EUROFER AND THAT IT WAS NOT ABLE TO MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE BY BUYING OR EXCHANGING QUOTAS . SINCE THIS EUROFER SYSTEM WAS NEW , ESTEL HAD NO MEANS OF KNOWING THAT THE FORECASTS WERE BINDING ON UNDERTAKINGS AND SERVED AS THE BASIS FOR THE DEFINITIVE PRODUCTION QUOTA FIXED BY THE COMMISSION . IN FIXING THE AMOUNT OF THE FINE , THE COMMISSION WAS THEREFORE OBLIGED TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ESTEL ' S MISTAKE AND THE FACT THAT THE EUROFER AND COMMUNITY SYSTEMS WERE INTERDEPENDENT .
18 THE COMMISSION ' S REPLY TO THAT SUBMISSION IS THAT THE FORECASTING SYSTEM IS A MATTER PERTAINING TO THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF EUROFER AND IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE COMMISSION ' S CONTROL ; IT WAS NOT FOR THE COMMISSION TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT AN UNDERTAKING ' S POSSIBLE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THAT SYSTEM . FURTHERMORE , THERE WERE A NUMBER OF WAYS IN WHICH ESTEL COULD HAVE FULFILLED ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE COMMUNITY QUOTA SYSTEM ; IT COULD , FOR EXAMPLE , HAVE TRANSFERRED AN ORDER TO ANOTHER SUPPLIER , EXCHANGED OR BOUGHT A QUOTA , DELIVERED THAT PART OF THE ORDER WHICH EXCEEDED THE QUOTA DURING THE FOLLOWING QUARTER OR DELIVERED SMALLER QUANTITIES TO BUYERS WHO WERE NOT REGULAR CUSTOMERS .
19 IT MUST BE ACCEPTED THAT ESTEL ' S PRODUCTION IN EXCESS OF ITS QUOTA WAS , AS THE COMMISSION HAS RIGHTLY MAINTAINED , DUE TO THE AGREEMENTS CONCLUDED WITHIN EUROFER AND TO ESTEL ' S UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE MEANING OF THOSE AGREEMENTS . ESTEL ' S QUOTAS WERE FIXED CLEARLY AND UNAMBIGUOUSLY BY THE COMMISSION SO THAT ESTEL COULD NOT BE IN ANY DOUBT AS TO ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER COMMUNITY LAW . AS A RESULT A MISTAKE ON THE PART OF ESTEL CONCERNING THE VOLUME OF TRANSACTIONS WHICH IT WAS OBLIGED TO CARRY OUT UNDER THE EUROFER AGREEMENTS COULD IN NO WAY JUSTIFY A BREACH OF ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE COMMUNITY PRODUCTION-QUOTA SYSTEM AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A CIRCUMSTANCE WHICH JUSTIFIES A REDUCTION IN THE FINE .
20 THE SUPPLEMENTARY ARGUMENT OF ESTEL TO THE EFFECT THAT THE EXCESS PRODUCTION WAS PART OF THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE STEEL INDUSTRY AND THAT IT DID NOT DISTURB THE MARKET CANNOT BE ACCEPTED IN RELATION TO A SYSTEM BASED ON THE ALLOCATION OF WELL-DEFINED PRODUCTION QUOTAS TO PARTICULAR UNDERTAKINGS , WITH A VIEW TO COMBATTING A MANIFEST CRISIS IN THE STEEL INDUSTRY .
21 THIS SUBMISSION MUST THEREFORE BE REJECTED .
3 . DELIVERIES ON THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET
22 THE APPLICANT CLAIMS THAT THE COMMISSION WAS WRONG NOT TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT , IN FIXING THE AMOUNT OF THE FINE , THE FACT THAT THE APPLICANT HAD EXCEEDED THE PRODUCTION QUOTA IN RESPECT OF DELIVERIES ON THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET AS A RESULT OF SPECIFIC PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH EXPORTATION TO THAT MARKET AND THAT WHEN THE CONTRACTS IN QUESTION WERE CONCLUDED THE CONTINUATION OF THE PRODUCTION QUOTA SYSTEM BEYOND 30 JUNE 1981 AND THE SPECIFIC CHARACTER OF THE