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The third and fourth provisions upon which the Republic of Estonia relies — Articles 8 and 12 of Regulation No 2038/1999 — provide: ‘Article 8 1. A compensation system for storage costs, comprising flat-rate reimbursement to be financed by means of a levy, shall be provided for under the conditions set out in this Article. 2. Storage costs in respect of: — white sugar, — raw sugar, — syrups obtained prior to the crystallising stage, — syrups obtained by dissolving crystallised sugar, manufactured from beet or cane harvested in the Community shall be reimbursed at a flat rate by the Member States. The Member States shall impose a levy on each sugar manufacturer, as appropriate: — per unit of weight of sugar produced, — per unit of weight of the syrups referred to in the first subparagraph which are produced prior to the crystallising stage and marketed in their natural state. The amount of the reimbursement shall be the same for the whole Community. This rule of uniformity shall also apply in respect of the levy. 3. Paragraph 2 shall not apply to flavoured or coloured sugars falling within CN code No 1701 or to flavoured or coloured syrups falling within subheading 21069059 of the CN code. 4. The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, shall: (a) adopt the general rules for the application of this Article; (b) fix the reimbursement amount simultaneously with the derived intervention prices. 5. The amount of the levy shall be fixed each year in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 48. The other detailed rules for the application of this Article shall be adopted according to the same procedure. … Article 12 1. In order to ensure normal supplies to the Community as a whole or to one of its areas, there shall be a standing obligation to maintain, in the European territory of the Community, minimum stocks: (a) of beet sugar produced in the Community; (b) of cane sugar produced in the French overseas departments and of the preferential sugar referred to in Article 40. This minimum stock of the sugar referred to in (a) above shall, on a fixed date, be equal to a percentage of the A quota of each sugar-producing undertaking or to the same percentage of its production of A sugar where this is less than its A quota. The percentage fixed may be reduced. The minimum stock of the sugar referred to in the first subparagraph under (b) shall be equal to a percentage of the quantity of sugar in question refined by an undertaking over a fixed period. 2. The Council, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, shall adopt general rules for the application of this Article and, in particular, shall fix the date and the percentage referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 and the percentage and the period referred to in the fourth subparagraph of paragraph 1. In accordance with the same procedure, an obligation equivalent to the obligation to maintain a minimum stock may be laid down for the products referred to in Article 1(1)(f) and (h). 3. Detailed rules for the application of this Article and, in particular, the reduction of the percentage referred to in the third subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 48.’