123

By the fourth ground of appeal, alleging infringement of Community law and the erroneous interpretation of Article 3 of Regulation No 1972/2003, the Republic of Poland directs its complaint in particular at paragraphs 186 to 193 of the judgment under appeal, by which the General Court held as follows: ‘186 It is indeed true that the Commission could amend the terms of the [2003] Act of Accession outside of the legal framework laid down in that regard by the Accession Treaty and the [2003] Act of Accession. However, as the Commission has correctly pointed out, the fact remains that Article 41 of the Act of Accession authorised it to adopt any measure necessary to facilitate the transition from the existing regime in the new Member States to that resulting from the application of the common agricultural policy. 187 It is also necessary to point out that, as is clear from what has been stated earlier in the present judgment, the system of levying charges on surplus stocks of products in free circulation in the new Member States on 1 May 2004, provided for in Article 4 of Regulation No 1972/2003, which included the levying of charges on surplus stocks held by individual traders, was one of the transitional measures which could be adopted by the Commission under the first paragraph of Article 41 of the [2003] Act of Accession. 188 Consequently, the measures necessary to safeguard the effectiveness of that system of charges must also be covered by the latter provision since, otherwise, the objectives on the Community market which the system at issue sought to attain, and which were nonetheless necessary to facilitate the transition from the existing rules in the new Member States to those resulting from the application of the common agricultural policy, could not have been achieved. 189 It is for that reason necessary to examine whether … the fact of levying, on products subject to a suspensive regime or in transport in the enlarged Community after completing export formalities, the erga omnes import duty applicable on the day on which they were placed in free circulation pursuant to Article 3 of Regulation No 1972/2003 was essential to ensure the effectiveness of Article 4 of that regulation. 190 In this regard, the Commission has wide powers to adopt measures in matters concerning the common agricultural policy (Case 265/87 Schräder HS Kraftfutter [1989] ECR 2237, paragraph 22, and Case C-445/00 Austria v Council [2003] ECR I-8549, paragraph 82). Article 3 of Regulation No 1972/2003 may therefore be found to be unlawful only if it is concluded that the measure provided for under Article 3 was manifestly unnecessary to safeguard the effectiveness of Article 4 thereof. 191 As the Commission points out, had it not been for the measures referred to in Article 3 of Regulation No 1972/2003, traders established in the new Member States could have artificially reduced their surplus stocks of the products at issue by placing them under a suspensive regime in one or more Member States, old or new, prior to 1 May 2004. In so doing, those traders would not have been required to pay the charge laid down in Article 4 of Regulation No 1972/2003 in their country of origin in so far as they were not in possession there of surplus stocks on 1 May 2004. 192 The products placed under a suspensive regime would still have been available to them in other Member States and the traders concerned could have placed them in free circulation in the enlarged Community after 1 May 2004 without having to pay the contested charge, something which would have deprived Article 4 of Regulation No 1972/2003 of all effect. 193 It must therefore be concluded that measures such as those provided for in Article 3 of Regulation No 1972/2003 were necessary in order to safeguard the effectiveness of Article 4 of that regulation.’