CELEX: 62000CJ0495
Language: en
Date: 2004-03-25
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 25 March 2004. # Azienda Agricola Giorgio, Giovanni e Luciano Visentin and Others v Azienda di Stato per gli interventi nel mercato agricolo (AIMA), and Caseificio Silvio Belladelli e Figli and Others. # Reference for a preliminary ruling: Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio - Italy. # Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Milk and milk products - Additional levy on milk - Regulations (EEC) Nos 3590/92 and 536/93 - Reference quantities - Ex post correction. # Case C-495/00.

Case C-495/00
      Azienda Agricola Giorgio, Giovanni e Luciano Visentin and Others
      v
      Azienda di Stato per gli interventi nel mercato agricolo (AIMA)
      (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio)
      (Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Milk and milk products – Additional levy on milk – Regulations (EEC) Nos 3590/92 and 536/93 – Reference quantities – Ex post correction)
      Summary of the Judgment
      1.        Member States – Obligations – Implementation of Community law – Application of the procedural and substantive rules of national
            law – Conditions
      (EC Treaty, Art. 5 (now Art. 10 EC))
      2.        Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Milk and milk products –Additional levy on milk – Regulations Nos 3950/92
            and 536/93 – Reference quantities – Ex post correction and recalculation of levies after the final date for payment of those
            levies – Whether permissible – Breach of the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations – None
      (Council Regulation No 3950/92, Arts 1 and 4; Commission Regulation No 536/93, Arts 3 and 4)
      1.        According to the general principles on which the Community is based and which govern relations between the Community and the
         Member States, it is for the latter, under Article 5 of the EC Treaty (now Article 10 EC), to ensure that Community rules
         are implemented within their territories. In so far as Community law, including its general principles, does not include common
         rules to that effect then, when the national authorities implement Community rules, they are to act in accordance with the
         procedural and substantive rules of their own national law.
      
      Nevertheless, when adopting measures to implement Community legislation, national authorities must exercise their discretion
         in compliance with the general rules of Community law, which include the principles of proportionality, legal certainty and
         the protection of legitimate expectations. 
      
      (see paras 39-40)
      2.        On a proper construction of Articles 1 and 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk
         products sector and of Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93 laying down detailed rules on the application of the additional
         levy on milk and milk products, it is not contrary to those provisions for a Member State, after checks have been carried
         out, to correct the individual reference quantities allocated to each producer and, after the unused reference quantities
         have been reallocated, to recalculate in consequence the additional levies payable, after the final date for payment of those
         levies for the milk marketing year concerned.
      
      First, in so far as the individual reference quantity to which a producer can lay claim actually corresponds to the quantity
         of milk marketed by that producer during the reference year, that producer, who is as a rule aware of how much milk he has
         produced, can have no legitimate expectation that an inaccurate reference quantity will be continued. Second, producers can
         have no legitimate expectation that, when a production year expires, a certain unused individual reference quantity will be
         reallocated. Such reallocation is, by its nature, hypothetical and impossible to quantify in advance, for it depends upon
         the activity of other producers. A producer cannot therefore, before a production year has begun, have any legitimate expectation
         that a certain portion of unused quotas will be reallocated.
      
      In addition, no legitimate expectation can be entertained as to the continuation of a situation which is plainly unlawful
         in the light of Community law, namely, the failure to apply the arrangements for the additional levy on milk. Milk producers
         in the Member States cannot legitimately expect, 11 years after the system was introduced, to be able to go on producing milk
         without limit.
      
      (see paras 54-56, operative part)

      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
            
            JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Sixth Chamber)25 March 2004(1)
         
         
               (Agriculture  –  Common organisation of the markets  –  Milk and milk products  –  Additional levy on milk  –  Regulations (EEC) Nos 3590/92 and 536/93  –  Reference quantities  –  Ex post correction)
               
             In Case C-495/00, 
             REFERENCES to the Court under Article 234 EC by the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio (Italy) for a preliminary
            ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between 
            
            
            
            Azienda Agricola Giorgio, Giovanni e Luciano Visentin and Others andAzienda di Stato per gli interventi nel mercato agricolo (AIMA),   interveners:Caseificio Silvio Belladelli e Figli,Granlatte cons. coop., Medighini Ind. Cas,Parmalat SpAandZanetti SpA,
            
            
            
            
            
            
             on the interpretation and validity of Articles 1 and 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 of 28 December 1992 establishing
            an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector (OJ 1992 L 405, p. 1), and of Articles 3 and 4 of Commission Regulation
            (EEC) No 536/93 laying down detailed rules for the application of the additional levy on milk and milk products (OJ 1993 L
            57, p. 12),
            
            THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),,
            
             composed of: V. Skouris (Rapporteur), acting for the President of the Sixth Chamber, C. Gulmann, J.-P. Puissochet, F. Macken
            and N. Colneric, Judges, 
            
             Advocate General: P. Léger, Registrar: L. Hewlett and H.A. Rühl, Principal Administrators, 
            
            
            after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:
               
