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Databáze č. 17 : Databáze judikatury
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Číslo (Kód CELEX):
Number (CELEX Code):		61979J0145
Název:
Title: 		JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF 15 OCTOBER 1980. SA ROQUETTE FRERES V FRENCH STATE - CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION. PRELIMINARY RULING REQUESTED BY THE TRIBUNAL D' INSTANCE, LILLE. MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS ON DERIVED PRODUCTS. CASE 145-79.
Publikace:
Publication:		REPORTS OF CASES 1980 PAGES 2917 - 2949
Předmět (klíčová slova):
Keywords		AGRICULTURE;MONETARY MEASURES IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURE;CEREALS;
Související předpisy:
Corresponding acts:		376R0652;371R0974
Odkaz na souvisejicí judikáty:
Corresponding Judgements:
    [147] Ruckdeschel
    · Moulins Joined Cases 124/76 and 20/77 Moulins et Huileries de Pont-ŕ-Masson and Providence Agricole de la Champagne [1977] ECR 1795
    · [112] Defrenne II
    [342] Société des produits de mais
Plný text:
Fulltext:		Ne

Fakta:
Roquette Frčres SA (“Roquette”) instituted proceedings before the Tribunal d’Instance (District Court), Lille, against the French State, Customs Administration, for the reimbursement of sums overcharged by the customs authorities in the form of monetary compensatory amounts. These compensatory amounts had been charged pursuant to Community regulations concerning the common agricultural organization. The amounts had been charged Commission Regulation (EEC) 652/76
Of 24 March 1976 changing the monetary compensatory amounts following changes in exchange rates for the French franc (OJ 1976 L 79, p. 4).
which had been adopted by the Commission acting under the powers conferred upon it by Council Regulation (EEC) 974/71
Of 12 May 1971 on certain measures of conjunctural policy to be taken in agriculture following the temporary widening of the margins of fluctuation for the currencies of certain Member States (OJ, English Special Edition 1971 (I), p. 257).
. Roquette challenged the method of calculation of the amounts employed by Regulation 652/76 as being contrary to the rules laid down by the Council in Regulation 974/71.
The Tribunal d’Instance stayed the proceedings and under Article 177 of the Treaty referred to the Court of Justice a number of questions relating to the validity of certain provisions of Regulation 652/76 whereby the Commission established the amounts applicable to the products in question.

Názor soudu a komentář:
The Court, making use of the competence it assumes under Article 177 of the Treaty “to extract from all the information provided by the national court those points of Community law which, having regard to the subject matter of the dispute, require interpretation, or whose validity requires appraisal”, first establishes a number of general considerations concerning the legal framework. It secondly addresses the individual provisions of Regulation 652/76 challenged by Roquette. Finally, it gives a ruling as to the consequences of the invalidity of certain provisions of Regulation 652/76. Only the first and third parts of the judgements shall be discussed in the following.
The fixing of the compensatory amounts has been lawfully delegated to the Council by Regulation 974/71. It is therefore in the first place the Commissions prerogative to resolve the technical and economic problems resulting in this context. For this purpose, the Commission must have “a wide margin of discretion … The fixing of the compensatory amount on a processed products cannot be challenged on the sole ground that, for a particular undertaking or group of producers, the calculation of the incidence of the compensatory amount applicable to the basic product is not entirely appropriate, as it may be essential to make general assessments.” This discretion is not, however, unlimited. As the Court indicates, the Commission, acting under the power conferred to it, is obliged to establish a system which has “a degree of consistency and clarity”. Secondly, the method of calculation employed may not work so as to persistently lead to effects which counteract the objectives of Regulation 974/71.
Assessing the provisions of Regulation 652/76 under these principles, the Court finds that a number of them are incompatible with Community law and therefore invalid. “Since this declaration of invalidity is made within the framework of a preliminary ruling under Article 177 of the Treaty, it is necessary to specify its consequences.”
The Treaty does not contain any detailed provisions in that respect. While Articles 174 and 176 contain clear rules as to the effects of the annulment of a regulation within the framework of a direct action, there are no such rules in regard to the preliminary ruling procedure. To fill this gap, the Court has in a number of judgements applied the provisions of Articles 174 and 176 by analogy ( [147]
Ruckdeshel;

