Eridania Spa v Azienda Agricola San Luca di Rumagnoli Viannj.
Date: 2000-07-06
26 However, that reading of the wording of Article 3(4) and (5) is not supported in any way by the objectives pursued by the price regime laid down in that provision.
33 Thus, in contrast to the time-limit at issue in Case C-1/94 Cavarzere Produzioni Industriali and Others [1995] ECR I-2363, which was intended to ensure that operators in the sugar sector would have a period of four months in which to plan their activity, the overstepping of the date 1 August laid down in Article 3(4) and (5) of the basic regulation cannot be capable of rendering invalid Regulation No 1580/96 in so far as it fixed intervention prices after that date.
38 In that connection, it must be borne in mind that the statement of reasons must be appropriate to the nature of the measure in question and must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the institution which adopted the contested measure so as to inform the persons concerned of the justification for the measure adopted and to enable the Court to exercise its powers of review (see, in particular, Case 250/84 Eridania and Others v Cassa Congualglio Zucchero [1986] ECR 117, paragraph 37, and Case C-75/97 Belgium v Commission [1999] ECR I-3671, paragraph 81).
39 First, with regard to Eridania's argument as to the exceptional nature of the derived intervention price, which calls for a more specific statement of reasons, the Advocate General has rightly pointed out, at point 55 of his Opinion, that there are no grounds for contending that the derived intervention price constitutes an exception to the normal price regime. The derived intervention price and the intervention price are responses to two different economic situations and both the intervention price and the derived intervention price are an expression of the general principle of equal treatment in Community law (see for example Case C-372/96 Pontillo [1998] ECR I-5091, paragraph 41).
40 Second, with regard to the allegation of inadequacy of the statement of the reasons on which Regulation No 1580/96 is based, in that there are no statistics justifying the classification of Italy as one of the deficit areas for the 1996/97 marketing year, it must be borne in mind that, according to settled case-law, the statement of the reasons on which regulations are based is not required to specify the often very numerous and complex matters of fact or of law dealt with in the regulations, provided that the latter fall within the general scheme of the body of measures of which they form part (see Eridania, cited above, paragraph 38).
41 It is also clear from settled case-law that the question whether the statement of reasons meets the requirements of Article 190 of the Treaty must be assessed with regard not only to its wording but also to its context and to all the legal rules governing the matter in question (see, in relation to State aid, Case C-367/95 P Commission v Sytravel and Brink's France [1998] ECR I-1719, paragraph 63).
46 First, it must be borne in mind, as noted by the Advocate General at point 60 of his Opinion, that there is a deficit within the meaning of the basic regulation where the total available production falls short of consumption. Available production must be taken to mean the total quantities of A sugar and B sugar plus the carry forward of C sugar effected in accordance with the Community rules.
47 The Council and the Commission are thus called on to examine, with a view to fixing intervention prices, minimum prices and increased prices, the ratio between as yet unharvested production volumes and consumption which has not yet commenced. Accordingly, they must extrapolate on the basis of information notified by the Member States which relates both to the current year, as far as the pattern of consumption is concerned, and to the prospects for the forthcoming year, as regards the pattern of available production.
48 In that connection, when the implementation by the Council of the agricultural policy in the sugar sector involves the need to evaluate a complex economic situation, the discretion which it has does not apply exclusively to the nature and scope of the measures to be taken but also to some extent to the finding of the basic facts (see Case 138/79 Roquette Frères v Council [1980] ECR 3333, paragraph 25, and Case C-285/94 Italy v Commission [1997] ECR I-3519, paragraph 23).
49 In reviewing the exercise of such a power the Court must confine itself to examining whether it contains a manifest error or constitutes a misuse of power or whether the authority in question did not clearly exceed the bounds of its discretion (see Roquette Frères, cited above, paragraph 25).
75 Given that the derived intervention price and, consequently, the increased prices are designed to take account of the specific situation of operators in deficit areas, which differs from that of operators in surplus areas, such differences of treatment are based on objective differences, namely insufficient beet and sugar production. The regionalisation of prices cannot therefore be regarded as discrimination (see in that connection Case 230/78 Eridania and Società Italiana per l'Industria degli Zuccheri [1979] ECR 2749, paragraph 19).