               –
                Azienda Agricola Giorgio, Giovanni e Luciano Visentin and Others, by C. Chiola and M. Bedoni, avvocati, 
               
               –
                the Italian Government, by I.M. Braguglia, acting as Agent, assisted by O. Fiumara and G. Aiello, avvocati dello Stato, 
               
               –
                the Council of the European Union, by J. Carbery and F.P. Ruggeri Laderchi, acting as Agents, 
               
               –
                the Commission of the European Communities, by M. Niejahr and L. Visaggio, acting as Agents, 
               
               
            
            
            
            
            after hearing the oral observations of the Italian Government, represented by O. Fiumara, of the Greek Government, represented
               by G. Kanellopoulos, acting as Agent, of the Council, represented by F.P. Ruggeri Laderchi, and of the Commission, represented
               by C. Cattabriga, acting as Agent, at the hearing on 12 December 2002,
            
            
            after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 8 May 2003,
         gives the following
         
         
         Judgment
         1
            
          By judgment of 6 July 2000, received at the Court on 29 December 2000, the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio (the
         Regional Administrative Court for Lazio) referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC three questions
         on the interpretation and validity of Articles 1 and 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 of 28 December 1992 establishing
         an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector (OJ 1992 L 405, p. 1), and of Articles 3 and 4 of Commission Regulation
         (EEC) No 536/93 laying down detailed rules for the application of the additional levy on milk and milk products (OJ 1993 L
         57, p. 12).
         
         
         
         2
            
          Those questions were raised in proceedings between various Italian milk producers and the Azienda di Stato per gli interventi
         nel mercato agricolo (State Agricultural Market Intervention Board, ‘AIMA’) and other dairy producers, concerning the lawfulness
         of the decisions taken in 1999 by which the AIMA corrected the reference quantities allocated for the milk marketing years
         1995/96 and 1996/97, to reallocate the unused reference quantities for those years and, in consequence, to recalculate the
         levies payable by producers for those years.
         
         
            
               The relevant provisions
            The provisions of Community law
         
         3
            
          In 1984, on account of a persistent imbalance between supply and demand in the milk sector, a system of additional levies
         was introduced by Regulation (EEC) No 804/68 of the Council of 27 June 1968 on the common organisation of the market in milk
         and milk products (OJ, English Special Edition 1968 (I), p. 176), as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 856/84 of 31 March
         1984 (OJ 1984 L 90, p. 10, ‘Regulation No 804/68’), and by Council Regulation (EEC) No 857/84 of 31 March 1984 adopting general
         rules for the application of the levy referred to in Article 5c of Regulation No 804/68 (OJ 1984 L 90, p. 13).  According
         to Article 5c, an additional levy is payable on quantities of milk which exceed a reference quantity to be determined.
         
         
         
         4
            
          That additional levy scheme, which was originally intended to last until 1 April 1993, was extended to 1 April 2000 by Regulation
         No 3950/92
         
         
         
         5
            
          Article 1 of that regulation provides:
         ‘For seven new consecutive periods of 12 months commencing on 1 April 1993, an additional levy shall be payable by producers
         of cows’ milk on quantities of milk or milk equivalent delivered to a purchaser or sold directly for consumption during the
         12-month period in question in excess of a quantity to be determined.’
          The levy shall be 115% of the target price for milk.’
         
         
         
         6
            
          In accordance with Article 2 of that regulation:
         ‘(1)   The levy shall be payable on all quantities of milk or milk equivalent marketed during the 12-month period in question in
         excess of the relevant quantity referred to in Article 3.  It shall be shared between the producers who contributed to the
         overrun.
          In accordance with a decision of the Member State, the contribution of producers towards the levy payable shall be established,
         after the unused reference quantities have been reallocated or not, either at the level of the purchaser, in the light of
         the overrun remaining after unused reference quantities have been allocated in proportion to the reference quantities of each
         producer, or at national level, in the light of the overrun in the reference quantity of each individual producer.’
         
         
         
         7
            
          Article 4 of Regulation No 3950/92, which lays down the criteria for the calculating of the individual quota available to
         each producer, provides: 
         ‘(1)   The individual reference quantity available on the holding shall be equal to the quantity available on 31 March 1993 and shall
         be adjusted, where appropriate, for each of the periods concerned, so that the sum of the individual reference quantities
         of the same type does not exceed the corresponding global quantities referred to in Article 3, taking account of any reductions
         made for allocation to the national reserve provided for in Article 5.
         (2)     Individual reference quantities shall be increased or established at the duly justified request of producers to take account
         of changes affecting their deliveries and/or direct sales.  The increase or establishment of such a reference quantity shall
         be subject to a corresponding reduction or cancellation of the other reference quantity the producer owns. Such adjustments
         may not lead to an increase in the sum of the deliveries and direct sales referred to in Article 3 for the Member State concerned.
          Where the individual reference quantities undergo a definitive change, the quantities referred to in Article 3 shall be adjusted
         in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 11.
         …’
         
         
         
         8
            
          Finally, in accordance with Article 10 of that regulation:
         ‘The levy shall be considered as intervention to stabilise agricultural markets and shall be used to finance expenditure in
         the milk sector.’
         
