Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Agriculture - Common organization of the markets - Milk and milk products - Additional levy on milk - Determination of reference quantities exempt from the levy - Producer having begun deliveries of milk during the reference year - Obtaining a reference year other than that chosen by the Member State concerned - Not permissible - Breach of the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations - Breach of the right to property and the freedom to pursue an occupation - Discrimination - None

(Council Regulation No 857/84; Commission Regulation No 1371/84)

2. Agriculture - Common organization of the markets - Milk and milk products - Additional levy on milk - Determination of reference quantities exempt from the levy - Lessee taking over the management of an agricultural holding before the entry into force of the additional levy scheme - Member State taking into account deliveries made during the reference year by the previous lessee - Optional nature

(Council Regulation No 857/84, Art. 7(1) and (4), as amended by Regulation No 590/85; Commission Regulation No 1371/84, third subparagraph of Art. 5)

Summary

1. Regulation No 857/84 adopting general rules for the application of the additional levy on milk, as amended by Regulation No 1371/84 laying down general rules for the application of that levy, precludes a producer who began deliveries of milk during the reference year chosen by the Member State concerned and who consequently cannot show a representative level of deliveries for that year from obtaining, on that ground alone, reference to some other reference year. That possibility is not provided for by the regulations, which contain an exhaustive list of the situations in which reference quantities may be granted and set out precise rules concerning the determination of those quantities.

As thus interpreted, the regulations do not infringe the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations because the latter does not preclude, in the case of a scheme such as that concerning the additional levy, the imposition of restrictions on a producer by reason of the fact that he has not marketed milk or has marketed only a reduced quantity during a period prior to the entry into force of that scheme, in consequence of a decision which he freely took without being encouraged to do so by a Community measure.

Moreover, fundamental rights are not infringed by the regulations because the very substance of the right to property and the freedom to pursue an occupation, the exercise of which may be subject to restrictions when these correspond to objectives of general interest such as that of remedying the situation of surpluses on the milk market, is not affected since the economic operators concerned retain the freedom to engage in the production of products other than milk on their holding.

Finally, the regulations do not infringe the prohibition of discrimination because the difference in treatment of producers whose deliveries began during the reference year is objectively justified by the need to limit to the greatest extent possible, in the interests of both legal certainty and the effectiveness of the additional levy scheme, the situations which may justify the reference to another reference year.

2. Article 7(1) and (4) of Regulation No 857/84 adopting general rules for the application of the additional levy on milk, as amended by Regulation No 590/85, read in conjunction with the second sentence of the third subparagraph of Article 5 of Regulation No 1371/84 laying down detailed rules for the application of that levy, must be interpreted as permitting, but not requiring, Member States to allocate to a lessee who has taken over the management of an agricultural holding before the entry into force of the additional levy scheme a reference quantity which takes account of deliveries of milk made during the reference year by the previous lessee of that holding.