CELEX: C1996/233/05
Language: en
Date: 1996-08-10 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg, Antwerp, by judgment of that court of 13 May 1996 in the case of (a) Belgian State v. 1. Banque Indosuez, 2. Stahlhandel Schmitz GmbH and 3. NV Rijn- and Kanaalvaart Expeditie and (b) Belgian State v. European Community (Case C-177/96)

No C 233/4           EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                     10 . 8 . 96
     falling within the Commission's management powers,              Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank van
     defined by Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 3030/93 on             Eerste Aanleg, Antwerp, by judgment of that court of
     common rules for imports of certain textile products             13 May 1996 in the case of ( a ) Belgian State v. 1 . Banque
     from third countries ('). Several provisions of that            Indosuez, 2 . Stahlhandel Schmitz GmbH and 3 . NV Rijn­
     Regulation preclude such exercise of discretion by the          and Kanaalvaart Expeditie and ( b ) Belgian State v.
     Commission which , moreover, is contrary to the specific                              European Commumty
     scope and nature of management powers .                                                  ( Case C-177/96 )
                                                                                                 ( 96/C 233/05 )
     The allowing of 'exceptional flexibility' measures is also
     contrary to the objective of rigorous and transparent           Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
     management of the quantitative limits underlying the            European Communities by a judgment of the Rechtbank
     system introduced by Regulation ( EEC ) No 3030/93 .            van Eerste Aanleg ( Court of First Instance ), Antwerp, of
    The 'exceptional flexibility' measures made available for        13 May 1996 , which was received at the Court Registry on
    textile products from China on 6 March 1996 by far               22 May 1996 , for a preliminary ruling in the cases of ( a )
    exceeded the limits laid down for normal flexibility             Belgian State v . 1 . Banque Indosuez, 2 . Stahlhandel Schmitz
    measures and undeniably ran counter to the Council's             GmbH and 3 . Rijn- and Kanaalvaart Expeditie NV and ( b )
    decision to reduce the rate of annual growth of the              Belgian State v. European Community, on the following
    quantitative limits applicable to China, as is apparent          questions :
    from the Agreement renegotiated in 1 995 ; consequently,
    those measures have no basis in the bilateral agreement
    and even depart from the spirit and letter of the                1 . Does the name 'Yugoslavia ' in Commission Decision
    provisions thereof. Recourse to 'exceptional flexibility'            No 2131 /88/ECSC (') also refer to the State of
    measures also involves a clear breach of the general and             Macedonia-Scopje after it had broken away from ( what
    fundamental principles of the Community legal order,                 remained of) Yugoslavia ?
    which have been recognized as such by the Community
    case law .                                                       2 . Are the import duties which are to be levied in
                                                                         accordance      with      Decision  No  2131 /88/ECSC      on
                                                                         imports into the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union
— Manifest breach of the general Community legal                         of steel products originating in Yugoslavia also
    principles concerning competence, institutional                      applicable to such imports originating in the State of
    equilibrium and protection of the legitimate                         Macedonia-Scopje between 1 May 1992 and 31 July
    expectations of economic agents in the Community : as                1992 inclusive ?
    an authority giving effect to the commercial agreements
    entered into by the Council , the Commission must limit          (') OJ No L 188 , 1988 , p . 14 .
    its action to applying agreed provisions . Any decision
    which goes beyond such limits, such as that represented
    by the 'exceptional flexibility' measures, breaches the
    principle of legally defined competence — and is
    consequently illegal through lack of powers . The
    Commission is also acting in breach of the principle of
    institutional equilibrium in adopting decisions which, as
    regards their legal effects, constitute a derogation from
    the provisions whose approval, at Community level , or          Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Nederlandse
    conclusion, at international level, is a matter for the         Raad van State, by order of that court of 31 May 1996 in the
    Council alone .                                                 case of 1 . Beside B V and 2 . 1 . M. Besselsen v. Minister for
                                                                     Housing, Town and Country Planning and Conservation
                                                                                             ( Case C-192/96 )
    The practice of taking 'exceptional flexibility' measures                                   ( 96/C 233/06 )
    represents a factor of unpredictability as regards the
    reasonable expectations of economic agents, in
    particular those in the textile industry; since such            Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
    measures cannot be foreseen by economic agents and do           European Communities by an order of the Nederlandse
    not pursue an overriding public interest, they contravene       Raad van State ( Council of State of the Netherlands ) of
    the principle of legitimate expectations and are, for that      31 May 1996 , which was received at the Court Registry on
    reason among others, illegal .                                  4 June 1996 , for a preliminary ruling in the case of 1 . Beside
                                                                    BV and 2 . I. M. Besselsen v . Minister for Housing, Town
                                                                    and Country Planning and Conservation on the following
(') OJ No L 2 75 , 1993 , p . 1 .                                   questions :
                                                                     1 . Should the expression 'municipal/household waste '
                                                                         referred to under AD 160 in Annex III to Council
                                                                         Regulation ( EEC ) No 259/93 of 1 February 1993 on the
                                                                         supervision 'and control of shipments of waste within,