1.Tenders shall be lodged by operators established in the Union. They shall be lodged to the competent authority in the Member State in which an operator is registered for VAT purposes.
2.Tenders shall be lodged by means of the application form for an import licence that is provided in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 376/2008.
3.The application form may be lodged by electronic means, using the method made available to the operators by the Member State concerned. The competent authorities of the Member States may require that electronic tenders be accompanied by an advance electronic signature within the meaning of Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(1).
4.Tenders shall be admissible only if the following conditions are met:
(a)tenders shall indicate:
in box 4, the name, address and VAT number of the tenderer;
in boxes 17 and 18, the quantity of sugar tendered, which shall be at least 20 tonnes and shall not exceed 45 000 tonnes, rounded with no decimal places;
in box 20, the proposed amount of the customs duty, in euro per tonne of sugar, rounded to no more than two decimal places;
in box 16, the eight digit CN code of the sugar;
(b)proof is furnished, before the expiry of the time limit for the submission of tenders, that the tenderer has lodged the security referred to in Article 4(1);
(c)the tender is presented in the official language, or one of the official languages of the Member State in which the tender is lodged;
(d)the tender indicates a reference to this Regulation and the expiry date for the submission of the tenders;
(e)the tender does not include any additional conditions introduced by the tenderer other than those laid down in this Regulation.
5.A tender which is not submitted in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not be admissible.
6.Applicants shall not submit more than one tender per eight digit CN code for the same partial invitation to tender.
7.A tender may not be withdrawn or amended after its submission.