         
         
         9
            
          The fifth recital in the preamble to Regulation No 536/93 states that ‘experience gained has shown that major delays in both
         the transmission of figures on collections or direct sales and payment of the levy, have prevented the arrangements from being
         fully effective’ and that, ‘therefore, lessons should be learned from the past and the necessary conclusions drawn by laying
         down strict requirements as regards notification and payment deadlines and providing for penalties where deadlines are not
         met’.
         
         
         
         10
            
          Article 3 of that regulation provides:
         ‘(1)   At the end of each of the periods referred to in Article 1 of Regulation … No 3950/92, the purchaser shall establish a statement
         for each producer showing, opposite the producer’s reference quantity and the representative fat content of his production,
         the quantity and fat content of the milk and/or milk equivalent which he has delivered during the period.
         …
         (2)     Before 15 May each year, the purchasers shall forward to the competent authority of the Member State a summary of the statements
         drawn up for each producer or, where appropriate, by decision of the Member State, the total quantity, the quantity corrected
         in accordance with Article 2(2) and average fat content of the milk and/or milk equivalent delivered to it by producers and
         the sum of the individual reference quantities and the average representative fat content of such producers’ production.
          Where that time-limit is not observed, the purchaser shall be liable to a penalty equal to the amount of the levy due for
         a 0.1% overrun on the quantities of milk and milk equivalent delivered to them by producers. Such penalty may not exceed ECU
         20 000.
         (3)     Member States may provide that the competent authority shall notify the purchaser of the levies payable by him after reallocating,
         or not, by decision of the Member State, all or part of the unused reference quantities either directly to the producers concerned
         or to purchasers with a view to their subsequent allocation among the producers concerned.
         (4)     Before 1 September each year, the purchaser liable for levies shall pay the competent body the amount due in accordance with
         rules laid down by the Member State.
          Where the time-limit for payment is not met, the sums due shall bear interest at a rate per annum fixed by the Member State
         and which shall not be lower than the rate of interest which the latter applies for the recovery of wrongly paid amounts.’
         
         
         
         11
            
          Article 4 of that regulation provides:
         ‘(1)   In the case of direct sales, at the end of each of the periods referred to in Article 1 of Regulation … No 3950/92, the producer
         shall make a declaration summarising by product the quantities of milk and/or other milk products sold directly for consumption
         and/or to wholesalers, cheese maturers and the retail trade. 
         …
         (2)     Before 15 May each year, the producer shall forward declarations to the competent authority of the Member State.
          Where that time-limit is not observed, the producer shall be liable to the levy on all the quantities of milk and milk equivalent
         sold directly in excess of his reference quantity or, where there is no overrun, to a penalty equal to the amount of levy
         due for a 0.1% overrun of his reference quantity. Such penalty may not exceed ECU 1 000.
          Where a declaration is not submitted before 1 July, the second paragraph of Article 5 of Regulation … No 3950/92 shall apply
         30 days after the Member State has served notice.
         (3)     The Member State may provide that the competent authority shall notify the producer of the levies payable by him after reallocating,
         or not, by decision of the Member State, all or part of the unused reference quantities to the producers concerned.
         (4)     Before 1 September each year, the producer shall pay the amount due to the competent body in accordance with rules laid down
         by the Member State.
          Where the time-limit for payment is not met, the sums due shall bear interest at a rate per annum fixed by the Member State
         …’
         
         
         
         12
            
          Under Article 7 of Regulation No 536/93:
         ‘(1)   Member States shall take all the verification measures necessary to ensure payment of the levy on quantities of milk and milk
         equivalent marketed in excess of any of the quantities referred to in Article 3 of Regulation … No 3950/92.
         …
         (3)     Member States shall physically verify the accuracy of the accounting with regard to the quantities of milk and milk equivalent
         marketed and, to that end, shall check milk transport during collection at farms and shall, in particular, check:
         
         (a) 
            at the premises of the purchasers, the statements referred to in Article 3(1), the credibility of stock accounts and supplies
               as referred to in paragraph 1(c) and (d) with regard to the commercial documents and other documents proving now the collected
               milk and milk equivalent have been used;
            
         
         
         (b) 
            at the premises of the producers with a reference quantity for direct sales, the credibility of the declaration referred to
               in Article 4(1) and the stock accounts referred to in paragraph 1(f).
            
