(1)

Slovakia committed itself to the closure of Unit 1 and Unit 2 of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant by 31 December 2006 and 31 December 2008, respectively. The European Union expressed its willingness to continue to provide financial assistance up to 2006 as an extension of the pre-accession aid planned under the Phare programme in support of Slovakia’s decommissioning efforts.

(2)

Protocol No 9 on Unit 1 and Unit 2 of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant in Slovakia, as annexed to the 2003 Act of Accession, reiterates Slovakia’s commitment to close the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant and, to this end, establishes an assistance programme with a budget of EUR 90 million for the period 2004 to 2006.

(3)

In Protocol No 9 the Union also recognised that decommissioning of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant will have to continue beyond the Financial Perspectives 2002 to 2006 and that this effort represents a significant financial burden for Slovakia. Decisions on the continuation of assistance from the Union in this field after 2006 will take account of this situation.

(4)

International decommissioning funds managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have been in place for a number of years. Through the Phare programme in particular, the Community is the main contributor to these funds.

(5)

Consequently, provision should be made for a sum of EUR 423 million (4) from the general budget of the European Union to fund the decommissioning of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant over the period from 2007 to 2013.

(6)

The appropriations of the general budget of the European Union for decommissioning should not lead to distortions of competition in relation to power supply companies on the energy market in the Union. These appropriations should also be used to finance measures to compensate the loss of production capacity in line with the acquis.

(7)

The financial assistance may be made available as a Community contribution to the Bohunice International Decommissioning Support Fund managed by the EBRD.

(8)

The tasks of the EBRD include managing the public funds allocated to the programmes for decommissioning nuclear power plants and monitoring the financial management of these programmes so as to optimise the use of public money. In addition, the EBRD carries out the budget tasks entrusted to it by the Commission in line with the requirements of Article 53(7) of the Financial Regulation.

(9)

Protocol No 9 leaves open the possibility of the establishment of different implementation routes for assistance to meet the purpose mentioned in Article 2, including a nationally administered accredited channel. The Commission and Slovakia could develop the implementing modalities in line with the relevant sections of the Financial Regulation.

(10)

In order to ensure the highest possible efficiency, the decommissioning of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant should be carried out with recourse to the best available technical expertise, and with due regard to the nature and technological specifications of the units to be shut down.

(11)

The decommissioning of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant should be carried out in line with the legislation on the environment, particularly Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (5).

(12)

A financial reference amount, within the meaning of Point 38 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (6), is inserted in this Regulation for the entire duration of the programme, without prejudice to the powers of the budgetary authority as defined by the Treaty establishing the European Community.

(13)

For the adoption of measures necessary for the implementation of this Regulation the Commission should be assisted by a committee,

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 3223/94 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in the Annex thereto.

(2)

In compliance with the above criteria, the standard import values must be fixed at the levels set out in the Annex to this Regulation,

(1)

Article 6(3) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 952/2006 (2) defines the production of undertakings for the purposes of the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector, in the particular case where one undertaking outsources production to another. This is deemed to be the production of the principal under certain conditions, including where the total sugar production of the processor and the principal is more than the sum of their quotas. This provision needs to be adapted in the light of Article 3 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 493/2006 of 27 March 2006 laying down transitional measures within the framework of the reform of the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector, and amending Commission Regulations (EC) No 1265/2001 and (EC) No 314/2002 (3), which provides for a preventive withdrawal, applicable to the share of the production under quota which exceeds the threshold established in accordance with paragraph 2 of that Article. The aim of that measure is to create an incentive for sugar undertakings to reduce voluntarily their production in the marketing year 2006/07. It is also necessary to modify the definition of production in Article 6(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 952/2006 so that it does not discourage producers from reducing production. The definition of production for the marketing year 2006/07 should therefore concern the sum of the preventive withdrawal thresholds instead of the sum of quotas.

(2)

Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 952/2006 lays down that the obligation of undertakings to establish monthly prices concern quota sugar and non-quota sugar respectively. However, this distinction is not relevant for refiners, since their activity, which consists of refining imported sugar, is not dependent on the allocation of quotas. The fact that the distinction between quota and non-quota sugar does not apply to them needs to be explicitly indicated, so as to avoid confusion.

(3)

For sugar for industrial uses, the price reporting system established in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 should focus on transactions of a minimum volume, since there is little interest in establishing a price indicator with regard to transactions where the quantities are insignificant. It is therefore appropriate to fix a minimum threshold for the application of the requirement to establish and communicate to the Commission the monthly average of purchase prices.

(4)

The application of the transitional provisions on transmission of price data to the Commission laid down in Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 952/2006 needs to be extended until the first quarter of 2008 to allow for the drawing up of a report on the operation of the system followed by the implementation of a computerised system.

(5)

The one-off amounts to be paid for additional sugar quotas and for supplementary isoglucose quotas pursuant to Articles 8(3) and 9(3) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 are part of the Communities' own resources pursuant to Article 2(1)(a) of Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000 on the system of the European Communities' own resources (4). The date of notification of these amounts to the debtor should be fixed, in order to determine the date of establishment of the Community's entitlement in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 2(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom on the system of the Communities' own resources (5).

