Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2014:2230
Date: 2014-09-17
Language of the case: Portuguese
Court formation: Third Chamber
Subject matter: Financial provisions;Own resources
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Portugal

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 17 September 2014 1. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGGF financing — Obligation on Member States to recover sums unduly and wrongly granted — Discretion — None (Council Regulation No 729/70, Art. 8(1)) 2. Own resources of the European Union — Regulation on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests — Proceedings relating to irregularities — Limitation period — Applicability to proceedings brought by the national authorities against recipients of export refunds after a finding of irregularities — Notion of irregularity (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Arts 3 to 5) 3. Own resources of the European Union — Regulation on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests — Proceedings relating to irregularities — Limitation period — Applicability to irregularities committed before the entry into force of that regulation — Point from which time starts to run — Date on which the irregularity was committed (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Art. 3(1), first and third paras) 4. Own resources of the European Union — Regulation on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests — Proceedings relating to irregularities — Limitation period — Applicability of longer national limitation periods — Limitations periods which may result from the application by analogy of general provisions — Condition — Court practice making that application foreseeable — Determination by the national court (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Art. 3(3)) 5. Own resources of the European Union — Regulation on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests — Proceedings relating to irregularities — Limitation period — Applicability of longer national limitation periods — Condition — Observance of the principle of proportionality — Limitation period of 20 years — Unlawful (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Art. 3(1), first and third paras) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 39) 2. With regard to the limitation period laid down in Article 3 of Regulation No 2988/95 on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, that article must be interpreted as applying to procedures brought by the national authorities against recipients of European Union aid following irregularities found by the national body responsible for paying the export refunds under the EAGGF. In that regard, Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2988/95 is applicable both to irregularities leading to the imposition of an administrative penalty for the purposes of Article 5 thereof and to irregularities which are the subject of an administrative measure for the purposes of Article 4 of that regulation, a measure which is intended to withdraw the wrongly obtained advantage without however constituting a penalty. (see paras 41, 45, operative part 1) 3. See the text of the decision. (see paras 50-52) 4. See the text of the decision. (see paras 53-58) 5. The application of a longer national limitation period, such as is referred to in Article 3(3) of Regulation No 2988/95 on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, with a view to bringing proceedings in respect of irregularities within the meaning of that regulation, must not go clearly beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective of protecting the European Union’s financial interests. In that regard, although Article 3(3) of that regulation permits Member States to apply longer limitation periods than those of four or three years provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 3(1) thereof, arising from general provisions of law pre-dating the adoption of that regulation, the application of a limitation period of 20 years goes beyond what is necessary to achieve the objective of protection the European Union’s financial interests. (see paras 59, 65, operative part 2)