         
         …’
         
         The provisions of national law
         
         13
            
          The Italian additional milk levy arrangements were originally implemented by Law No 468 of 26 November 1992 (GURI No 286 of
         4 December 1992, p. 3, ‘Law No 468/92’).  That Law laid down, inter alia, criteria for the allocation of individual reference
         quantities and detailed rules for national adjustment (reallocation of unused reference quantities).  That Law was subsequently
         followed by an abundance of much amended legislation.  The development of the law and regulations included the adoption of,
         on the one hand, Decree-Law No 727 of 23 December 1994 (GURI No 304 of 30 December 1994, p. 5, ‘Decree-Law No 727/94’), now
         converted as amended into Law No 46 of 24 February 1995 (GURI No 48 of 27 February 1995, p. 3, ‘Law No 46/95’), regulating
         the arrangements for reducing quantities allocated and, on the other, Finance Law No 662 of 23 December 1996 (ordinary supplement
         to GURI No 303 of 28 December 1996, p. 233, ‘Law No 662/96’), Article 2(168) of which defines the criteria for national adjustment.
         
         
         
         14
            
          By judgment No 520 of 28 December 1995 the Corte costituzionale (Constitutional Court) (Italy) declared invalid Article 2(1)
         of Decree-Law No 727/94, converted as amended into Law No 46/95, in that, in determining the reduction of milk producers’
         individual quotas, it excluded the participation, at least in the form of a reference for an opinion, of the regions concerned.
          In addition, by judgment No 398 of 11 December 1998 that court annulled Article 2(168) of Law No 662/96 on the ground that
         it made no provision for seeking the opinion of the autonomous provinces and regions.
         
         
         
         15
            
          In the meantime, the Commission of the European Communities brought an action against the Italian Republic, under Article
         169 of the EC Treaty (now Article 226 EC), concerning the method laid down in Article 5 of Law No 468/92 for the reallocation
         of unused individual quantities.  By reasoned opinion of 20 May 1996 the Commission challenged the opportunity given, in respect
         of deliveries, of reallocating unused quantities to associations of producers rather than to producers or purchasers as provided
         for by Regulations Nos 3950/92 and 536/93.  No further steps were subsequently taken in those proceedings, the Italian authorities
         having put an end to the infringement at issue by adopting Law No 662/96, Article 2(166) of which provides that the method
         in question would no longer be applicable as from the milk-marketing year 1995/96.
         
         
         
         16
            
          In order to put an end to the uncertainty surrounding the determining of actual milk production and caused by a system which
         had not made it possible to produce reliable information, in particular for the milk-marketing years 1995/96 and 1996/97,
         the Italian legislature decided to set up a Government Commission of Inquiry, as provided for by Decree-Law No 11 of 31 January
         1997 (GURI No 25 of 31 January 1997, p. 3), converted as amended into Law No 81 of 28 March 1997 (GURI No 81 of 1 April 1997,
         p. 4).  That Commission of Inquiry was entrusted with the task of ascertaining whether there were any irregularities in the
         management of quantities by individuals or public or private bodies and any irregularities in the marketing of milk and milk
         products by producers or in their use by purchasers.
         
         
         
         17
            
          In that context and in the light of the conclusions reached by that Government Commission of Inquiry, the Italian legislation
         was again amended by the adoption of Decree-Law No 411 of 1 December 1997 (GURI No 208 of 1 December 1997, p. 3, ‘Decree-Law
         No 411/97’), converted as amended into Law No 5 of 27 January 1998 (GURI No 22 of 28 January 1998, p. 3, ‘Law No 5/98’), and
         by the adoption of Decree-Law No 43 of 1 March 1999 (GURI No 50 of 2 March 1999, p. 8, ‘Decree-Law No 43/99’), converted as
         amended into Law No 118 of 27 April 1999 (GURI No 100 of 30 April 1999, p. 4, ‘Law No 118/99’).
         
         
         
         18
            
          Article 2 of Law No 5/98 makes the AIMA responsible for determining, on the basis of, inter alia, the report made by the Government
         Commission of Inquiry and the surveys carried out and notified by the regions, the actual quantities of milk produced and
         marketed during the milk-marketing years 1995/96 and 1996/97.  According to Article 2(5), the AIMA is to inform producers
         within 60 days of the Decree-Law’s entering into force of the individual reference quantities allocated to them and the quantities
         of milk marketed.  With regard to the quantities determined by the AIMA, producers may seek to have those findings re-examined
         before the regions and autonomous provinces which must give a decision within 80 days of the expiry of the period of 60 days
         prescribed for the lodging of the application.  Article 2(11) provides that, at the outcome of the checks carried out and
         the decisions taken on the applications for re-examination, the AIMA is to make amendments to the forms used and to individual
         reference quantities for the purposes of the operation of national adjustments and the payment of the additional levy. 
         
         
         
         19
            
          Article 1(1) of Decree-Law No 43/99 provides, first, that the AIMA is to make national adjustments for the milk marketing
         years 1995/96 and 1996/97 on the basis of the information concerning the milk production which it has determined and, second,
         that it is to calculate the additional levy payable by each producer.  In accordance with that provision, the AIMA is required
         to communicate the results of its calculations to the producers and purchasers, and also to the regions and autonomous provinces,
         within 60 days of the Decree-Law’s coming into force.
         