Moulins
: application of Article 176 in the context of a preliminary ruling). “In this case it is necessary to apply by analogy the second paragraph of Article 174 of the Treaty, whereby the Court of Justice may state which of the effects of the regulation which it has declared void shall be considered as definiteve for the same reasons of legal certainty as those which form the basis of that provision.” The Court had already in other judgements assumed the power of limiting the temporal effects of its judgements ( [112]
Defrenne II
); however, it had not expressly based this power on an analogy to Article 174 (see also ( [342]
Société des produits de mais
).
In the light of the difficulties of appraising the economic advantages resulting from the invalidity of the provisions of the regulation in question and taking account of the fact that claims for recovery might in turn lead to considerable differences in treatment and to further distortions of the market, the Court rules that “the fact that the provisions of the regulations in question have been found invalid does not enable the charging or payment of monetary amounts by the national authorities on the basis of those provisions to be challenged as regards the period prior to the date of this judgement”. This temporal limitation has been the subject of a subsequent ruling required from the Court ( [342]
Société des produits de mais
).

Shrnutí (Summary of the Judgment):
1. ALTHOUGH, WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF TASKS BETWEEN THE NATIONAL COURTS AND THE COURT OF JUSTICE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 177 OF THE TREATY, IT IS FOR THE NATIONAL COURTS TO DECIDE THE RELEVANCE OF THE QUESTIONS WHICH ARE REFERRED TO THE COURT OF JUSTICE, IT IS HOWEVER RESERVED TO THE COURT OF JUSTICE TO EXTRACT FROM ALL THE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL COURT THOSE POINTS OF COMMUNITY LAW WHICH, HAVING REGARD TO THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE DISPUTE, REQUIRE INTERPRETATION, OR WHOSE VALIDITY REQUIRES APPRAISAL.

2. THE INTRODUCTION OF MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS IS ESSENTIALLY INTENDED TO MAINTAIN THE SYSTEM OF SINGLE PRICES WITHIN THE COMMON ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETS, SINCE THAT SYSTEM OF SINGLE PRICES, HAVING REGARD TO THE OBJECTIVES OF SUCH ORGANIZATIONS, THAT IS, TO MAINTAIN THE STANDARD OF LIVING OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS AND TO STABILIZE THE MARKETS, CONSTITUTES THE FOUNDATION OF THE FREE MOVEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY. ITS OBJECTIVE IS NOT AND CANNOT BE TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL PROTECTION FOR THE MARKETS IN RESPECT OF THE LEVEL OF AGRICULTURAL PRICES OF ONE PARTICULAR STATE IN RELATION TO THE OTHERS, WHICH WOULD BE INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE UNIFORMITY SOUGHT.

3. IT IS FOR THE COMMISSION TO RESOLVE THE TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE CALCULATION OF THE INCIDENCE - WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 2 (2) OF REGULATION NO 974/71 - ON THE PRICES OF DEPENDENT PRODUCTS OF THE MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNT FIXED FOR A BASIC PRODUCT. IN DOING SO IT MUST MAINTAIN A DEGREE OF CONSISTENCY AND CLARITY IN THE SYSTEM OF MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS WHICH IT IS REQUIRED TO ESTABLISH IN THAT SECTOR. ALTHOUGH FOR THIS PURPOSE IT HAS A WIDE MARGIN OF DISCRETION WHICH MAY EVEN EXTEND TO GENERAL ASSESSMENTS, THAT DISCRETION NEVERTHELESS HAS LIMITS. THUS IF THE RESULT OF THE METHOD OF CALCULATION EMPLOYED IS PERSISTENTLY TO APPLY TO PROCESSED PRODUCTS COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS THE BURDEN OR, AS THE CASE MAY BE, THE BENEFIT OF WHICH CONTINUALLY EXCEEDS THE AMOUNT NECESSARY TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE INCIDENCE OF THE COMPENSATORY AMOUNT APPLICABLE TO THE BASIC PRODUCT, THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROVISIONS ESTABLISHING THESE AMOUNTS MAY NO LONGER BE DEEMED TO BE TO NEUTRALIZE THE EFFECTS OF
THE CURRENCY FLUCTUATIONS BETWEEN THE MEMBER STATES. IN THAT CASE THE COMMISSION NO LONGER ACTS WITHIN ITS POWERS UNDER REGULATION NO 974/71.

