CELEX: C1997/295/18
Language: en
Date: 1997-09-27 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 10 July 1997 by Italian Republic against Commission of the European Communities (Case C-253/97)

27 . 9 . 97             I EN 1                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  C 295/ 11
— order the Commission to pay to the appellant as                              of interpreting the rules or of the fact that all the
      compensation for non-material damage the sum of                          sums relating to operations in which there were
      Bfrs 3 million, or any such sum as the Court of Justice                  found to be irregularities were recovered.
      shall determine,
                                                                         ( B) Removal of land from production on multiannual
— in the alternative, failing a decision ordering the                          basis
      appellant's reinstatement, declare that the removal
      from his post was unfounded and accordingly order
      the Commission to pay him Bfrs 57 443 399 as                             The dispute is based on a 'linguistic' ambiguity with
      compensation for financial damage and the sum of                         regard to the interpretation be given to the term
      Bfrs 20 000 000 as compensation for non-material                         'fallowing', which, according to EAGGF officials
      damage , or any such sum as the Court of Justice shall                   means 'traditional fallowing' whereas agricultural
      determine,                                                               producers and those in charge of inquiries understood
                                                                               it to mean 'dressed fallowing combined with green
                                                                               manuring'.
— order the Commission to pay all the costs .
                                                                               In view of this, the financial adjustment at issue is
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                            unlawful inasmuch as the technical term used in the
                                                                               abovementioned legislation is ambiguous .
— Irregularity of the procedure before the Court of First
     Instance as regards, in particular, the findings of fact.                 There is another aspect to be borne in mind : even if
                                                                               traditional fallowing had been intended, since it is
— Breach of Community law. In this respect the                                 practised in rotation it would have affected only part
     appellant maintains the arguments put forward at first                    of the area of farms and not necessarily that in
     instance (').                                                             respect of which the premium was granted.
(>) OJ C 275 , 1 . 10 . 1994, p . 32 .                                   ( C ) Reimbursement of sugar storage expenditure
                                                                               The adjustment concerned is in respect of the period
                                                                               between 15 October 1992 and 31 December 1992 .
                                                                               According to the Commission, the fact that there was
Action brought on 10 July 1997 by Italian Republic                             no monitoring presented a high risk for the EAGGF' s
      against Commission of the European Communities                           resources, which authorized an adjustment of 10% .
                           ( Case C-253 /97 )
                             ( 97/C 295/18 )                                   There was a system of administrative checks on
                                                                               specialized traders which was particularly close and
                                                                               efficient with regard to sugar stocks. That monitoring
An action against the Commission of the European                               system, backed up by heavy penalties in the event of
Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of                         breaches, is believed to be such as to guarantee the
the European Communities on 10 July 1997 by the Italian                        almost complete absence of irregularities. This is
Republic, represented by Professor Umberto Leanza,                             indirectly confirmed by checks put in place
acting as Agent, assisted by Gianni De Bellis, Avvocato                        subsequently by the AIMA, which found there to
dello Stato, with an address for service in Luxembourg at                      have been no infringements in the preceding period
the Italian Embassy, 5 Rue Marie Adelaide .                                    either.
The applicant claims that the Court should annul the                           Finally, the adjustment should be annulled or, in the
Commission's decision of 23 April 1997 C(97) 1180                              alternative, appropriately reduced .
final (') to the extent to which, in clearing the accounts
submitted by the Italian Republic for expenditure for
1993 , it declares the sum in issue in the present case is not           ( D ) Reimbursement of storage costs ( sugar)
chargeable to the EAGGF.
                                                                               The dispute is similar to the preceding one, but
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                            relating to the period between 1 January 1993 and
                                                                               30 June 1993 , for which a fixed-rate adjustment of
                                                                               2 % was determined .
