Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1 Procedure - Introduction of new pleas in law in the course of the proceedings - Action for damages - Where quantified claims are amended - Amplification of the claims contained in the application - Admissible

(Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 42(2))

2 Procedure - Introduction of new claims in the course of proceedings not permitted - Scope of prohibition - Actions for damages - Claim for compensation in respect of the fall in the value of money - Admissible

(EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 19; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 38)

3 Procedure - Principle of res judicata - Judgment ruling on default interest - Scope - No bearing on the decision to be made on compensatory interest

4 Non-contractual liability - Invalidity of legislation depriving milk producers of reference quantities under the additional levy scheme introduced by Regulations Nos 857/84 and 1371/84 - Damage - Reparation - Determination of the loss in earnings - Constitutive elements - Detailed method of calculation

(EC Treaty, Art. 215, second para. (now Art. 288, second para., EC); Council Regulations Nos 1078/77, 857/84 and 764/89; Commission Regulation No 1371/84)

5 Non-contractual liability - Invalidity of legislation depriving milk producers of reference quantities under the additional levy scheme introduced by Regulations Nos 857/84 and 1371/84 - Damage - Reparation - Principles - Damage actually suffered - Evaluation - Method of calculation - Discretion of the Court - Burden of proof

(EC Treaty, Art. 215, second para. (now Art. 288, second para., EC); Council Regulation No 857/84; Commission Regulation No 1371/84)

6 Non-contractual liability - Invalidity of legislation depriving milk producers of reference quantities under the additional levy scheme introduced by Regulations Nos 857/84 and 1371/84 - Damage - Reparation - Compensation period

(EC Treaty, Art. 215, second para. (now Art. 288, second para., EC); Council Regulation No 857/84; Commission Regulation No 1371/84)

Summary

1 Quantified claims made in the context of a action for damages after the interlocutory judgment by which the Court has ordered the Community to make good the damage suffered by the applicants by reason of the contested acts and after production of the expert's report assessing the loss of earnings suffered by each of the applicants, amended to take into account the method of calculating the loss as laid down by the interlocutory judgment and based on statistical data used by the expert, cannot be held to be out of time since they represent a permissible amplification of the claims contained in the application, especially inasmuch as, first, the Court determined the criteria necessary in order to calculate the damage for the first time in its interlocutory judgment and, second, the exact composition of the damage and the precise method of calculating the compensation payable have not yet been debated.

(see paras 38-39)

2 It is apparent from Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice and Article 38 of its Rules of Procedure, which preclude the addition of new claims in the course of proceedings, that additional claims seeking the payment of compensatory interest are inadmissible where they are put forward for the first time during the course of the proceedings and, in particular, following delivery of an interlocutory judgment. However, compensation for loss in the context of non-contractual liability is intended so far as possible to provide restitution for the victim. Accordingly, since the criteria for non-contractual liability are satisfied, the amendment of the quantified claims based on the application for compensatory interest in respect of the fall in the value of money - which was made after delivery of the interlocutory judgment establishing non-contractual liability on the part of the Community - appears to be a necessary adjustment to the forms of order sought and must therefore be declared admissible.

(see paras 47, 50-52)

3 In actions for damages, a distinction must be drawn between default interest and compensatory interest. A decision of the Court regarding default interest cannot affect the decision to be made in respect of compensatory interest.

(see para. 55)

4 The loss of earnings suffered by the applicants by reason of the invalidity of Regulation No 857/84 adopting general rules for the application of the additional milk levy, as supplemented by Regulation No 1371/84 in so far as those regulations did not provide for the allocation of a reference quantity to the category of producers to which the applicants belonged consists in the difference between, on the one hand, the income which the applicants would have obtained from the milk deliveries which they would have made if, during the period between 1 April 1984 (the date of the entry into force of Regulation No 857/84) and 29 March 1989 (the date of the entry into force of Regulation No 764/89 amending Regulation No 857/84, they had obtained the reference quantities to which they were entitled (`the hypothetical income') and, on the other hand, the income which they actually obtained from milk deliveries made during that period in the absence of any reference quantity, plus any income which they obtained, or could have obtained, during that period from any replacement activities (`the alternative income').

The hypothetical reference quantities must be calculated on the basis of the quantities used in order to determine the non-marketing premium established by Regulation No 1078/77, to which a 1% rate of increase and a rate of reduction representative of the rates of reduction applicable to the producers referred to in Article 2 of Regulation No 857/84 must be applied. In addition, the hypothetical income must be calculated on the basis of the profitability of a farm representative of the type of farm run by each of the applicants, where account can be taken of reduced profitability during the period when milk production is started up. The alternative income includes not only that which the applicants actually obtained from replacement activities (`the actual alternative income') but also that income which they could have obtained had they reasonably engaged in such activities (`the average alternative income').

(see paras 60-62, 92-94)

5 Since compensation is intended so far as possible to provide restitution for the victim of the unlawful conduct of the Community institutions, the loss of earnings suffered by the applicants by reason of the invalidity of Regulations Nos 857/84 and 1371/84 must be assessed, so far as possible, on the basis of the individual data and figures reflecting the actual situation of each applicant and of his farm. The income which the applicants would have obtained from milk deliveries if their milk production had corresponded to the reference quantities to which they were entitled is hypothetical. Consequently, that income cannot, by its very nature, be established by recourse to mean statistical values corresponding to a farm representative of the type of farm run by each of the applicants. Such a method may be applied with equal validity to the alternative income inasmuch as that income includes the average alternative income which the applicants could have obtained had they reasonably engaged in replacement activities.

However, given that both the hypothetical income and the alternative income, determined on the basis of statistical values, reflect only the average situation in the category of farms to which the applicants' holdings belong, the use of actual figures, in so far as they are available, allows a more precise approach to the individual circumstances of each applicant and cannot therefore be overlooked. Furthermore, since the loss of earnings was the result of an evaluation and assessment of complex economic data, the Court has a broad discretion as to both the figures and the statistical data to be chosen and also, above all, as to the way in which they are to be used to calculate and evaluate the damage.

Lastly, because of the essentially hypothetical nature of the evaluation of loss of earnings, the expert's report plays a leading role where none of the parties is able to prove the accuracy of the data or figures on which that party relies and those data or figures are contested.

(see paras 63-66, 75-79, 84)

6 The period to be taken into consideration for the purposes of determining the damage to the applicants by reason of the invalidity of Regulations Nos 857/84 and 1371/84 is the period between 1 April 1984 and 29 March 1989, during which the applicants would have received income from milk deliveries had they been granted the reference quantities to which they were entitled. However, the individual compensation period in respect of each applicant commences on the date on which his non-marketing undertaking expired and terminates on the date on which he actually resumed milk production. It cannot therefore extend beyond 29 March 1989, the date following which the Community cannot in any circumstances be held responsible for any delay in the resumption of milk production.

(see paras 85-86, 89, 265, 268)