CELEX: C1996/247/08
Language: en
Date: 1996-08-24 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 10 June 1996 by the Federal Republic of Germany against the Commission of the European Communities (Case C-195/96)

24 . 8 . 96           EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 247/5
 The questions referred by that court to the Court of Justice                a result of the scheme for the cessation of milk
 for a preliminary ruling are identical with those in Case                   production provided for by Council Regulation
 C-101 /96 ( ).                                                              ( EEC ) No 1637/91 ('), a mechanism whereby, first,
                                                                             non-priority producers do not see the disappearance of
 (>) OJ No C 158 , 1996 , p . 3 .                                            the reduction in their reference quantities occurring
                                                                             during the eighth period but face a definitive further
                                                                             reduction in their reference quantities , and whereby,
                                                                             second , the redistribution to producers of the reference
                                                                             quantities freed is carried out on the basis of the
 Action brought on 10 June 1996 by the Federal Republic                      cessation volume recorded in respect of their purchaser,
 of Germany against the Commission of the European                           the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations
                              Communities                                    under Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 1637/91 of 13 June
                          ( Case C-195/96 )                                  1991 fixing compensation with regard to the reference
                                                                             quantities referred to in Article 5c of Regulation ( EEC )
                             ( 96/C 247/08 )
                                                                             No 804/68 ( 2 ) and compensation for the definitive
                                                                             discontinuation of milk production ( OJ No L 150 ,
An action against the Commission of the European
                                                                             1991 , p. 30 ) and to observe the principle of
 Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of the                  non-discrimination laid down in Article 40 ( 3 ) of the
 European Communities on 10 June 1996 by the Federal
                                                                             Treaty ;
Republic of Germany , represented by Ernst Roder,
Ministerialrat, and Bernd Kloke, Oberregierungsrat, of the
Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs , D-53107 Bonn .                   2 . order the French Republic to pay the costs .
The applicant claims that the Court should :                            Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
 1 . annul Decision K(96 ) 1203 final of the Commission of
      13 March 1 996 concerning the grant of State aid by the           The action concerns the situation arising in particular from
      Freistaat Bayern ( Free State of Bavaria ) to the ECSC            an order of 6 April 1 992 relating to the distribution of the
      steel undertaking Neuc Maxhiitte Stahlwerke GmbH ,                reference quantities freed pursuant to Decree No 91-835 of
      Sulzbach-Rosenberg;                                               30 August 1991 , published in the Official Journal of the
                                                                        French Republic of 3 May 1992 , p. 6123 .
2 . order the defendant to pay the costs .
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                     ( As regards the discriminatory distribution of the national
                                                                        reserve quantities )
— failure to comply with essential procedural formalities
     ( obligation to provide a statement of reasons in                 The principle of non-discrimination ( Article 40 ( 3 ) of the EC
     accordance with Article 15 of the ECSC Treaty ),                  Treaty ) prohibits any distribution of reference quantities
                                                                       whereby allocations to specified producers are made
— erroneous application of Articles 4 ( c ) and 83 of the              conditional on the volume of the quantities freed by other
     ECSC Treaty .                                                     producers supplying the same purchaser. This applies both
                                                                        in respect of the distribution of available funds arising from
The main arguments are the same as those in Case                       the discontinuance of activities and as regards funds
C-399/95 (').                                                           becoming available as a result of an across-the-board levy .
                                                                       Considerations connected with the need for decentralized
(') O J No C 77, 16 . 3 . 1996 , p . 5 .                               management, such as those cited by the French authorities ,
                                                                       cannot justify any failure to observe that principle .
                                                                       The Commission rejects the argument regarding the
Action brought on 11 June 1996 by the Commission of the                maintenance of a balance between different regions and
    European Communities against the French Republic                   different undertakings . Far from promoting a regional
                                                                       balance, the link established by the French rules between the
                         ( Case C-198/96 )                             level of the allocation of reference quantities within a
                            ( 96/C 247/09 )                            collection zone and the rate of discontinuation within that
                                                                       zone will result in the penalization of the most efficient
An action against the French Republic was brought before               regions .
the Court of Justice on 1 1 June 1 996 by the Commission of
the European Communities, represented by Xavier Lewis,
                                                                       ( As regards the failure to comply with Article 2 ( 4 ) ( a ) of
acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg
at the office of Carlos Gomez de la Cruz, Wagner Centre,
                                                                       Regulation No 1637/91 )
Kirchberg.
                                                                       The order of 6 April 1992 fails to observe the Member
The applicant claims that the Court should :                           States ' obligation to reconstitute the reference quantities
                                                                       reduced during the eighth period ( in France, 2,15% ).
1 . declare that, by setting up, in the context of the                 Although , according to Article 4 of that order, Onilait is to
     redistribution of the reference quantities freed as               reconstitute the reference quantities by making allocations