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(2004/C 70 E/246)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3166/03

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(20 October 2003)

Subject:   The Commission's compliance with the decisions of the European Court of Justice

In its welcome answer to question E-1804/03 (1) the Commission states that it is not engaged in any proceedings against Sinaga, which means that the case opposing the possibility of shipping sugar from the Azores (Case C 2002-1098) has therefore ceased to exist and that the Commission is thus respecting the judgement of 15 May 2003 in Case C-282/00 of the European Court of Justice.

The fact that the Commission is complying with the Court's decision removes the reasons which led the Commission not to implement the Poseima regulations fully, and hence there is also nothing to prevent the 3 000-tonne increase in the supply of white sugar, produced from unrefined sugar, requested by Sinaga.

Can the Commission therefore confirm that it has acted on the request mentioned in the question's title?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(12 November 2003)

As guardian of the Treaties the Commission watches over compliance with Community law and scrupulously respects the Court of Justice's decisions.

In its judgment in Case C-282/00 the Court upheld the principle maintained by the Commission of freedom to ship or export sugar obtained from beet harvested in the Azores.

In the same judgment it confirmed the Commission's position on shipment to the European mainland or exportation of refined sugar produced in the Azores from raw sugar supplied to the islands under the specific supply arrangements (SSA) introduced by Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92, now replaced by Regulation (EC) No 1453/2001 (2).

Supply of the outermost islands under these arrangements is restricted to what is required for human consumption, as agricultural inputs and for processing. Sugar sent to the Azores with benefit of the SSA (exemption from customs duty or in the case of Community sugar payment of an aid equal to the refund) cannot leave the islands.

There is one exception to this principle. If processing of supplied products has occurred in the Azores the resulting products can be shipped or exported within the limits of ‘traditional quantities’. The Court ruled on this point in the following words (3). ‘It follows that the shipments of sugar must satisfy relatively strict conditions in order to be classified as traditional trade flows or traditional shipments. Those requirements refer as much to the magnitude of the shipments as to their frequency and the fact that they are ongoing.’‘In order to determine whether shipments of sugar to mainland Portugal and to Madeira ... are traditional exports it must, therefore, be determined whether, at the time that the Poseima Programme was implemented by Regulation No 1600/92, with effect from 1 July 1992, those shipments were ongoing, regular and significant. Sporadic and small-scale shipments made in the past cannot satisfy those requirements.’

The Portuguese authorities have not provided evidence of shipments of sugar of the type specified by the Court. Therefore since the exception to the principle is not valid in this case the islands' sugar supply needs must be worked out on the basis of local consumption.

There is nothing to suggest that sugar consumption in the Azores has risen by 3 000 tonnes a year. Accordingly Sinaga's request to the Commission for an increase in the supply balance must be turned down.

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(1)OJ C 33 E, 6.2.2004, p. 173.

(2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 1453/2001 of 28 June 2001 introducing specific measures for certain agricultural products for the Azores and Madeira and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 1600/92 (Poseima), OJ L 198, 21.7.2001.

(3)  Paragraphs 44 and 45 of the judgment.

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