Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2004:27
Date: 2004-01-15
Language of the case: German
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Beef and veal;Financial provisions;Own resources
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Austria

Summary of the Judgment 1. Own resources of the European Communities – Regulation on the protection of the Community’s financial interests – Proceedings relating to irregularities – Limitation period – Direct applicability – Condition (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Arts 1(2) and 3(1)) 2. Own resources of the European Communities – Regulation on the protection of the Community’s financial interests – Proceedings relating to irregularities – Limitation period – Interrupting act – Condition (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Art. 3(1), first and third subparas) 1. Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2988/95 on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, which fixes a limitation period for proceedings at four years from the time when the irregularity is committed, is directly applicable in the Member States, including in the field of export refunds on agricultural products, in the absence of sectoral Community rules providing for a shorter limitation period which may not be less than three years or of national rules providing for a longer limitation period. (see paras 32, 35, operative part 1) 2. The third subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2988/95 on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests must be interpreted as meaning that notification of a customs inspection made to the undertaking involved does not constitute an act relating to investigation or legal proceedings which interrupts the limitation period of four years under the first subparagraph of Article 3(1) of the said regulation, unless the transactions to which the suspicion of the existence of irregularities relates are sufficiently precisely defined by the act. (see para. 43, operative part 2)