(6)

Pursuant to Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006, a production charge shall be levied each marketing year from 2007/08 on the quota allocated for the marketing year concerned. The production charge is part of the Communities' own resources pursuant to Article 2(1)(a) of Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom. The date of notification of these amounts to the debtor should be fixed in order to determine the date of establishment of the Community's entitlement in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000.

(7)

It is necessary to correct Article 21(1) of Regulation (EC) No 952/2006, which erroneously refers to Article 2(1) of that Regulation where it should instead be referred to Article 3(1).

(8)

Regulation (EC) No 952/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(9)

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

1.

in the first subparagraph of Article 6(3), point (b) is replaced by the following:

(*1)   OJ L 89, 28.3.2006, p. 11.’;"

2.

Article 13 is amended as follows:

3.

in Article 15, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘Not later than 20 October 2006, 20 January 2007, 20 April 2007, 20 July 2007, 20 October 2007, 20 January 2008 and 20 April 2008, undertakings approved in accordance with Articles 7 and 8 of this Regulation and processors approved in accordance with Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 318/2006 shall communicate to the Commission the prices established in accordance with Article 13(1) of this Regulation during the previous three months.’

4.

the title of Chapter V is replaced by the following:

5.

in Article 18, the following paragraph 3 is added:

6.

in Article 19, the following paragraph 3 is added:

7.

the following Article 20a is inserted:

8.

in Article 21(1), the introductory phrase is replaced by the following:

‘Each approved manufacturer and refiner shall notify to the competent authority of the Member State in which the production or refining took place, before the 20th of each month, the total quantities, expressed as white sugar, of the sugars and syrups indicated in Article 3(1)(a), (b), (c) and (d):’.

(1)

For the Member State implementing the Single Payment Scheme provided for in Title III of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 in 2007, the budgetary ceilings for each of the payments referred to in Articles 66 to 69 of that Regulation should be fixed for 2007 under the conditions laid down in Section 2 of Chapter 5 of Title III of that Regulation.

(2)

For the Member States making use, in 2007, of the option provided for in Article 70 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, the budgetary ceilings applying to the direct payments excluded from the Single Payment Scheme should be fixed for 2007.

(3)

The maximum amount of aid for olive groves referred to in Article 110i(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 should be adjusted according to the reduction of the coefficient referred to in the third subparagraph of the same provision and to the amount withheld under Article 110i(4), notified by the Member States concerned. The national ceilings set in Annex VIIIa to that Regulation should be adjusted accordingly.

(4)

For the sake of clarity, it is appropriate to publish the budgetary ceilings for the Single Payment Scheme for 2007 after deduction, from the ceilings of Annex VIII to Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, of the ceilings established for the payments referred to in Articles 66 to 70 of that Regulation.

(5)

For Member States implementing in 2007 the Single Area Payment Scheme provided for in Title IVa of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, the annual financial envelopes for 2007 should be fixed in accordance with Article 143b(3) of that Regulation.

(6)

For the sake of clarity, it is appropriate to publish the maximum amount of funds available to Member States applying the Single Area Payment Scheme for granting separate sugar payments in 2007 under Article 143ba of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 established on the basis of their notifications.

(7)

The maximum amount of Community contribution to the financing of work programmes drawn up by certified organisations of operators in the olive oil sector should be set, according to the coefficient applied to the amount withheld under Article 110(i)(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003, notified by the Member States concerned.

(8)

Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 should be amended accordingly.

(9)

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

1.

In the first subparagraph of Article 110i(3), the table is replaced by the following table:

2.

In Annex VIIIa, the columns concerning Malta and Slovenia are replaced by the following:

(1)

Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 lists the persons, groups and entities covered by the freezing of funds and economic resources under that Regulation.

(2)

On 11 May 2007, the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council decided to amend the list of persons, groups and entities to whom the freezing of funds and economic resources should apply. Annex I should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

The import duties in the cereals sector applicable from 16 May 2007 were fixed by Commission Regulation (EC) No 535/2007 (3).

(2)

As the average of the import duties calculated differs by more than EUR 5 a tonne from that fixed, a corresponding adjustment must be made to the import duties fixed by Regulation (EC) No 535/2007.

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 535/2007 should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

Commission Decision 2003/43/EC (2) establishes classes of reaction-to-fire performance for certain construction products.

(2)

Decision 2003/43/EC needs to be further adapted to take account of technical progress regarding wood-based panels.

(3)

Decision 2003/43/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(4)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Construction,

(1)

By Decision 2006/609/EC (2), the Commission fixed an indicative allocation by Member State of the commitment appropriations for the European territorial cooperation objective for the period 2007 to 2013.

(2)

Following the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, the indicative amounts of the commitment appropriations for the regions eligible to benefit from Structural Funds under the European territorial cooperation objective should be fixed for those Member States.

(3)

Decision 2006/609/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(4)

For reasons of clarity and legal certainty, this Decision should apply from the date of accession of Bulgaria and Romania,