4. Security

When ap­ply­ing for an im­port li­cence, the im­porter un­der­takes to im­port the prod­uct in the quan­tity stated in the li­cence dur­ing the pe­riod of va­lid­ity of the li­cence. Sim­i­larly, when ap­ply­ing for an ex­port li­cence, the ex­porter un­der­takes to ex­port out of the cus­toms ter­ri­tory of the EU the prod­uct in the quan­tity stated in the li­cence dur­ing the pe­riod of va­lid­ity of the li­cence. The pur­pose of re­quir­ing a se­cu­rity is to en­sure that the tit­u­lar holder or trans­feree ac­tu­ally ful­fills the obli­ga­tions im­posed by the li­cence and to pre­vent prof­i­teer­ing with li­cences.

The se­cu­rity sys­tem used in Fin­land for im­ple­ment­ing the Com­mon Agri­cul­tural Pol­icy is de­rived from Com­mis­sion Del­e­gated Reg­u­la­tion (EU) No. 907/2014. Ba­si­cally, any and all op­er­a­tions where a se­cu­rity is re­quired shall con­form with the pro­ce­dural pro­vi­sions laid out in that Reg­u­la­tion. There are more de­tailed pro­vi­sions con­cern­ing prod­uct-spe­cific se­cu­ri­ties and pe­ri­ods of va­lid­ity of li­cences in An­nex II of Com­mis­sion Im­ple­men­ta­tion Reg­u­la­tion (EU) 2016/1239.

When sub­mit­ting a li­cence ap­pli­ca­tion, the re­quired se­cu­rity must be lodged so that it is in place with the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity no later than 14.00 on the day when the ap­pli­ca­tion is sub­mit­ted. The se­cu­rity re­quired must be de­ter­mined in eu­ros, to the near­est cent. If no se­cu­rity has been lodged, the li­cence ap­pli­ca­tion will not be pro­cessed and will au­to­mat­i­cally be re­jected. If the se­cu­rity rel­e­vant to an ap­pli­ca­tion would amount to EUR 100 or less, no se­cu­rity is re­quired. The quan­tity of prod­ucts and amount of the se­cu­rity de­clared in the li­cence ap­pli­ca­tion must in­clude all the quan­ti­ties of the item(s) in ques­tion that are im­ported/ex­ported in the same lo­gis­ti­cal move­ment (e.g. on board the same ves­sel).

4.1. Lodging the security

The forms of se­cu­rity ac­cepted are a guar­an­tee is­sued by a guar­an­tor ap­proved by the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity or a cash de­posit. Prac­ti­cal ar­range­ments re­gard­ing se­cu­ri­ties are han­dled by the Fi­nan­cial Man­age­ment at the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity, where fur­ther in­for­ma­tion and a se­cu­rity pledge tem­plate are avail­able. A cus­tomer may lodge as se­cu­rity a guar­an­tee is­sued by a bank or an in­sur­ance com­pany where that in­sti­tu­tion un­der­takes, if so re­quired, to pay the amount spec­i­fied in the guar­an­tee in the event of any breach of the con­di­tions and pro­ce­dures de­scribed in the Reg­u­la­tions. Cus­tomers must in­de­pen­dently ne­go­ti­ate their guar­an­tees with the rel­e­vant ap­proved bank or in­sur­ance com­pany. Guar­an­tees pro­vided by any in­sti­tu­tion that is not the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity-ap­proved will not be con­sid­ered. A fi­nan­cial in­sti­tu­tion in­tend­ing to act as guar­an­tor must ap­ply to Fi­nan­cial Man­age­ment at the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity for ap­proval.

When a cash de­posit is paid by bank trans­fer, the se­cu­rity is not con­sid­ered lodged un­til Fi­nan­cial Man­age­ment is sat­is­fied that the amount is at its dis­posal. In ur­gent cases, a re­ceipt of pay­ment of the cash de­posit or the signed bank guar­an­tee may be ini­tially sent by e-mail to Oili Has­si­nen in Fi­nan­cial Man­age­ment (first­name.last­name@ruokavi­rasto.fi). An ac­count state­ment on the se­cu­rity will be sent to you. No in­ter­est is paid on cash de­posits. Cus­tomers are li­able for any costs in­volved in tak­ing out a bank guar­an­tee.

Cash se­cu­ri­ties should be de­posited into this ac­count:
FI04 5000 0121 5047 80
OKOY­FIHH

(re: se­cu­rity)

For fur­ther in­for­ma­tion on se­cu­ri­ties, see the se­cu­rity guide­line on the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity web­site. The Fi­nan­cial Man­age­ment at the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity can also pro­vide fur­ther in­for­ma­tion on se­cu­ri­ties. Con­tact in­for­ma­tion may be found at the end of this Guide.

4.2. Returning or withholding securities

The Finnish Food Au­thor­ity de­cides whether to re­lease or with­hold the se­cu­rity, in ac­cor­dance with the cri­te­ria pro­vided for in the EU leg­is­la­tion on mar­ket or­gan­i­sa­tion. Cus­tomers who want to have the re­leased se­cu­rity paid into their bank ac­count must sub­mit a re­quest in writ­ing to the Fi­nan­cial Man­age­ment at the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity. The re­quest may be freeform; it must be dated and signed, and it must spec­ify the se­cu­rity num­ber, the amount and the num­ber of the bank ac­count into which it should be paid.

Some­times part or all of the se­cu­rity must be with­held, for in­stance if the obli­ga­tion spec­i­fied in the li­cence is not ful­filled dur­ing the pe­riod of va­lid­ity of the li­cence, or if proof of ful­fill­ing the obli­ga­tion is not sub­mit­ted to the au­thor­ity within the spec­i­fied time pe­riod. In case of a with­hold­ing made from a cash de­posit, the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity will deduct the with­held amount be­fore re­turn­ing the se­cu­rity. If the se­cu­rity is a bank guar­an­tee and a with­hold­ing is re­quired, the Finnish Food Au­thor­ity will in­voice the with­held amount. How­ever, if the amount to be with­held is no more than EUR 100 per li­cence, no with­hold­ing will be made; the se­cu­rity will be re­leased. The se­cu­rity will be re­leased in its en­tirety if at least 95% of the quan­tity spec­i­fied in the li­cence has been used and proof of ful­fil­ment of the obli­ga­tion has been sub­mit­ted within the spec­i­fied time pe­riod. If less than 5% of the quan­tity spec­i­fied in the li­cence has been used, the en­tire se­cu­rity will be with­held, i.e. the tit­u­lar holder will lose the en­tire se­cu­rity.

If less than 95% of the quan­tity spec­i­fied in the li­cence has been used, a with­hold­ing will be made from the se­cu­rity as fol­lows:

[quan­tity on the li­cence (kg) * 95% – ac­tual quan­tity im­ported/ex­ported (kg)] / quan­tity on the li­cence (kg) * se­cu­rity for the li­cence = por­tion of the se­cu­rity to be with­held

Ex­am­ple of with­hold­ing made from the se­cu­rity: The li­cence was is­sued for 10,000 kg, and 5,000 kg of this was used. The se­cu­rity lodged for the li­cence is EUR 2,000. The ex­pired li­cence and any other proof of dis­charg­ing the obli­ga­tion have been re­turned within the spec­i­fied time pe­riod.

Un­used quan­tity in the li­cence: 10,000 kg * 95% – 5,000 kg = 4,500 kg

Por­tion of the se­cu­rity to be with­held: 4,500 kg / 10,000 kg * EUR 2,000 = EUR 900.

This means that EUR 900 of the se­cu­rity lodged for this li­cence will be with­held and EUR 1,100 re­leased.