CELEX: C2002/169/37
Language: en
Date: 2002-07-13 00:00:00
Title: Case C-173/02: Action brought on 13 May 2002 by the Kingdom of Spain against the Commission of the European Communities

13.7.2002             EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                       C 169/21
Action brought on 13 May 2002 by the Kingdom of Spain                    to gain access to an additional quota which it would be
  against the Commission of the European Communities                     impossible to finance in full (by means of an allocation free of
                                                                         charge), given the limited funds available. Finally, the aid
                                                                         granted does not, and cannot, affect either prices or the total
                                                                         quantities produced.
                        (Case C-173/02)
                        (2002/C 169/37)                                  (1) Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 of 28 December 1992
                                                                             establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products
                                                                             sector, amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1256/1999 of
                                                                             17 May 1999 (OJ L 160 of 16.6.1999, p. 73).
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Communities on 13 May 2002 by the Kingdom of Spain
represented by S. Ortiz Vaamonde, Abogado del Estado, with
an address for service in Luxembourg at the Spanish Embassy,
4-6 Boulevard Emmanuel Servais.
                                                                         Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Hoge Raad der
                                                                         Nederlanden by judgment of that Court of 8 March 2002
                                                                         in the appeal brought by Streekgewest Westelijk Noord-
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                                  Brabant and Staatssecretaris van Financiën
—     annul the Commission’s decision of 12 March 2002                                            (Case C-174/02)
      declaring the aid paid to producers of cows’ milk for the
      purchase of reference quantities incompatible with the
      common market and ordering it to be repaid; and                                             (2002/C 169/38)
—     order the Commission to pay the costs.
                                                                         Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                         European Communities by judgment of the Hoge Raad der
                                                                         Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands) of 8 March
                                                                         2002, received at the Court Registry on 10 May 2002, for a
Pleas in law and main arguments                                          preliminary ruling in the appeal brought by Streekgewest
                                                                         Westelijk Noord-Brabant and Staatssecretaris van Financiën,
                                                                         on the following questions:
Infringement of Articles 87 EC and 88 EC in that the measure             1.    May only an individual who is affected by a distortion of
at issue is protected by the regulation on the common                          cross-border competition as a result of an aid measure
organisation of the market (COM) in milk and milk products.                    rely on the last sentence of Article 93(3) of the EC Treaty
The measures at issue cannot be challenged as contrary to the                  (now the last sentence of Article 88(3) EC)?
COM in a case in which the latter specifically provides for
mechanisms comparable to those adopted and which are
directed to the same end. The aid granted is not intended to             2.    Where an aid measure within the meaning of the last
cover operating costs but is granted in respect of a production                sentence of Article 93(3) of the EC Treaty (now the last
right, which is a capital asset of the agricultural holding itself.            sentence of Article 88(3) EC) consists of an exemption
The aid is consonant with the objectives laid down in the rules                from a tax (which is to be construed as also meaning a
establishing the additional levy, namely the restructuring of                  reduction in or relief on such tax) whose proceeds are
the milk sector, given that its aim is to improve production                   paid into the public coffers, and no provision in that
structures in the dairy sector, which is fundamental to the                    respect is made for suspending the exemption pending
regional economy of Asturias. The fact that it does not exactly                the notification procedure, must that tax be regarded as
coincide with the mechanism provided for in the COM does                       part of that aid measure, by virtue of the very fact that
not render it contrary to the scheme, since the degree of                      the levying of the tax on persons who do not enjoy an
intervention involved is less than that provided for and                       exemption is the means whereby a favourable effect is
authorised. Instead of allocating quotas free of charge as                     produced, so that as long as the implementation of that
provided for in the first indent of Article 8 of Regulation (EEC)              aid measure is not permitted under the abovementioned
No 3950/92 (1), the Asturian authorities are making more                       provision, the prohibition laid down therein is also
efficient use of public resources, enabling a group of farmers                 applicable to (the levying of) that tax?