Article 1

Pursuant to Article 40 of Regulation (EC) No 376/2008, at the request of the titular holder, within one month after entry into force of this regulation, for the import licences issued in the tariff rate quota period 2007/08 under the Regulations (EC) No 964/2007^f1 and (EC) No 1002/2007^f2, or the tariff rate quota period 2008 under the Regulations (EC) No 2058/96^f3, (EC) No 327/98^f4, (EC) No 955/2005^f5, (EC) No 1964/2006^f6 and (EC) No 1529/2007^f7, the obligation to import shall be cancelled and the securities shall be released for the quantities not used, by the competent authorities of the Member States.

The measure provided for in paragraph 1 shall only apply in cases where the titular holder invokes rules imposed by a third country which are considered by the competent authorities of the Member State to constitute force majeure in accordance with Articles 39 and 40 of Regulation (EC) No 376/2008. The titular holder shall demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities that he was unable to import owing to the introduction by third countries of formal export bans or measures with equivalent effect, on which a reasonably prudent trader in the rice sector could not have anticipated the introduction of these measures at the time of applying for the import licence, and that the titular holder made all reasonable efforts to use the import licence during the period of validity.