Heemskerk BV and Firma Schaap v Productschap Vee en Vlees.
Date: 2008-11-25
25. With regard to the evidential nature of such documents, the Court has held that, as is clear from the aim of Articles 3 and 5 of Regulation No 615/98, presentation by the exporter of those documents does not constitute irrefutable proof of compliance with Article 1 of that regulation, or of compliance with Directive 91/628. That evidence is sufficient only in so far as the competent authority does not have at its disposal evidence in the light of which it may find that the directive has not been complied with. That interpretation is confirmed by the wording of Article 5(3) of that regulation, under which the competent authority is entitled not to pay the export refund for animals in respect of which it considers – in the light of the documents referred to in Article 5(2), the reports on the checks referred to in Article 4 of that regulation and/or any other element at its disposal concerning compliance with Article 1 of the regulation – that Directive 91/628 has not been complied with (see Case C‑96/06 Viamex Agrar Handel [2008] ECR I‑0000, paragraphs 34 and 35).
26. Despite the production by the exporter of a certificate from the official veterinarian, in accordance with Article 5(2) of Regulation No 615/98, the competent authority may consider that the exporter has complied neither with Article 1 of that regulation nor with Directive 91/628, provided, inter alia, that the conditions laid down in Article 5(3) of that regulation are met ( Viamex Agrar Handel , above, paragraph 36).
29. With regard to the question whether such competence is subject to certain limits, the Court has already held that Article 5 of Regulation No 615/98 cannot be interpreted as permitting the competent authority arbitrarily to call into question the evidence attached by the exporter to its export refund application. The discretion which the competent authority enjoys is not unlimited, since it is circumscribed by Article 5. That discretion appears, in particular, limited as to the nature and the evidentiary value of the elements on which the competent authority relies (see Viamex Agrar Handel , paragraph 38).
30. The Court held that the competent authority is thus required, pursuant to Article 5(3) of Regulation No 615/98, to base itself on objective and specific elements relating to the welfare of the animals which are capable of establishing that the documents attached by the exporter to its export refund application do not prove compliance with the provisions of Directive 91/628 during transportation, and it is for the exporter to show, where appropriate, that the elements relied on by that authority to substantiate its finding of non‑compliance with that regulation and that directive are not relevant ( Viamex Agrar Handel , paragraph 41).
31. The Court held that, in any event, the competent authority is required to justify its decision by stating the reasons why it considers the evidence presented by the exporter does not enable it to be concluded that Directive 91/628 was complied with. For that purpose, the authority is required, in particular, to make an objective assessment of the documents presented to it by the exporter and to show the pertinence of the elements it has relied on in order to establish that the documentation attached to the export refund application was not sufficient to show compliance with the relevant provisions of that directive ( Viamex Agrar Handel , paragraph 42).
46. In that regard it should be pointed out that Community law cannot oblige a national court to apply Community legislation of its own motion where this would have the effect of denying the principle, enshrined in its national procedural law, of the prohibition of reformatio in pejus .