Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2017:55
Date: 2017-01-26
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
Procedure: Action for annulment;Appeal - successful
Origin: France

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber), 26 January 2017 1. Actions for annulment — Grounds — Infringement of essential procedural requirements — Non-compliance with a time-limit imposed by the EU legislature — To be considered of the Court’s own motion (Art. 263 TFEU) 2. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAFRD financing — Grant of aid and premiums — Obligation on Member States to organise an effective system of administrative controls and on-the-spot checks — Scope (Commission Regulations Nos 796/2004, Art. 35, and No 1975/2006, Arts 10(2), 14(2) and 15(2)) 3. Appeal — Grounds — Grounds of a judgment vitiated by an infringement of EU law — Operative part well founded for other legal reasons — Rejection (Art. 256(1) TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.) 4. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAFRD financing — Grant of aid and premiums — Obligation on Member States to organise an effective system of administrative controls and on-the-spot checks — Absence of two types of control independent in character (Council Regulation No 1782/2003, Art. 26, first para., and No 1698/2005, Art. 36(a); Commission Regulation No 1975/2006, Arts 5(2), 10, 12 and 14) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 46) 2. It follows from Article 10(2) of Regulation No 1975/2006 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Regulation No 1698/2005, as regards the implementation of control procedures as well as cross-compliance in respect of rural development support measures that the Member States are required to organise on-the-spot checks in order to verify that the aid beneficiaries in question fulfil the conditions for granting support provided for by the EU rules and by the national legislation to which those rural development support measures are subject. Article 14(2) of that regulation requires Member States to carry out on-the-spot checks covering all the commitments and obligations of a beneficiary, including those arising under national law, which can be checked at the time of the visit. However, Regulation No 1975/2006 does not lay down detailed rules for the checks which the Member States are required to carry out in order to verify that the eligibility criteria for rural development support measures are complied with. Nonetheless, Article 15(2) of Regulation No 1975/2006 states that they are to be carried out in accordance with Articles 29, 30 and 32 of Regulation No 796/2004, laying down detailed rules for the implementation of cross-compliance, modulation and the integrated administration and control system provided for in Regulation No 1782/2003, which relate only to on-the-spot checks of single applications with regard to area-related aid schemes. Accordingly, Article 35 of Regulation No 796/2004, concerning on-the-spot checks on livestock measures, cannot, as such, apply to on-the-spot checks for area-related measures such as the Compensatory Allowances for Natural Handicaps. Even if the EU rules on the granting of aid and premiums do not expressly require Member States to introduce specific supervisory measures and inspection procedures, nevertheless, such an obligation may follow, in some cases implicitly, from the fact that under the rules in question it is for the Member States to organise an effective system of inspection and supervision. (see paras 62, 63, 65-67, 70, 71) 3. See the text of the decision. (see para. 68) 4. In view of the very general nature of the obligations imposed on the Member States by the first paragraph of Article 26 of Regulation No 1782/2003, establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers, that provision is irrelevant for the purpose of determining whether the on-the-spot checks already carried out on the administration of identification of bovine animals or beef premiums relieved the French authorities of the need to count the animals during the on-the-spot checks provided for in Articles 10 and 14 of Regulation No 1975/2006, laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Regulation No 1698/2005. By contrast, Article 5(2) of Regulation No 1975/2006 allows, in principle, the Member States to carry out on-the-spot checks in respect of measures relating to the sustainable use of agricultural land provided for in Article 36(a) of Regulation No 1698/2005, such as the Compensatory Allowances for Natural Handicaps, together with other controls provided for in EU rules regarding agricultural subsidies. Consequently, it cannot be held that the system of on-the-spot checks to be carried out pursuant to Article 12 et seq. of Regulation No 1975/2006 is autonomous and independent of the checks carried out in the context of the administration of identification of bovine animals or beef premiums, without determining, first, whether the latter controls constitute controls provided for in the EU rules regarding agricultural subsidies within the meaning of Article 5(2) of that regulation and, second, whether they can be carried out at the same time as the checks provided for in Article 12 et seq. of that regulation. (see paras 93, 96, 97)