CELEX: C1996/336/34
Language: en
Date: 1996-11-09 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Verwaltungsgericht by order of that court of 22 April 1996 in the case of Erika Reimer v. Amt für Land- und Wasserwirtschaft Flensburg (Case C-300/96)

No C 336/ 18              EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                      9 . 11 . 96
       produced in various Member States and is the subject of            Action brought on 16 September 1996 by the Federal
       significant intra-Community trade; the production                  Republic of Germany against the Commission of the
       volume has for some years been comparable to, if not                                  European Communities
       higher than , that in Greece; feta consumption primarily                                  ( Case C-301 /96 )
       involves feta produced outside Greece . Lastly, feta is
                                                                                                   ( 96/C 336/35 )
       subject to long-standing rules in several Member States,
       dating from before the introduction of the Greek rules,            An action against the Commission of the European
       and the name 'feta ' features in various Community acts            Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of the
       adopted since 1975 , without being reserved to a product           European Communities on 16 September 1996 by the
       of Greek origin .                                                  Federal Republic of Germany, represented by Ernst Roder,
                                                                          Ministerialrat in the Federal Ministry of the Economy
 ( ! ) Regulation ( EC ) No 1107/96 of 12 July 1996 on the registration   D-53107, and Thomas Oppermann , of the University of
       of geographical indications and designations of origin under the   Tubingen, acting as Agents .
       procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation ( EEC )
       No 2081 /92 ( OJ No L 148 , 21 . 6 . 1996 , p. 1 ).                The applicant claims that the Court should :
 ( 2 ) OJ No L 208 , 24 . 7. 1992 , p . 1 .
                                                                          — annul Article 2 of Decision COM(96 ) 1844 final of
                                                                              26 June 1996 concerning aid granted by Germany to the
                                                                              Volkswagen group for its Mosel and Chemnitz factories;
                                                                              furthermore, annul Article 1 of that decision to the
                                                                              extent that it limits the amounts declared to be
                                                                              compatible with the common market to DM 418,7
Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Schleswig­                        million for direct investment grants and DM 120,4
Holsteinisches Verwaltungsgericht by order of that court of                   million for investment premiums,
22 April 1996 in the case of Erika Reimer v. Amt fur Land­               — annul Article 3 ( 2 ) of Decision COM(96 ) 1844 final of
                  und Wasserwirtschaft Flensburg                              26 June 1996 in so far as it provides that the combined
                           ( Case C-300/96 )                                  effective aid intensity, expressed as gross grant
                             ( 96/C 336/34 )                                  equivalent, must not exceed 22,3 % for Mosel II or
                                                                              20,8 % for Chemnitz II, and
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                   — order the defendant to pay the costs of the
European Communities by order of the Schleswig­                               proceedings .
Holsteinisches Verwaltungsgericht ( Schleswig-Holstein
                                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Administrative Court ) of 22 April 1996 , which was received
at the Court Registry on 16 September 1996 , for a                        Infringement of the Treaty and breach of essential
preliminary ruling in the case of Erika Reimer v. Amt fur                procedural requirements:
Land- und Wasserwirtschaft Flensburg on the following
questions :
                                                                         — the provision in Article 92 ( 2 ) ( c ) of the EC Treaty
                                                                              concerning the division of Germany is an exception by
                                                                              operation of law from the basic prohibition of aid
( a ) Is the second subparagraph of Article 9 ( 2 ) of                        contained in Article 92 ( 1 ), whereas the exceptions
        Commission Regulation ( EEC ) No 3887/92 of                           under Article 92 ( 3 ) are optional . In cases of aid falling
        23 December 1992 laying down detailed rules for                       under Article 92 ( 2 ), the procedure under Article 93 ( 3 )
        applying the integrated administration and control                    is confined to examining whether the factual criteria are
        system for certain Community aid schemes ( ] ) [as it                 met — namely, in the particular case of Article 92 ( 2 ) ( c ),
        stood before the entry into force of Commission
                                                                              whether there are disadvantages caused by division and
        Regulation ( EC ) No 1648/95 of 6 July 1995 amending                  whether aid is required to compensate for them . The
        Regulation ( EEC ) No 3887/92], which excludes a                      applicant alleges breach of the obligation to state
        farmer from any area-linked payment whatever where                    reasons laid down in Article 1 90 of the EC Treaty, in that
        the area actually determined for a particular crop is                 the Commission deliberately failed to deal with the
        found to be less than that declared in his aid application
                                                                              provision concerning division, and breach of the
        if the difference is more than 20% , even where the
                                                                              principle that action must not be unreasonable or
        discrepancy is not intentional or the result of serious               disproportionate, in that the Commission adopted the
        negligence but merely of minor negligence, compatible                 contested decision on the basis of Article 92 ( 3 ) ( c ) in
        with the principle of proportionality in Community                    accordance with the discretionary criteria of the
        law ?
                                                                              Community framework on State aid to the motor vehicle
                                                                              industry,
( b ) If not, how is the second subparagraph of Article 9 ( 2 )
        of Regulation ( EEC ) No 3887/92 [as it stood before the         — the contested decision is contrary to Article 92 ( 2 ) ( c ) of
        entry into force of Regulation ( EC ) No 1648/95 ] to be              the Treaty, relating to the division of Germany. General
        interpreted in such cases ?                                           principles of interpretation apply to that provision.
                                                                              Consequently, alongside the principle that factors giving
(!) OJ No L 391 , 31 . 12 . 1992 , p . 36 .
                                                                              rise to an exemption are to be construed narrowly,
                                                                              which the Commission has stated in formal terms, the
                                                                              principle that rules of Community law are to be
                                                                              interpreted meaningfully must in particular be observed;