Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Eighth Chamber) of 26 November 2008 – Greece v Commission

(Case T-263/06)

EAGGF – Guarantee Section – Expenditure excluded from Community financing – Measures ancillary to rural development – Time-limit of 24 months – Assessment of the expenditure to be excluded – Key controls – Principle of ne bis in idem – Extrapolation of the findings of default – Principle of proportionality

1. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Assessment of expenses to be excluded from Community financing – Communication after notification of the results of the checks and discussions with the Member State (Council Regulation No 1258/1999, Art. 7(4), fourth para.; Commission Regulation No 1663/95, as amended by Regulation No 2245/1999, Art. 8(1)) (see paras 65-67)

2. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing – Accounts clearance procedure – Conciliation procedure – Opinion issued by the Commission following the bilateral meeting – No binding effect (Commission Regulation No 1663/95, as amended by Regulation No 2245/1999, Art. 8) (see para. 75)

3. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Limitation of the refusal of financing – Time-limit of 24 months – Point from which time starts to run – Notification by the Commission of the results of checks – Content – Duty to submit an assessment of expenses to be excluded – None (Council Regulation No 1258/1999, Art. 7(4), fifth para.; Commission Regulation No 1663/95, as amended by Regulation No 2245/1999, Art. 8(1)) (see paras 86-88)

4. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules – Challenge by the Member State concerned – Burden of proof – Allocation between the Commission and the Member State (see para. 96)

5. Acts of the institutions – Regulations – Regulation prescribing specific control measures – No discretion of the Member State – Non-implementation – Justification – Greater efficiency of another control system – Inadmissibility (see paras 101-102)

6. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules – Introduction of an adjustment to the refusal to take responsibility by reference to the risk created for the EAGGF by the seriousness of the failure to take action attributable to the national control authorities – Challenge by the Member State concerned – Burden of proof (see para. 169)

7. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing – Principles – Duty of the Commission to refuse to accept responsibility for irregular expenses – Irregularities tolerated during a financial year for reasons of fairness – Strict application of the rules during the following financial year – Infringement of the principles of legal certainty and the protection of legitimate expectations – None (see para. 171)

8. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing – Principles – Conformity of expenses with Community rules – Monitoring obligation on the Member States (Art. 10 EC; Council Regulation No 1258/1999, Art. 8(1)) (see paras 185-186)

Re:

ANNULMENT of Commission Decision 2006/554/EC of 27 July 2006 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2006 L 218, p. 12), in so far as it excludes certain expenditure incurred by the Hellenic Republic in the sector of measures ancillary to rural development.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;