Nutral SpA v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1995-11-23
14 It should be noted in that regard that, in referring to the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice (judgment in Joined Cases 89/86 and 91/86 Étoile Commerciale and CNTA v Commission [1987] ECR 3005, paragraph 11) and to the actual wording of Article 8(1) of Regulation No 729/70, the Court of First Instance pointed out, in paragraph 26 of the contested order, that, according to the institutional system of the Community and the rules governing relations between the Community and the Member States, it is for the latter, in the absence of any contrary provision of Community law, to ensure that Community regulations, particularly those concerning the common agricultural policy, are implemented within their territory.
15 Indeed, the Court further stated in the abovementioned judgment (paragraph 11, final sentence) that, as regards more particularly financing measures adopted under that policy, it is incumbent on the Member States, by virtue of Article 8 of Regulation No 729/70, to take the measures necessary to recover sums lost as a result of irregularities or negligence. That provision is seen, as regards the financing of the common agricultural policy, as expressing the obligation of general diligence laid down by Article 5 of the Treaty (judgment in Case C-55/91 Italy v Commission [1993] ECR I-4813, paragraph 56).
17 In paragraph 28 of the contested order, the Court of First Instance inferred from that article that it is for the Member States to implement the Community rules in that sphere and to take the necessary individual decisions regarding the traders concerned, in accordance with the rules and procedures laid down in national legislation and subject to the limits imposed by Community law, for the recovery of sums unduly paid, as the Court held in paragraph 12 of the judgment in Étoile Commerciale and CNTA v Commission, cited above.
19 It should additionally be noted that, within the framework of the system of supervision provided for by Regulation No 729/70, the Commission exercises only a supplementary function. This is clearly expressed in the eighth recital in the preamble to that regulation, according to which, in addition to supervision carried out by Member States on their own initiative, which remains essential, provision should be made for verification by officials of the Commission and for it to have the right to enlist the help of the Member States (judgments in Case C-366/88 France v Commission [1990] ECR I-3571, paragraph 20, and C-55/91 Italy v Commission, cited above, paragraphs 31 and 32).
30 Thus the Court of First Instance merely found ° correctly ° that the Commission' s letters to the Italian authorities fell within the ambit of cooperation between the Commission and the national bodies responsible for applying the Community rules, and that those letters simply constituted recommendations or opinions having no legal effect. It inferred from this, in the final sentence of paragraph 28 of the contested order, that it was only the measures taken by the national authorities which produced legal effects binding on the applicant, and, in paragraph 29 of that order, that the contested measures could not be regarded as decisions capable of directly affecting Nutral' s legal position.