Commission Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 of 28 June 2006 laying down detailed rules of application for the 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 marketing years for the import and refining of sugar products under certain tariff quotas and preferential agreements

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 of 20 February 2006 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector⁽¹⁾, and in particular Articles 40(1)(e)(iii) and (f) and 44 thereof,

Whereas:

1. Pursuant to Article 1(1) of Protocol 3 on ACP sugar (hereinafter referred to as the ACP Protocol) attached to Annex V to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000⁽²⁾ (hereinafter referred to as the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement), and Article 1(1) of the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of India on cane sugar⁽³⁾ (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement with India), the Community undertakes to purchase and import, at guaranteed prices, specific quantities of cane sugar which originate in the ACP States and India respectively and which those States undertake to deliver to it.

2. Pursuant to Article 29(4) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2001, during the 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 marketing years, in order to ensure adequate supplies to Community refineries, the application of import duties on cane sugar for refining falling within CN code 1701 11 10 originating in the States referred to in Annex VI to that Regulation is suspended for the complementary quantity.

3. Pursuant to Article 4(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2000 of 18 September 2000, introducing exceptional trade measures for countries and territories participating in or linked to the European Union's Stabilisation and Association process, amending Regulation (EC) No 2820/98 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 1763/1999 and (EC) No 6/2000⁽⁴⁾, imports of sugar products falling within CN codes 1701 and 1702 originating in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo⁽⁵⁾ are subject to annual duty-free tariff quotas. The rules for the opening and administration of those tariff quotas are set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1004/2005 of 30 June 2005, laying down detailed rules for the opening and administration of the tariff quotas for sugar products originating in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo, as provided for in Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2000⁽⁶⁾. In the interests of rationality, Regulation (EC) No 1004/2005 should be repealed and all the detailed rules of application for the import and refining of sugar products should be brought together in a single text.

4. Pursuant to Article 27(2) of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, of the other part⁽⁷⁾, which entered into force on 1 January 2006, the Community is to allow duty-free access for imports into the Community of products originating in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia falling within CN codes 1701 and 1702, within the limit of an annual tariff quota of 7 000 tonnes (net weight). Commission Regulation (EC) No 2151/2005 of 23 December 2005, laying down detailed rules for the opening and administration of the tariff quota for sugar products originating in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as provided for in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, of the other part⁽⁸⁾ opened that quota from 1 January 2006. In the interests of rationality, detailed rules for the opening and administration of that quota should be laid down in this Regulation to apply from 1 January 2007. Regulation (EC) No 2151/2005 should therefore be repealed from that date.

5. The management of the traditional supply needs of sugar for refining provided for in Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 requires specific implementing rules for the 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 marketing years. The application of this Regulation should therefore be limited to those marketing years.

6. Except as otherwise provided by this Regulation, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 of 9 June 2000, laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance fixing certificates for agricultural products⁽⁹⁾ and the special rules applicable to the sugar sector laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 951/2006 of 30 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for applying Council Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 as regards trade with third countries in the sugar sector⁽¹⁰⁾ (new third country management Regulation) should apply to import licences issued under this Regulation. Moreover, to facilitate the management of imports under this Regulation and ensure that the annual limits are observed, detailed rules should be laid down for import licences for raw sugar, expressed as white sugar equivalent.

7. Pursuant to Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006, applications for import licences for sugar benefiting from a guaranteed price must be accompanied by an export licence issued by the authorities of the exporting country certifying the compliance of the sugar with the rules provided for in the agreements concerned. In the case of Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo, in order to ensure the sustainable economic development of the sugar sectors in these territories, and in view of the relatively high tariff quota volume, imports of sugar under these quotas should be subject to the presentation of an export licence. The form and layout of this licence and the procedures for using it should therefore be specified.

8. Since no provision has been made for an overrun of the quantities for the overall tariff quotas referred to in Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006, the full rate of duty under the common customs tariff must apply to all quantities, converted into white sugar equivalent, imported over and above those shown on the import licence.

9. Article 29(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 fixes the traditional supply needs of sugar for refining by Member State. To guarantee to full-time refiners in the Member States concerned that import licences for the sugar for refining will be available for the quantity indicated in those paragraphs and to avoid any abuse allowing trading in licences, applications for import licences for sugar for refining should be limited to full-time refiners in the Member State concerned until a date set by type of preferential sugar.

10. In the case of the preferential sugar referred to in the ACP Protocol and in the Agreement with India, given that unforeseeable delays may occur between the loading of a consignment of sugar and its delivery, a certain tolerance should be permitted in the application of the delivery periods to take account of such delays. In addition, given that this sugar is covered, according to the agreements concerned, by delivery obligations and not by tariff quotas, provision should be made, in accordance with current trade practices, for a certain tolerance to apply to the total quantities delivered during a delivery period and on the date which that period commences.

11. Article 7 of the ACP Protocol and Article 7 of the Agreement with India lay down provisions which apply where a State fails to deliver its agreed quantity during a delivery period. In order to apply those provisions, methods need to be determined for establishing the delivery date of a consignment of preferential sugar.

12. The provisions relating to proof of origin contained in Article 14 of Protocol 1 attached to Annex V to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2007/2000 or Article 47 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993, laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code⁽¹¹⁾, as appropriate, should apply to products imported under this Regulation.

13. In the wake of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and then of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia to the European Union, and in the context of the conclusion of the negotiations under Article XXIV of the GATT, the Community undertook to import from third countries a quantity of raw cane sugar for refining at a rate of duty of EUR 98 per tonne.

14. In order to respect traditional patterns of imports of quantities of the tariff quota covered by the concessions set out in Schedule CXL (European Communities) referred to in Article 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1095/96 of 18 June 1996, on the implementation of the concessions set out in Schedule CXL drawn up in the wake of the conclusion of the GATT XXIV.6 negotiations⁽¹²⁾, steps should be taken to allocate the quota of 96 801 tonnes among countries of origin from 1 July 2006 using the same distribution key as before.

15. To take account of the fact that the 2006/2007 marketing year covers 15 months, the annual tariff quotas should be adjusted for this marketing year.

16. To ensure efficient management of preferential imports under this Regulation, measures should be adopted so that the Member States can keep records of the relevant data, and report them to the Commission. To improve checks, it should be laid down that imports of the products falling under the annual tariff quota should be monitored in accordance with Article 308d of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93.

17. The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Sugar,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: