Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1271 of 6 May 2025 amending Implementing Regulations (EU) 2016/1239, (EU) 2020/761, (EU) 2020/1988 and (EU) 2023/2834 as a consequence of the establishment of the Electronic system for Agricultural Non-customs formalities (ELAN), and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1988 as regards two new tariff quota numbers for imports of rice from Bangladesh

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 Articles 178 and 187 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) 2022/2399 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) establishes a European Union Single Window Environment for Customs (‘EU Single Window Environment for Customs’), which includes an electronic European Union Customs Single Window Certificates Exchange System, a national single window environments for customs, and various Union non-customs systems the use of which is either mandatory or voluntary under Union law.

(2) In order to optimise trade of agricultural products, all documents required in agricultural legislation for fulfilling non-customs formalities should be made available to the customs authorities of Member States in electronic form via the EU Single Window Environment for Customs.

(3) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1269 (3) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1272 (4) establish an electronic system for agricultural non-customs formalities (‘ELAN’) to make the documents falling under its scope available in electronic form to customs authorities. The development and use of ELAN require the adoption of an adequate legal framework to lay down the rules applicable to the system.

(4) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 (5) lays down rules for the issue of import and export licences for trade of agricultural products, Commission Implementing Regulations (EU) 2020/761 (6) and (EU) 2023/2834 (7) lay down rules for tariff rate quotas managed with licences and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1988 (8) lays down rules for tariff rate quotas managed in accordance with the ‘first come first served’ principle. Those Implementing Regulations should allow that the documents under their scope can be made available to the customs authorities of Member States in electronic form via the EU Single Window Environment for Customs.

(5) Member States currently issue import and export licences based on the templates laid down in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239. To make import and export licences available in electronic form in the EU Single Window Environment for Customs via ELAN, licence issuing authorities should issue them in accordance with the data models developed by the Commission specifically for this purpose and laid down in the ‘Notice on the instructions on completing the ELAN1L-AGRIM and ELAN1L-AGREX data models’ (9) and referred to in Article 1(1), point (j) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 (the ‘instructions published in series C of the Official Journal of the European Union’).

(6) The definitions laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 should therefore include the terminology introduced with the development of ELAN.

(7) Licence applications are to be submitted using either the templates set out in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, or those set out by Member States. Save the rules applicable during the transitional period laid down in Articles 21a to 21d of that Implementing Regulation, licences are to be issued in accordance with the data models set out in the instructions published in series C of the Official Journal of the European Union and communicated to ELAN, for their check and use by the Member States authorities through the EU Single Window Environment for Customs.

(8) Customs offices should be allowed access ELAN to perform their control activities on the documents and make the quantity attributions as defined in Article 10 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 when so required by the relevant Union legislation. During the transitional period, the applicable rules should allow the Customs offices to control all documents, taking into account that each document may follow a different format.

(9) The rules on transfers of licences should take into account that, during the transitional period, licences following the current templates may be transferred in accordance with the Notice on import and export licences for agricultural products (10), whereas those following the new ELAN1L data models should follow the instructions published in series C of the Official Journal of the European Union.

(10) The rules concerning corrections of ELAN documents should specify which types of corrections are to be accepted by ELAN, and how the competent issuing authorities should indicate on the documents that they have been corrected, if the rules allow them to be printed on paper.

(11) The current rules require operators to return the licences to the competent issuing authorities, to prove that they fulfilled the obligation to release for free circulation or to export embedded in the licences. Once ELAN is operational, and customs authorities use it to indicate the quantity released for free circulation or exported on electronic licences, the proof of the fulfilment of these obligations may be retrieved directly from ELAN, without the need for economic operators to return the licences to the issuing authorities. Therefore, the relevant provisions of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 should reflect this change, and take into account that, during the transitional period or during the temporary unavailability of ELAN, Union operators may still be required to submit this proof on paper.

(12) Rules concerning the possibility to issue replacement and duplicate licences should still apply to licences issued during the transitional period. They should apply also when licences issued on paper while ELAN is temporary unavailable have been lost or destroyed.

