Antonio Pontillo v Donatab Srl.
Date: 1998-09-17
22 It must be borne in mind at the outset that whilst the protection of legitimate expectations is one of the fundamental principles of the Community, traders cannot have a legitimate expectation that an existing situation which is capable of being altered by the Community institutions in the exercise of their discretionary power will be maintained; this is particularly true in an area such as the common organisation of the markets whose purpose involves constant adjustments to meet changes in the economic situation (see, in particular, Crispoltoni II, paragraph 57).
23 It follows that traders cannot claim a vested right to the maintenance of an advantage which they derive from the establishment of the common organisation of the markets and which they enjoyed at a given time (Crispoltoni II, paragraph 58).
25 It is true that, in paragraph 21 of its judgment in Case C-368/89 Crispoltoni [1991] ECR I-3695 (hereinafter `Crispoltoni I'), the Court held that Council Regulation No 1114/88 and Council Regulation (EEC) No 2268/88 of 19 July 1988 fixing, for the 1988 harvest, the norm and intervention prices and the premiums granted to purchasers of leaf tobacco, the derived intervention prices for baled tobacco, the reference qualities, the production areas and the guaranteed maximum quantities and amending Regulation (EEC) No 1975/87 (OJ 1988 L 199, p. 20) were invalid in so far as they laid down a MGQ for tobacco of the `Bright' variety harvested in 1988 on the ground that, although the traders concerned must have considered that measures to limit any increase in tobacco production in the Community and to discourage the production of varieties which were difficult to dispose of were foreseeable, they were nevertheless entitled to expect that they would be notified in good time of any measures affecting their investments.
27 However, as the Court made clear in its judgment in Case C-324/96 Petridi  [1998] ECR I-1333, paragraph 45), the judgment in Crispoltoni I concerned the MGQ system with which the traders concerned were unfamiliar, both in regard to the nature of the new measures for the organisation of the tobacco market in the Community and in respect of the date on which those measures were to come into effect.
28 On the other hand, the context in which the contested regulation was adopted is different.  Since the publication, on 28 April 1970, of Regulation No 727/70, the traders concerned have been informed of the annual determination of prices and premiums and, therefore, of the possibility of the reduction thereof from one year to the next.  Those same traders should also have expected, since the publication of Regulation No 1114/88 on 29 April 1988 and, more particularly with regard to the 1991 harvest, since the publication of Regulation No 1329/90 on 23 May 1990, that the prices and premiums thus determined might be reduced a second time, in proportion to any possible overrun of the MGQ, subject to a ceiling of 15% as compared with the amounts initially fixed.
36 In that connection, it should be borne in mind that, whilst the reasoning required by Article 190 of the EC Treaty must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the Community authority which adopted the contested measure so as to enable the persons concerned to ascertain the reasons for it and to enable the Court to exercise judicial review, the authority is not required to go into every relevant point of fact and law (see, in particular, Case C-84/94 United Kingdom v Council [1996] ECR I-5755, paragraph 74). More particularly, it is not possible to require that the statement of reasons should set out the various facts, often very numerous and complex, on the basis of which a regulation was adopted, or a fortiori that it should provide a more or less complete evaluation of those facts (see, in particular, Case 5/67 Beus [1968] ECR 83).
41 If, as the plaintiff in the main proceedings maintains, the national court seeks also to ascertain, by its second question, whether the producers of Burley I tobacco have received less favourable treatment than the producers of other varieties of tobacco, it must be pointed out that, by virtue of the general principle of equal treatment in Community law, of which the prohibition of discrimination laid down in Article 40(3) of the EC Treaty is a specific expression, comparable situations must not be treated differently and different situations must not be treated in the same way unless such treatment is objectively justified.