CELEX: 31977R2680
Language: en
Date: 1977-12-05 00:00:00
Title: Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2680/77 of 5 December 1977 amending Regulation (EEC) No 834/74 laying down requisite provisions to prevent the sugar market being disturbed as a result of the price increase in this sector for the 1974/75 sugar marketing year

6. 12. 77                             Official Journal of the European Communities                           No L 312/5
                                  COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 2680/77
                                                   of 5 December 1977
              amending Regulation (EEC) No 834/74 laying down requisite provisions to
              prevent the sugar market being disturbed as a result of the price increase in this
                                      sector for the 1974/75 sugar marketing year
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN                                  Whereas, in its judgment of 30 October 1975 in Case
COMMUNITIES,                                                    23/75, the Court of Justice of the European Communi­
                                                                ties ruled that Article 6 of Regulation (EEC) No
                                                                 834/74 was invalid ; whereas the Court considered
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            that, while being legally entitled to adopt a provision
Economic Community,                                              imposing a pecuniary charge on holders of sugar
                                                                 stocks in a Member State following a change in the
                                                                 common prices and of those prices expressed in
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No                     national currencies on the changeover from one sugar
3330/74 of 19 December 1974 on the common organi­                marketing year to the next, the Commission should it
zation of the market in sugar ( J), as last amended by           self determine the essential basic rules ; whereas these
Regulation (EEC) No 3138/76 (2), and in particular               rules should indicate the classes of trader subject to
Article 33 thereof,
                                                                 the charges and the bases for calculating it and
                                                                 contain a definition of the concept of 'excessive
Whereas, when fixing the intervention price for the              stocking' according to the classes of trader concerned
 1974/75 sugar marketing year, the Council decided on            and the size of the undertakings ;
a level 7 % higher than the price which applied
during the preceding sugar marketing year ; whereas,
furthermore, in Italy the price of sugar expressed in            Whereas it is therefore necessary to fill the legal
Italian lira increased very sharply by 37 % as a result          vacuum thereby created so as to avoid discriminating
of the increase in the intervention price and a new              against holders of sugar who supplied the Italian
exchange rate for the Italian lira in the sugar sector ;         market normally before 1 July 1974 ; whereas the
whereas the supply situation on the Community                    provision that has been invalidated should, therefore,
 market and on the Italian market in particular was              be entirely replaced by another that takes account of
seriously threatened by the sugar shortage during the            the judgment of the Court while retaining the essen­
 1973/74 marketing year ; whereas to prevent distur­              tial characteristics of the original measure ;
bances on the market of that Member State special
 measures had to be taken to discourage traders from
 holding sugar and stocking it in excessive quantities
 before 1 July 1974 ; whereas in these circumstances it          Whereas this provision can be introduced under
 was necessary to record all quantities of sugar in               Article 33 of Regulation (EEC) No 3330/74 ; whereas
 excess of 500 kg held in stock by such traders on 1              this Article which provides for the possibility of
 July 1974 ;                                                      adopting requisite provisions to prevent the sugar
                                                                  market being disturbed as a result of an alteration in
                                                                  price levels at the changeover from one marketing
 Whereas on the basis of the above considerations the             year to the next, reproduces exactly the terms of
 Commission, in Article 6 of Commission Regulation                Article 37 (2) of Regulation No 1009/67/EEC of 18
 (EEC) No 834/74 of 5 April 1974 laying down requi­               December 1967 on the common organization of the
 site provisions to prevent the sugar market being                market in sugar (5), under which the invalidated
 disturbed as a result of the price increase in this sector       measure was adopted ;
 for the 1974/75 sugar marketing year (3), as last
 amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2106/74 (4), made
 provision for Italy to take certain national measures to         Whereas the amount of the charge levied on sugar
 prevent market disturbances resulting from the                    holders should cover the difference between consumer
 increase, on 1 July 1974, in the price of sugar                   prices in Italy on the changeover from the 1973/74 to
 expressed in Italian lira ; whereas pursuant to that             the 1974/75 sugar marketing year ; whereas, however,
 provision Italy laid down that all those holding stocks          when fixing the amount of the charge to be levied on
 of sugar in excess of 500 kg on 1 July 1974 should                sugar manufacturers, account must be taken of the
  pay a charge ;                                                   impact of the other measures laid down in Regulation
                                                                  (EEC) No 834/75 which this category of traders had to
 (>) OJ No  L 359, 31 . 12. 1975, p. 1 .                           bear ;
 (2) OJ No  L  354, 24. 12. 1976, p. 1 .
 (J) OJ No  L 99, 9. 4. 1974, p. 15.
 (4) OJ No  L  218, 9. 8 . 1974, p. 53.                            (5) OJ No 308, 18 . 12. 1967, p. 1 .
 ---pagebreak--- No L 312/6                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              6. 12. 77
Whereas certain industrial users of sugar need to have           hours on 1 July 1974 held, for any reason
a sufficient stock to continue normal activity ; whereas         whatsoever, white sugar, raw sugar or sugar syrups
such a stock cannot be termed excessive ; whereas the            in excess of 500 kg, or to whom one of these
size of such a stock will differ according to the type or        products was being transported in Italy at that
seasonal nature of the activity of each undertaking              time .
concerned ; whereas, however, in the supply situation
outlined above it is reasonable to consider that, to             Italy shall record the quantities concerned on the
maintain normal activity, industrial users require suffi­        basis of declarations to be made by the parties
cient stocks to sustain that activity at that time of the        concerned before a date to be determined by that
                                                                 Member State .
year for four weeks ;
Whereas it is necessary to provide that Italy can adopt          3. Italy , shall fix the amount of the charge
every national measure for the application of this               referred to in paragraph 1 so that it does not
                                                                 exceed     the  difference   between   the  consumer
Regulation particularly in relation to reimbursements
of sums that have been collected in excess pursuant to           prices, expressed in Italian lira, applying on the
                                                                 market of that Member State at the end of the
the exemption from the charge on working stocks
provided for by this Regulation ;                                 1973/74 sugar marketing year and at the begin­
                                                                 ning of the 1974/75 sugar marketing year.
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation
are in accordance with the opinion of the . Manage­              4. The charge referred to in paragraph 1 shall
ment Committee for Sugar,                                        be levied on all quantities recorded pursuant to
                                                                 the provisions of paragraph 2, excluding working
                                                                 stocks.
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
                                                                 Working stocks shall be that quantity of sugar
                        Article 1                                held by industrial users which is necessary for four
                                                                 weeks' activity in 1 974 ; the reference period to be
Article 6 of Regulation (EEC) No 834/74 is amended               taken for that purpose shall be determined on the
to read as follows :                                             basis of the type and seasonal nature of the activity
 •   Article 6                                                   of each of these industries.
    1 . In order to regularize the economic situation            5. Italy shall adopt the requisite measures for
    threatened by disturbances on the Italian market             the application of this Article and shall notify the
    caused by the increase, on 1 July 1974, of the               Commission thereof in writing without delay.'
    price of sugar expressed in Italian lira, Italy shall
    levy a charge on sugar stocks to be paid by all                                    Article 2
    holders of sugar as defined below and shall distri­
    bute the proceeds from this charge to sugar beet         This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
    growers .                                                following its publication in the Official Journal of
                                                             the European Communities.
    2.    Within the meaning of paragraph' 1 a holder
    of sugar shall be any person who, in Italy at 00         It shall apply with effect from 10 April 1974.
              This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
              States .
              Done at Brussels, 5 December 1977.
                                                                        For the Commission
                                                                         Finn GUNDELACH
                                                                            Vice-President