Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia,

Having regard to the Act of Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 41 thereof,

Whereas:

Pursuant to Article 7(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 60/2004 of 14 January 2004 laying down transitional measures in the sugar sector by reason of the accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia^f1, the amount to be charged to those Member States for the surplus quantities not eliminated from the market in accordance with Article 6(2) of that Regulation are to be assigned to the Community budget in four equal instalments by 31 December at the latest of each of the years 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Commission Decision 2006/776/EC of 13 November 2006 on the amounts to be charged for the quantities of surplus sugar not eliminated^f2 fixed the amounts to be charged per Member State for the quantities of surplus sugar determined by Commission Regulation (EC) No 832/2005 of 31 May 2005 on the determination of surplus quantities of sugar, isoglucose and fructose for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia^f3 for which no adequate proof of elimination has been provided by 31 March 2006.

Pursuant to Article 6(3)(a) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom on the system of the Communities' own resources^f4 entitlements established in accordance with Article 2 of that Regulation are to be entered in the accounts for own resources at the latest on the first working day after the 19th day of the second month following the month during which the entitlement was established.

According to Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 60/2004 the Member States concerned had to submit proof of elimination to the Commission by 31 March 2006. In certain cases however, it was necessary to request supplementary information with regard to the proofs submitted. Due to the delays in the arrival of such additional information and the time required for their thorough analysis it was not possible to notify the Member States concerned of the charges to be paid by 31 October 2006. Consequently, in order to comply with the rules laid down in Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000, the deadline set by Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 60/2004 for the payment of the first instalment needs to be adjusted.

Regulation (EC) No 60/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Sugar,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: