Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2006:423
Date: 2006-06-22
Language of the case: Dutch
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Beef and veal;Agricultural structures
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Integrated administration and control system for certain aid schemes (Council Regulation No 1254/1999, Art. 12(2)(b); Commission Regulation No 3887/92, Art. 2(1)(c)) To achieve the objective of halting the trend towards intensification of beef and veal production, the grant of a special premium is subject to complying with a stocking density, laid down in Article 12 of Regulation No 1254/1999 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal, which expresses the relationship between the number of animals carried on the holding and the forage area of the holding used to feed them, thereby ensuring that that area is sufficient to meet the feeding requirements of those animals. In that respect, Article 12(2)(b) of the said Regulation No 1254/1999 and Article 2(1)(c) of Regulation No 3887/92 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid schemes must be interpreted as meaning that a parcel of land declared as a forage area may be regarded as ‘available’ where, first, it is intended to be used exclusively for the feeding of the animals held on it throughout the calendar year and, secondly, it was in fact possible to use it to feed them for a minimum period of seven months during that year, from the date fixed by the national legislation, which must be between 1 January and 31 March, even though that parcel of land was not occupied continuously by those animals, in particular because it was temporarily under water. (see paras 28-29, 38, operative part)