Terugbetaling van de teveel betaalde heffingen door de Europese suikerindustrie (en)

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Brussels, 2 December 2013 (OR. en) PRESSE 519

Reimbursement of the levy paid in excess by the EU sugar

sector

The Council adopted today a regulation fixing new production levies for the marketing years to , by virtue of which Member States will be able to determine and reimburse with interest the sums unduly paid by the sugar sector over the period 2001-2006 ()

The regulation follows a judgment of the Court of Justice which annulled regulation fixing the production levies in the sugar sector for the marketing years to . The levies for the marketing years in question were originally set in regulation on the common organisation of the markets (CMO) in the sugar sector but several judgments of the Court of Justice obliged the Commission to propose adjusted calculations in regulation

In its judgment of September 2012, the Court ruled that the Commission had repeatedly erred in calculating the annual levies set for the period in question pursuant to regulation . Lastly, it found that the method used by the Commission in its regulation to fix the levies was incorrect because it led to an over-estimation of the costs to be covered and to consequently over-charging sugar producers. As a result, the method to fix the production levies for marketing years to became invalid and the Court held that individuals were entitled to reimbursement of the excess sums unduly paid in respect of the invalid production levies collected by the member states over the period in question, as well as to the payment of interest on such sums

This regulation is one of the first legal acts to be adopted by the Council under Article 43(3) TFEU. Under this article it is incumbent upon the Council to adopt measures on fixing prices, levies, aid and quantitative limitations in the framework of the common agricultural policy