Brussels, 21/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 December, the management committee of the EU voted in favour of suspending additional amounts applicable to full-rate customs duty on sugar. The impact of this measure is expected to be minimal, says the European Commission, which stressed that this additional duty would not disappear altogether, but has simply been suspended until 30 September 2015, and may be brought back if the market requires better protection.
If the procedures allow, the first tender to which reduced-duty imports will apply will take place around 23 January, covering a total of four tenders scheduled for raw sugar and white sugar. Additionally, the experts of the member states voted on a regulation bringing quota-free exports of sugar up to the upper level laid down by the WTO, or 700,000 tonnes on top of the 650,000 tonnes already earmarked in October 2012. The Commission presented the management committee with the EU's latest stock-take for sugar, reducing end-of-campaign stocks from 2 to 1.6 million tonnes.
The sugar levies affair. On 19 December, the European Commission told the most recent Agriculture Council of its plans to make a legal correction to the calculation of levies on sugar production, as a consequence of a ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU. The judges' decision will bring about the reimbursement of more than €295 million to EU producers. Germany asked the European Commission during the Agriculture Council about the provisions it intends to adopt following the Court's ruling of 27 September which concluded that the method for calculating production levies in the sugar sector was incorrect, as it led to an over-evaluation of “losses” (export refunds and chemical product production refunds) to be covered, and therefore of the level of levy to be determined.
The decision of the Court of Justice of the EU means that a corrected levy will be calculated for the years 2002/03 to 2005/06 and that the businesses in question will be reimbursed by the member states for the difference between the surplus levy borne and the corrected levy, with retroactive effect.
At the management committee of 6 December, the Commission presented a working document detailing the new method for calculating the levy, which has been validated by the Court, and the levels of these for the years in question. Various legal options on the adoption of the corrective document and any reimbursement of interest on the own resources of the Union are currently being looked into.
Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos told the ministers that the Commission was to send the member states an information note to provide immediate indications on how to apply the ruling of the Court in these cases at national level. Ciolos also confirmed that a full legal document covering all the issues raised by the ruling is currently being prepared. He added that although the regulation cancelled by the Court does not cover 2001/02, the Commission will propose a retroactive recalculation of production taxes for that date, given the fact that the method invalidated by the judges was also used for that year. (LC/transl.fl)