CELEX: C2006/143/19
Language: en
Date: 2006-06-17 00:00:00
Title: Case C-274/04: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of  6 April 2006  (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg) — ED & F Man Sugar Ltd v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas (Agriculture — Regulation (EEC) No 3665/87 — Export refunds — Sanction applied following a decision to recover a refund that has become final — Possibility of re-examining the decision imposing a sanction)

17.6.2006   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 143/10
            
         Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 6 April 2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg) — ED & F Man Sugar Ltd v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas
   (Case C-274/04) (1)
   
   (Agriculture - Regulation (EEC) No 3665/87 - Export refunds - Sanction applied following a decision to recover a refund that has become final - Possibility of re-examining the decision imposing a sanction)
   (2006/C 143/19)
   Language of the case: German
   Referring court
   Finanzgericht Hamburg
   Parties to the main proceedings
   
      Applicant: ED & F Man Sugar Ltd
   
      Defendant: Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas
   Re:
   Reference for a preliminary ruling — Finanzgericht Hamburg (Finance Court) Hamburg — Interpretation of Article 11(1) and (3) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3665/87 of 27 November 1987 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of export refunds on agricultural products (OJ 1987 L 351, p. 1), as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2945/94 of 2 December 1994 (OJ 1994 L 310, p. 57) — Sanctions for requesting a refund in excess of that applicable — Whether national authorities or courts may re-examine, in the context of an action brought by an exporter against a decision imposing a sanction on him, the final decision ordering repayment of amounts wrongly received — Misinterpretation of Community law
   Operative part of the judgment
   The first subparagraph of Article 11(1) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3665/87 of 27 November 1987 laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of export refunds on agricultural products, as amended by Commission Regulation No 2945/94 of 2 December 1994, must be interpreted as meaning that, in an appeal against a decision imposing a sanction on the basis of that provision, the national authorities and courts are entitled to examine whether the exporter requested a refund in excess of that applicable within the meaning of that provision, notwithstanding the fact that a reimbursement decision provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 11(3) of that Regulation has become final before the decision imposing a sanction was issued.
   
      (1)  OJ C 228, 11.9.2004