         
         
         20
            
          According to Article 1(12), the results of national adjustments made in accordance with the new legislation are definitive
         for the purposes of payment of the additional levy, related settlements and the release of securities.  According to Article
         1(15), once purchasers have been notified by the AIMA of the levies for the milk-marketing years 1995/96 and 1996/97 they
         must pay the sums in question within 30 days and pay back any surpluses, informing the autonomous provinces and regions thereof.
         
         The disputes in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling
         
         21
            
          By action brought before the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio, the applicants in the main proceedings have challenged
         the lawfulness of the AIMA’s decisions, taken in 1999, to implement Article 1 of Decree-Law No 43/99, converted as amended
         into Law No 118/99, which made adjustments for the milk marketing years 1995/96 and 1996/97.  In support of their action,
         the applicants have claimed inter alia that those decisions are unlawful in that they were adopted on the basis of a retroactive
         determining of individual reference quantities.
         
         
         
         22
            
          Expressly referring to the facts in the proceedings giving rise to the judgment of even date in Joined Cases C-231/00, C-303/00
         and C-451/00 Lattepiù and Others [2004] ECR I-0000, the national court states that, with regard to the dispute in the main proceedings, it must be ascertained
         generally whether national legislation providing for retroactive allocation of individual reference quantities or, in any
         case, for retroactive allocation under an administrative procedure is compatible with the general principles of the Community
         legal system.  It is necessary to ascertain that before settling the dispute in the main proceedings, inasmuch as the answer
         to be given to the points of law raised in the main proceedings depends on that outcome.
         
         
         
         23
            
          Against that background, the national court considers that the Member States must be in a position to pursue, even if belatedly,
         the objectives set out in Article 33 EC, which would be irreparably compromised by a rigid interpretation of a rule of Community
         law which did not make it possible to reconcile the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations with those objectives.
          The fact that Community law itself in essence forbids the Member States to take upon themselves the burden of the levies
         militates in favour of an interpretation which, in cases of dispute, permits the operations required in respect of the levies
         to be performed even outside the periods prescribed by Regulations Nos 3950/92 and 536/93.
         
         
         
         24
            
          Those are the legal and factual circumstances in which the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio decided to stay proceedings
         and to refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling:
         
         ‘(1)
            May the provisions contained in Articles 1 and 4 of … Regulation … No 3950/92 … and Articles 3 and 4 of … Regulation … No
               536/93 be interpreted as meaning that it is possible, in cases of administrative or judicial challenge to the relevant measures,
               to derogate from the time-limits prescribed for the allocation of quotas and the operation of adjustments and levies?
            
         
         
         (2)
            If not, are the provisions contained in Articles 1 and 4 of … Regulation … No 3950/92 … and Articles 3 and 4 of … Regulation
               … No 536/93 … valid, in the light of Article 33 EC (formerly Article 39 of the EC Treaty), in so far as they do not provide
               that derogations may be made from the periods they prescribe for the allocation of individual reference quantities and for
               the operation of adjustments or levies, in cases of administrative or judicial challenge to those measures?
            
         
         
         (3)
            If retrospective adjustment is not allowed, do the rules of Community law applicable permit the Member State to assume responsibility
               for paying the sums owed under Community law without incurring liability to penalties?’
            
         
         
         Concerning the first question
         
         25
            
          By its first question, the national court seeks in essence to ascertain whether, on a proper construction of Articles 1 and
         4 of Regulation No 3950/92 and Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93, a Member State is precluded, after checks have been
         carried out, from correcting the individual reference quantities allocated to each producer and, after the unused reference
         quantities have been reallocated, from recalculating in consequence the additional levies payable, after the final date for
         payment of those levies for the production period concerned.
         
         Observations submitted to the Court
         
         26
            
          The applicants in the main proceedings observe, first, that the national court erred when it considered that the cause of
         the Italian administration’s delay in implementing the Community milk quota system was the proceedings brought by the producers.
          They state that the latter were forced to challenge the provisions which were meant to regulate their economic activity retroactively,
         thus exposing those producers to the penalty of the additional levy.
         
         
         
         27
            
          Next, the applicants in the main proceedings claim that the measures fixing the quotas are unlawful, both from the point of
         view of domestic law, for the general principles of law forbid the adopting of administrative acts of a retroactive kind,
         and from the point of view of Community law which protects traders, by virtue in particular of the principle of protection
         of legitimate expectations.
         
         
         
         28
            
          They maintain, furthermore, that an answer to the first question to the effect that the administrative authorities may derogate
         from the periods prescribed for the exercise of their powers where they have acted unlawfully or where the addressees of administrative
         decisions mean to protect their rights by challenging the validity of those decisions before the courts would amount to an
         incentive to breach of the law.  In fact, breach of legal rules would in that way become good grounds for authorising derogations
         from provisions fixing apparently mandatory time-limits.
         
         
         
         29
            
          Finally, with regard to the principle of protection of legitimate expectations, the applicants in the main proceedings note
         that the reasoning developed by the court making the reference, that all producers knew what quantities of products they had
         marketed during the reference year, with the result that they could not plead breach of that principle, is wrong.  In fact,
         the fixing of every producer’s production is, of course, the essential starting-point, but it is hardly sufficient for the
         purposes of determining the reference quantities due to each producer.  Under Community and domestic law, the competent authorities
         of the Member States enjoy a degree of latitude enabling them to match total national production to the quantity allocated
         at Community level, by means, in particular, of compulsory reductions in individual quantities, the acquiring of which quantities
         must comply with criteria set in advance.
         
