Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:129
Date: 2002-02-28
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Beef and veal;Milk products
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

SUMMARY — CASE C-384/00
Summary of the Judgment
Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Milk and milk products —
Additional levy on milk — Award of reference quantities exempt from the levy —
Beneficiaries — Producers who have received the holding 'through similar means' to
inheritance — Concept — Holding let to the spouse of the designated heir on conditions
more favourable than market conditions, following the expiry of the non-marketing
undertaking entered into by the devisor — Inclusion — Conditions
(Council Regulation No 857/84, Art. 3(a)1, second subpara., second indent)
The words 'producers... who have received
the holding through... similar means' in the
second indent of the second subparagraph
of Article 3a(1) of Regulation No 857/84
adopting general rules for the application
of the levy, as amended by Regulation
No 1639/91, must be interpreted as mean­
ing that they refer to a producer who is the
spouse of the designated heir and to whom
the holding has been let on conditions more
favourable than market conditions, follow­
ing the expiry of the non-marketing under­
taking entered into by the lessor (the
devisor) under Regulation No 1078/77,
provided that it follows from all the
elements of fact and of law which char­
acterise the letting that:
— the main intention of the arrangement
is that the holding should continue to
be exploited for the benefit of the
designated heir and not that the market
value of the holding should be realised
by the devisor, and that
— the terms of the legal relations between
the parties to the contract are such that
the advantage which the devisor
intends to confer on his heir is guaran­
teed in the long term, even if the
spouses should separate or the mar­
riage be dissolved.
(see para 37, operative part)
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