Kingdom of Spain v Council of the European Communities.
Date: 1988-09-20
10 With regard to this issue, it should be observed in the first place that the Court has consistently held that in pursuing the objectives of the common agricultural policy the Community institutions must secure the permanent harmonization made necessary by any conflicts between those objectives taken individually and, where necessary, allow any one of them temporary priority in order to satisfy the demands of the economic factors or conditions in view of which their decisions are made ( see in particular the judgment of 20 October 1977 in Case 29/77 Roquette Frères v France (( 1977 )) ECR 1835 ).
17 The Kingdom of Spain submits that the alteration, only a few months after accession, of the total guaranteed quantities laid down in the Act of Accession flies in the face of the legitimate expectation, held by Spain and Spanish economic operators, that those quantities would be maintained, as conditions for accession, during the adjustment period accorded the acceding State for the milk sector or, at least, during the five-year period provided for in this respect by Regulations Nos 856/84 and 857/84 . It stresses, in addition, that Spanish operators could rely on an interest meriting protection arising from the existence of national legislation, pre-dating Spain' s accession, promoting the expansion of Spanish milk production .
18 The Council and the Commission contend, in substance, that the principle of legitimate expectations cannot prevent the adoption of measures required in order to adapt the milk sector to current realities .
19 It should be noted that, as the Court has consistently held, the field of application of the principle of legitimate expectations cannot be extended to the point of generally preventing new rules from applying to the future effects of situations which arose under the earlier rules, especially in a field such as the common organization of the markets, the purpose of which necessarily involves constant adjustment to the variations of the economic situations in the various agricultural sectors ( see in particular the judgment of 14 January 1987 in Case 278/84 Federal Republic of Germany v Commission (( 1987 )) ECR 1 ).
20 That rule cannot be set aside by reason of the fact that the total guaranteed quantities allocated to the Kingdom of Spain were fixed in the Act of Accession, which amended Regulations Nos 804/68 and 857/84 on this point . Indeed, as has been noted above, the provisions of that Act whose purpose or effect is to repeal or amend, otherwise than on a transitional basis, measures taken by the Community institutions may, pursuant to Article 8 of the Act, be amended under the rules laid down for the amendment of provisions of secondary legislation .
25 It should be noted in the first place that the Court has consistently held that the principle of non-discrimination between producers or consumers in the Community, laid down in the second subparagraph of Article 40 ( 3 ) of the Treaty, means that comparable situations are not to be treated differently and that different situations are not to be treated alike unless such treatment is objectively justified . It follows that the measures taken under the common organization of the market, and in particular its intervention mechanisms, must not be differentiated according to regions and other conditions relating to production or consumption, except on the basis of objective criteria which ensure that the advantages and disadvantages are distributed proportionately among those concerned, without any distinction being made between the territories of the Member States .
29 Finally, the Kingdom of Spain' s argument that the principle of non-discrimination requires that the reduction of milk production should not be applied to Spain because that State has a milk production deficit and has not contributed to the Community surpluses cannot be accepted either . The reduction of total guaranteed quantities is a measure intended to deal with the imbalance between the supply of and demand for milk products and requires, as the Court held in its judgment of 9 July 1985 in Case 179/84 Bozetti v Invernizzi SpA (( 1985 )) ECR 2301, a concerted effort by all the Community producers in equal measure .
36 The Kingdom of Spain maintains that Regulation No 1343/86 infringes Article 190 of the EEC Treaty because it contains no reference in its preamble to Article 43 ( 2 ) of the Treaty . According to the Kingdom of Spain, Article 190 requires an indication of the provision of the Treaty on which the institutions base their power to enact secondary legislation .
37 As the Council has correctly argued, Regulation No 1343/86 is an implementing regulation which satisfies the requirement that the legal basis be indicated if the provision of the basic regulation pursuant to which it was adopted is referred to in the preamble . It is expressly stated in its preamble that Regulation No 1343/86 is based on Article 5 c ( 6 ) of Regulation No 804/68 .
38 Consequently, the submission alleging an infringement of Article 190 of the Treaty must also be rejected .