28.2.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 58/42

(1)

Due to developments within the Community and at international level, the sugar industry in the Community is faced with structural problems which could seriously put at stake the competitiveness and even the viability of the industry as a whole. These problems cannot be addressed effectively by using the market management instruments as provided for in the common market organisation for sugar. To bring the Community system of sugar production and trading in line with international requirements and ensure its competitiveness in the future it is necessary to launch a profound restructuring process leading to a significant reduction of unprofitable production capacity in the Community. To this end, as a precondition for the implementation of a functioning new common market organisation for sugar a separate and autonomous temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry in the Community should be established. Under this scheme quotas should be reduced in a manner that takes account of the legitimate interests of the sugar industry, sugar beet, cane and chicory growers and consumers in the Community.

(2)

A temporary restructuring fund should be set up in order to finance the restructuring measures for the Community sugar industry. For reasons of sound financial management the fund should form part of the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF and thus be governed by the procedures and mechanisms of Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (3) and, as from 1 January 2007, of the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (4).

(3)

Owing to the fact that outermost regions are currently the object of development programmes aimed at improving their competitiveness in raw sugar production and also produce raw cane sugar in competition with third countries, which are not subject to the temporary restructuring amount, undertakings in the outermost regions should not fall under the scope of this Regulation.

(4)

The restructuring measures provided for by this Regulation should be financed by raising temporary amounts from those sugar, isoglucose and inulin syrup producers which will eventually benefit from the restructuring process. As this amount falls outside the scope of the charges traditionally known in the framework of the common market organisation for sugar, the proceeds resulting from its collection should be considered as ‘assigned revenue’ as provided for by Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (5).

(5)

An important economic incentive for sugar undertakings with the lowest productivity to give up their quota production in the form of an adequate restructuring aid should be introduced. To this effect, a restructuring aid should be set up that creates an incentive to abandon sugar quota production and renounce the quotas concerned, at the same time allowing to take into due account the respect of social and environmental commitments linked to the abandoning of production. The aid should be available during four marketing years with the aim to reduce production to the extent necessary to reach a balanced market situation in the Community.

(6)

To support sugar beet, cane and chicory growers that have to give up production due to the closure of factories they had supplied previously, a part of the restructuring aid should be made available to these growers as well as to machinery contractors that have worked for these growers in order to compensate for losses resulting from these closures and in particular the loss of value of investments in specialised machinery.

(7)

As payments of the restructuring amount into the temporary restructuring fund are made over a certain period of time, it is necessary that payments of the restructuring aid are spread in time.

(8)

The decision as to the granting of the restructuring aid should be taken by the Member State concerned. Undertakings prepared to renounce their quotas should submit an application to this Member State providing the latter with all the relevant information in order to enable it to reach a decision on the aid. Member States should have the possibility to impose certain social and environmental requirements in order to take account of the particularities of the case presented as long as these requirements do not restrict the operation of the restructuring process.

(9)

A restructuring plan should form part of the application for restructuring aid. This plan should provide the Member State concerned with all the relevant technical, social, environmental and financial information allowing it to decide on the granting of the restructuring aid. Member States should take the necessary measures in order to exercise the necessary control over the implementation of all of the elements of the restructuring.

(10)

In the regions concerned by the restructuring process it might prove to be appropriate to encourage the development of alternatives to sugar beet and cane growing and sugar production. To this effect, Member States should have the possibility to allocate a certain part of the money available from the restructuring fund to diversification measures. These measures, established in the context of a national restructuring plan, may take the form of measures identical to certain measures supported under Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (6) or to measures that are in conformity with Community law regarding State aid.

(11)

In order to speed up the process of restructuring, the aid available for diversification should be increased if the quotas renounced go beyond certain levels.

(12)

Full-time refiners should have the possibility to adapt their situation to the restructuring of the sugar industry. The adaptation should be supported by means of an aid from the restructuring fund provided that the Member State approves the business plan providing for the adaptation. Member States concerned should ensure an equitable break down of the aid available among the full-time refiners on their territory.

