Article 1
Regulation (EEC) No 189/77 is hereby amended as follows: 1. The second indent of Article 1 (1) is replaced by the following: "- shall not include sugar which has been carried forward in accordance with Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81." 2. Article 2 is replaced by the following: "1. Without prejudice to Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 1789/81, the minimum stock may be the property only of the manufactuer or refiner in question and must be unencumbered by any commitments which might impede the aims of Article 12 of Regulation (EEC) No 1785/81. Provided that the person concerned retains the right to dispose of the quantity of sugar in question, a commitment contracted by the manufacturer or refiner for the purpose of financing a minimum stock shall not be considered as impeding the obligations of this paragraph. 2. Where a manufacturer of beet sugar undertakes to fulfil the minimum stock obligation pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 1789/81, he shall send to the competent authority of the Member State concerned, to reach it at the latest 30 days before the transfer of the storage obligation becomes effective, a copy of the contractual undertaking signed by the two contracting parties indicating the part of the obligation being transferred and the duration of the transfer. Such duration shall not exceed a period of 12 calendar months ; it shall commence on the first day of a month. The manufacturer to whom the storage obligation is transferred shall inform the competent authority before the end of each month, in respect of the following month, the monthly quantity to which the transferred obligation applies. Paragraph 1 shall apply to the manufacturer referred to in the first subparagraph to the extent of the quantities in respect of which the storage obligation has been transferred." 3. In Article 5 (4), the word "preferential" shall be replaced by the word "cane".