Judgment of the General Court (Ninth Chamber) of 10 December 2015 —

Belgium v Commission

(Case T‑563/13)

‛EAGF — Expenditure excluded from financing — Expenditure incurred by Belgium — Fruit and vegetables — Obligation to state reasons — Conditions for recognition of a producer organisation — Outsourcing of core activities by a producer organisation — Amount to be excluded — Proportionality’

1. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGF financing — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in applying EU rules — Challenge by the Member State concerned — Burden of proof — Shared by the Commission and the Member State (Council Regulation No 1234/2007; Commission Regulation No 1580/2007) (see paras 36-40)

2. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Fruit and vegetables — Producer organisations — Recognition of those organisations by the national authorities where essential activities externalised — Conditions — Contractual agreement allowing the producer organisation to remain responsible for exercising externalised activities and monitoring overall management (Council Regulation No 1234/2007, Art. 125d; Commission Regulation No 1580/2007, Art. 29, first para.) (see paras 53-59, 70, 72, 73)

3. Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Pleas in law not set out in the application — Reference to the whole of the annexes — Inadmissibility (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 21, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 76d) (see para. 83)

4. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Fruit and vegetables — Producers organisations — Establishment of marketing rules — Possibility of producers joining an organisation with the sole aim of fixing the prices of products not falling within its responsibility — Exclusion (Council Regulation No 1234/2007, Art. 122) (see para. 101)

5. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Fruit and vegetables — Producer organisations — EAGF financing — Recognition of those organisations by national authorities — Conditions — Structures and personnel — Obligation on the director of an organisation to know the production of its members (Council Regulation No 1234/2007, Art. 125b; Commission Regulation No 1580/2007, Art. 25) (see paras 116, 119, 120, 122)

6. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGF financing — Clearance of accounts — Definitive refusal to accept responsibility for certain expenses — Need for prior inter partes procedure (see para. 138)

7. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGF financing — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in applying EU rules — Identification by the Commission of the provisions providing a basis for the decision — Breach of the principle of legal certainty — None (Council Regulation No 1234/2007, Arts 122 and 125b(1); Commission Regulation No 1580/2007, Arts 25 and 28(1)) (see para. 146)

8. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGF financing — Disallowance of irregular expenses — Unlawful recognition of a producer organisation by a Member State — Application of flat-rate correction — No breach of principle of proportionality (Council Regulations No 1290/2005, Art. 31(2), and No 1234/2007, Art. 122) (see paras 151, 152, 154)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of Commission Implementing Decision 2013/433/EU of 13 August 2013 on excluding from European Union financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2013 L 219, p. 49), in so far as it concerns certain expenditure incurred by the Kingdom of Belgium or, in any event, limitation of the amount which must be excluded from financing.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;