         
         
         30
            
          The Italian Government argues that if divergences, errors and disputes appear in the determining of reference quantities the
         entire mechanism is affected, with more or less significant alterations to the permissible reference quantities which can
         be determined only after the event.
         
         
         
         31
            
          According to the Italian Government, rational interpretation of the Community regulations gives rise to the consideration
         that retroactive determining of quotas is compatible with the system adopted, since the quotas originally defined have been
         corrected, following amendment of the rules implementing those regulations.
         
         
         
         32
            
          In addition, the Italian Government maintains that corrections caused by application of national provisions adopted purely
         in order to make the additional levy payable must by definition have retroactive effect, given that their purpose is to define
         the quantities to be allocated to each producer and, in consequence, the amount of milk in fact produced and marketed.  Likewise,
         the Italian Government’s action, intended to place the burden of the additional levy upon the producers responsible for the
         surpluses, as required by the Commission when initiating infringement proceedings in 1997, must ex hypothesi be founded on retroactive determining of reference quantities.
         
         
         
         33
            
          That Government proposes, therefore, that on a proper construction of Articles 1 and 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 and Articles
         3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93 the time-limits fixed for allocation of quotas and for making adjustments are quite ordinary
         time-limits and it is in consequence possible to derogate from them, where there are disputes, in legal or administrative
         proceedings.
         
         
         
         34
            
          As regards the supposed breach of the principle of protection of legitimate expectations, the Italian Government maintains
         that the various traders knew, or ought to have known, the provisions of Community law applicable and the production ceilings
         they set at national level and, consequently, for individuals also, by prohibiting the exceeding, in any circumstances, of
         production for the reference year.  It adds that the determining of individual quantities after the event was done, so far
         as possible, during discussions with the producers in which their view were heard and in which, consequently, they participated.
         
         
         
         35
            
          The Commission states that Regulations Nos 3950/92 and 536/93 brought about no new allocation of individual reference quantities
         as compared with the previous arrangements and prescribed no time-limits for making such allocation.  Likewise, the reallocation
         of unused individual quantities provided for in Articles 3(3) and 4(3) of Regulation No 536/93 does not amount to a new allocation
         of individual reference quantities to producers.
         
         
         
         36
            
          Following its preliminary remarks, the Commission refers to the principle of the Member States’ procedural autonomy.  In its
         view, the fact that neither Regulation No 3950/92 nor Regulation No 536/93 expressly takes into consideration the hypothesis
         of making corrections after checks have been carried out shows that it is for the Member State to take the necessary measures
         in accordance with the criteria drawn up under its own domestic law.
         
         
         
         37
            
          It argues that it follows that, in order to guarantee that the Community legislation is correctly and efficiently implemented,
         the outcome of checks carried out by the Member States might, but also must, give rise to a measure correcting the reference
         quantity in question and, consequently, the amount of the levies payable, even after the end of the production period to which
         they refer.  The fact that measures correcting the individual reference quantities and recalculating the levies were taken
         after the production periods concerned had come to an end does not relieve either the Member State or the traders concerned
         of the obligation to observe, even in the medium term, the provisions of the relevant regulations.
         
         The Court’s answer 
         
         38
            
          It must at the outset be remarked that no provision in Regulation No 3950/92 or Regulation No 536/93 provides for the correction
         a posteriori  of individual reference quantities allocated to milk producers or the consequential correction of the additional levies payable
         by them.
         
         
         
         39
            
          According to the general principles on which the Community is based and which govern relations between it and the Member States,
         it is for the latter, under Article 5 of the EC Treaty (now Article 10 EC), to ensure that Community rules are implemented
         within their territories.  In so far as Community law, including its general principles, does not include common rules to
         that effect then, when the national authorities implement Community rules, they are to act in accordance with the procedural
         and substantive rules of their own national law (see, in particular, Case C-285/93 Dominikanerinnen-Kloster Altenhohenau [1995] ECR I-4069, paragraph 26, and Case C-292/97 Karlsson and Others [2000] ECR I-2737, paragraph 27).
         
         
         
         40
            
          Nevertheless, when adopting measures to implement Community legislation, national authorities must exercise their discretion
         in compliance with the general rules of Community law, which include the principles of proportionality, legal certainty and
         the protection of legitimate expectations (see, to that effect, Case C-313/99 Mulligan and Others [2002] ECR I-5719, paragraphs 35 and 36).
         
         
         
         41
            
          It follows that, in order to provide a helpful reply to the first question and, more specifically, to ascertain whether or
         not it is contrary to the relevant provisions of Regulations Nos 3950/92 and 536/93 for corrections to be made after the event
         to reference quantities allocated to producers and for the amounts of the additional levies payable by them to be altered
         as a result, it is necessary to examine whether such measures are compatible with the wording and purpose of those provisions,
         with the objectives and general scheme of the legislation concerning the arrangements for the additional levy on milk and
         with the general principles of Community law.
         
