1.7.2003 Official Journal of the European Union L 162/25 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1159/2003 of 30 June 2003 laying down detailed rules of application for the 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06 marketing years for the import of cane sugar under certain tariff quotas and preferential agreements and amending Regulations (EC) No 1464/95 and (EC) No 779/96 THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 of 19 June 2001 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector ("), as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 680/2002 (3), and in particular Article 22(2), Article 26(1), Article 38(6), Article 39(6), and the second paragraph of Article 41 thereof, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1095/96 of 18 June 1996 on the implementation of the concessions set out in Schedule CXL drawn up in the wake of the conclusion of the GATT XXIV.6 negotiations (°), and in particular Article 1 thereof, Whereas: 1 2 3 5 6 () O] () O () O] () O] () O] () O Under Article 1(1) of Protocol 3 on ACP sugar (herein- after referred to as the ACP Protocol) attached to Annex V to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 () (hereinafter referred to as the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement), and Article 1(1) of the Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of India on cane sugar (°) (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement with India), the Community undertakes to purchase and import, at guar- anteed prices, specific quantities of cane sugar which originate in the ACP States and India respectively and which those States undertake to deliver to it. Article 39(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001 provides that during the 2001/02 to 2005/06 marketing years, in order to ensure adequate supplies to Community refi- neries, a special reduced rate of duty will be levied on imports of raw cane sugar originating in States with which the Community has concluded supply agreements on preferential terms. For the moment such agreements have been concluded, by Council Decision 2001/870/ EC (%), with the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP countries) which are parties to the ACP Protocol on the one hand and with India on the other. L 178, 30.6.2001, p. 1. L 104, 20.4.2002, p. 26. L 146, 20.6.1996, p. 1. L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3. L 190, 23.7.1975, p. 36. L 325, 8.12.2001, p. 21. 3) In the wake of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in the context of the conclusion of the negotiations under Article XXIV of the General Agree- ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Community undertook to import from third countries, from 1 January 1996, a quantity of raw cane sugar for refining, at a rate of duty of EUR 98 per tonne. Experience gained in applying Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2782/76 of 17 November 1976 laying down detailed implementing rules for the importation of preferential sugar ('), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2665/98 (¥), Commission Regulation (EC) No 2513/ 2001 of 20 December 2001 laying down detailed rules of application for the import of raw cane sugar for refining under preferential agreements on tariff quotas (°) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1507/96 of 29 July 1996 opening and providing for the administration of certain tariff import quotas for the supply of raw cane sugar to Community refineries (1Y), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1250/97 ('), show that it is appro- priate to adopt common detailed rules for the opening and administration of imports under the quotas or agree- ments in question. Those Regulations should therefore be repealed and replaced by a single act. The general rules relating to import licences, laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1291/2000 of 9 June 2000 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of import and export licences and advance fixing certificates for agricultural products (*?), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 325/2003 (), and the special rules applicable to the sugar sector laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1464/95 ('), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 995/2002 (), must apply. In order to facilitate the management of imports under this Regulation and ensure that the annual limits are observed, detailed rules should be laid down relating to import licences for raw sugar, expressed as white sugar equivalent. L 318, 18.11.1976, p. 13. L 336, 11.12.1998, p. 20. L 339, 21.12.2001, p. 19. L 189, 30.7.1996, p. 82. L 173,1.7.1997, p. 92. L 152, 24.6.2000, p. 1. L 47,21.2.2003, p. 21. L 144, 28.6.1995, p. 14. L 152, 12.6.2002, p. 11.