Gerald Weidacher (as administrator of the insolvent company Thakis Vertriebs- und Handels GmbH) v Bundesminister für Land- und Forstwirtschaft.
Date: 2002-01-15
18 It must be remembered that, under the second indent of Article 137(2) of the Act of Accession, the rights and obligations resulting from the common agricultural policy are, save where otherwise provided, immediately applicable in the new Member States. It is in order to facilitate the transition from the existing regime in the new Member States to that resulting from application of the common organisation of the markets that Article 149(1) of the same act provides for the adoption of the necessary transitional measures in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 38 of Regulation No 136/66/EEC or, as appropriate, in the corresponding articles of the other regulations on the common organisation of agricultural markets.
19 Against that background, regard must be had to the broad discretion enjoyed by the Community institutions when adopting measures for the implementation of the common agricultural policy (see in particular Case C-285/94 Italy v Commission [1997] ECR I-3519, paragraphs 22 and 23, and Case C-289/97 Eridania [2000] ECR I-5409, paragraph 48).
22 It must be concluded that, in introducing special taxation on surplus stocks on the basis of Article 149(1) of the Act of Accession, the Commission was specifically concerned to facilitate the transition of the new Member States to the common organisation of the markets since such a tax tends, first, to preclude the build-up of stocks for speculative purposes and, second, to neutralise the economic advantages which would have accrued to operators who actually built up surplus stocks at low prices (see the third recital in the preamble to Regulation No 3108/94).
26 As regards the principle of proportionality, it must be borne in mind that the Commission, when exercising the powers which the Council, or indeed the authors of the Act of Accession, conferred on it for implementation of the common agricultural policy, may consider it necessary to exercise a broad discretion, and the legality of a measure adopted in that sphere can therefore be affected only if the measure is manifestly inappropriate having regard to the objective which the competent institution is seeking to pursue (see, to that effect, Case 265/87 Schräder [1989] ECR 2237, paragraph 22, and Case C-157/96 National Farmers' Union and Others [1998] ECR I-2211, paragraph 61).
28 The aim of that taxation is to preclude the build-up of such stocks or, at the very least, to neutralise the economic advantages anticipated by those holding them, by placing the latter on the same footing as operators in the Community of Twelve, with whom they compete in the same market. The principle of that tax must be regarded as conducive to attainment of the aim of facilitating implementation of the common organisation of the markets in the new Member States, referred to in Article 149(1) of the Act of Accession, without going further than was necessary for that purpose.
31 In that connection, it must be borne in mind that, according to the case-law of the Court of Justice, the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations may be invoked as against Community rules only to the extent that the Community itself has previously created a situation which could give rise to a legitimate expectation (see Case C-22/94 Irish Farmers Association and Others [1997] ECR I-1809, paragraph 19, and Case C-107/97 Rombi and Arkopharma [2000] ECR I-3367, paragraph 67).
42 It must be borne in mind that, by providing for taxation of the holders of surplus stock as at 1 January 1995, the Commission intended, as is noted in paragraph 22 of this judgment, first, to preclude the build-up of stocks for speculative purposes and, second, to neutralise the economic advantages anticipated by operators who had built up such stocks. In those circumstances, the term holders within the meaning of Article 4 of Regulation No 3108/94 must be construed as referring to persons who, on 1 January 1995, had the authority to place the stored products on the market with a view to realising a profit which the taxation at issue in the main proceedings was specifically designed to neutralise.