# C_2004201EN.01000401.xml

| 7.8.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 201/4 |
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7.8.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 201/4

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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Second Chamber)

24 June 2004

in Case C-278/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Berufungssenat I der Region Linz bei der Finanzlandesdirektion für Oberösterreich): Herbert Handlbauer GmbH (1)

(Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Beef and veal - Export refunds - Repayment of amounts wrongly paid - Proceedings relating to irregularities - Article 3 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 - Direct effect - Limitation period - Interruption of the limitation)

(2004/C 201/06)

Language of the case: German

In Case C-278/02: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC from the Berufungssenat I der Region Linz bei der Finanzlandesdirektion für Oberösterreich (Austria) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court by Herbert Handlbauer GmbH — on the interpretation of Article 3(1) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests (OJ 1995 L 312, p. 1) — the Court, composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen (Rapporteur) and N. Colneric, Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate General; M. Múgica Arzamendi, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 24 June 2004, in which it has ruled:

| 1. | Article 3(1) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests is directly applicable in the Member States, including in the field of export refunds on agricultural products, in the absence of sectoral Community rules providing for a shorter limitation period which may not be less than three years or of national rules providing for a longer limitation period. |
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1.

Article 3(1) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests is directly applicable in the Member States, including in the field of export refunds on agricultural products, in the absence of sectoral Community rules providing for a shorter limitation period which may not be less than three years or of national rules providing for a longer limitation period.

| 2. | The third subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2988/95 must be interpreted as meaning that notification of a customs inspection made to the undertaking involved does not constitute an act relating to investigation or legal proceedings which interrupts the limitation period of four years under Article 3(1) of the said regulation unless the transactions to which the suspicion of the existence of irregularities are sufficiently precisely defined by the act. |
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2.

The third subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2988/95 must be interpreted as meaning that notification of a customs inspection made to the undertaking involved does not constitute an act relating to investigation or legal proceedings which interrupts the limitation period of four years under Article 3(1) of the said regulation unless the transactions to which the suspicion of the existence of irregularities are sufficiently precisely defined by the act.

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(1)  
  OJ C 289, 23.11.2002.

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