monday following submission of the licence application, the competent authorities shall send the Commission, by electronic means, a notification showing each application with the quantity applied for, including ‘nil’ notifications.
4. Licences shall be issued on the fourth working day following the deadline for the notification referred to in paragraph 3.Member States shall communicate to the Commission, by electronic means, on the day of issue of the import licences, the information on the licences issued as referred to in Article 11(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, with the total quantities for which import licences have been issued.
Article 9 
Import licences shall be valid for 60 days from the day of issue. In accordance with Article 22(2) of Regulation (EC) No 376/2008, the period of validity of the licence shall be calculated from the actual date of issue.
Article 10 
Section 20 of the import licence application and the import licence shall contain the name of the processed product to be made from the cereals concerned.
Article 11 
Regulation (EC) No 2377/2002 is repealed.
References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex III.
Article 12 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.Done at Brussels, 5 December 2008.
For the Commission
The President
José Manuel BARROSO
ANNEX I

ANNEX II
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2377/2002(OJ L 358, 31.12.2002, p. 95) 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 159/2003(OJ L 25, 30.1.2003, p. 37) 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 626/2003(OJ L 90, 8.4.2003, p. 32) 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1112/2003(OJ L 158, 27.6.2003, p. 23) 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 777/2004(OJ L 123, 27.4.2004, p. 50) Only Article 13
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2022/2006(OJ L 384, 29.12.2006, p. 70) Only Article 2
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1456/2007(OJ L 325, 11.12.2007, p. 76) Only Article 3
ANNEX III
Regulation (EC) No 2377/2002 This Regulation
Articles 1 and 2 Articles 1 and 2
Article 4 Article 3
Article 5 Article 4
Article 6 Article 5
Article 7 Article 6
Article 8 Article 7
Article 9 Article 8
Article 10 Article 9
Article 13 Article 10
— Article 11
Article 14, first paragraph Article 12
Article 14, second paragraph —
Annex I Annex I
— Annex II
— Annex III