1.   The Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 75 of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999, may issue one or more invitations to tender each quarter for alcohol to be used only in the fuel sector, in the form of bio-ethanol, in the Community.

The quantities of alcohol awarded under such tendering procedures shall not exceed 700 000 hectolitres of alcohol at 100 % vol per procedure.

2.   The alcohol shall be assigned to firms established in the Community and shall be used in the fuel sector.

To this end, Member States shall approve firms deemed eligible by them which have submitted an application accompanied by the following documents and information:

3.   Approval by a Member State shall be valid throughout the Community.

4.   Firms approved by the Commission at 1 March 2005 shall be considered to have been approved for the purposes of this Regulation.

5.   Member States shall inform the Commission of any new approval or withdrawal of approval.

6.   The Commission shall regularly publish a list of the firms approved by the Member States.

1.   Tenderers may submit only one tender for each lot to be awarded. If a tenderer submits more than one tender for each lot, none of those tenders shall be admissible.

2.   To be eligible for consideration, tenders shall indicate the Member State of final use of the alcohol awarded and contain an undertaking by the tenderer to comply with that destination.

3.   Tenders shall reach the intervention agency of the Member State concerned not later than 12 noon (Brussels time) on the closing date set for the submission of tenders in the notice of invitation to tender.

4.   Tenders shall be valid only if proof is provided, before the closing date for the submission of tenders, that a tendering security of EUR 4 per hectolitre of alcohol at 100 % vol has been lodged with the intervention agency concerned in respect of the entire quantity of the lot put up for sale.

To that end, the intervention agencies concerned shall immediately issue tenderers with a statement certifying that the tendering security has been lodged for the quantities for which each intervention agency is responsible.

5.   For the purposes of the tendering security, the primary requirements within the meaning of Article 20 of Regulation (EEC) No 2220/85 shall be that tenders are not withdrawn after the closing date for their submission and that a performance guarantee is lodged.

1.   On the basis of the tenders submitted, the Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 75(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999, shall decide as quickly as possible whether or not to award contracts.

2.   Should a contract be awarded, the Commission shall accept the most favourable tender for each lot. If two or more tenders quote the same price, the Commission shall make the award by drawing lots.

3.   The Commission shall notify the decisions taken under this Article only to those Member States and intervention agencies holding alcohol for which tenders have been accepted.

4.   The Commission shall publish the results of the tendering procedure in a simplified form in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   The intervention agency shall inform tenderers in writing, without delay against a receipt, of the decision taken on their tenders.

2.   Within two weeks of the date of receipt of the information notice referred to in paragraph 1, the intervention agency shall issue each successful tenderer with a statement of award certifying that their tender has been accepted.

3.   Within two weeks of the date of receipt of the information notice referred to in paragraph 1, each successful tenderer shall provide proof that they have lodged with the intervention agency concerned a performance guarantee of EUR 30 per hectolitre of alcohol at 100 % vol to ensure that the alcohol awarded is used for the purposes stated in the tender.

1.   The intervention agency holding the alcohol and the successful tenderer shall agree on a provisional timetable for the removal of the alcohol.

2.   The alcohol may be removed on presentation of a removal order issued by the intervention agency once the quantity to be removed has been paid for. That quantity shall be determined to the nearest hectolitre of alcohol at 100 % vol.

Each removal order shall cover a quantity of at least 2 500 hectolitres, except in the case of the last removal in each Member State.

The removal order shall state the date by which the alcohol must be physically removed from the warehouse of the intervention agency concerned. The deadline for removal shall not be more than eight days from the date of issue of the removal order. However, where the removal order covers a quantity in excess of 25 000 hectolitres, that deadline may be more than eight days, but not more than fifteen days.

3.   Ownership of the alcohol covered by a removal order shall be transferred on the date indicated in the order, which may not be more than eight days after its date of issue, and the quantities concerned shall be deemed to have been removed on that date. From then on, the purchaser shall be responsible for any theft, loss or destruction and for the storage costs of any alcohol awaiting removal.

4.   All the alcohol must have been removed six months after the date of receipt of the information notice.

5.   The alcohol must be fully used within two years of the date of first removal’;