Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Actions for annulment - Measures against which actions may be brought - Measures having binding legal effects - Regulation providing for an offer of flat-rate compensation to milk producers injured by failure to allocate them a reference quantity - Excluded

(EC Treaty, Art. 173; Council Regulation No 2187/93)

2 Actions for damages - Limitation period - Starting point - Liability on account of Regulation No 857/84 resulting in a reference quantity not being allocated to milk producers who entered into a non-marketing undertaking - Date to be taken into consideration

(EC Treaty, Arts 178 and 215; EEC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 43; Council Regulations Nos 1078/77 and 857/84)

3 Agriculture - Common organization of the markets - Milk and milk products - Additional levy on milk - Grant of reference quantities exempt from the levy - Producers who suspended deliveries under the system of non-marketing or conversion premiums and who were therefore refused a reference quantity - Offer of flat-rate compensation under Regulation No 2187/93 - Failure to accept the offer within the time laid down - Loss of rights arising under the regulation

(EC Treaty, Art. 215; Council Regulation No 2187/93)

Summary

4 Only measures which produce binding legal effects such as to affect the interests of an applicant by bringing about a distinct change in his legal position may be the subject of an action for annulment under Article 173 of the Treaty.

Regulation No 2187/93 is not such a measure and is not amenable to challenge by producers of milk or milk products who have been temporarily prevented from carrying on their trade as a result of the failure to allocate them a reference quantity. The regulation merely provides for the producers concerned to be made an offer of flat-rate compensation acceptance of which is optional and in the event that producers do not accept the offer, they remain in exactly the same position as if the regulation in question had not been adopted in that they retain the right to bring an action for damages under Articles 178 and 215 of the Treaty.

5 The limitation period laid down by Article 43 of the Statute of the Court of Justice for actions brought against the Community on grounds of non-contractual liability cannot begin before all the requirements governing the obligation to make good the damage are satisfied. A declaration that the act that gave rise to the damage is invalid is not one of those requirements. As regards damage sustained by producers of milk or milk products who, as a result of non-marketing or conversion undertakings entered into pursuant to Regulation No 1078/77, were unable to be allocated a reference quantity in view of Regulation No 857/84 and hence to market any milk exempt from additional levy, time under the limitation period started to run on the date when, following the expiry of their non-marketing undertakings, they were prevented from resuming milk deliveries because they had been refused reference quantities. Since, moreover, the damage was not caused instantaneously but recurred on a daily basis, with respect to the date of the event which interrupted the limitation period, the time bar under Article 43 of the Statute of the Court of Justice applies to the period preceding that date by more than five years and does not affect rights which arose during subsequent periods.

6 Regulation No 2187/93 providing for an offer of flat-rate compensation to producers of milk and milk products, who entered into a non-marketing undertaking and were temporarily prevented from carrying on their trade on account of the subsequent failure to grant them a reference quantity, contains strict provisions with regard to acceptance of that offer. In that regard, producers who failed to accept the offer within the time laid down, but brought actions under Article 215 of the Treaty for damages for the loss actually sustained, cannot also continue to claim the flat-rate compensation, since the offer is no longer binding on the institutions in the future.