Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:299
Date: 2002-05-16
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Agricultural structures;Sugar
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Portugal

SUMMARY — CASE C-282/00 
Summary of the Judgment 
1. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Sugar — Regulation 
No 1600/92 concerning specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relating to 
certain agricultural products — Second paragraph of Article 8 — Meaning of 
processing of products — Refining of raw beet sugar into white sugar — Whether 
included 
(Council Regulation No 1600/92, Art. 8, second para.) 
2. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Sugar — Regulation 
No 1600/92 concerning specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relating to 
certain agricultural products — Second paragraph of Article 8 •— Meaning of 
traditional shipment to the rest of the Community 
(Council Regulation No 1600/92, Art. 8, second para.) 
3. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Sugar — Regulation 
No 1600/92 concerning specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relating to 
certain agricultural products — White sugar produced in the Azores from sugarbeet 
harvested in the Azores and which receives Community aid provided for in 
Article 25 — Shipment to mainland Portugal — Whether permissible — Conditions 
(Council Regulation No 1600/92, Art. 25) 
4. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets •— Sugar — Regulation 
No 1600/92 concerning specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relating to 
certain agricultural products — White sugar produced in the Azores from raw beet 
sugar imported under the specific supply arrangements provided for under Title I — 
Shipment to mainland Portugal — Whether permissible — Conditions 
(Council Regulation No 1600/92, Title I, Art. 8, second para.) 
1. The refining of raw beet sugar into 
white sugar must be considered to be 
the processing of a product within the 
meaning of the second paragraph of 
Article 8 of Regulation No 1600/92 
concerning specific measures for the 
Azores and Madeira relating to certain 
agricultural products since first, that 
refining is an important stage of manu­
facture and, second, the Community 
rules take account of the objective 
differences between raw and white 
sugar. 
(see paras 38-39, operative part 1 
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2. Shipments which, at the time of the 
entry into force of Regulation 
No 1600/92 concerning specific meas­
ures for the Azores and Madeira relat­
ing to certain agricultural products on 
1 July 1992, were ongoing, regular and 
significant are traditional shipments to 
the rest of the Community within the 
meaning of the second paragraph of 
Article 8 of that regulation. If the 
Community legislature intended to 
take account of traditional trade flows 
it was not for the purpose of acknowl­
edging historical rights but in order to 
prevent the introduction of the specific 
supply arrangements, intended for the 
benefit of those islands, from resulting 
in the loss of markets on which their 
products were regularly sold. 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. Sporadic and small-scale ship­
ments made in the past cannot satisfy 
those requirements. 
(see paras 43-44, 49, operative part 2) 
3. Community law does not preclude the 
shipment to mainland Portugal of 
white sugar produced in the Azores 
from sugarbeet harvested in the Azores 
and which receives the Community aid 
provided for in Article 25 of Regu­
lation No 1600/92 concerning specific 
measures for the Azores and Madeira 
relating to certain agricultural prod­
ucts, up to a limit of 10 000 tonnes of 
production per year. In the absence of 
an express prohibition and in the light 
of the fundamental principle of the free 
movement of goods, it is apparent that 
there is no restriction on shipping sugar 
produced from sugarbeet harvested in 
the Azores to the rest of the Commu­
nity. 
(see paras 55, 62, operative part 3) 
4. Community law does not preclude the 
shipment to mainland Portugal of 
white sugar produced in the Azores 
from raw beet sugar imported under 
the specific supply arrangements pro­
vided for under Title I of Regulation 
No 1600/92, provided that it cor­
responds to traditional shipments 
within the meaning of the second 
paragraph of Article 8 of that regu­
lation. 
(see para. 68, operative part 4) 
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