Northern Ireland Fish Producers' Organisation Ltd (NIFPO) and Northern Ireland Fishermen's Federation v Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland.
Date: 1998-02-19
32 Annex VII, moreover, differs in nature from Annex VI to the Hague Resolution, which, in the particular field to which it applies, makes specific the duties of cooperation which the Member States assumed under Article 5 of the Treaty when they acceded to the Community (see Case 141/78 France v United Kingdom [1979] ECR 2923, paragraph 8). Annex VI relates to the introduction of conservation measures by the Member States and the procedure to be followed in that regard and specifies, in that context, the obligations of Member States flowing from Article 5 of the Treaty.
41 As a preliminary point, it should be noted that when the Council, pursuant to Article 8(4) of Regulation No 3760/92, fixes TACs and distributes fishing opportunities among Member States, it has to evaluate a complex economic situation.
42 When implementation by the Council of the Community's agricultural policy necessitates the evaluation of a complex economic situation, its discretion is not limited solely to the nature and scope of the measures to be taken but also, to some extent, to the finding of basic facts inasmuch as, in particular, it is open to the Council to rely if necessary on general findings.  In reviewing the exercise of such a power the Court must confine itself to examining whether there has been a manifest error or misuse of power or whether the authority in question has clearly exceeded the bounds of its discretion (Case C-122/94 Commission v Council [1996] ECR I-881, paragraph 18).
47 It follows that the aim of the quotas is to ensure for each Member State a share of the Community's TACs, determined essentially on the basis of the catches from which traditional fishing activities, the local populations dependent on fisheries and related industries of that Member State benefited before the quota system was established (see, regarding Regulation No 170/83, Case C-3/87 The Queen v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte Agegate [1989] ECR 4459, paragraph 24, and Case C-216/87 The Queen v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte Jaderow [1989] ECR 4509, paragraph 23).
57 The Court has consistently held (see, in particular, Case C-256/90 Mignini v ALMA [1992] ECR I-2651, paragraph 16) that in order to establish whether a provision of Community law complies with the principle of proportionality, it must be ascertained whether the means which it employs are suitable for the purpose of achieving the desired objective and whether they do not go beyond what is necessary to achieve it.  Furthermore, whilst a measure's patent unsuitability for achieving the objective which the competent institution seeks to pursue may affect its legality, the Community institutions must nonetheless be recognised as having a broad discretion in regard to agricultural policy which reflects the responsibilities which the Treaty imposes on them.
58 The Court has also held that the prohibition of discrimination laid down in Article 40(3) of the Treaty requires that comparable situations should not be treated in a different manner unless the difference in treatment is objectively justified (see, in particular, Case C-280/93 Germany v Commission [1994] ECR I-4973, paragraph 67).
59 The need for different treatment, in appropriate cases, of various classes of the agricultural community is acknowledged in Article 39(2) of the EC Treaty, which provides that `in working out the common agricultural policy ... account shall be taken of: (a) the particular nature of agricultural activity, which results from the social structure of agriculture and from structural and natural disparities between the various agricultural regions' (Case 139/77 Denkavit Futtermittel v Finanzamt Warendorf [1978] ECR 1317, point 15).