Roquette Frères SA v Hauptzollamt Geldern.
Date: 1994-04-26
5 The MCAs applicable to products derived from maize were subsequently the subject of a series of regulations. Of those, Commission Regulations (EEC) No 652/76 of 24 March 1976 changing the monetary compensatory amounts following changes in exchange rates for the French franc (Official Journal 1976 L 79, p. 4), No 1910/76 of 30 July 1976 (Official Journal 1976 L 208, p. 1) and No 2466/76 of 8 October 1976 (Official Journal 1976 L 280, p. 1), both altering the MCAs, and No 938/77 of 29 April 1977 fixing the monetary compensatory amounts and certain rates for their application (Official Journal 1977 L 110, p. 6) were declared invalid by the Court on the grounds of infringement of the basic Regulation No 974/71, cited above, and of Article 43(3) of the Treaty, in so far as they had introduced a system for the calculation of the MCAs on products processed from maize whose price depended on that of maize which resulted in fixing the MCAs for the various products obtained by processing a given quantity of maize in a specified manufacturing process at a figure clearly higher than the MCA fixed for that given quantity of maize (see the judgments in Case 4/79 Providence Agricole de la Champagne [1980] ECR 2823, paragraph 41, Case 109/79 Maïseries de Beauce [1980] ECR 2883, paragraph 41, and Case 145/79 Roquette Frères [1980] ECR 2917, paragraph 48).
6 Regulation No 652/76 was also declared invalid in so far as it fixed the MCAs applicable to maize starch on a basis other than that of the intervention price of maize after deduction of the production refund on starch (see the Roquette Frères judgment, cited above, paragraph 48).
7 The fact that Regulation No 652/76 was invalid rendered invalid the provisions of the subsequent Commission regulations the purpose of which was to alter the MCAs applicable to the derived products in question (see the Roquette Frères judgment, cited above, paragraph 2 of the operative part).
8 Similarly, the Court held that Regulation (EEC) No 2140/79 fixing the monetary compensatory amounts and certain coefficients and rates necessary for their application (Official Journal 1979 L 247, p. 1), as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1541/80 (Official Journal 1980 L 156, p. 1), had to be regarded as having been implicitly declared invalid by the aforesaid Roquette Frères judgment, in that it referred to Regulation No 652/76, which had been declared invalid, and altered the MCAs applicable to the products at issue in that case (judgment in Case 33/84 Fragd v Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato [1985] ECR 1605, paragraph 13).
15 As the Commission argued during the procedure, the fact that Regulation No 2719/75 is invalid means that the provisions of Commission Regulations (EEC) No 2829/75 of 31 October 1975 (Official Journal 1975 L 284, p. 1), No 512/76 of 5 March 1976 (Official Journal 1976 L 60, p. 1), No 572/76 of 15 March 1976 (Official Journal 1976 L 68, p. 5) and No 618/76 of 18 March 1976 (Official Journal 1976 L 75, p. 1), each altering the monetary compensatory amounts on the derived products in question, and of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 271/76 of 6 February 1976 changing the monetary compensatory amounts following changes in exchange rates for the Italian lira (Official Journal 1976 L 34, p. 1) are invalid, since they are vitiated by the same manifest error in calculating the monetary compensatory amounts for the derived products in question (see the Fragd judgment, cited above, paragraph 13).
18 The national authorities must consequently ensure the repayment of sums unduly charged on the basis of Community regulations which are subsequently declared invalid by the Court (see the judgment in Case 130/79 Express Dairy Foods v Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce [1980] ECR 1887, paragraph 14).
20 The possibility of limiting the temporal effect of the invalidity of a Community regulation, whether under Article 173 or Article 177, is a power conferred on the Court by the Treaty in the interest of the uniform application of Community law throughout the Community (see the judgment in Case 112/83 Produits de Maïs [1985] ECR 719, paragraph 17).
21 In the judgment in the Providence Agricole de la Champagne case (paragraph 46), the judgment in the Maïseries de Beauce case (paragraph 46) and the judgment in the Roquette Frères case (paragraph 53) cited above, the Court thus considered, having regard to the requirements of legal certainty, that the fact that the fixing of the MCAs had been found invalid did not enable the charging or payment of MCAs by the national authorities on the basis of the regulations declared invalid to be challenged as regards the period prior to the date of the declarations of invalidity.
25 It is for the Court, where it makes use of the possibility of limiting the effect on past events of a declaration in preliminary ruling proceedings that a Community regulation is invalid, to decide whether an exception to that temporal limitation of the effect of its judgment may be made in favour of the party to the main proceedings which brought the action before the national court against the national measure implementing the regulation, or whether, conversely, a declaration of invalidity applicable only to the future is an adequate remedy even for that party (see the Produits de Maïs judgment, cited above, paragraph 18).
27 An economic agent such as the plaintiff in the main proceedings would thereby be deprived of its right to effective judicial protection in the event of a breach of Community law by the institutions, and the practical effect of Article 177 of the Treaty would thereby be jeopardized.