(13) A new Annex I.1 should be added to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, laying down the information Member States should provide in import and export licences issued in accordance with the ELAN1L-AGRIM and ELAN1L-AGREX data models. That Annex should indicate, in particular, which information should be always mandatorily included in the licences, and which instead should be included when so required by the rules that apply to the specific licence.

(14) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 should ensure the proper management of documents issued by third countries via ELAN and adapt the rules applicable to import and export licences issued for the management of tariff rate quotas.

(15) Article 2 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 should list Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1269 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1272 laying down rules with regard to ELAN.

(16) Licence applications should be allowed for the product codes referred to in the fiches for tariff quotas set out in Annexes II to XIII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761. These codes could have the form of 4, 6, 8 or 10 digits, in certain cases preceded by the word ex, depending on the specific rules applicable to the relevant tariff quotas. Those licence applications should be submitted in accordance with the relevant rules laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, with the possibility to use the current paper templates in accordance with the transitional rules laid down in Articles 21a, to 21d of that Implementing Regulation.

(17) Licences should be issued for quantities expressed in product weight, except when the quantity available for the specific tariff quota in the fiches in Annexes II to XIII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 and the instructions published in series C of the Official Journal of the European Union indicate a different unit of measurement. Moreover, licences may be issued for products defined by product codes preceded by ex, when so allowed by the relevant tariff quota fiches.

(18) Articles 12, 22, 29, 34, 35, 43, 44, 49, 50, 59 and 64 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761, which lay down detailed rules on how to complete specific sections of licences, should be updated to lay down the rules on how to complete the corresponding sections in the new data models. The amendments should take into account that during the transitional period governed by the rules laid down in Articles 21a to 21d of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 licences may still be issued in accordance with the templates set out in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239.

(19) Annexes XIV and XVII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761, as well as Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1988, set out the templates for documents issued by third countries that, according to the relevant sectoral rules and to Annexes II to XII to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761, should accompany the licence application and/or the release for free circulation of goods under tariff quotas. In order to harmonise the different templates and simplify their management in ELAN, the Commission created a single data model, ELAN1L-TCDOC, that is to replace the current templates, with the exception of the ones set out in Part C of Annex XIV.2 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 and in Part A of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1988. The accompanying documents issued or transmitted to ELAN should comply with the requirements laid down in Annex XIV.8 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761.

(20) The export certificate issued by the United States of America in accordance with the template set out in Part C of Annex XIV.2 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 is required upon submission of licence applications for tariff quota with order number 09.4127. The rules applicable in the United States allow the titular holder of the export certificate to transfer it to another economic operator based in that third country, up to three transfers, by simply signing it. Since ELAN is currently designed to allow access only to public authorities and bodies, not to private operators, it cannot accommodate this feature of the mentioned export certificate. Therefore, the template laid down in Part C of Annex XIV.2 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 is not to be replaced by the ELAN1L-TCDOC set out in Annex XIV.8 to that Implementing Regulation.

(21) The relevant provisions of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761 requiring documents issued by third countries to be notified to the Commission according to Article 72(8) of that Implementing Regulation and presented in paper format, original or copy, to the issuing authorities of Member States should remain applicable during the transitional period, in accordance with the rules laid down in Articles 72a to 72d of that Implementing Regulation to documents that are not issued in or transmitted to ELAN. Where these documents are issued by third countries in ELAN or are transmitted to it, the document in that system should be considered original; third countries are no longer required to notify it via the information system governed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 (11).

(22) Member States that do not issue licences using ELAN or do not transmit them to it should keep notifying to the Commission the quantities for which licences were issued, the quantities actually imported and the unused quantities, during the transitional periods laid down in Article 6 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1272 in accordance with the rules laid down in Articles 21a to 21d of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239. When licences are issued in ELAN, it should be made possible that the Commission still requires Member States to notify those data for monitoring purposes.

(23) Where Implementing Regulations (EU) 2016/1239 and (EU) 2020/761 require to indicate the country of origin of the goods on licence applications and licences, the relevant section of licence applications may indicate the country of origin either by its full name or by the corresponding ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code. Licences that follow the ELAN1L-AGRIM and ELAN1L-AGREX data models should indicate the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country of origin. For licence applications and licences that, during the transitional period, are based on the template laid down in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239, the country of origin should be indicated as laid down in the Notice on import and export licences for agricultural products.

