Association for the Administration of Rice Quotas, Inc.

The Association for the Administration of Rice Quotas, Inc. (AARQ) manages the TRQs for milled and brown rice granted by the European Union (EU) to the United States (U.S.) under the U.S.—EU Enlargement Agreement of July 1996. TRQ Services, LLC is serving as the administrator for AARQ in 2022.

Following the exit of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU Customs Union on December 31, 2020, AARQ, through its independent Administrator, also manages the allocation of rights to ship U.S.-origin milled rice to the United Kingdom (UK) under an allocation of a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) permitting a certain quantity of U.S. rice to enter the UK duty-free.

Purpose of AARQ:

The purpose of AARQ is to act on behalf of the U.S. rice industry:

to manage on an open tender basis the tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for milled and brown rice granted by the European Union (EU) to the United States under the U.S. – EU Enlargement Agreement signed July 22, 1996,
to provide for the distribution of the proceeds received from the open tender process based on exports of rough, brown and milled rice, and
to manage on an open tender basis the allocation of rights to ship U.S.-origin milled rice to the United Kingdom (UK) under an allocation of a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) permitting a certain quantity of U.S. rice to enter the UK duty-free.

New EU scheme for 2021 and beyond:

For 2021 and beyond the EU has a new scheme for submitting an application for an import license:

Under the new scheme, valid for all TRQ periods starting as of the January 1, 2021 subperiod:
- The first applications for import licenses valid as of January 1, 2021 need to be lodged November 23 – 30, 2020.
- Subsequently, applications for import licenses must be lodged (a) in the first seven calendar days of the month preceding the beginning of the subperiod, or (b) within the first seven calendar days of each month during the subperiod.
- For more information please refer to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/760 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/761.