PROTOCOL No 3 on ACP sugar

Article 1

1. The Community undertakes for an indefinite period to purchase and import, at guaranteed prices, specific quantities of cane sugar, raw or white, which originate in the ACP States and which these States undertake to deliver to it.

2. The safeguard clause in Article 10 of the Convention shall not apply. The implementation of this Protocol is carried out within the framework of the management of the common organization of the sugar market which, however, shall in no way prejudice the commitment of the Community under paragraph 1.

Article 2

1. Without prejudice to Article 7, no change in this Protocol may enter into force until a period of five years has elapsed from the date on which the Convention enters into force. Thereafter, such changes as may be agreed upon will come into force at a time to be agreed.

2. The conditions for implementing the guarantee referred to in Article 1 shall be re-examined before the end of the seventh year of their application.

Article 3

1. Quantities of cane sugar referred to in Article 1, expressed in metric tons of white sugar, hereinafter referred to as "agreed quantities", for delivery in each 12-month period referred to in Article 4 (1), shall be as follows: >PIC FILE= "T0017085">

2. Subject to Article 7, these quantities cannot be reduced without the consent of the individual States concerned.

3. Nevertheless, in respect of the period up to 30 June 1975, the agreed quantities, expressed in metric tons of white sugar, shall be as follows: >PIC FILE= "T0017086">

Article 4

1. In each 12-month period from 1 July to 30 June inclusive, hereinafter referred to as the "delivery period", the sugar-exporting ACP States undertake to deliver the quantities referred to in Article 3 (1), subject to any adjustments resulting from the application of Article 7. A similar undertaking shall apply equally to the quantities referred to in Article 3 (3) in respect of the period up to 30 June 1975, which shall also be regarded as a delivery period.

2. The quantities to be delivered up to 30 June 1975, referred to in Article 3 (3), shall include supply en route from port of shipment or, in the case of landlocked States across frontier.

3. Deliveries of ACP cane sugar in the period up to 30 June 1975 shall benefit from the guaranteed prices applicable in the delivery period beginning 1 July 1975. Identical arrangements may be made for subsequent delivery periods.

Article 5

1. White or raw cane sugar shall be marketed on the Community market at prices freely negotiated between buyers and sellers.

2. The Community shall not intervene if and when a Member State allows selling prices within its borders to exceed the Community's threshold price.

3. The Community undertakes to purchase, at the guaranteed price, quantities of white or raw sugar, within agreed quantities, which cannot be marketed in the Community at a price equivalent to or in excess of the guaranteed price.

4. The guaranteed price, expressed in units of account, shall refer to unpacked sugar, cif European ports of the Community, and shall be fixed in respect of standard quality sugar. It shall be negotiated annually, within the price range obtaining in the Community, taking into account all relevant economic factors, and shall be decided at the latest by 1 May immediately preceding the delivery period to which it will apply.

Article 6

Purchase at the guaranteed price, referred to in Article 5 (3), shall be assured through the medium of the intervention agencies or of other agents appointed by the Community.

Article 7

1. If, during any delivery period, a sugar-exporting ACP State fails to deliver its agreed quantity in full for reasons of force majeure the Commission shall, at the request of the State concerned, allow the necessary additional period for delivery.

2. If a sugar-exporting ACP State informs the Commission during the course of a delivery period that it will be unable to deliver its agreed quantity in full and that it does not wish to have the additional period referred to in paragraph 1, the shortfall shall be re-allocated by the Commission for delivery during the delivery period in question. Such re-allocation shall be made by the Commission after consultation with the States concerned.

3. If, during any delivery period, a sugar-exporting ACP State fails to deliver its agreed quantity in full for reasons other than force majeure, that quantity shall be reduced in respect of each subsequent delivery period by the undelivered quantity.

4. It may be decided by the Commission that in respect of subsequent delivery periods, the undelivered quantity shall be re-allocated between the other States which are referred to in Article 3. Such re-allocation shall be made in consultation with the States concerned.

Article 8

1. At the request of one or more of the States supplying sugar under the terms of this Protocol, or of the Community, consultations relating to all measures necessary for the application of this Protocol shall take place within an appropriate institutional framework to be adopted by the Contracting Parties. For this purpose the institutions established by the Convention may be used during the period of application of the Convention.

2. In the event of the Convention ceasing to be operative, the sugar supplying States referred to in paragraph 1 and the Community shall adopt the appropriate institutional provisions to ensure the continued application of the provisions of this Protocol.

3. The periodical reviews provided for under this Protocol shall take place within the agreed institutional framework.

Article 9

Special types of sugar traditionally delivered to Member States by certain sugar-exporting ACP States shall be included in, and treated on the same basis as, the quantities referred to in Article 3.

Article 10

The provisions of this Protocol shall remain in force after the date specified in Article 91 of the Convention. After that date the Protocol may be denounced by the Community with respect to each ACP State and by each ACP State with respect to the Community, subject to two years' notice.

ANNEX

For the period from 1 February 1975 to 30 June 1976, and in respect of the quantities specified in Protocol No 3, the guaranteed prices referred to in Article 5 (4) of the Protocol shall be as follows: (a) for raw sugar, 25 753 units of account per 100 kilogrammes;

(b) for white sugar, 31 772 units of account per 100 kilogrammes.

These prices shall refer to sugar of standard quality as defined in Community rules, unpacked, cif European ports of the Community.