Case C-431/25, Dérkei: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Kúria (Hungary) lodged on 30 June 2025 – Agrárminiszter v UZ
Date: 2025-06-30
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU direct payments, aid to agriculture, animal breeding, cattle, eligibility criteria








C_202504882EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/4882


15.9.2025






Request for a preliminary ruling from the Kúria (Hungary) lodged on 30 June 2025 – Agrárminiszter v UZ


(Case C-431/25, Dérkei
                (1)
)

(C/2025/4882)
Language of the case: Hungarian

Referring court

Kúria

Parties to the main proceedings


Appellant on a point of law: Agrárminiszter

Respondent on a point of law: UZ

Question referred









1.


Must Article 2(1)(2) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 640/2014 (2) be interpreted as meaning that, where polygynous or free mating that ends on 31 December of the relevant year, or which extends beyond that date, has been notified after the end of that year, it is not possible to consider the animals as not being animals determined or that the requirements for granting the aid have not been satisfied, even if the national legislation relating to aid also specifies 31 December of the year of the aid as the final (reference) date for the notification of such breeding, given that the EU legislation and the national legislation relating to the rearing and breeding of cattle do not specify either a date or a time limit for notifying reproductive events to the register?












2.


Must Article 2(1)(2) of Commission Delegated Regulation No 640/2014, in the light of Article 53(4) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 639/2014, be interpreted as meaning that the date of 31 December of the year of the aid cannot be accepted as the reference date indicated in Article 30(4)(e) of Commission Delegated Regulation No 640/2014, established in accordance with Article 53(4) of Commission Delegated Regulation No 639/2014, in the case of free and polygynous mating concluding on or after that date?












3.


In the event that the animals involved in that type of breeding are to be regarded as not determined and the requirements for granting the aid are to be found not to have been satisfied, is it relevant, for the purposes of the legal consequences of that finding, that the animal in question may, during the year in question, if appropriate, be affected by a reproductive event that was notified in relation to a prior period, or that, given the duration of gestation, the birth would have been impossible during the year in question, given that the reproductive event took place after that year?












4.


In the event that the animals in question cannot be regarded as determined for the purposes of the aid, must Article 13(1) of Commission Delegated Regulation No 640/2014, in the light of Article 2(1)(2) and (5) of that regulation, be interpreted as meaning that the penalty consisting in a reduction of the amount of the aid by 1 % per working day as a consequence of the late submission of the aid application and of the supporting documents, contracts or other declarations on which that application is based must also be applied in the case of notification to the register, after 31 December of the year of the aid, of reproductive events involving cattle which have not resulted in a birth?






(1)  The name of the present case is a fictitious name. It does not correspond to the real name of any party to the proceedings.

(2)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 640/2014 of 11 March 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the integrated administration and control system and conditions for refusal or withdrawal of payments and administrative penalties applicable to direct payments, rural development support and cross compliance (OJ 2014 L 181, p. 48).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/4882/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)