PORTUGUESE GRAIN AGENCY BAN TO REMAIN - EC SOURCES

  A ban by a Portuguese court on the
  state buying agency EPAC taking part in cereals import tenders
  open to private traders will remain unless it is reversed in
  Portugal or challenged in the European Court of Justice,
  European Commission sources said.
      They denied a statement yesterday by Portuguese Agriculture
  Minister Alvaro Barreto that the commission had accepted that
  EPAC should be eligible, saying it had taken no view in the
  matter.
      Under the terms of Portugal's accession to the European
  Community, a grain import monopoly held by EPAC is being
  reduced by 20 pct annually until all imports are liberalised in
  1990.
      Lisbon's civil court decided in a preliminary ruling
  earlier this month that EPAC should not be allowed to take
  part, as it had done in the past, in tenders for the
  liberalised share of annual grain imports.
  

