Case C-286/23, Asociaţia Crescătorilor de Vaci Bălţată Românească Tip Simmental: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 29 July 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel Braşov – Romania) – Asociaţia Crescătorilor de Vaci Bălţată Românească Tip Simmental v Genetica din Transilvania Cooperativă Agricolă, Agenţia Naţională pentru Zootehnie Professor G.K. Constantinescu (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Common agricultural policy – Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 – Purebred breeding animals – Recognition procedure for breed societies – Approval procedure for breeding programmes – Possibility of refusing to approve a further breeding programme for the same breed, for the same territory, if such approval has potential to compromise an already existing breeding programme – Right of breeders of purebred animals to choose between the various existing breeding programmes)
Date: 2024-07-29
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: animal breeding, breeding animal, livestock, zootechnics








C_202405777EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5777


7.10.2024






Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 29 July 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel Braşov – Romania) – Asociaţia Crescătorilor de Vaci ‘Bălţată Românească’ Tip Simmental v Genetica din Transilvania Cooperativă Agricolă, Agenţia Naţională pentru Zootehnie ‘Professor G.K. Constantinescu’
               


(Case C-286/23,
                (1)
Asociaţia Crescătorilor de Vaci ‘Bălţată Românească’ Tip Simmental)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Common agricultural policy - Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 - Purebred breeding animals - Recognition procedure for breed societies - Approval procedure for breeding programmes - Possibility of refusing to approve a further breeding programme for the same breed, for the same territory, if such approval has potential to compromise an already existing breeding programme - Right of breeders of purebred animals to choose between the various existing breeding programmes)
(C/2024/5777)
Language of the case: Romanian

Referring court

Curtea de Apel Braşov

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Asociaţia Crescătorilor de Vaci ‘Bălţată Românească’ Tip Simmental

Defendants: Genetica din Transilvania Cooperativă Agricolă, Agenţia Naţională pentru Zootehnie ‘Professor G.K. Constantinescu’
         

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 4(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on zootechnical and genealogical conditions for the breeding, trade in and entry into the Union of purebred breeding animals, hybrid breeding pigs and the germinal products thereof and amending Regulation (EU) No 652/2014, Council Directives 89/608/EEC and 90/425/EEC and repealing certain acts in the area of animal breeding (‘Animal Breeding Regulation’), read in the light of recitals 21 and 24 of that regulation,
must be interpreted as not precluding the granting of recognition as a breed society to an applicant who, in order to establish that it has a sufficiently large population of breeding animals and a sufficient number of breeders, relies on participation undertakings signed by breeders already registered in a breeding programme with another recognised breed society.










2.


Article 10 of Regulation 2016/1012, read in conjunction with Article 13 and with point B(2)(a) of Part 1 of Annex I to that regulation and read in light of recitals 21 and 24 of that regulation,
must be interpreted as meaning that first, where a breeding programme, with the principal objective of the improvement of a particular breed of animals, is ongoing in a Member State, the competent authority of that State may approve a new breeding programme submitted by another breed society for the same breed of animals, relating to the same geographical territory, with the same objective, and under which breeding animals have been selected from the breeding population of the already ongoing breeding programme, and, secondly, where that approval has potential to compromise one or more of the elements referred to in points (a) to (c) of Article 10(1) of Regulation 2016/1012, that authority has the option to refuse to approve the new breeding programme.






(1)  
            OJ C 286, 14.8.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5777/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)