(13)

Some specific situations in certain Member States should be taken care of by means of an aid from the restructuring fund provided that it forms part of the national restructuring programme.

(14)

As it is to be funded over a period of three years, the restructuring fund does not dispose from the outset of all the necessary financial means. Rules as to the limitation of the granting of the aid should therefore be established.

(15)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (7).

(16)

The Commission should be authorised to adopt necessary measures to solve specific practical problems in the case of emergency.

(17)

The restructuring fund will finance measures which, due to the nature of the restructuring mechanism, do not fall under the categories of expenditure referred to in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005. It is therefore necessary to amend that Regulation accordingly,

1)

‘isoglucose’ means the product obtained from glucose or its polymers with a content by weight in the dry state of at least 10 % fructose;

2)

‘inulin syrup’ means the immediate product obtained by hydrolysis of inulin or oligofructoses, containing in the dry state at least 10 % fructose in free form or as sucrose, and expressed as sugar/isoglucose equivalents;

3)

‘agreement within the trade’ means one of the following:

4)

‘marketing year’ means the period beginning on 1 October and ending on 30 September of the following year. By way of exception, the marketing year 2006/2007 begins on 1 July 2006;

5)

‘full time refiner’ means a production unit:

6)

‘quota’ means any quota for the production of sugar, isoglucose and inulin syrup allocated to an undertaking in accordance with Articles 7(2), 8(1), 9(1) and (2) and Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 of 20 February 2006 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector (8).

(a)

renounces the quota assigned by it to one or more of its factories and fully dismantles the production facilities of the factories concerned;

(b)

renounces the quota assigned by it to one or more of its factories, partially dismantles the production facilities of the factories concerned and does not use the remaining production facilities of the factories concerned for the production of products covered by the common market organisation for sugar,

or

(c)

renounces a part of the quota assigned by it to one or more of its factories and does not use the production facilities of the factories concerned for refining raw sugar.

This last condition shall not apply in respect of:

existing on 1 January 2006.

(a)

the definitive and total cessation of the production of sugar, isoglucose and inulin syrup by the production facilities concerned;

(b)

the closure of the factory or the factories and the dismantling of the production facilities thereof within the period referred to in point (d) of Article 4(2),

and

(c)

the restoring of the good environmental conditions of the factory site and the facilitation of redeployment of the workforce within the period referred to in point (f) of Article 4(2). Member States may require the undertakings referred to in paragraph 1 to make commitments which go beyond the statutory minimum requirements imposed by Community law. However, such commitments shall not restrict the operation of the restructuring fund as an instrument.

(a)

the definitive and total cessation of the production of sugar, isoglucose and inulin syrup by the production facilities concerned;

(b)

the dismantling of the production facilities that will not be used for the new production and were destined and used for the production of the products mentioned under (a), within the period referred to in point (e) of Article 4(2);

(c)

the restoring of the good environmental conditions of the factory site and the facilitation of redeployment of the workforce within the period referred to in point (f) of Article 4(2), insofar as necessitated by the cessation of the production of the products mentioned under (a). Member States may require the undertakings referred to in paragraph 1 to make commitments which go beyond the statutory minimum requirements imposed by Community law. However, such commitments shall not restrict the operation of the restructuring fund as an instrument.

(a)

in the case referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1:

(b)

in the case referred to in point (b) of paragraph 1:

(c)

in the case referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1:

—

growers of sugar beet, cane and chicory having delivered these products during a period preceding the marketing year referred to in paragraph 2 for the production of sugar or inulin syrup under the relevant quota renounced,

and

—

machinery contractors, being private persons or enterprises having worked under contract with their agricultural machinery for the growers, for the products and in the period referred to in the first indent.

