L 19422 Official Journal of the European Union 25.7.2009 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 670/2009 of 24 July 2009 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as regards public intervention by invitation to tender for the purchase of durum wheat or paddy rice, and amending Regulations (EC) No 428/2008 and (EC) No 687/2008 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agri- cultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agri- cultural products (Single CMO Regulation) ('), and in particular Article 43(a), (¢) and (k), in conjunction with Article 4 thereof, Whereas: 1) O] O] O] Pursuant to Article 13(3) and Article 18(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 72/2009 (3, the Commission may decide, as from 1 July 2009 for durum wheat and 1 September 2009 for paddy rice, on public intervention if the market situation and, particularly, trends in market prices so justify it. There is a need to lay down the conditions under which public intervention may occur, in the event of the Commission deciding that such inter- vention is necessary and to reiterate which authorities are competent, in this area, in the Member States, in accordance with the provisions of Commission Regu- lation (EC) No 884/2006 of 21 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regu- lation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the financing by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) of intervention measures in the form of public storage oper- ations and the accounting of public storage operations by the paying agencies of the Member States (°), by spe- cifying that such authorities shall intervene, for the purposes of this Regulation, as ‘intervention agencies’, including when paying agencies act directly. In order to ensure that the public intervention system operates as simply and efficiently as possible, the rules relating to the approval of intervention centres by inter- vention agencies in the Member States should be defined, and the provisions relating to such approval should be decided upon. To this end, the conditions necessary for the approval of storage premises at intervention centres should be defined. The conditions under which offers of durum wheat and paddy rice sent for intervention can be considered admissible, and the conditions for the take-over of products by such agencies must be as uniform as L 299, 16.11.2007, p. 1. L 30, 31.1.2009, p. 1. L 171, 23.6.2006, p. 35. 4) possible throughout the Community. In order to ensure that all operators are treated equally, the procedures applicable to purchases and, specifically, the admissibility of bids, acceptances and checks relating thereto should therefore be defined. If storage premises at an approved intervention centre, situated in a Member State other than that in which the main activity of the operator is carried out, allow operators to deliver their products as cheaply as possible, the said operators should have the possibility of submitting their tenders in the Member State concerned. In order to avoid these operators being subject to additional administrative restrictions, they should therefore be authorised to carry out the formalities relating to the tenders using their VAT regis- tration number in the Member State in which they carry out their main activity and be allowed to lodge, in order to substantiate their bid, a security obtained in the said Member State. In order to ensure simplified and satisfactory management of the intervention measure, a batch presented should be homogenous and, in the case of rice, composed of rice of the same variety. A minimum quantity should also be established, below which the intervention agency is not obliged to accept the bid, but nevertheless taking into account the fact that a minimum additional tonnage may prove necessary in order to take into account the conditions and practices of the wholesale trade or environmental regulations in force in a Member State. In order to provide operators with information regarding applicable ~minimum amounts, intervention agencies should specify these minimum amounts in each tender notice that they publish and, if necessary, establish such amounts at a level higher than that laid down in this Regulation. Durum wheat and paddy rice whose quality does not permit suitable further use or storage should not be accepted for intervention. The methods necessary for establishing the quality of durum wheat and paddy rice must, to this end, be defined. Durum wheat is a cereal covered by minimum quality criteria for human consumption and must satisfy the health standards laid down by Council Regulation (EEC) No 315/93 of 8 February 1993 laying down Community procedures for contaminants in food (*). These standards should apply when the product concerned is taken over under the present intervention scheme. (*) OJ L 37, 13.2.1993, p. 1.