Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2005:555
Date: 2005-09-15
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Environment;Provisions governing the Institutions;Acts of the institutions
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded

Summary of the Judgment 1. Acts of the institutions – Regulations – Basic regulations and implementing regulations – Implementing powers conferred by the Council (Council Decision 1999/468, Art. 2) 2. Acts of the institutions – Regulations – Basic regulations and implementing regulations – Implementing powers conferred by the Council (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 2152/2003, Art. 17; Council Decision 1999/468, Art. 2(a) and (b)) 1. Although the criteria laid down in Article 2 of Decision 1999/468 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission are not binding, where the Community legislature departs from those criteria in the choice of a committee procedure, it must give reasons for its choice. (see para. 32) 2. According to the first subparagraph of Article 2(b) of Decision 1999/468 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission, the regulatory procedure should be chosen for measures of general scope designed to apply essential provisions of basic instruments. That concept must be contrasted with the concept of ‘management measures’ within the meaning of Article 2(a) of that decision. Management measures include, inter alia, those relating to the implementation of programmes with substantial budgetary implications. Although acts of individual application can be covered only by Article 2(a) of the second comitology decision, measures of general application may come under either of the two parts of that article. In the light of those differences, there must be classified as ‘management measures … relating … to the implementation of programmes’ within the meaning of Article 2(a), first, measures of individual application adopted for that purpose and, second, measures of general application closely linked to them and part of a framework sufficiently developed by the basic instrument itself. In that regard, Regulation No 2152/2003 concerning monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community contains the essential elements of the Forest Focus scheme. The Community legislature did not depart from the criteria set out in the first subparagraph of Article 2(b) of Decision 1999/468 by making the adoption of implementing measures for the Forest Focus programme subject to the regulatory procedure, since the basic regulation creates a wide and general framework for the scheme and does not lay down sufficient essential elements of that scheme to allow for the adoption of management measures within the meaning of Article 2(a) of that decision. (see paras 34-35, 38, 41, 43-45)