         
         
         42
            
          As regards the wording of the relevant provisions, that there is nothing in Articles 1 and 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 and
         Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93 expressly precluding the adoption by national authorities of measures such as those
         at issue in the main proceedings.  The same is true of the provisions of those regulations in their entirety.
         
         
         
         43
            
          As to the purpose of those provisions, Articles 1 and 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 cannot be regarded as providing for a fresh
         allocation of individual reference quantities or, still less, as setting a specific time-limit for such allocation.
         
         
         
         44
            
          Regulation No 3950/92 is intended to extend the additional milk levy scheme introduced by earlier legislation and is based
         on the premiss that milk quotas have already been allocated in all the Member States respectively (see Karlsson and Others,  paragraph 32).
         
         
         
         45
            
          The first recital in the preamble to that regulation thus states that the scheme introduced by Regulation No 856/84 is to
         ‘continue’ and Article 1 provides that the additional levy on milk is payable for seven ‘new’ consecutive periods of 12 months.
          Along the same lines Article 4(1) of Regulation No 3950/92 provides that the individual reference quantities allocated for
         future production periods are to be determined on the basis of the reference quantities held by the producers on the last
         day on which the previously applicable legislation was in force, namely, 31 March 1993.
         
         
         
         46
            
          However, having regard to the fact that it was not the Community legislature’s intention to fix those reference quantities
         definitively for the whole duration of the extension of the additional-milk-levy arrangements, Article 4(2) of Regulation
         No 3950/92 provides, in essence, that those quantities may be adjusted for each of the milk marketing years concerned, provided
         that the sum of the individual reference quantities for sales to dairies and direct sales does not exceed the guaranteed global
         quantity allocated to the Member State, taking account of any reductions made by the latter in order to supplement its national
         reserve.
         
         
         
         47
            
          In those circumstances, Articles 1 and 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 cannot be interpreted as precluding national authorities
         from correcting inaccurate reference quantities after the end of the marketing year concerned, when the particular purpose
         of those corrections is that a Member State’s production free from additional levies should not exceed the guaranteed global
         quantity allocated to that State.
         
         
         
         48
            
          The same is true so far as Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93 are concerned.  In this regard it must be borne in mind
         that it is clear from reading Article 3(2) in conjunction with Article 4(2) that purchasers, on the one hand, and producers
         selling their own output directly, on the other, must send to the competent national authority before 15 May the statement
         of collections or the declaration of production sold during the previous financial year.  It is equally clear from reading
         the third paragraphs of those articles that the Member States may provide that the competent authority is to notify the purchasers,
         or the producers, as the case may be, of the amount of the levy payable by them after reallocating, or not, all or part of
         the unused reference quantities.  Finally, in accordance with the fourth paragraphs of those articles, purchasers or producers,
         as the case may be, must pay the amounts due before the following 1 September.
         
         
         
         49
            
          Although the time-limits prescribed by those articles are mandatory (see, to that effect, Case C-356/97 Molkereigenossenschaft Wiedergeltingen [2000] ECR I-5461, paragraphs 38 to 40), the fact remains that they do not preclude the competent authorities of a Member
         State from making after-the-event checks and corrections for the purpose of ensuring that that Member State’s production does
         not exceed the guaranteed global quantity allocated to it.
         
         
         
         50
            
          On the contrary, the aim both of the time-limits laid down in Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93 and of checks and corrections
         made after the event, such as those carried out by the AIMA, is to ensure that the additional milk levy system is operated
         efficiently and the relevant legislation applied correctly.
         
         
         
         51
            
          It ought also at this point to be recalled that, in accordance with the eighth recital in the preamble to Regulation No 536/93,
         the Member States must have suitable means of conducting ex-post checks to verify whether, and if so to what extent, the levy has been collected in accordance with the provisions in force.
          Such checks are provided for by Article 7 of that regulation in order to ensure the accuracy of the statements of collection
         and declarations of direct sales drawn up by purchasers and producers.  It is clear, first, that such checks can be made only
         after the milk-marketing year concerned has ended and, second, that they may result in the correcting of the reference quantities
         allocated and, in consequence, in the recalculating of the levies payable.
         
         
         
         52
            
          Furthermore, that interpretation of Articles 1 and 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 and of Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93
         is also supported by the objective pursued by the legislation establishing the additional levy on milk.  As the Advocate General
         made clear in paragraph 66 of his Opinion, the objectives of that legislation would be compromised if, as a result of miscalculation
         of individual reference quantities, a Member State’s milk production were to exceed the guaranteed global quantity allocated
         to that State but that overrun did not give rise to payment of the additional levy due.  In such a case, there would be a
         breach of the joint responsibility on which the arrangements for the additional levy on milk are based, in that producers
         would enjoy the benefits afforded by the setting of a target price for milk without bearing the restrictions by means of which
         such a target price can be maintained.  Producers whose excess production was thus unduly exempted from the additional levy
         would gain an unjustified competitive advantage over the producers of Member States which apply the Community legislation
         correctly.
         
