Republik Österreich v Martin Huber.
Date: 2002-09-19
30 In that regard, it should be borne in mind that, according to the settled case-law of the Court, the choice of the legal basis for a Community measure must rest on objective factors which are amenable to judicial review, including in particular the aim and the content of the measure (see, inter alia, Case C-300/89 Commission v Council [1991] ECR I-2867, known as `Titanium dioxide', paragraph 10, and Case C-269/97 Commission v Council [2000] ECR I-2257, paragraph 43).
31 If examination of a Community act shows that it has a twofold purpose or twofold component and if one of these is identifiable as main or predominant, whereas the other is merely incidental, the act must be founded on a sole legal basis, that is, the one required by the main or predominant purpose or component (see Case C-155/91 Commission v Council [1993] ECR I-939, paragraphs 19 and 21, Case C-42/97 Parliament v Council [1999] ECR I-869, paragraphs 39 and 40, and Case C-36/98 Spain v Council [2001] ECR I-779, paragraph 59).  Exceptionally, if it is established that the act simultaneously pursues a number of objectives, indissociably linked, without one being secondary and indirect in relation to the other, such an act may be founded on the various corresponding legal bases (see, to that effect, the Titanium dioxide judgment, paragraphs 13 and 17, and Parliament v Council, cited above, paragraph 38, as well as Opinion 2/00 [2001] ECR I-9713, paragraph 23).
32 In this case, the parties agree that Regulation No 2078/92 simultaneously pursued objectives of agricultural policy and environmental protection.
33 The Court has held that Articles 130r of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 174 EC) and 130s of the Treaty are intended to confer powers on the Community to undertake specific action on environmental matters, while leaving intact its powers under other provisions of the Treaty, even if the measures in question pursue at the same time one of the objectives of environmental protection (see Case C-405/92 Mondiet [1993] ECR I-6133, paragraph 26). The third sentence of the first subparagraph of Article 130r(2) of the Treaty, in its version prior to the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the substance of which was repeated in Article 6 EC, provides, in that respect, that environmental protection requirements are to be a component of the Community's other policies, so that a Community measure cannot be part of Community action on environmental matters merely because it takes account of those requirements (see, to that effect, the abovementioned Titanium dioxide judgment, paragraph 22, and Mondiet, paragraph 27).
34 As regards Article 43 of the Treaty, it is settled case-law that that article is the appropriate legal basis for any legislation concerning the production and marketing of the agricultural products listed in Annex II to the EC Treaty which contributes to the attainment of one or more of the objectives of the common agricultural policy set out in Article 39 of the EC Treaty (now Article 33 EC) (Case 68/86 United Kingdom v Council [1988] ECR 855, paragraph 14, Case C-180/96 United Kingdom v Commission [1998] ECR I-2265, paragraph 133 and Commission v Council, cited above, paragraph 47).  Moreover, Article 42 of the Treaty authorises the Council to provide for the grant of aid for production of and trade in agricultural products, account being taken of the objectives set out in Article 39, notwithstanding the provisions of the chapter of the Treaty which concern rules on competition.
35 As pointed out by the Commission and the Council, as well as by the Advocate General at point 35 of his Opinion, it is clear from the recitals and Article 1 of Regulation No 2078/92 that the main purpose of the support measures for which that regulation provided was to regulate the production of agricultural products within the meaning of Annex II to the Treaty, in order to promote the transition from intensive cultivation to a more extensive cultivation, of better quality, with farmers being compensated for the financial consequences of this by the granting of aid.
36 The fact that Regulation No 2078/92 was of a nature such as to promote more environmentally-friendly forms of production - which is certainly a genuine objective, but an ancillary one, of the common agricultural policy - cannot in itself justify the legal basis of that regulation being constituted not only by Articles 42 and 43 but also by Article 130s of the Treaty.
55 It also follows from the case-law of the Court that, in the absence of provisions of Community law, disputes concerning the recovery of amounts wrongly paid under Community law must be decided by national courts in application of their own domestic law, subject to the limits imposed by Community law, on the basis that the rules and procedures laid down by domestic law must not have the effect of making it practically impossible or excessively difficult to recover the aid not due and that the national legislation must be applied in a manner which is not discriminatory as compared to procedures for deciding similar national disputes (see, to that effect, Joined Cases 205/82 to 215/82 Deutsche Milchkontor and Others [1983] ECR 2633, paragraph 19, Case C-366/95 Landbrugsministeriet v Steff-Houlberg Export and Others [1998] ECR I-2661, paragraph 15 and Case C-298/96 Oelmühle and Schmidt Söhne [1998] ECR I-4767, paragraph 24).
56 Accordingly, it cannot be regarded as contrary to Community law for national law, as far as the cancellation of administrative measures and the recovery of sums wrongly paid by public authorities are concerned, to take into account, in addition to the principle of legality, the principles of the protection of legitimate expectations and legal certainty, since those principles form part of the legal order of the Community (see, to that effect, Deutsche Milchkontor, cited above, paragraph 30, Joined Cases C-31/91 to C-44/91 Lageder and Others [1993] ECR I-1761, paragraph 33 and Joined Cases C-80/99 to C-82/99 Flemmer and Others [2001] ECR I-7211, paragraph 60).
57 However, the Community's interest in recovering aid which has been received in breach of the conditions under which it was granted must be taken fully into consideration in assessing the interests in question (Deutsche Milchkontor, paragraph 32, Oelmühle and Schmidt Söhne, paragraph 24 and Flemmer and Others, paragraph 61).
58 Moreover, it is settled case-law that the beneficiary of aid may challenge a demand for recovery only if he acted in good faith when applying for it (see, to that effect, Oelmühle and Schmidt Söhne, paragraph 29).  In that regard, it is for the national court to consider:
- whether the ÖPUL directive was sufficiently clear in prohibiting the use of the plant protection products mentioned in paragraph 20 of the present judgment, taking into account the observations set out by the Advocate General at point 127 of his Opinion;
- whether specific obligations relating to the use of plant protection products were clearly evident from the aid application form or the notices annexed to it, taking into account the observations set out by the Advocate General at point 121 of his Opinion;
- whether the ÖPUL directive had been incorporated, in whole or in part, in the aid contract;
- whether the draft of the ÖPUL directive or its final text had in fact been made known to Mr Huber;
- or, if this was not the case, whether Mr Huber had been negligent, as a farmer exercising ordinary care would not have been, in not seeking to obtain precise knowledge of the content of the ÖPUL directive by travelling to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Vienna in order to consult the text of the directive and, specifically, whether the need for such an on-the-spot consultation in order to learn the full extent of their obligations did not place an excessive burden on the farmers concerned.
61 In that regard, in so far as Community law, including its general principles, does not contain common rules, it is settled case-law that the national authorities, when implementing Community legislation, must act in accordance with the rules as to procedure and form laid down by the law of the Member State concerned. However, as the Court has already held, recourse to rules of national law is possible only in so far as it is necessary for the implementation of provisions of Community law and in so far as the application of those rules of national law does not jeopardise the scope and effectiveness of that Community law, including its general principles (see, inter alia, Flemmer and Others, cited above, paragraph 55).