EC COMMISSION DECLINES COMMENT ON SUGAR OFFER

  The European Community (EC) Commission
  declined to give an official reaction to reports that a group
  of european operators plan to offer one mln tonnes of sugar
  into intervention in protest at Commission export policies.
      However, a spokesman for the Commission confirmed the
  offers had been made to intervention agencies in various member
  states, and said it would now take up to three weeks for the
  agencies concerned to complete all necessary documentation.
      The spokesman said that under current regulations, the EC
  would have to accept all the offers if there were no technical
  problems.
      The spokesman said the Commission would only have to
  reimburse the member state for the cost of buying-in the sugar
  after the product was sold out of intervention stores at a
  later date.
      He said that at present there was virtually no sugar held
  in intervention stores.
      Last year, 45,000 tonnes were sold into intervention and
  during the 1984-85 campaign 108,000 tonnes.
  

