Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2006:47
Date: 2006-01-19
Language of the case: Spanish
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Fisheries policy
Procedure: Action for annulment - inadmissible
Origin: Spain

Summary of the Judgment Actions for annulment – Subject-matter – Partial annulment (Art. 230 EC; Council Regulation No 1954/2003, Arts 3, 4 and 6) Partial annulment of a Community act is possible only if the elements the annulment of which is sought may be severed from the remainder of the act. That requirement of severability is not satisfied in the case where the partial annulment of an act would have the effect of altering its substance. The question whether partial annulment would alter the substance of the contested measure is an objective criterion, and not a subjective criterion linked to the political intention of the authority which adopted the measure at issue. Therefore, an action brought by a Member State for the annulment of Articles 3, 4 and 6 of Chapter II of Regulation No 1954/2003 on the management of the fishing effort relating to certain Community fishing areas and resources is inadmissible. Those provisions, which constitute the core of that regulation, lay down the decisive factors concerning the management of fishing effort while the other provisions of Chapter II are of a technical nature, their application being linked to the articles in respect of which annulment is sought. Chapter III establishes a control regime to ensure compliance with the management of the fishing effort and consequently only makes sense if the contested provisions already exist. (see paras 12-14, 16, 19, 21)