Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2000:70
Date: 2000-02-08
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: Full Court
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Overseas countries and territories;Sugar
Concepts: Association of Overseas Countries and Territories;Obligations of the Member States;General;Principle of the protection of legitimate expectations
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Association of the overseas countries and territories — Implementation by the 
Council — Decision 91/482 — Mid-term review — Time-limit — Implications for 
the competence of the Council under Article 136 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, 
Article 187 EC) — No effect 
(EC Treaty, Art. 132 (now Art. 183 EC) and Art. 136 (now, after amendment, 
Art. 187 EC); Council Decision 91/482, Art. 240(3)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-17/98 
2. Community law — Principles — Protection of legitimate expectations — Limits — 
Amendments to rules concerning the association of the overseas countries and 
territories — Discretionary power of the institutions — Statement in a publicly 
distributed leaflet having no legal status — No effect 
(Council Decision 91/482) 
3. Association of the overseas countries and territories — Implementation by the 
Council — Adoption of provisions laying down detailed arrangements and procedures 
for association — Successive decisions — Curtailment, in case of need, of certain 
advantages previously granted to the overseas countries and territories — Whether 
permissible 
(EC Treaty, Arts 40, 43 and 136, second para, (now, after amendment, Arts 34 EC, 37 
EC and 187, second para., EC) and Arts 41 and 42 (now Arts 35 EC and 36 EC)) 
4. Association of the overseas countries and territories — Implementation by the 
Council — Quota fixed for sugar imports under the ACP/OCT cumulation of origin 
rules — Whether in infringement of Article 133(1) and Article 136, second paragraph, 
of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 184(1) EC and Article 187, second 
paragraph, EC) — No such infringement 
(EC Treaty, Arts 133(1) and 136, second para, (now, after amendment, Art. 184(1) EC 
and Art. 187, second para., EC); Council Decisions 91/482, Art. 108b, and 97/803) 
5. Association of the overseas countries and territories — Implementation by the 
Council — Quota fixed for sugar imports under the ACP/OCT cumulation of origin 
rules — Principle of proportionality — Whether breached — No such breach 
(Council Decisions 91/482, Art. 108b, and 97/803) 
6. Acts of the institutions — Application by the national courts — Possibility of ordering 
interim measures in the event of an infringement of Community law being imminent — 
Conditions — Interim measures ordered vis-à-vis an authority of one of the overseas 
countries or territories — Whether permissible 
1. Although Article 240(3) of Decision 
91/482 on the association of the over­
seas countries and territories (OCT) 
provides that, before the end of the first 
five years, the Council is to establish, 
where necessary, any amendments to 
be made to the provisions governing 
the association between the OCTs and 
the Community, that cannot deprive 
the Council of its competence, confer­
red directly by the Treaty, to amend the 
acts which it has adopted under Arti­
cle 136 thereof (now, after amend­
ment, Article 187 EC) in order to 
attain all the objectives set out in 
Article 132 of the Treaty (now Arti­
cle 183 EC). 
(see para. 33) 
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2. Whilst the protection of legitimate 
expectations is one of the fundamental 
principles of the Community, traders 
cannot have a legitimate expectation 
that an existing situation which is 
capable of being altered by the Com­
munity institutions in the exercise of 
their discretion will be maintained; this 
is particularly true in an area such as 
the common organisation of the mar­
kets whose purpose involves constant 
adjustments to meet changes in the 
economic situation. 
That necessarily applies with greater 
force where the hopes purportedly 
entertained by the traders were raised 
by a publicly distributed leaflet having 
no legal status, such as an information 
brochure circulated in October 1993 
by the Commission and affirming that 
Decision 91/482 on the association of 
the overseas countries and territories 
was applicable for 10 years. Further­
more, at the time when that brochure 
appeared, the Commission was fully 
entitled to state that the that Decision 
had been adopted for a period of 10 
years and was under no obligation to 
give details in such a document of any 
amendments that might be made. 
(see paras 34-35) 
3. Although the dynamic and progressive 
process characterising the association 
of the overseas countries and territories 
(OCTs) with the Community requires 
that account be taken by the Council of 
the experience acquired as a result of 
its earlier decisions, the fact neverthe­
less remains that the Council, when 
adopting measures under the second 
paragraph of Article 136 of the Treaty 
(now, after amendment, Article 187, 
second paragraph, EC), must take 
account both of the principles set out 
in Part Four of the Treaty and of the 
other principles of Community law, 
including those relating to the common 
agricultural policy. 
