CELEX: 62008TJ0113
Language: en
Date: 2010-11-12 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 12 November 2010.#Kingdom of Spain v European Commission.#EAGGF - Guarantee Section - Expenditure excluded from Community financing - Aid for the production of olive oil - Aid for arable crop areas.#Case T-113/08.

Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 12 November 2010 – Spain v Commission
      (Case T-113/08)
      EAGGF – Guarantee Section – Expenditure excluded from Community financing – Aid for the production of olive oil – Aid for arable crop areas
      1.                     Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Definitive refusal to accept responsibility for certain expenses – Need for
            a prior inter partes procedure (see paras 61, 132)
      2.                     Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Communication to Member States of the results of investigations by control services
            – Substantive conditions (Council Regulation No 729/70, Art. 5(2)(c); Commission Regulation No 1663/95, Art. 8(1), first para.)
            (see paras 62-69)
      3.                     Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of
            the Community rules – Challenge by the Member State concerned – Burden of proof – Allocation between the Commission and the
            Member State (see paras 91-92, 96-97)
      4.                     Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Oils and fats – Olive oil (Council Regulations Nos 154/75, 2261/84, Art.
            14(3), and 1638/98, Art. 2(1) to (3); Commission Regulation No 2366/98, Art. 8(b)) (see paras 98-100, 103-106)
      5.                     Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of
            the Community rules – Assessment of losses incurred by the Fund – Challenge by the Member State concerned – Burden of proof
            (Council Regulation No 729/70) (see paras 108-109)
      6.                     Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Limitation of the refusal of financing – Twenty-four month period – Point from
            which time starts to run – Communication by the Commission of the results of verifications (Council Regulation No 1258/1999,
            Art. 7(4)) (see paras 118-123, 138)
      7.                     Agriculture – EAGGF – Grant of aids and premiums – Obligation on Member States to organise an efficient system of administrative
            controls and spot checks – Unreliable controls – Disallowance by the Fund (Commission Regulation No 2419/2001, Art. 15) (see
            para. 152)
      Re:
      
         
               APPLICATION for partial annulment of Commission Decision 2008/68/EC of 20 December 2007 excluding from Community financing
                  certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee
                  Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2008 L 18, p. 12), in so far as it relates to certain expenditure incurred by the Kingdom of Spain in the
                  olive oil and arable crop sectors.
               
            Operative part
      The Court:
      
         
                  1.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Dismisses the action;
               
            
         
                  2.
               
               
                  
               
               
                  	Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.