( A ) Prepayment of refund for beef
                                                                         ( E ) Aid to consumption of olive oil
       The Italian Government requests an appropriate
       reduction of the fixed-rate adjustment, inasmuch as it
       is excessive with respect to the risk run by the                        The Commission unilaterally carried out two
       EAGGF and does not take account of the difficulties                     adjustments : one which was geometrically progressive
 ---pagebreak--- C 295/ 12             fENl                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                      27. 9 . 97
       in respect of the amounts unduly paid by AIMA to                          — the adjustment, equal to 9,55 % of the
       22 undertakings and another at a fixed rate of 2%                              expenditure in respect of the province of
       on the whole of the declared amounts . Since the                               Agrigento, applied on the assumption that the
       Italian Government considers the adjustments carried                           grape in respect of which the premium was
       out to be unfair, it is constrained to bring an action                         granted was of a variety other than that provided
       before the Court in the following terms:                                       for.
       The Commission decided to carry                 out    both      (I)      Adjustment in the accounts of surpluses of unboned
       progressive and fixed-rate adjustments .                                  beef in the statement of annual expenditure
       Such conduct does not appear to be correct since                          This concerns an adjustment as a consequence of the
       either where there is information available specific                      fact that in the statement of surpluses of beef at the
       adjustments should be made or, where no such                              end of the financial year, no account had been taken
       information exists, recourse should be had to fixed­                      of losses during storage.
       rate adjustments . However, it does not appear to be
       possible to adopt both solutions together.
                                                                                 Taking into account the surplus considered acceptable
                                                                                 by Regulation ( EEC ) No 147/91 ( 5 ), the losses
       The Italian Government challenges, furthermore, the                       recorded were to be considered to be within the
       procedure for carrying out such adjustments.                              abovementioned limits, inasmuch as such weight loss
                                                                                 constituted an accounting situation which should be
(F ) Compulsory distillation                                                     noted for each financial year.
        Adjustment was provided for when it emerged that                         Accordingly, the irregularities found were merely
        the quantity of wine distilled for 1993 was below                        procedural and unlikely to prejudice the EAGGF.
        that expected.
                                                                        ( L ) Early subtraction of forecast quantitative losses of
        The      Commission     considers    that    the   correct               boned beef
        determination of the scales ' is the responsibility of
        the Member State alone '. That assertion is not
        substantiated by Regulation ( EEC) No 822/87 ( 2 ),                      The method of subtracting weight loss in boned beef,
        which provides that the so-called 'grid' must be                         which was carried out in general at the freezing stage
        determined by the Commission 'in cooperation with                        at a rate of 0,1 kg per package, is challenged .
        the Member States concerned '.
                                                                                 Such subtraction corresponds to a loss below 0,6 %
        If there has been an error in the grid, the Member                       allowed by Regulation (EEC ) No 147/91 . It is
        State cannot automatically be held responsible. In                       therefore no more than a procedural irregularity with
        any event, since it concerns a production forecast                       no impact on the EAGGF accounts .
        which may be subject to variations, it cannot be held
        liable on the mere fact that the forecast is not
                                                                         ( M ) Late payment for boned beef taken into storage
        subsequently confirmed.
 ( G ) Surplus wine in private storage
                                                                                  The delays in question are not long and arise out of
                                                                                  the need for the AIMA to observe the procedure laid
                                                                                  down by law, and in particular the obtention of the
        The adjustment concerned is similar to the above but                      ' anti Mafia ' certificates .
         relates to 1991 to 1992 .
                                                                         ( N ) Inadequate management and monitoring of premiums
 ( H ) Permanent abandonment of wine-growing area                                 for sheep/goats
         The conciliation body has upheld in part the                             The measures taken by the Italian Government,
         observations   of the    Italian  Government      on   the               which the Commission also considers lawful, should
         criteria adopted and the Commission has reduced in                       have resulted in the reduction of the minimum fixed­
         part the size of the reduction initially proposed .                       rate ( 2% ) and the maximum rate ( 10% ).
         However, the following may not be considered to be               (') OJ L 139, 30 . 5 . 1997, p . 30 .
         correct :                                                        ( 2 ) OJ L 84 , 27 . 3 . 1987, p . 1 .
                                                                          (') OJ L 17, 23 . 1 . 1991 , p . 9 .
         — the percentage of the surplus estimate applied to
              the province of Agrigento,