Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:1999:178
Date: 1999-09-28
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;External relations;Fruit and vegetables;Commercial policy;Bananas
Concepts: Pleas in law;GATT and WTO;Bananas
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
1. International agreements — World Trade Organisation — Report drawn up the 
Standing Appellate Body — Scope — Decision of the Dispute Settlement Body 
adopting that report — Direct effect — Conditions 
(Council Regulation No 404/93) 
2. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Bananas — Import arrange­
ments — Tariff quota — Transitional measures to assist the transition to the 
Community arrangements — Conditions — Difficulties due to the establishment of 
the common organisation of the market — Limits — Undertakings in the former 
German Democratic Republic, privatised after German reunification 
(Council Regulation No 404/93, Art. 30) 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-254/97 
3. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Bananas — Import arrange­
ments — Tariff quota — Opening and subdivision of the quota — Whether 
discriminatory — No discrimination — Right of property — Freedom to pursue a 
trade or business — Whether breached — No such breach 
(Council Regulation No 404/93) 
4. Actions for annulment — Pleas in law — Misuse of powers — Meaning 
1. An economic operator cannot rely on a 
report drawn up by the Standing 
Appellate Body of the World Trade 
Organisation (WTO), or on the deci­
sion of the WTO's Dispute Settlement 
Body adopting that report, in order to 
claim that the arrangements establish­
ing a common organisation of the 
market in bananas, introduced by Reg­
ulation No 404/93, no longer exist. 
The report at issue concluded that 
there were certain discriminatory ele­
ments in those arrangements, but did 
not find the arrangements as a whole to 
be incompatible with the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 
(GATT) or with the General Agreement 
on Trade in Services (GATS). More­
over, the Commission adopted amend­
ments to those arrangements with a 
view to bringing them into compliance 
with the report and with the decision of 
the Dispute Settlement Body. Further­
more, in order for a provision in a 
decision to have direct effect on a 
person other than the addressee, that 
provision must impose on the addres­
see an unconditional and sufficiently 
clear and precise obligation vis-à-vis 
the person concerned. 
2. Article 30 of Regulation No 404/93 on 
the common organisation of the mar­
ket in bananas — the aim of which is 
to assist the transition from the 
national arrangements existing before 
the common organisation of the mar­
ket — empowers the Commission to 
take specific transitional measures to 
deal with disturbances in the internal 
market brought about by that transi­
tion, the purpose of those measures 
being to address difficulties encoun­
tered by traders following the estab­
lishment of the common organisation 
of the market but originating in the 
state of national markets prior to the 
entry into force of the above Regula­
tion. The Commission must in this 
regard take into account the situation 
of traders who, under national legisla­
tion in force prior to Regulation 
No 404/93, took certain action with­
out being able to foresee the conse­
quences of such action after establish­
ment of the common organisation of 
the market. 
However, the difficulties encountered 
by undertakings from the former Ger­
man Democratic Republic which were 
privatised after the reunification of 
Germany are not due to the establish­
ment of the common organisation of 
the market and do not fall within the 
scope of Article 30 of Regulation 
No 404/93. 
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FRUCHTHANDELSGESELLSCHAFT CHEMNITZ V COMMISSION 
3. While it is true that not all undertak­
ings are affected in the same way by 
Regulation No 404/93, the difference 
in treatment appears to be inherent in 
the objective of integrating previously 
compartmentalised markets, bearing in 
mind the different situations of the 
various categories of economic opera­
tors before the introduction of the 
common organisation of the market 
in bananas. 
Furthermore, no economic operator 
can claim a right to property in a 
market share which he held before the 
adoption of the common organisation 
of the market. Restrictions on the right 
to import third-country bananas — 
resulting from the opening of the tariff 
quota and the machinery for its sub­
division — are inherent in the objec­
tives of general Community interest 
pursued by the establishment of the 
common organisation of the market in 
bananas and therefore do not impro­
perly impair the freedom of traditional 
traders in third-country bananas to 
pursue their trade or business. 
4. A decision is tainted by misuse of 
powers only if it appears, on the basis 
of objective, relevant and consistent 
factors, to have been taken to achieve 
an end other than that stated. 
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