(1)

The necessary measures should be taken to facilitate the transition in the sugar sector from the rules provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 to the new regime established by Regulation (EC) No 318/2006.

(2)

Following the deletion of the obligation to export provided for in Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001, measures should be laid down to manage the quantities of sugar resulting from the disappearance of this obligation and of the C sugar arrangements from 1 July 2006. These measures should comply with the Community’s international obligations.

(3)

To improve management of the quantities of sugar produced in excess of the quota attributable to the 2005/2006 marketing year, undertakings should be allowed to carry forward some of these quantities to the 2006/2007 marketing year. To this end, it should be laid down that the carry forward in question is subject to the application of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 65/82 of 13 January 1982 laying down detailed rules for carrying forward sugar to the following marketing year (3), while allowing a certain degree of flexibility on the decision to carry forward in order to facilitate the transition between the existing regime and the new regime.

(4)

The quantity of non-quota sugar in the 2005/2006 marketing year, which may be neither carried over nor exported, should be considered to be non-quota sugar in the 2006/2007 marketing year in order to allow its disposal through the uses provided for in respect of this sugar by Regulation (EC) No 318/2006, as well as, taking into account the exceptional conditions of the transition between those marketing years, its use in animal feed.

(5)

For control purposes and, where applicable, the application of penalties, the proportion of C sugar production in the 2005/2006 marketing year not carried over and not considered to be in excess of the quota in the 2006/2007 marketing year should continue to be subject to the application of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2670/81 of 14 September 1981 laying down detailed implementing rules in respect of sugar production in excess of the quota (4).

(6)

In order to improve the market balance in the Community without creating new stocks of sugar in the 2006/2007 marketing year, provision should be made for a transitional measure to reduce eligible production under quota in respect of that marketing year. A threshold should be fixed above which the production under quota of each undertaking is considered withdrawn within the meaning of Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 or, at the request of the undertaking, as production in excess of the quota within the meaning of Article 12 of that Regulation. In view of the transition between the two regimes, this threshold should be obtained by a combination, in equal parts, of the method laid down in Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 and that laid down in Article 19 of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 and take into account the special efforts made by some Member States within the framework of the restructuring fund set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 of 20 February 2006 establishing a temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry in the Community and amending Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (5).

(7)

In order to comply with the marketing conditions for the 2005/2006 marketing year, it should be laid down that the aid for disposal and additional aid for sugar produced in certain regions of the Community in the 2005/2006 marketing year and, within the limits of the quantities set by Commission Regulation (EC) No 180/2006 of 1 February 2006 (6), the refining aid for certain preferential sugars imported and refined in the 2005/2006 delivery period may continue to be paid beyond 30 June 2006. To this end, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1554/2001 of 30 July 2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 as regards marketing sugar produced in the French overseas departments and equalising the price conditions with preferential raw sugar (7) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1646/2001 of 13 August 2001 laying down detailed implementing rules for the grant of adjustment aid to the preferential raw sugar refining industry and adjusting both the adjustment aid and additional basic aid for the sugar refining industry (8) should continue to apply to the granting of these aids. For the sugar concerned the refining of preferential sugars by certain refineries should continue to be limited and the control on presumed maximum supply needs should be maintained, and provision should be made for the continued application of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1460/2003 of 18 August 2003 setting for the 2003/2004 to 2005/2006 marketing years rules of application for Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 as regards the presumed maximum raw sugar supply needs of refineries (9).

(8)

To carry out the calculation, fixing and collecting of production levies in the 2005/2006 marketing year, certain provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 314/2002 of 20 February 2002 laying down detailed rules for the application of the quota system in the sugar sector (10) and of Commission Regulation (EC) No 779/96 of 29 April 1996 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81 as regards communications in the sugar sector (11) should continue to apply beyond 30 June 2006. The levies are calculated on the basis of statistical data which are regularly updated. As it is the last time that levies are to be fixed for the entire period between the 2001/2002 marketing year and the 2005/2006 marketing year, without a subsequent possibility, as in previous years, to adjust the calculations on the basis of updated figures, the calculation should be deferred and the levies should be fixed on 15 February 2007 to guarantee the reliability of the calculations and the relevance of the statistical data used.

(9)

In order to ensure the supply to the chemical industry in the context of the transition between the existing regime and the new regime introduced on 1 July 2006, certain provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1265/2001 of 27 June 2001 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 as regards granting the production refund on certain sugar products used in the chemical industry (12) should continue to apply beyond 30 June 2006 to the refund certificates issued before that date. Since the new regime allows the use by the chemical industry of non-quota sugar, the period of validity of the export certificates should be reduced and the granting of the refund should be limited to the production under quota in the 2005/2006 marketing year.

(10)

Under Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006, the period covered by the marketing year begins on 1 October and ends on 30 September of the following year. However, the 2005/2006 marketing year, as laid down by Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001, ends on 30 June 2006. The 2006/2007 marketing year therefore begins on 1 July 2006 and ends on 30 September 2007, and thus extends over 15 months. For the 2006/2007 marketing year, therefore, provision should be made for an increase in the quotas and the traditional refining requirements which previously corresponded to a 12-month period and which will, after this marketing year, again apply to a 12-month period, by taking the extra three months into account so as to ensure an allocation which corresponds to that of the preceding and subsequent marketing years. These transitional quotas should cover sugar production from the start of the 2006/2007 marketing year, from sugar beet sown before 1 January 2006.

(11)

Regulations (EC) No 314/2002 and (EC) No 1265/2001 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(12)

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