Article 3(1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 891/20092 provides that tariff quotas in the sugar sector are to be opened on an annual basis for the period from 1 October to 30 September.

Article 192(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 provides that import licences for sugar for refining shall be issued during the first three months of each marketing year only to full-time refiners provided that the quantities concerned do not exceed the quantities of the exclusive import capacity for full-time refiners set out in paragraph 1 of that Article. In accordance with Article 192(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, exclusive import capacity for full-time refiners was only granted until the end of the 2016-2017 marketing year.

Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No 891/2009 provides that only full-time refiners may apply for import licences for sugar intended for refining with a start validity date during the first three months of each marketing year.

In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 891/2009, licence applications for the first sub-period of the 2017/2018 import tariff quota period were to be submitted from the eighth to the 14th day of September 2017.

For reasons of legal certainty as regards the right of operators other than full-time refiners to submit applications for import licenses for the first sub-period of the 2017/2018 import tariff quota period, Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 891/2009 should be deleted. Moreover, the period for the submission of applications for the first sub-period of the 2017/2018 import tariff quota period should be extended until 9 October 2017 and, as a consequence, the period of issuance of import licences and the period of notification of applications received by Member States adjusted.

Operators should also be given the possibility to withdraw applications already submitted between 8 and 14 September 2017 in case they wish to reconsider their application or introduce a revised application.

It is therefore necessary to amend Regulation (EC) No 891/2009 accordingly.

Given that the 2017/2018 import tariff quota period starts on 1 October, the proposed amendments should apply from the date of publication of this Regulation.

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