IT TO ACHIEVE THE OTHER AIMS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 6 ( 4 ) ( B ) AND ( C ) OF REGULATION NO 804/68, NAMELY TO PRESERVE THE INITIAL QUALITY OF BUTTER AND TO HOLD STOCKS ON THE MOST RATIONAL BASIS POSSIBLE . A SCHEME SUCH AS THE ONE AT ISSUE IS PRECISELY DESIGNED TO ACHIEVE THOSE OBJECTIVES .
38 IT FOLLOWS FROM WHAT HAS BEEN SAID THAT BY ADOPTING THE CONTESTED REGULATION SETTING UP A CHRISTMAS BUTTER SCHEME, THE COMMISSION DID NOT ACT FOR PURPOSES OTHER THAN THOSE FOR WHICH THE POWERS HAD BEEN CONFERRED ON IT BY THE AFOREMENTIONED COUNCIL REGULATION .
THE SUBMISSION ALLEGING BREACH OF THE PRINCIPLE OF FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS
39 ACCORDING TO THE APPLICANTS, THE COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS ARE ALSO REQUIRED TO RESPECT THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF FREEDOM IN INTRA-COMMUNITY TRADE . HOWEVER, ARTICLE 5 ( 1 ) OF THE CONTESTED REGULATION SET UP A CHRISTMAS BUTTER SCHEME MAKING IMPOSSIBLE INTRA-COMMUNITY TRADE IN "SUCH BUTTER" AND THEREBY INFRINGED ARTICLES 30 AND 34 OF THE TREATY .
40 WITHOUT THERE BEING ANY NEED TO CONSIDER WHETHER, BY EXCLUDING CHRISTMAS BUTTER FROM THE SCOPE OF THE PRINCIPLE OF FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS, THE COMMISSION DID OR DID NOT INFRINGE ARTICLE 30 ET SEQ . OF THE TREATY, IT IS SUFFICIENT TO NOTE THAT THE APPLICANTS MAY NOT USEFULLY RELY ON SUCH A SUBMISSION IN SUPPORT OF THEIR ACTION FOR DAMAGES .
41 IT CAN BE SEEN FROM THE DOCUMENTS ON THE FILE AND THE ARGUMENTS PRESENTED BEFORE THE COURT THAT, HAVING REGARD TO THE SPECIFIC NATURE OF THE NETHERLANDS MARKET, ANY OFFER OF BUTTER AT A REDUCED PRICE GIVES RISE TO AN INCREASE IN CONSUMPTION OF THE PRODUCT ON THAT MARKET SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN THAT NOTED IN THE OTHER MEMBER STATES . CONSEQUENTLY, IN THE ABSENCE IN THE CONTESTED REGULATION OF, ON THE ONE HAND, AN OVERALL LIMIT ON THE QUANTITY OF CHRISTMAS BUTTER TO BE OFFERED ON THE NETHERLANDS MARKET ( 9*100 TONNES ), AND, ON THE OTHER HAND, OF A PROVISION SUCH AS THE CONTESTED ONE, THE NETHERLANDS MARKET COULD HAVE BEEN DISTURBED BY THE OFFER FOR SALE OF CONSIDERABLY LARGER QUANTITIES OF BUTTER AT A REDUCED PRICE COMING FROM OTHER MEMBER STATES, IN WHICH IT HAD BEEN LESS SUCCESSFUL IN ATTRACTING THE CONSUMER . THE CONSEQUENCE WOULD THEREFORE HAVE BEEN, ACCORDING TO THE APPLICANTS' OWN LOGIC, EVEN GREATER DAMAGE TO THE MARGARINE MANUFACTURERS OPERATING ON THE NETHERLANDS MARKET .
42 THEREFORE, SINCE THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP OF CAUSE AND EFFECT BETWEEN THE ALLEGED UNLAWFULNESS AND THE DAMAGE ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN SUFFERED, THE SUBMISSION MUST, IN ANY EVENT, BE REJECTED .
THE SUBMISSION ALLEGING BREACH OF THE PRINCIPLE OF THE PROTECTION OF LEGITIMATE EXPECTATION
43 ACCORDING TO THE APPLICANTS, THE COMMISSION ITSELF STATED, PUBLICLY AND ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, THAT SCHEMES SUCH AS THE CHRISTMAS BUTTER SCHEME WERE NOT CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING THE DESIRED AIMS, IN PARTICULAR A DURABLE REDUCTION IN THE LEVEL OF STOCKS . CONSEQUENTLY, THEY HAD NO REASON TO EXPECT