4. THE DISCRETION CONFERRED UPON THE COMMISSION CONCERNING THE METHOD OF CALCULATING THE COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS APPLICABLE TO PROCESSED PRODUCTS IS NOT INTENDED TO ENABLE IT TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE ECONOMIC SITUATION IN A CERTAIN SECTOR OF PRODUCTION BUT TO APPRAISE, WITHIN THE LIMITS LAID DOWN BY REGULATION NO 974/71, THE INCIDENCE ON THE PRICE OF PROCESSED PRODUCTS OF THE COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS APPLICABLE TO THE BASIC PRODUCTS. THUS BY TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION FACTORS WHICH ARE EXTRANEOUS TO THAT SITUATION AND THEREBY FIXING THE COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS ON A PROCESSED PRODUCT ON THE BASIS OF THE INTERVENTION PRICE THEREOF WITHOUT DEDUCTING THE PRODUCTION REFUND, WHEN THE COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS ON OTHER PRODUCTS PROCESSED FROM THE SAME BASIC PRODUCT IN RESPECT OF WHICH NO PRODUCTION REFUND IS PROVIDED FOR ARE ALSO CALCULATED ON THE BASIS OF THE INTERVENTION PRICE OF THE BASIC PRODUCT, THE COMMISSION EXCEEDS THE LIMITS PLACED UPON IT BY THE SAID REGULATION. THIS ALSO APPLIES WHEN IT ADOPTS, IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH T
HE COMPENSATORY AMOUNT APPLICABLE TO A DEPENDENT PRODUCT, A PRICE DIFFERENT FROM THAT WHICH IT ADOPTS FOR CALCULATING THE COMPENSATORY AMOUNT ON THE BASIC PRODUCT.

5. THE COMMISSION MAY NOT ADOPT, WITH REGARD TO PRODUCTS PROCESSED FROM THE BASIC PRODUCT THE PRICE OF WHICH DEPENDS ON THAT OF THE LATTER PRODUCT, A SYSTEM FOR CALCULATING MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS WHICH RESULTS IN ESTABLISHING FOR THE VARIOUS PRODUCTS OBTAINED BY PROCESSING A GIVEN QUANTITY OF THE BASIC PRODUCT IN A SPECIFIC MANUFACTURING PROCESS MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNTS THE SUM OF WHICH AMOUNTS TO A FIGURE CLEARLY IN EXCESS OF THAT OF THE MONETARY COMPENSATORY AMOUNT FIXED FOR THAT GIVEN QUANTITY OF THE BASIC PRODUCT.

6. THE SECOND PARAGRAPH OF ARTICLE 174 OF THE EEC TREATY, WHEREBY THE COURT OF JUSTICE MAY STATE WHICH OF THE EFFECTS OF A REGULATION WHICH IT HAS DECLARED VOID SHALL BE CONSIDERED AS DEFINITIVE, IS APPLICABLE BY ANALOGY, FOR THE SAME REASONS OF LEGAL CERTAINTY AS THOSE WHICH FORM THE BASIS OF THAT PROVISION, TO THE JUDGMENTS WHEREBY THE COURT, IN GIVING A RULING UNDER ARTICLE 177, DECLARES THAT A REGULATION IS VOID.

Plný text judikátu (Entire text of the Judgment):