Marcel Erpelding v Secrétaire d'État à l'Agriculture et à la Viticulture.
Date: 1988-05-17
15 The first question essentially seeks to ascertain whether Council Regulation No 857/84 of 31 March 1984, as supplemented by Commission Regulation No 1371/84 of 16 May 1984, precludes a producer whose milk production has been affected by an exceptional event throughout the 1981 to 1983 period from obtaining reference either to the quantity of milk or milk equivalent which he delivered during a year prior to 1981 or to a notional quantity to be calculated by extrapolating the normal trend in his deliveries in a particular period prior to the occurrence of that exceptional event .
16 In this respect, Mr Erpelding maintains that it is consonant with the spirit of the rules under consideration to allow a producer who has been the victim of exceptional events during the three reference years ( 1981 to 1983 ) to request reference either to production in an earlier year or to a notional production calculated by extrapolation from the production of earlier years on the basis of a normal trend in the dairy production of the farm until the reference year in question . That interpretation, he argues, is the only way to ensure the effectiveness of the provisions in question and to avoid a breach of both the principle of proportionality and the principle of equal treatment . Furthermore, an exceptional situation, like that suffered by him, constitutes force majeure and thus justifies his receiving special treatment for reasons of fairness .
17 The French Government, the Luxembourg Government, the Council and the Commission disagree and point out that Article 3 ( 3 ) of Regulation No 857/84, which allows reference to another reference year within the 1981 to 1983 period, is of an exceptional nature and must therefore be interpreted strictly . Consequently, it precludes reference to a reference year outside that period or to a notional production calculated by extrapolation . However, the French and Luxembourg Governments and the Council and Commission observe that under various other provisions of the rules in question, in particular Article 3 ( 1 ), Article 4 ( 1 ) and Article 4a of Regulation No 857/84, subject to certain conditions, specific or additional quantities may be allocated to producers in situations like the one at issue in the main proceedings .
18 It should be noted that the structure and the purpose of the rules concerned indicate that they contain an exhaustive list of the situations in which reference quantities or individual quantities may be granted and set out precise rules concerning the determination of those quantities . Since none of those provisions makes it possible for producers to obtain reference to milk deliveries made by them outside the 1981 to 1983 period it must be held that such an option is excluded, even in cases where the persons concerned had no representative production throughout the period .
19 That interpretation is borne out by the fact that Article 3 ( 3 ) of Council Regulation No 857/84, as supplemented by Article 3 of Commission Regulation No 1371/84, which is the only provision that enables producers to choose a reference year other than that selected by the Member State concerned within the 1981 to 1983 period, expressly limits that option to one or other of the two remaining years in that period .
20 That interpretation cannot be considered to be incompatible with the requirements flowing from the concept of force majeure on the ground that a significant reduction in a producer' s production, without fault on his part, as a result of an extraordinary event, constitutes for him force majeure of which account should be taken by Community law . Although the Court has consistently held that force majeure may excuse an operator from certain legal consequences which, under the applicable rules, would normally flow from the non-occurrence of a fact or the non-compliance with an obligation it can never create for the benefit of that operator a right not provided for in the relevant rules .
21 It must, however, be stated that although that interpretation of the rules does not allow a producer' s individual quantities to be calculated on the basis of his deliveries outside the 1981-83 period, Member States are not thereby precluded from taking account, for the purposes of granting specific or additional quantities, of the situation of a producer who has had no representative production within that period, in so far as the person concerned falls within one or more of the cases specifically provided for by the regulation concerned . In particular, Article 4a of Regulation No 857/84 allows Member States to remedy the exceptional situation of individual producers on an annual basis and within the limit of the non-utilized reference quantities .
26 First, as regards the argument that Article 39 ( a ) and ( b ) of the Treaty have not been complied with, it should be noted that the purpose of the additional levy system is to re-establish, by limiting milk production, the balance between supply and demand in the milk market, which is characterized by structural surpluses . This measure, therefore, is within the ambit of the objectives of rational development of milk production and, by contributing to a stabilization of the income of the agricultural community affected, that of ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural community . The argument that Article 39 ( a ) and ( b ) have not been complied with cannot therefore be accepted .
29 For the same reasons it cannot be held that there has been any discrimination between producers within the Community, which is prohibited by Article 40 ( 3 ) of the Treaty . The Court has consistently held that that provision, as a specific expression of the general principle of equality, precludes comparable situations from being treated in a different manner unless the difference in treatment is objectively justified .
30 In this case it appears that the difference in treatment of which Mr Erpelding is complaining stems from the fact that by not allowing producers whose milk production has been significantly reduced throughout the 1981 to 1983 period to obtain an individual quantity based on a representative production, the rules affect that category of producers adversely in comparison with those who are able to rely on a representative production . However, such an effect is justified by the need to limit the number of years which may be taken as reference years, in the interests of both legal certainty and the effectiveness of the additional levy system . The resulting difference in treatment is therefore objectively justified and consequently may not be regarded as discriminatory within the definition of that concept as established by the Court .