In weighing the various objectives laid 
clown by the Treaty, whilst taking 
overall account of the experience 
acquired as a result of its earlier 
decisions, the Council, which enjoys 
for that purpose a considerable margin 
of discretion reflecting the political 
responsibilities entrusted to it by Arti­
cle 40 of the Treaty (now, after amend­
ment, Article 34 EC), Articles 41 and 
42 of the Treaty (now Articles 35 EC 
and 36 EC), Article 43 of the Treaty 
(now, after amendment, Article 37 EC) 
and Article 136 of the Treaty, may be 
prompted, in case of need, to curtail 
certain advantages previously granted 
to the OCTs. That is particularly true 
where the advantages in question are of 
an extraordinary nature, having regard 
to the rules on the functioning of the 
Community market. 
(sec paras 38-39, 41) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-17/98 
4. The validity of the measure provided 
for in Article 108b of Decision 91/482 
on the association of the overseas 
countries and territories (OCTs), 
inserted by Decision 97/803, cannot 
be called in question in the light of 
Article 133(1) and the second para­
graph of Article 136 of the Treaty 
(now, after amendment, Article 184(1) 
EC and the second paragraph of Arti­
cle 187 EC) on the ground that it fixed 
a quota for sugar imports under the 
ACP/OCT cumulation of origin rules. 
First, as far as trade in sugar is 
concerned, dismantling of the intra-
Community customs tariff came about 
only after the creation of a common 
organisation of the market in sugar, 
which led to the simultaneous estab­
lishment of a common external tariff 
and determination of a minimum price 
applicable in all the Member States, 
with the aim, in particular, of eliminat­
ing distortions of competition. Thus, in 
the absence of any common agricul­
tural policy as between the OCTs and 
the Community, measures designed to 
prevent distortions of competition or 
disturbance of the Community market, 
which may take the form of a tariff 
quota, cannot, merely because of their 
adoption, be regarded as contrary to 
Article 133(1) of the Treaty. 
Secondly, the second paragraph of 
Article 136 of the Treaty states 
expressly that the Council is to act 
'on the basis of the experience acquired 
and of the principles set out in this 
Treaty'. Those principles include the 
ones relating to the common agricul­
tural policy and, consequently, the 
Council cannot be criticised for having 
taken into account, in implementing 
the second paragraph of Article 136 of 
the Treaty, the requirements of the 
common agricultural policy. 
(see paras 47-50) 
5. The measure contained in Article 108b 
of Decision 91/482 on the association 
of the overseas countries and territories 
(OCTs), inserted by Decision 97/803 
and consisting in the introduction of a 
quota for sugar imports under the 
ACP/OCT cumulation of origin rules, 
cannot be regarded as contrary to the 
principle of proportionality. 
In a sphere such as the association of 
the overseas countries and territories, 
in which the Community institutions 
have a broad discretion, the lawfulness 
of a measure can be affected only if the 
measure is manifestly inappropriate 
having regard to the objective pursued. 
The Court's review must be limited in 
particular if the Council has to recon­
cile divergent interests and thus select 
options within the context of the policy 
choices which are its own responsibil-
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ity. The introduction of the quota fixed 
by Article 108b above cannot be con­
sidered, in that context, to have mani­
festly exceeded what was necessary to 
attain the objectives pursued by the 
Council. 
(see paras 53-54, 58) 
6. Interim measures vis-à-vis a non-Com­
munity authority can be ordered by a 
national court in the event of an 
infringement of Community law being 
imminent only: 
— if that court entertains serious 
doubts as to the validity of the 
Community measure implemented 
by that authority and, should the 
question of the validity of the con­
tested measure not already have 
been brought before the Court of 
Justice, itself refers that question to 
the Court of Justice; 
— if there is urgency and a threat of 
serious and irreparable damage to 
the applicant; and 
— if the national court takes due 
account of the Community's inter­
ests. 
The fact that such interim measures 
would be ordered vis-à-vis an authority 
of an overseas country or territory 
(OCT) by a court of a Member State, 
in accordance with its domestic law, is 
not such as to affect the conditions 
under which the temporary protection 
of individuals must be ensured in 
proceedings before the national courts 
when the dispute concerns a matter of 
Community law. 
(see para. 73, operative part 2) 
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