Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:560
Date: 1997-11-27
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Denmark

Summary of the Judgment
Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — Agricultural income support — Set-off of an
amount due to a beneficiary of aid against a debt payable to a Member State — Permissible —
Limits- Compensatory payments under Regulation No 1765/92 - Possibility of set-offagainst
debts to the State and of deferral of payment pending verification of such debts - Conditions
(Council Regulation No 1765/92, Arts 10(1) and 15(3))
I - 2975
SUMMARY — CASE C-132/95
Community law does not preclude a Mem­
ber State from effecting set-off between an
amount due to a beneficiary of aid payable
under Community legislation and an out­
standing debt to that Member State. The
position would be different only if that prac­
tice were to interfere with the proper func­
tioning of the common organisation of the
agricultural markets. In that regard, the
capacity in which the Member State grants
compensatory payments under Regulation
No 1765/92 establishing a support system
for producers of certain arable crops, the fact
that the rules of that Member State on set-off
require, for set-off to be available, reciproc­
ity of debts as between debtor and creditor,
the practice generally followed by the Mem­
ber State regarding set-off and the legal basis
of the debt to the State involved in the set­
off are of no importance, provided that the
national authorities ensure that the effective­
ness of Community law is not in any way
undermined and that economic operators
enjoy equal treatment. It is for the national
court to determine whether that is the case.
Subject to the abovementioned conditions,
Article 15(3) of Regulation No 1765/92,
according to which compensatory payments
are to be paid over to the beneficiaries in
their entirety, must be interpreted as not pre­
cluding Member States from requiring a
national intervention agency to effect set-off
with debts payable to the State in the case of
a beneficiary of compensatory payments.
Moreover, subject to the same conditions,
Article 10(1) of the regulation, according to
which compensatory payments are to be
made between 16 October and 31 December
next following the harvest, must be inter­
preted as meaning that payment of compen­
satory payments may be deferred until it has
been verified whether the State has any claim
against the beneficiary thereof for which set­
off may be available, provided that the pay­
ment is made no later than 31 December in
the year in question.
I - 2976