Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 of 20 February 2006 establishing a temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry in the Community^f1, and in particular Article 12 thereof,

Whereas:

Following the amendments to Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 by Council Regulation (EC) No 1261/2007^f2, it is necessary to adapt Commission Regulation (EC) No 968/2006^f3 accordingly and to clarify certain terms used in it.

Article 3(6) of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 fixes the percentage of the restructuring aid to be paid to growers and machinery contractors at 10 %. Therefore, decisions no longer need to be taken in view of the fixing of the level of the percentage as it had previously been the case and the competent authorities of the Member States also need less time to determine the percentage of the aid to be given to growers on the one hand and to machinery contractors on the other. The period for the consultation between undertakings and growers provided for in Article 2(4) and in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 968/2006 can therefore be shortened.

The second subparagraph of Article 3(6) of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 provides for the fixing, by the Member States, of the reference period for deliveries by growers of sugar beet and cane. In the case where growers make use of their right to submit an application for restructuring aid as provided for in Article 4a of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006, the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of that Article provides that that period has to be the marketing year that precedes the marketing year 2008/2009, i.e. the marketing year 2007/2008. For reasons of clarity it should be provided that the Member States should fix the marketing year 2007/2008 in that situation.

Article 4a of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 introduces the right for growers of sugar beet and cane to submit, at their own initiative, an application for restructuring aid. The undertakings concerned by such growers’ applications are called upon to submit a social plan in accordance with the third subparagraph of paragraph 4 of that Article. The deadlines for the submission as well as the details that need to be contained therein should be specified.

The details concerning the application procedure to be applied in the case of such growers’ applications need to be laid down, in particular with regard to the elements to be contained therein, the addresses at which the applications may be submitted whilst leaving it to the Member States to provide for further means of transmission. Moreover, there is a need to clarify the cases in which the submission of more than one application per grower would lead to the ineligibility of any one of them.

The number of growers’ applications submitted as well as the quantity of quota of the undertakings concerned affected by such applications will trigger the need for the undertakings concerned to, decide, for their part, whether they want to submit an application in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006. Moreover, the Member States need to take quick action for the follow-up decisions once the growers’ applications have been received. Therefore, it is important that the situation concerning the applications submitted cannot change and that a grower’s application may no longer be withdrawn.

There is also a need to determine the further procedure to be applied by the Member States with a view to the communications to be made to the undertakings concerned by growers’ applications as well as to the Commission, and with regard to the decisions on the granting of these applications.

In order to establish a chronological list of applications both from growers and undertakings, the lodging date for the growers’ applications should be determined by the lodging date of the last grower’s application for each undertaking which has not submitted an eligible application of its own in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006.

Rules need to be laid down to determine the establishment of the chronological list of growers’ applications referred to in Article 4a(3) of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 in the case where several such applications are being submitted simultaneously and where the amounts of sugar covered by these applications exceed the threshold provided for in paragraph 4 of that Article.

Article 4(1) and (1a) of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 provide for the possibility for undertakings to submit applications for restructuring aid for the renunciation of quotas as from the marketing year 2008/2009 in two phases, namely a first application until 31 January 2008 and a second until 31 March 2008. Recital 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1261/2007 introducing that possibility, refers to the setting-up of a two-phase-application procedure. It is, therefore, appropriate to provide that the initial applications of undertakings for renunciation of quota may be reconsidered in the light of the additional application to the extent that a further quota is being attributed to the factory or factories concerned or that the initial applications under Article 3(1)(b) or (c) are being reconsidered as applications under Article 3(1)(a) or (b) respectively. As such an additional application has an impact on the obligations to be complied with, a revised restructuring plan taking into account the increased level of quota to be renounced, and the obligations linked to the provision of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 concerned, needs to be established and furnished together with that additional application.

Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 968/2006 provides for the dates by which the Commission fixes the amounts attributed to each Member State under the restructuring fund. The introduction of the different kinds of application procedures by this Regulation makes it necessary to provide for a longer period of time within which the Commission fixes these amounts.

Article 3(8) of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 provides for the granting of retroactive payments in certain situations. The rules need to be laid down to determine the procedure to be applied in that context and in particular in order to establish the level of such payments and the date by which they have to be made.

Article 11(6) of Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 provides for the reduction of the temporary restructuring amount in cases where undertakings renounce a percentage of their quota of at least the withdrawal percentage to which they were subject under Regulation (EC) No 290/2007. Paragraph 5 of that Article provides for two instalments for the payment of the restructuring amount. Given that the data for the calculation of the reduction of that amount will not yet be available by the deadline for the payment of the first instalment, it should be provided that the reduction is to be offset against the second instalment of the payment by the undertakings.

Regulation (EC) No 968/2006 should, therefore, be amended accordingly.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the Agricultural Funds,

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