The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part (‘the SAA’) was signed on 16 June 2008 and entered into force on 1 June 2015. Article 27(3) of the SAA provides for a duty-free access on imports into the Union for products originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina of headings 1701 and 1702 of the Combined Nomenclature, within the limit of an annual tariff quota of 12 000 tonnes.

The Protocol to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union (‘the Protocol’) was signed on 15 December 2016. Its signature on behalf of the European Union and the Member States and its provisional application has been authorised by Council Decision (EU) 2017/75.

Article 2(1) of the Protocol provides for changes to the existing tariff quotas for sugar originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina with effect from 1 February 2017. The relevant annual tariff quota for sugar is being increased from 12 000 tonnes to 13 210 tonnes.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 891/2009 provides for the opening and the administration of tariff quotas in the sugar sector, including those originating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To implement the tariff quotas for sugar laid down in the Protocol, it is therefore necessary to amend that Regulation accordingly.

Since the Protocol applies from 1 February 2017, the proposed amendments should apply from the same date and enter into force on the day of its publication.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,