(a)

a restructuring plan;

(b)

a confirmation that the restructuring plan has been prepared in consultation with the sugar beet, cane and chicory growers;

(c)

a commitment to renounce the relevant quota in the marketing year concerned;

(d)

in the case referred to in Article 3(1)(a), a commitment to fully dismantle the production facilities within the period to be determined by the Member State concerned;

(e)

in the case referred to in Article 3(1)(b), a commitment to partially dismantle the production facilities within the period to be determined by the Member State concerned and not to use the production site and the remaining production facilities for the production of products covered by the common market organisation for sugar;

(f)

in the cases referred to in Article 3(1)(a) and Article 3(1)(b), a commitment to meet the requirements provided for in, respectively, Article 3(3)(c) and Article 3(4)(c) within the period to be determined by the Member State concerned;

(g)

in the case referred to in Article 3(1)(c), if applicable, a commitment not to use the production facilities for refining raw sugar.

(a)

a presentation of the purposes and the actions foreseen, demonstrating a sound economic balance between them and their consistency with the objectives of the restructuring fund and of the rural development policy in the region concerned as approved by the Commission;

(b)

the aid to be granted to growers of sugar beet, cane or chicory and, if appropriate, machinery contractors in accordance with Article 3(6);

(c)

a complete technical description of the production facilities concerned;

(d)

a business plan detailing the modalities, timetable and costs for the closure of the factory or factories and the full or partial dismantling of the production facilities;

(e)

if appropriate, the scheduled investments;

(f)

a social plan detailing the actions planned in particular with respect to re-training, redeployment and early retirement of the workforce concerned and, if applicable, national specific requirements provided for in accordance with Article 3(3)(c) or Article 3(4)(c);

(g)

an environmental plan detailing the actions planned in particular to respect mandatory environmental obligations and, if applicable, national specific requirements provided for in accordance with Article 3(3)(c) or Article 3(4)(c);

(h)

a financial plan detailing all the costs in relation to the restructuring plan.

—

the application contains the elements referred to in Article 4(2),

—

the restructuring plan contains the elements referred to in Article 4(3),

—

the measures and actions described in the restructuring plan are in conformity with the relevant Community and national legislation;

and

—

the necessary financial resources are available in the restructuring fund, on the basis of information obtained from the Commission.

—

EUR 109,50 per tonne of sugar quota renounced in the marketing year 2006/2007,

—

EUR 109,50 per tonne of sugar quota renounced in the marketing year 2007/2008,

—

EUR 93,80 per tonne of sugar quota renounced in the marketing year 2008/2009,

—

EUR 78,00 per tonne of sugar quota renounced in the marketing year 2009/2010.

—

50 % once the national sugar quota fixed in Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 for that Member State has been renounced by at least 50 % but less than 75 %,

—

another 25 % once the national sugar quota fixed in Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 for that Member State has been renounced by at least 75 % but less than 100 %,

—

another 25 % once the national sugar quota fixed in Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 for that Member State has been completely renounced.

—

EUR 94,3 million for full-time refiners in the United Kingdom,

—

EUR 24,4 million for full-time refiners in Portugal,

—

EUR 5,0 million for full-time refiners in Finland,

—

EUR 24,8 million for full-time refiners in France,

—

EUR 1,5 million for full-time refiners in Slovenia.

(a)

an aid of not more than EUR 9 million shall be granted in Austria for investments in collection centres of sugar beet and other logistical infrastructure needed as a consequence of restructuring;

(b)

an aid of not more than EUR 5 million shall be granted in Sweden for the direct or indirect benefit of sugar beet growers in Gotland and Öland giving up sugar production as part of the national restructuring process.

—

40 % in June of the marketing year referred to in Article 3(2),

and

—

60 % in February of the following marketing year.

—

a first payment in February of the following marketing year,

and

—

a second payment at a later date when the necessary financial resources have been paid into the restructuring fund.

—

EUR 126,40 per tonne of quota for the marketing year 2006/2007,

—

EUR 173,8 per tonne of quota for the marketing year 2007/2008,

—

EUR 113,3 per tonne of quota for the marketing year 2008/2009.

—

60 % by 31 March of the marketing year concerned,

and

—

40 % by 30 November of the following marketing year.

—

60 % by the end of February of the marketing year concerned,

and

—

40 % by 31 October of the following marketing year.

1)

The following point shall be added to Article 3(1):

2)

Article 34 shall be amended as follows: