FROM NON-MEMBER COUNTRIES WITH THE SALE PRICE OF COMMUNITY PRODUCTS . THE METHOD ADOPTED BY THE COMMISSION APPEARS TO BE JUSTIFIED INTER ALIA BY THE FACT THAT THE COMPARISON BETWEEN SALE PRICES MADE BY FAUST DOES NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE FALL IN SALE PRICES SUFFERED BY COMMUNITY PRODUCTS AS AN INEVITABLE RESULT OF MASSIVE AND PROLONGED PRESSURE FROM CHEAPER IMPORTS . A SOMEWHAT HIGH PRICE FOR A COMMUNITY PRODUCT MAY IN FACT INDICATE THE PRESENCE , RATHER THAN THE ABSENCE , OF A DISTURBANCE OF THE MARKET . MOREOVER , IT SHOULD BE OBSERVED THAT THE STATISTICAL INFORMATION RELIED UPON BY FAUST RELATES TO A WHOLE YEAR , WHEREAS THE COMMISSION WAS OBLIGED TO HAVE REGARD TO THE SITUATION OF THE MARKET AT THE TIME WHEN IT CONTEMPLATED ADOPTING PROTECTIVE MEASURES AND AT THAT TIME THE SALE PRICES OF PRODUCTS FROM NON-MEMBER COUNTRIES WERE LOWER THAN THE SALE PRICES OF COMMUNITY PRODUCTS .
16 AS FAR AS THE STOCKS ARE CONCERNED , THE COMMISSION ' S STATEMENT THAT AT THE END OF MAY 1978 THE LEVEL OF STOCKS OF PRESERVED MUSHROOMS PRODUCED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY WAS 40 TO 50% HIGHER THAN THE LEVEL IN 1977 HAS NOT BEEN CONCLUSIVELY CHALLENGED BY FAUST AND MUST THEREFORE BE REGARDED AS CORRECT .
17 IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING CONSIDERATIONS , IT MUST BE STATED THAT NO FACTORS HAVE BEEN DISCLOSED WHICH SUPPORT THE PROPOSITION THAT THE INFORMATION AT THE COMMISSION ' S DISPOSAL IN MAY 1978 DID NOT JUSTIFY THE ADOPTION OF PROTECTIVE MEASURES .
18 FAUST HAS CLAIMED , HOWEVER , THAT EVEN IF THE PROTECTIVE MEASURES ADOPTED BY REGULATION NO 1102/78 WERE JUSTIFIED THE REGULATION WOULD NEVERTHELESS BE VITIATED BY NULLITY ON THE GROUNDS OF MISUSE OF POWERS , BREACH OF THE PRINCIPLES OF PROPORTIONALITY , PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF LEGITIMATE EXPECTATION .
19 IN THE FIRST PLACE FAUST SAYS THAT THE COMMISSION MISUSED ITS POWERS BY STRUCTURING AND APPLYING THE PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR THE PURPOSE NOT MERELY OF AVOIDING A DISTURBANCE OF THE MARKET BUT ALSO OF CREATING DISTINCTLY FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE WITH CERTAIN NON-MEMBER COUNTRIES , IN PARTICULAR THE PEOPLE ' S REPUBLIC OF CHINA WITH WHICH THE COMMUNITY ENTERED INTO A TRADE AGREEMENT ON 3 APRIL 1978 . UNDER ARTICLE 40 ( 3 ) OF THE TREATY , A COMMON ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET IS TO BE ' ' LIMITED TO PURSUIT OF THE OBJECTIVES SET OUT IN ARTICLE 39 ' ' , WHICH DO NOT INCLUDE OBJECTIVES OF EXTERNAL COMMERCIAL POLICY .
20 THE APPLICANT ' S ASSERTION IS , HOWEVER , REFUTED BY ARTICLE 39 ( 2 ) ( C ) OF THE TREATY , WHICH STATES THAT ' ' IN THE MEMBER STATES AGRICULTURE CONSTITUTES A SECTOR CLOSELY LINKED WITH THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE ' ' ; BY THE PENULTIMATE RECITAL IN THE PREAMBLE TO COUNCIL REGULATION NO 516/77 OF 14 MARCH 1977 ON THE COMMON ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET IN PRODUCTS PROCESSED FROM FRUIT AND