Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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.)

Summary

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 manufacture and, second, the Community rules take account of the objective differences between raw and white sugar.

see paras 38-39, operative part 1

2. Shipments which, at the time of the entry into force of Regulation No 1600/92 concerning specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relating 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 acknowledging 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 shipments 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 Regulation No 1600/92 concerning specific measures for the Azores and Madeira relating to certain agricultural products, 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 Community.

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 provided for under Title I of Regulation No 1600/92, provided that it corresponds to traditional shipments within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 8 of that regulation.

see para. 68, operative part 4