Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2009:305
Date: 2009-09-04
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
Concepts: Statement of reasons;Procedure for clearance of accounts;Obligations of the Member States;Conditions subject to which expenditure is borne by the EAGGF
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Austria

Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber) of 4 September 2009 – Austria v Commission (Case T-368/05) EAGGF – Guarantee Section – Expenditure excluded from Community financing – Cattle premium – Suckler cow premium – Payment for extensification – Key controls – Duty to use a computerised geographical information system – Control of Alpine forage areas – Duty to cooperate – Duty to state reasons – Type of financial correction applied – Extrapolation of the findings of default 1. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules (Council Regulation No 1258/1999) (see paras 71-72, 116-117) 2. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing – Grant of aids and premiums – Obligation of Member States to organise an effective system of administrative controls and on-the-spot checks – Scope (Art. 10 EC; Council Regulations Nos 3508/92, Art. 8, and 1258/1999, Art. 8(1); Commission Regulation No 3887/92, Arts 6(1) and 9(2)) (see paras 78-88) 3. Member States – Obligations – Duty of loyal cooperation with the Community institutions – Reciprocity (Art. 10 EC; Council Regulation No 1258/1999, Art. 8(1)) (see paras 128-131) 4. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing – Accounts clearance procedure – Conciliation procedure – Opinion of the conciliation body – No binding effect (see para. 141) 5. Acts of the institutions – Statement of reasons – Obligation – Scope – Decision relating to the clearance of accounts in respect of expenditure financed by the EAGGF (Art. 253 EC) (see paras 148-149) 6. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules – Financial correction – Assessment of the level of failure to act and the degree of risk for the Fund (Council Regulation No 1258/1999) (see paras 181-184) 7. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of Community rules – Extrapolation of findings of deficiencies in the control system of a Member State from one region to other regions (Council Regulation No 1258/1999) (see paras 199-201) Re: ANNULMENT of Commission Decision 2005/555/EC of 15 July 2005 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the ‘Guarantee’ Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2005 L 188, p. 36), inasmuch as it excluded certain expenditure by the Republic of Austria. Operative part: The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.