13.9.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 245/5

(1)

By Decisions 2007/626/EC (2) and 2007/627/EC (3) the Council decided to denounce, on behalf of the Community, the Agreement with India on cane sugar (Agreement with India) (4), and Protocol 3 on ACP Sugar appearing in the ACP-EEC Convention of Lomé signed on 28 February 1975 and the corresponding declarations annexed to that Convention, contained in Protocol 3 attached to Annex V to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 (5) (Protocol 3 on ACP sugar), respectively, with effect from 1 October 2009. Certain provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 (6) therefore need to be adapted in order to take the new legal situation into account.

(2)

Article 7(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 of 20 December 2007 applying the arrangements for products originating in certain states which are part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States provided for in agreements establishing, or leading to the establishment of, Economic Partnership Agreements (7) opens additional tariff rate quotas for products of tariff heading 1701 for the period from 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009. Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 therefore also needs to be adapted in view of those additional quotas.

(3)

A Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Albania, of the other part, was signed in Luxembourg on 12 June 2006. Pending the completion of the procedures necessary for its entry into force, an Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Albania, of the other part (8), was signed and concluded and entered into force on 1 December 2006. The bilateral trade concessions on the Community side are equivalent to the concessions applicable within the unilateral autonomous trade measures under Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2000 (9). However, the definitions in Articles 1 and 2 of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 should take this new legal situation into account.

(4)

A Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part, was signed in Luxembourg on 16 June 2008. Pending the completion of the procedures necessary for its entry into force, an Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part (10), was signed and concluded and entered into force on 1 July 2008. The bilateral trade concessions on the Community side are equivalent to the concessions applicable within the unilateral autonomous trade measures under Regulation (EC) No 2007/2000. However, the definitions in Articles 1 and 2 of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 should take this new legal situation into account.

(5)

Article 4(5) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 determines the first period for submission of applications for import licences. For the delivery period which runs between 1 July 2009 and 30 September 2009, sufficient time should be given to operators to organise the trade. Therefore the first period for submission of applications for import licence applications should start immediately after the publication of the delivery obligations for that period.

(6)

Protocol 3 on ACP sugar and the Agreement with India will no longer bind the Community after 30 September 2009. Therefore, import licence requests should be lodged at the latest on 18 September 2009. Article 4(5) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 should be amended accordingly.

(7)

In the case where licence applications reach or exceed the quantity of one of the delivery obligations, Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 provides for the fixing of an allocation coefficient by the Commission. Since Protocol 3 on ACP sugar and the Agreement with India will no longer bind the Community after 30 September 2009, the flexibility provided for the issuing of import licences for ACP/India sugar should not apply for the last two delivery periods. The communication of actually imported quantities foreseen in Article 8(a) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 is used to calculate the transfer of eventual excess quantities to the following delivery period. The delay for this communication is three months and therefore the information necessary for the calculation will not be available. Therefore, in the case where licence applications reach or exceed the quantity of one of the delivery obligations for the delivery period 2008/2009 and the delivery period which runs between 1 July 2009 and 30 September 2009, an allocation coefficient needs to be fixed.

(8)

Article 50(1) of 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 (11) should, for the reasons given above, apply in respect of imports of ACP/India sugar in respect of the delivery period which runs between 1 July 2009 and 30 September 2009. The derogation from that provision provided for in Article 15(3) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 should not, therefore, apply in respect of that delivery period.

(9)

Import licence applications and licences require the indication of the delivery period in their box 20. For reasons of clarity, a specific mention should be given for the delivery period which runs between 1 July 2009 and 30 September 2009.

(10)

The non-reciprocal trade preferences contained in 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 expired on 31 December 2007. Therefore the proof of origin issued in accordance with Article 14 of Protocol 1 attached to Annex V to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement no longer applies to countries which are not included in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007. However, the preference granted under Protocol 3 on ACP sugar continues to apply until 30 September 2009. Therefore, at the moment of lodging of import licence applications for ACP/India sugar, an accompanying document issued by the competent authority of the exporting country should be submitted. As it has been so far, the exporting countries should still be able to issue a document that differs from the export licence referred to in Articles 16(2) and 21(2)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006. Provision should, therefore, be made for the possibility of the issuing of such an alternative document based on the same model as the proof of origin issued in the past.

(11)

Article 16(3) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 determines the validity of the import licences for ACP/India sugar. With regard to the delivery period beginning on 1 July 2009, the date as from which the import licences for refining will have a validity of three months should be moved to 1 July 2009 in order to reflect the fact that this delivery period 2008/2009 will end on 30 September 2009.

(12)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 407/2008 of 7 May 2008 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2000 introducing exceptional trade measures for countries and territories participating in or linked to the European Union’s Stabilisation and Association process (12) removes Montenegro from the list of beneficiaries of the tariff concessions provided for in its Article 4(4). Article 28 and Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 should be amended accordingly.

(13)

The experience gained in the first two years of the out-of-quota production management, and in particular the industrial sugar, shows a need for flexibility both for producers and the processors of industrial sugar. The criteria set out in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 for the purposes of determining the quantity of industrial sugar for which application of all or part of the import duties is to be suspended are therefore no longer needed and should be deleted.

