Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Sugar – Production charge – Basis of calculation

(Council Regulation No 318/2006, Arts 16 and 19; Commission Regulation No 290/2007, Art. 1)

2. Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Sugar – Production charge – Basis of calculation

(Council Regulations No 318/2006, Arts 16 and 19, and No 320/2006; Commission Regulation No 290/2007, recital 8 in the preamble)

Summary

1. Article 16 of Regulation No 318/2006 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector must be interpreted as meaning that the quantity of quota sugar withdrawn from the market pursuant to Article 19 of that regulation and Article 1 of Regulation No 290/2007 establishing, for the 2007/08 marketing year, the percentage provided for in Article 19 of Regulation No 318/2006 is included in the basis for assessment of the production charge.

The content and system of Article 16 of Regulation No 318/2006 show that the European Union legislature sought, within the framework of the reform of the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector, to introduce a new charge having as its basis for assessment not the quantity of sugar actually produced but the sugar quota allocated. Thus, whilst Article 16(1) lays down the principle of the levy of a charge on the sugar quota held by undertakings producing sugar, Article 16(2) has the sole objective of fixing the amount of that charge.

That analysis is confirmed by Article 16(3) of Regulation No 318/2006, which lays down detailed rules for the levy of the production charge. First, in its first paragraph, it provides that the totality of the production charge paid in accordance with subparagraph 1 is to be charged by the Member State to the undertakings on its territory according to the quota held during the marketing year concerned. Second, in its second paragraph, Article 16(3) requires the payments to be made by the undertakings by the end of the February of the relevant marketing year at the latest. However, at that date, the quantity produced for that year is not known, for, in accordance with Article 1(2) of the regulation, a marketing year is to begin on 1 October and end on 30 September of the following year.

In addition, it does not follow from Regulation No 318/2006 or from any other factor that the European Union legislature intended to deduct from the basis for assessment of the production charge the quantity of quota sugar withdrawn from the market in accordance with Article 19 of that regulation.

(see paras 22-25, operative part 1)

2. The inclusion of the quantity of quota sugar withdrawn from the market in the basis for assessment of the production charge introduced by Article 16 of Regulation No 318/2006 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector is not manifestly inappropriate for the attainment of the aim pursued by that regulation and may not, consequently, be considered to be contrary to the principle of proportionality.

Moreover, such inclusion may not be considered to be contrary to the principle of non-discrimination. Admittedly, it may result, owing to the method for fixing the withdrawal, in different treatment for undertakings which may be in a similar situation but established in different Member States. Nevertheless, such treatment of undertakings appears to be objectively justified. The division of the quotas between undertakings and the management of those quotas being ensured by the Member States, the renouncing of quotas is also organised by each Member State and will vary from one Member State to another. In that context, as is apparent from recital 8 in the preamble to Regulation No 290/2007 establishing, for the 2007/08 marketing year, the percentage provided for in Article 19 of Regulation No 318/2006, it is necessary to take into consideration the fact that the constraints associated with the withdrawal could have serious economic consequences for undertakings in Member States that have made particular efforts under the restructuring scheme established by Regulation No 320/2006 establishing a temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry in the Community and amending Regulation No 1290/2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy, and that such an effect would be contrary to the very objective of this scheme and of the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector, which is to guarantee the viability and competitiveness of that sector. Thus, the object of the partial or total exemption from the application of the withdrawal percentage common to the Member States is to take into account the special efforts made by Member States in order to release quotas definitively.

(see paras 40, 45-47)