The Council decided to suspend import duties for cereals on December 20, 2007. The regulation in this respect was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on January 4, 2008 and is to come into force on January 11, 2008.
Taxes are suspended until the end of 2007-2008 commercial year, namely June 30, 2008.
However, the European Commission may as well re-introduce taxes if the FOB price (Free on Board – the price of goods on getting out of the exporting country, which includes the transportation costs and taxes –e.n.) in EU harbors, for one of more products, goes down below a certain threshold, as stipulated in the Council’s regulation.
The measure to suspend import duties, proposed by the European Commission in November 2007, comes in reply to the difficult situation on cereals’ market both in Europe and worldwide.