Council Regulation (EEC) No 2250/88 of 19 July 1988 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81 on the common organization of the markets in the sugar sector

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2250/88 of 19 July 1988 amending Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81 on the common organization of the markets in the sugar sector
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),
Whereas under the terms of Protocol 7 on ACP sugar annexed to the Third ACP-EEC Convention(4) and of the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of India on cane sugar(5), the Community has undertaken to purchase and import at  guaranteed prices specific quantities of cane sugar, raw or white, which originate in certain ACP States and the Republic of India and which they undertake to deliver to it; whereas the provisions referred to stipulate that they are to be implemented  within the framework of the management of the market organization concerned which is laid down in Council Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81(6), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1107/88(7); whereas those provisions further stipulate that, after  negotiation, annual guaranteed prices are to be fixed at which the Community undertakes to purchase, within agreed quantities, quantities of the said sugars which cannot be marketed in the Community at a price equivalent to or in excess of the  guaranteed price;
Whereas the guaranteed prices for preferential raw sugar have not, since the 1985/86 marketing year, enabled the Community sugar refining industry to pay the suppliers in question the said price without any undue adverse effect on their margins; whereas that adverse effect has since been offset by Community compensation granted under a temporary scheme the period of validity of which has been renewed; whereas it is now advisable to introduce a similar but more suitable scheme,  whereby adjustment aid is paid by the Community for the refining of preferential raw sugar in the Community;
Whereas, in order to preserve a balance between the price of preferential raw cane sugar and that of raw cane sugar from the French overseas departments at the stage where those products enter the refinery, raw cane sugar from those departments and,  when it is processed into white sugar in refineries in the Community, raw sugar obtained from beet harvested in the Community qualify for an additional Community subsidy which is identical to that paid in respect of preferential raw sugar; whereas it is  advisable that this Regulation includes such provisions;
Whereas a provision should be introduced whereby the amount of the adjustment aid for the sugars in question can, where appropriate, be altered in order to maintain the said balance when changes occur in the storage levy and/or prices;
Whereas Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81 fixes, for the European regions of the Community, the date of 1 February of each marketing year as the deadline for decisions of undertakings producing sugar to carry forward production; whereas the  production of some undertakings producing beet sugar in Spain is generally completed only well after that date and the production of sugar cane in that Member State only takes place practically at the end of the marketing year; whereas, therefore, in  this case, in particular to avoid discrimination, appropriate deadlines should be set for decisions to carry over; whereas such deadlines must be made applicable to the 1987/88 marketing year to prevent the quantities of sugar concerned which cannot be  carried over from having to be exported to third countries without refunds by the Spanish undertakings concerned;
Whereas in view, on the one hand, of the special situation of the United Kingdom's market in white sugar and of its raw sugar refining industry which relies entirely on supplies of preferential raw sugar and, on the other, the abovementioned commitments  by virtue of which the Community is very much dependent on the existence of a viable refining industry in the United Kingdom, which must comply with the guaranteed prices fixed by the Community, it is advisable to introduce arrangements whereby the  United Kingdom may, to the extent which is felt to be necessary, grant national flat-rate adjustment and to its refiners of preferential raw sugar and whereby part of the aid, namely that corresponding to the obligations which the Community places on the said refiners, would be chargeable to the  Community;
Whereas it is advisable that these measures be introduced for a certain period only, namely until the end of the period of validity of the production-quota system, to allow their impact to be assessed, and whereas they should apply as from the 1987/88  marketing year, in which the existence of the problems of the preferential raw sugar refining margin was recognized;
Whereas the production of sugar cane and raw cane sugar in the French overseas departments always encounters difficulties that are peculiar to the crop, environmental and operating conditions of this sector; whereas, these crops represent an essential  component of the economy of the Research and Overseas Department; whereas, moreover, Italy is carrying out a restructuring of the sugar beet sector and sugar production by means of restructuring plans under Articles 92 to 94 of the Treaty; whereas,  under these circumstances, the Member States concerned should be authorized to continue to grant, for the 1988/89 marketing year, national aid in accordance with the arrangements in force since the 1986/87 marketing year,