         
         
         53
            
          Finally, so far as concerns the compatibility with the principle of protection of legitimate expectations of checking and
         correcting measures such as those adopted by AIMA in the case in the main proceedings, the arguments of the applicants in
         those cases cannot be accepted.
         
         
         
         54
            
          First, in so far as a producer’s individual reference quantity actually corresponds to the quantity of milk marketed by that
         producer during the reference year, that producer, who is as a rule aware of how much milk he has produced, can have no legitimate
         expectation that an inaccurate reference quantity will be continued.  Second, as the Advocate General noted in paragraph 82
         of his Opinion, producers can have no legitimate expectation that, when a production year expires, a certain unused individual
         reference quantity will be reallocated.  Such reallocation is, by its nature, hypothetical and impossible to quantify in advance,
         for it depends upon the activity of other producers.  A producer cannot therefore, before a production year has begun, have
         any legitimate expectation that a certain portion of unused quotas will be reallocated.
         
         
         
         55
            
          Furthermore, it must be added here that, as is clear from the documents before the Court, it was only in 1992 that the first
         legislative provisions designed to implement the system of the additional levy on milk were adopted in Italy.  Furthermore,
         Italian milk producers were not required to pay that levy until the milk marketing year 1995/96.  No legitimate expectation
         can be entertained as to the continuation of a situation which is plainly unlawful in the light of Community law, namely,
         the failure to apply the arrangements for the additional levy on milk.  Indeed, regardless of the specific circumstances of
         the case in point, milk producers in the Member States cannot legitimately expect, 11 years after the system was introduced,
         to be able to go on producing milk without limit.
         
         
         
         56
            
          Having regard to all the foregoing considerations, the answer to be given to the first question must be that on a proper construction
         of Articles 1 and 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 and Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation No 536/93, it is not contrary to those provisions
         for a Member State, after checks have been carried out, to correct the individual reference quantities allocated to each producer
         and, after the unused reference quantities have been reallocated, to recalculate in consequence the additional levies payable,
         after the final date for payment of those levies for the milk marketing year concerned.
         
         Concerning the second question
         
         57
            
          Having regard to the answer given to the first question, there is no need to reply to the second.
         
         Concerning the third question
         
         58
            
          By its third question, the national court asks whether the rules of Community law applicable authorise the Member States to
         pay the sums owed under Community law if it is not permissible to make retroactive reallocation of the unused reference quantities.
         
         
         
         59
            
          In accordance with settled case-law, the spirit of cooperation which must prevail in preliminary ruling proceedings requires
         the national court for its part to have regard to the function entrusted to the Court of Justice, which is to contribute to
         the administration of justice in the Member States and not to give opinions on general or hypothetical questions (see, inter
         alia, the judgment in Case C-343/90 Lourenço Dias [1992] ECR I-4673, paragraph 17, and the order in Case C-485/93 Saddik [1995] ECR I-511, paragraph 17).
         
         
         
         60
            
          The third question is clearly of a purely hypothetical nature, inasmuch as whether or not the Member State concerned may,
         in certain circumstances, assume responsibility for paying the sums owed by producers by way of additional levy cannot, of
         its nature, have any bearing on the outcome of the dispute in the main proceedings.
         
         
         
         61
            
          The third question must therefore be considered to be inadmissible.
         
         
         Costs
         62
            
          The costs incurred by the Italian and Greek Governments and by the Council and the Commission, which have submitted observations
         to the Court, are not recoverable.  Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action
         pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. 
         
         
         On those grounds, 
         
         
         
            
            THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),
         
         
          in answer to the questions referred to it by the Tribunale amministrativo regionale del Lazio by judgment of 6 July 2000,
         hereby rules: 
         On a proper construction of Articles 1 and 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 of 28 December 1992 establishing an additional
               levy in the milk and milk products sector, and of Articles 3 and 4 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 536/93 laying down detailed
               rules for the application of the additional levy on milk and milk products, it is not contrary to those provisions for a Member
               State, after checks have been carried out, to correct the individual reference quantities allocated to each producer and,
               after the unused reference quantities have been reallocated, to recalculate in consequence the additional levies payable,
               after the final date for payment of those levies for the milk marketing year concerned. 
                  Skouris
               
               
                  Gulmann 
               
               
                  Puissochet 
               
            
                  Macken
               
               
                  
               
               
                  Colneric
               
            
                  
               
               
                  
               
               
                  
               
            
                  
               
               
                  
               
               
                  
               
            
                  
               
               
                  
               
               
                  
               
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
            
         
         
          Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 25 March 2004.
         
         
         
         
                  R. Grass
               
               
                  V. Skouris
               
            
         
         
         
                  Registrar
               
               
                  President 
               
            
      
      
          1 –
            
            Language of the case: Italian.