CELEX: C1999/174/06
Language: en
Date: 1999-06-19 00:00:00
Title: Removal from the register of Case C-334/98

19.6.1999               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                        C 174/3
Fourth, Article 31(3) of the abovementioned law provides that             Contentions and principal arguments adduced in support
inter alia the obligations relating to advertising and sponsorship
do not apply to services broadcast solely in a foreign language           The Commission’s objections related inter alia to the fact that
without French sub-titles. Thus, those services, although within          although Article 6(3)(e) of Regulation (EEC) No 1558/91 (2)
French jurisdiction, are not subject to the obligations deriving          provides that the minimum price to be paid to the producer
from the directive. France, however, is required under Article            for raw materials is not to include costs connected with
2(1) of the directive to exercise control over such services.             transport, the Commission services found that the producers
                                                                          were required to pay a part of that expenditure (35%).
Fifth, no implementing measure has been adopted to make                   According to the Commission, that was contrary to the
the provisions of the directive applicable to services using              provisions of the regulations in that such conduct amounted
frequencies not managed by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovi-            to non-observance of the minimum price to be paid to the
suel, even if their broadcasts are intended for the public in             producer for the raw material delivered.
France.
                                                                          The national legislation on payments for tomatoes and trans-
                                                                          port costs was contained, as far as the 1996/97 marketing year
(1) OJ L 298 of 17.10.1989, p. 23.                                        was concerned, in an interprofessional agreement approved
                                                                          and confirmed in accordance with Italian Law No 88/1998,
                                                                          with which the Commission must have been entirely familiar.
                                                                          The Italian authorities made it clear that in the abovementioned
                                                                          agreement, considering that almost all the tomato containers
                                                                          were owned by the processing undertakings, the farmers had
                                                                          accepted a maximum of 35% of the documented cost of the
Action brought on 21 April 1999 by the Italian Republic                   overall transport, including carriage of the raw material from
    against Commission of the European Communities                        the place of harvest to the processing undertaking (at the
                                                                          latter’s expense) in order to cover both reimbursement of the
                         (Case C-146/99)                                  cost of the crates and bins which were liable to be broken and,
                                                                          therefore, would need to be replaced, and that of distributing
                                                                          those containers to the places of harvest. The Italian authorities
                         (1999/C 174/05)
                                                                          also state that the payments of the minimum price for the
                                                                          product were all made entirely in accordance with Community
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                 legislation and that, when the EAGGF had so requested, the
ties was brought before the Court of Justice on 21 April 1999             relevant files had been made available to it.
by the Italian Republic, represented by Danilo Del Gaizo,
Avvocato dello Stato, with an address for service in Luxem-
bourg at the Italian Embassy, 5 Rue Marie-Adélaïde.                       (1) Decision 1999/186/ec — OJ 1999 L 61 of 10.3.99, p. 34.
                                                                          (2) OJ 1991 L 144 of 8.6.91, p. 31.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
— Annul Commission Decision C(99) 208 Final of 3 February
     1999 (1) which excludes from Community financing cer-
     tain expenditure incurred by the Member States in respect
     of the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural                       Removal from the register of Case C-334/98 (1)
     Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) to the extent
     to which, in determining the total italian expenditure                                       (1999/C 174/06)
     chargeable to the Fund, it made financial adjustments to
     the detriment of Italy, declaring not to be chargeable to
                                                                          By order of 12 March 1999 the President of the Court of
     the Fund the sum of ITL 7 421 939 820 for aid for
                                                                          Justice of the European Communities ordered the removal
     the processing of tomatoes — incomplete payment of
                                                                          from the register of Case C-334/98: Commission of the
     transport costs to tomato producers (item 4.6.8 of the
                                                                          European Communities v Italy.
     summary report for 1995) —, and
— order the Commission to pay the costs.                                  (1) OJ C 327 of 24.10.1998.