(14)

If an import licence for industrial import sugar is transferred, the obligation to process the imported quantities into the products referred to in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EC) No 967/2006 of 29 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 as regards sugar production in excess of the quota (13) should remain with the initial holder of the import licence. Article 6(4) should be amended accordingly.

(15)

Import licence requests should be restricted to processors of industrial sugar. Such processors are not necessarily involved in trade with third countries. It is therefore necessary to provide for a corresponding derogation from Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006 of 31 August 2006 laying down common rules for the administration of import tariff quotas for agricultural products managed by a system of import licences (14).

(16)

Given that imported industrial sugar may only be used for the purposes of production of the products referred to in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 967/2006, the provisions on the management of the industrial raw material and the obligations on processors laid down by that Regulation should apply to the quantities imported.

(17)

In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007, the additional tariff rate quotas available under that provision have to be divided between regions according to quantities to be determined in conformity with the agreements qualifying regions or states for inclusion in Annex I to that Regulation. The initialling of such agreements between certain regions and states, of the one part, and the European Community, of the other part, qualified these regions and states for inclusion in the said Annex I. The quantities of the additional tariff rate quotas are determined in these agreements.

(18)

Those additional tariff rate quotas should be opened and administered in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 950/2006. It is therefore appropriate to assign quantities to countries, or regions, subject to the precondition that those countries are listed in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007. Such quantities may be assigned to specific countries in their own right and also as part of a region. Certain specificities concerning the information that should be contained in the licence applications and the licences themselves should be laid down.

(19)

Export licences for non-preferential exports have been used to apply for preferential import licences. Therefore, the export licence referred to in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 should clearly state that the licence relates to exports of preferential sugar to the EU.

(20)

Regulation (EC) No 950/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(21)

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

1.

Article 1 is amended as follows:

2.

Article 2 is amended as follows:

3.

In Article 4(5), the following subparagraphs are added:

‘For the delivery period beginning on 1 July 2009, the first period for submission of applications for import licences shall start on the Monday following the entry into force of the Regulation determining the delivery obligations for this period.

For ACP/India sugar, the last day for the submission of applications for import licences shall be 18 September 2009.’

4.

In the third subparagraph of Article 5(3), the following sentence is added:

‘However, this subparagraph shall not apply for the delivery period 2008/2009 and the delivery period beginning on 1 July 2009.’

5.

In Article 6(4), the second phrase is replaced by the following:

‘Obligations to import, to refine or to process industrial import sugar are not transferable.’

6.

In Article 15(3) the following subparagraph is added:

‘However, the first subparagraph shall not apply for the delivery period 2008/2009 and the delivery period beginning on 1 July 2009.’

7.

Article 16 is amended as follows:

8.

In Article 17 paragraphs 1 and 2 are replaced by the following:

‘1.   Upon import, a document shall be presented to the customs authorities bearing:

2.   The document referred to in paragraph 1 containing the description of sugar falling within CN code 1701 99 may be used, where appropriate, for imports of sugar falling within CN code 1701 11.’

9.

Article 21(2)(a) is replaced by the following:

10.

The first subparagraph of Article 22(1) is replaced by the following:

‘Upon import, a document shall be presented to the customs authorities bearing:’

11.

In Article 28(2), the third indent is replaced by the following:

12.

In Article 30, paragraph 2 is deleted.

13.

The following Articles 30a to 30d are inserted:

‘Article 30a

The products imported as industrial import sugar shall be used for the purposes of production of the products referred to in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EC) No 967/2006 (18).

Article 30b

By way of derogation from Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1301/2006, applications for import licences for industrial import sugar may be submitted only by processors within the meaning of Article 2(d) of Regulation (EC) No 967/2006.

Article 30c

Articles 11, 12 and 13 of Regulation (EC) No 967/2006 shall apply to imports of industrial import sugar.

Article 30d

1.   A processor shall supply proof, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities of the Member State, that he used the quantities imported as industrial import sugar for the purposes of production of the products referred to in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 967/2006 and in accordance with the approval referred to in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 967/2006. This proof shall consist of the computerised recording in the records during or at the end of the production process of the quantities of the products concerned.

2.   If processors have not supplied the proof referred to in paragraph 1 by the end of the seventh month following the month of import they shall pay, for each day of delay, a sum of EUR 5 per tonne of the quantity concerned.

3.   If processors have not supplied the proof referred to in paragraph 1 by the end of the ninth month following the month of import, the quantity concerned shall be considered to be over-declared within the meaning of Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 967/2006.

14.

The following Chapter VIIIa is inserted:

‘CHAPTER VIIIa

ADDITIONAL EPA SUGAR

Article 31a

The quantities available under the additional tariff rate quotas opened for products of tariff heading 1701 for the period from 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009 in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007 shall be allocated as follows:

Article 31b

1.   Import licence applications and licences shall contain the following entries:

2.   Import licence applications shall be accompanied by the original of the export licence issued by the competent authorities of the exporting country or of one of the exporting countries in accordance with the model in Annex II to this Regulation for a quantity equal to that in the licence application. This export licence may be replaced by a certified copy, issued by the competent authorities of the exporting country, of the proof of origin referred to in Title IV of Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1528/2007.’

15.

The Annexes are amended as follows: