Woodspring District Council v Bakers of Nailsea Ltd.
Date: 1997-04-15
17 Moreover, since the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination have been recognized by the Court as forming part of the general principles of Community law (see, in particular, Joined Cases 117/76 and 16/77 Ruckdeschel and Others  v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-St Annen [1977] ECR 1753, paragraph 7, and Case 265/87 Schräder v Hauptzollamt Gronau [1989] ECR 2237, paragraph 15), the validity of acts of the Community institutions may be reviewed on the basis of those general principles of law.
19 According to settled case-law, national courts may consider the validity of a Community act and, if they consider that the grounds put forward before them by the parties in support of invalidity are unfounded, they may reject them, concluding that the measure is completely valid. In so doing, they are not calling into question the existence of the Community measure (Case 314/85 Foto-Frost [1987] ECR 4199, paragraph 14).
20 On the other hand, those courts do not have the power to declare acts of the Community institutions invalid.  The main purpose of the powers accorded to the Court by Article 177 of the Treaty is to ensure that Community law is applied uniformly by the national courts. That requirement of uniformity is particularly imperative when the validity of a Community act is in issue.  Divergences between courts in the Member States as to the validity of Community acts would be liable to place in jeopardy the very unity of the Community legal order and detract from the fundamental requirement of legal certainty (Foto-Frost, cited above, paragraph 15).
27 In paragraph 7 of Ruckdeschel, cited above, the Court held that the prohibition of discrimination between producers or consumers within the Community laid down in Article 40(3) of the Treaty is merely a specific enunciation of the general principle of equality which is one of the fundamental principles of Community law.  By virtue of that principle, similar situations must not be treated differently unless differentiation is objectively justified.
32 The Court has already held that, in determining their policy in matters of agriculture, the Community institutions enjoy a wide discretionary power regarding not only establishment of the factual basis of their action but also definition of the objectives to be pursued, within the framework of the provisions of the Treaty, and choice of the appropriate means of action (see, in particular, Joined Cases 197/80, 198/80, 199/80, 200/80, 243/80, 245/80 and 247/80 Ludwigshafener Walzmühle Erling and Others v Council and Commission [1981] ECR 3211, paragraph 37).
37 As regards, secondly, the ante-mortem inspection provided for by Directive 64/433, it is intended to protect public health in accordance with the principle recognized by the Court that the Community institutions must, when exercising their powers, take account of the requirements relating to the public interest such as the protection of consumers or the protection of the health and life of humans and animals (Case 68/86 United Kingdom v Council [1988] ECR 855, paragraph 12).
38 By virtue of that principle, the legality of a measure adopted in that sphere can be affected only if the measure is manifestly inappropriate having regard to the objective which the competent institution intends to pursue (Schräder, cited above, paragraph 22).