Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Agriculture ° Common agricultural policy ° Regulations ° Procedure for drawing them up ° Distinction between basic regulations and implementing regulations ° Implementing regulation adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down by the basic regulation ° Whether lawful

(EEC Treaty, third subparagraph of Article 43(2))

2. Acts of the institutions ° Statement of reasons ° Obligation ° Scope ° Regulations

(EEC Treaty, Art. 190)

3. Fisheries ° Conservation of the resources of the sea ° Fishing quota system ° Distribution among the Member States of the volume of available catches ° Requirement of relative stability ° Implementation ° Fixed distribution formula ° Obligation of the Council to undertake a fresh distribution in the event of an increase in stocks ° None

(EEC Treaty, third subparagraph of Article 43(2); Council Regulation No 170/83, Arts 4 and 11)

4. Accession of new Member States to the Communities ° Spain ° Portugal ° Fisheries ° Compliance with existing Community rules ° Principle of relative stability of the distribution of resources ° Application to external resources

(1985 Act of Accession, Arts 2, 167 and 354; Council Regulation No 170/83)

Summary

1. The Council cannot be required to draw up all the details of the regulations concerning the common agricultural policy according to the procedure laid down in Article 43 of the Treaty. It is sufficient for the purposes of that provision that the basic elements of the matter to be dealt with have been adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down by that provision; on the other hand, the provisions implementing the basic regulations may be adopted by the Council according to a different procedure.

The adoption by the Council of an implementing regulation under the procedure laid down by the basic regulation does not therefore constitute an infringement of that provision.

2. The statement of reasons required by Article 190 of the Treaty must be appropriate to the nature of the measure in question. It must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the Community authority which adopted the measure so as to inform the persons concerned of the justification for the measure adopted and to enable the Court to exercise its powers of review. On the other hand, the statement of reasons on which a measure is based is not required to specify the various matters of fact and law dealt with in the measure, provided that the measure falls within the general scheme of the body of measures of which it forms part.

3. The requirement of relative stability in the allocation among the Member States of the catches available to the Community, in the event of limitation of fishing activities under Article 4(1) of Regulation No 170/83, must be understood as meaning that in that distribution each Member State is to retain a fixed percentage. The distribution formula originally laid down under Article 4(1), on the basis of Article 11, is to continue to apply until an amending regulation is adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 43 of the Treaty.

The principle of relative stability of fishing activities cannot be interpreted as placing the Council under an obligation to effect a fresh distribution whenever an increase of a particular stock is established, where that stock was already covered by the initial allocation.

4. Article 2 of the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal provides that, from the date of accession, the provisions of the original Treaties and the acts adopted by the institutions of the Communities before accession are to be binding on the new Member States and are to apply in those States under the conditions laid down in those Treaties and in the Act of Accession itself. With respect to fisheries and, in particular, external resources, the Act of Accession (Article 167 in the case of Spain and Article 354 in the case of Portugal) provides for a system of integration whereby the Community merely takes over the management of fisheries agreements previously concluded with non-member countries by the new Member States, and provisionally maintains, in their case, the rights and obligations resulting therefrom, pending the adoption by the Council of appropriate decisions concerning the continuation of fishing activities under those agreements. In those circumstances, pursuant to Article 2 of the Act of Accession, the existing Community rules must be applied, in particular the principle of relative stability as laid down by Regulation No 170/83 and interpreted by the Court.

However, although the Act of Accession did not affect the existing situation regarding the distribution of external fishery resources, the fact nevertheless remains that, since accession, the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain have been in the same position as those Member States that did not benefit from the initial allocation. It follows that those two Member States are entitled to participate in the allocation of any new fishing possibilities that become available under agreements with non-member countries concluded after accession and that, if and when the system is reviewed, they may put forward their claims on the same footing as all the other Member States.