Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2637 of 30 July 2024 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760 as regards the rules on the reference quantity for groups of tariff quotas in the poultry sector

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007⁽¹⁾, and in particular Article 186 thereof,

Whereas:

1. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760⁽²⁾ supplements Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 as regards the rules for the administration of import and export tariff quotas for agricultural products subject to licences.

2. Pursuant to Article 9(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760, operators may submit applications for licences under a given tariff quota only for a limited quantity, calculated on the basis of the quantities that they imported in the past (‘reference quantity’). Article 9(2) of that Delegated Regulation provides that the reference quantity is to cover products released for free circulation in the Union which fall within the same tariff quota number and have the same origin.

3. Article 9(6) and (7) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760 sets out a derogation from the rule that the reference quantity is to be calculated on the basis of imports of products coming from the same origin. For certain groups of tariff quotas, the reference quantity is calculated cumulatively for the whole group set out in that Article 9 instead of being calculated for a single tariff quota. Consequently, that group reference quantity may be used to apply for licences for any of the tariff quota of the group concerned.

4. The derogation set out in Article 9(6) and (7) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760 thus allows importers to apply for the tariff quotas under the group reference quantity with a certain degree of flexibility.

5. However, the use of that derogation could potentially lead to market distortions, as recent legislative and market developments enable a limited number of companies to obtain significant shares of import licences under the tariff quotas concerned. That risk was increased by the elimination of duties on imports from Ukraine, as provided for in Regulations (EU) 2022/870⁽³⁾, (EU) 2023/1077⁽⁴⁾ and (EU) 2024/1392⁽⁵⁾ of the European Parliament and of the Council.

6. To minimise this risk of market distortions and to ensure that all interested operators can apply for import licences under the tariff quotas concerned, it is appropriate to remove tariff quotas under order numbers 09.4213, 09.4216, and 09.4412 from the groups listed in Article 9(6) and (7) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760.

7. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760 should therefore be amended accordingly.

8. To ensure the proper management of those groups of tariff quotas, and taking into consideration the fact that the tariff quota periods are not the same for all of them, the amendments introduced by this Regulation should apply as of the tariff quota periods starting after the entry into force of this Regulation,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: