20.3.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 78/23 REGULATION (EU) No 2282013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 March 2013 laying down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 247/2006 THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first paragraph of Article 42, Article 43(2) and Article 349 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1), Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3), Whereas: (1) Specific measures in the agricultural sector to remedy the difficulties caused by the specific situation facing the Union’s outermost regions, as referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘the Treaty’), have been established by Council Regu- lation (EC) No 247/2006 (*). Those measures have been implemented by means of support programmes for each region, which constitute an essential tool for supplying such regions with agricultural products. In view of the need to update the current measures, including as a result of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, it is necessary to repeal Regulation (EC) No 247/2006 and replace it with a new Regulation. (2)  The fundamental objectives which the scheme promoting the Union’s outermost regions will help to achieve need to be specified. (3) It is also necessary to specify the content of the Programmes of Options Specifically Relating to Remoteness and Insularity (POSEI programmes’) which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, should be established by the Member States concerned at the most appropriate geographical level and submitted by the Member States to the Commission for approval. () OJ C 107, 6.4.2011, p. 33. (%) Position of the European Parliament of 5 February 2013 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 25 February 2013. () OJ L 42, 14.2.2006, p. 1. ) In order to achieve more effectively the objectives of the scheme promoting the Union’s outermost regions, the POSEI programmes should include measures which ensure the supply of agricultural products and the pres- ervation and development of local agricultural production. The level of programming for the regions concerned needs to be harmonised and the policy of partnership between the Commission and the Member States needs to become systematic. In keeping with the principle of subsidiarity and in order to ensure flexibility, the two principles which form the basis of the programming approach adopted for the scheme promoting the Union’s outermost regions, the authorities appointed by the Member State may propose amendments to the programme to bring it into line with the reality of the situation in the outermost regions. It should be possible for these auth- orities to modify the POSEI programmes, in accordance with the principle of administrative simplification, provided that they do not thereby jeopardise the effec- tiveness of the POSEI programmes and the corresponding financial resources allocated to them. Also in keeping with this approach, the procedure for amending the programmes should be adapted to reflect the level of relevance of each type of amendment. In order to ensure the supply of essential agricultural products to the outermost regions and to compensate for the additional costs caused by their extreme remoteness, it is appropriate to introduce a specific supply arrangement. In fact, the exceptional geographical situation of the outermost regions results in additional transport costs for supplying products which are essential for human consumption, for processing or as agricultural inputs. In addition, other objective factors linked to these regions’ extreme remoteness, and in particular their insu- larity and small surface areas, lead to further constraints on economic operators and producers in the outermost regions that severely handicap their activities. Those handicaps can be alleviated by lowering the price of those essential products. The specific supply arrangement should, however, under no circumstances damage local products and their development. To that end, notwithstanding Article 28 of the Treaty, imports of certain agricultural products from third countries should be exempt from the applicable import duties. To take account of their origin and the customs treatment accorded to them under Union law, products which have entered the Union’s customs territory under inward-processing or customs-warchousing arrangements should, for the purpose of granting the benefits of the specific supply arrangements, be considered to be direct imports.