Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Acts of the institutions ° Statement of reasons ° Obligation ° Scope ° Regulations establishing protective measures applicable to imports of products covered by the common organization of the market in products processed from fruit and vegetables

(EEC Treaty, Art. 190; Commission Regulations Nos 2198/90 and 3797/90)

2. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Products processed from fruit and vegetables ° Protective measures applicable to imports of frozen strawberries as provided for by Regulations Nos 2198/90 and 3797/90 ° Principle of proportionality ° Breach ° None

(Commission Regulations Nos 2198/90 and 3797/90)

Summary

1. The statement of reasons required by Article 190 of the Treaty must be appropriate to the nature of the measure in dispute. It must disclose in a clear and unequivocal fashion the reasoning followed by the institution which adopted the measure in question in such a way as to make the persons concerned aware of the justification for the measure and enable the Court to exercise its power of review.

Regulations Nos 2198/90 and 3797/90 concerning protective measures applicable to imports of frozen strawberries are not vitiated therefore by an inadequate statement of reasons, since their recitals make it clear that the Commission adopted and maintained in force the minimum import price system because of the likelihood of disturbances to the market resulting from the failure to comply with the prices agreed with supplier countries, the substantial increase in the quantities imported and the substantially lower prices of imported produce by comparison with Community produce.

2. In the sector of products processed from fruit and vegetables, the protective measures applicable to imports of frozen strawberries originating in Poland, which were established and maintained in force by Regulations Nos 2198/90 and 3797/90 in a situation where there was a likelihood of serious disturbances to the Community market capable of undermining the objectives fixed by Article 39 of the Treaty, did not constitute a breach of the principle of proportionality.

First, it was no breach of the principle of proportionality for the Commission to set a minimum import price under Regulation No 2198/90 which did not take account of the quality of the strawberries imported but only of the method by which they had been processed, since before the entry into force of that regulation, the Polish authorities had undertaken to ensure that their exporters would comply with a mean export price, agreed for each marketing year and determined for frozen strawberries as a whole without distinction as to quality, and since, until the date on which Regulation No 3797/90 took effect, the Polish authorities were not in a position to ensure ° by issuing export certificates, for example ° that the quality of exported strawberries was checked, with the result that customs authorities in the Community were unable, until that date, to make sure that minimum prices linked to the quality of imported strawberries were monitored in an effective and uniform manner.

Secondly, the Commission did not act contrary to the principle of proportionality by providing for the conversion of the minimum price, fixed in ecus, into national currency on the basis of the agricultural conversion rates set out in Article 2(1)(b) of Regulation No 1676/85, since that provision specifies that those rates are to be applied in the case of legal instruments relating to the common agricultural policy. Furthermore, the import price arrived at by that conversion method did not exceed the level required to make the protective measures effective.

Lastly, the period of application of Regulation No 3797/90 cannot be regarded as too lengthy, since throughout that time the conditions of the Community market and, specifically, the conditions for importing frozen strawberries from non-member countries were not materially altered.