(24) Where a document issued by a third country is to accompany both the licence application and the release for free circulation of the goods, if the document is issued in accordance with the ELAN1L-TCDOC template laid down in Annex XIV.8 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761, then the third country issuing authority should not be required to notify the document to the Commission via the information system set up by the Commission in accordance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1185 and referred to in Article 72(8) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761.

(25) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1988 lays down rules applicable to tariff quotas managed according to the ‘first come-first served’ principle. For certain tariff quotas, products should be accompanied by certificates of origin, issued in accordance with the template set out in Annex 22-14 to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 (12). In those cases, the reference to the template set out in Annex 22-14 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 should be replaced by the reference to the document issued in accordance with the ELAN1L-TCDOC template set out in Annex XIV.8 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761. This updated reference should however take into consideration that during the transitional period third countries may choose between issuing document either in the format set out in Annex 22-14 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 or in the format set out in Annex XIV.8 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761.

(26) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1835 (13) amended Article 1 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2834, introducing new conversion rates between husked rice and milled rice, and between milled rice and semi-milled rice. These new conversion rates should be reflected in the tariff quota 09.0141 open for imports of rice from Bangladesh. In particular, it is necessary to open one additional sub-quota with order number 09.0170 for CN codes of milled rice falling under the description ‘Other rice’, and one additional sub-quota with order number 09.0171 for CN codes of semi-milled rice falling under the description ‘Other rice’. The introduction of these two additional sub-quotas should be reflected in Articles 2 and 13 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1988, as well as in Annex II to that Implementing Regulation.

(27) Articles 8 and 10 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2834 lay down rules on the details to be inserted in specific sections of import licence applications and import licences for Basmati rice. These rules should be integrated with the reference to the details to be introduced in the corresponding sections of licences issued in accordance with Annex I.1 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239.

(28) Implementing Regulations (EU) 2016/1239, (EU) 2020/761, (EU) 2020/1988 and (EU) 2023/2834 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(29) Member States and third-country authorities should be allowed enough time to adapt their systems and their procedures to the use of ELAN to perform their operations. Therefore, transitional rules should be laid down in Implementing Regulations (EU) 2016/1239, (EU) 2020/761, (EU) 2020/1988 and (EU) 2023/2834 in order to ensure a smooth transition for all ELAN users.

(30) From 15 July 2025, all ELAN users should be allowed to test ELAN and enter the system in its ‘acceptance environment’. Documents transmitted or created in this environment should be mere tests and not have any legal value, nor be used for operations of customs clearance. During the testing period ELAN users, should have access to ELAN in acceptance environment to test the system.

(31) After the test period, ELAN should be put in production, and from 19 January 2026 licence issuing authorities of Member States should then be allowed to create licences in ELAN or to transmit them to that system. These licences should have legal value and could be used for operations of customs clearance.

(32) From 18 January 2027 licence issuing authorities of Member States should start issuing licences complying with the new data models created for ELAN. Licences that would need to be used in paper form shall be sealed by ELAN before being printed.

(33) From 17 January 2028 all licences issued in Member States should be produced in ELAN or transmitted to that system. Accompanying documents required by the relevant agricultural legislation and issued by third countries should also be produced in ELAN or made available to that system. To this extent, they should follow the ELAN data model in compliance with Annex XIV.8 to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761.

(34) From 6 October 2028 all users should start using ELAN for their operations, including customs clearance through the interconnection with the European Union Customs Single Window Certificates Exchange System (‘EU CSW-CERTEX’).

(35) The requirements mandating digitalisation of the documents required for the release into free circulation and for the export of agricultural products covered by this Regulation affect trans-European digital public services within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2024/903 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14). Accordingly, an interoperability assessment has been carried out and the resulting report is to be published on the Interoperable Europe Portal.

(36) The Regulation should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, to ensure the correct application of the rules before ELAN will become available to its users for testing purposes.

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Amendments to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1239 is amended as follows:

(4) Articles 9, 10 and 11 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 9 Customs declaration

Article 10

Attribution and endorsements

Article 11