CELEX: C2001/331/16
Language: en
Date: 2001-11-24 00:00:00
Title: Case C-360/01: Action brought on 21 September 2001 by the Italian Republic against Commission of the European Communities and Council of the European Union

C 331/10                 EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                   24.11.2001
Action brought on 17 September 2001 by the Com-                       before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on
mission of the European Communities against the French                21 September 2001 by the Italian Republic, represented by
                                Republic                              Umberto Leanza, acting as Agent, assisted by Gianni De Bellis,
                                                                      Avvocato dello Stato.
                           (Case C-348/01)
                           (2001/C 331/15)                            The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                      —     annul Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC)
An action against the French Republic was brought before the                No 1263/2001 of 27 June 2001 fixing the derived
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 17 Septem-                  intervention prices for white sugar for the 2001/02
ber 2001 by the Commission of the European Communities                      marketing year (OJ 2001 L 178, p. 60), in so far as it fails
represented by G. zur Hausen and J. Adda, acting as Agents,                 to fix derived intervention prices for white sugar for all
with an address for service in Luxembourg.                                  the areas of Italy and, in so far as necessary, annul also
                                                                            Article 2(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/2001
                                                                            of 19 June 2001,
The Commission of the European Communities claims that
the Court should:
                                                                      —     order the Commission of the European Communities and
1.    Declare that by not yet having adopted all the laws,                  the Council of the European Union to pay the costs.
      regulations and administrative provisions necessary in
      order to comply with Council Directive 97/11/EC of
      3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/EEC on the
      assessment of the effects of certain public and private
      projects on the environment (1) or at least by not having       Pleas in law and main arguments
      informed the Commission fully thereof, the French
      Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that
      Directive.
                                                                      The Italian Government claims that the Commission, in
2.    Order the French Republic to pay the costs.                     determining the internal consumption of sugar to be balanced
                                                                      against production in order to ascertain whether or not there
                                                                      is a deficit, used an unlawful and erroneous determinative
                                                                      criterion.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The pleas in law and main arguments are the same as those in          In particular, when forecasting consumption, it did not
Case C-345/01 (2); the deadline for transposition expired on          include sugar used for the preparation of sugar-based products
14 March 1999.                                                        intended for export.
(1) OJ L 73 of 14.3.1997, p. 5.
(2) See p. 8 of this Official Journal.                                Italy will therefore find itself having to import white sugar in
                                                                      the 2001/02 marketing year, like any other country in a
                                                                      situation which is hypothetically similar save for the fact that
                                                                      it consumes internally all sugar-based products, whereas Italy
                                                                      instead exports them.
Action brought on 21 September 2001 by the Italian                    According to the Commission’s criterion, such other country
Republic against Commission of the European Communi-                  would be considered in deficit, whereas Italy would not,
           ties and Council of the European Union                     despite the fact that both countries have the same sugar import
                                                                      requirement.
                           (Case C-360/01)
                           (2001/C 331/16)                            Such a result is unfair and runs counter to the scope and
                                                                      purpose of ‘regionalisation’.
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties and the Council of the European Union was brought