Fintan Duff, Liam Finlay, Thomas Julian, James Lyons, Catherine Moloney, Michael McCarthy, Patrick McCarthy, James O'Regan, Patrick O'Donovan v Minister for Agriculture and Food and Attorney General.
Date: 1996-02-15
11 Article 3(1) of Regulation No 857/84 has already been interpreted by the Court in its judgments in Joined Cases 196/88, 197/88 and 198/88 Cornée and Others v Copall and Others [1989] ECR 2309 and in Case C-16/89 Spronk v Minister van Landbouw en Visserij [1990] ECR I-3185. As regards the situation referred to in the first indent of Article 3(1), it is clear from the very wording of the provision, as was held in particular in paragraph 13 of the judgment in Cornée and Others, cited above, that Member States have a discretion to decide whether or not special reference quantities should be allocated to the producers mentioned in that provision and, if so, to determine their volume.
13 The third recital in the preamble to Regulation No 857/84 stipulates: "the Member States should be enabled to adapt the reference quantities to take into account the special situations of certain producers and to establish for this purpose, as necessary, a reserve within the abovementioned guaranteed quantity".
20 That principle, which is part of the Community legal order (see the judgment in Joined Cases 205/82 to 215/82 Deutsche Milchkontor and Others v Germany [1983] ECR 2633, paragraph 30), is the corollary of the principle of legal certainty, which requires that legal rules be clear and precise, and aims to ensure that situations and legal relationships governed by Community law remain foreseeable. It is settled case-law that in the sphere of the common organization of the markets, whose purpose involves constant adjustments to meet changes in the economic situation, economic agents cannot legitimately expect that they will not be subject to restrictions arising out of future rules of market or structural policy (see, in particular, the judgment in Case C-177/90 Kuehn v Landwirtschaftskammer Weser-Ems [1992] ECR I-35, paragraph 13). According to paragraph 14 of that judgment, the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations may be invoked as against Community rules only to the extent that the Community itself has previously created a situation which can give rise to a legitimate expectation.
22 Accordingly, at paragraph 26 of its judgment in Cornée and Others, cited above, the Court held that the implementation of a milk production development plan which had been approved by the competent national authorities did not confer on the producer concerned the right to produce the quantity of milk corresponding to the plan' s objective without being subject to any restrictions stemming from Community rules adopted after the plan was approved. Consequently, producers with a development plan, even one approved prior to the entry into force of the levy scheme, could not rely on any alleged legitimate expectation based on the implementation of their plan in order to oppose any reductions in such reference quantities (paragraph 27). That ruling was confirmed and amplified by the judgment in Spronk, cited above, in which the Court stated, at paragraph 29, that the carrying out of investments, even as part of a development plan, did not entitle the producer concerned to entertain any legitimate expectation based on the making of those investments in order to claim a special reference quantity allocated precisely on account of the investments.
26 The prohibition of discrimination laid down in Article 40(3) of the Treaty is merely the specific expression of the principle of equality which is one of the general principles of Community law. Whilst that principle precludes different situations from being treated in the same way, unless such treatment is objectively justified (judgment in Case 106/83 Sermide v Cassa Conguaglio Zucchero [1984] ECR 4209, paragraph 28), it does not preclude producers who have adopted a development plan from being granted, like all producers, only a reference quantity reflecting their production in the reference year. Having regard to the purpose of the levy scheme, which is to restore a balance between supply and demand on the market for milk characterized by structural surpluses by limiting milk production to the level of production in the reference year, it is the reference year which is decisive for comparing the situation of the two categories of producers. In relation to that year, the plaintiffs in the main proceedings cannot claim, regardless of the future production envisaged by them, that their situation differs from that of other producers and so enables them to claim a right to the allocation of a special reference quantity.
28 Finally, the national court raises the question of the protection of fundamental rights. The observations of the plaintiffs in the main proceedings show that it is only the right to property and the freedom to pursue a trade or profession recognized by Community law that are in issue (see, in particular, the judgment in Case C-306/93 SMW Winzersekt [1994] ECR I-5555, paragraph 22).
29 As the Court held in its judgment in Case 5/88 Wachauf v Bundesamt fuer Ernaehrung und Forstwirtschaft [1989] ECR 2609, at paragraph 19, the requirements of the protection of fundamental rights in the Community legal order are also binding on the Member States when they implement Community rules.
34 Having regard to the foregoing, the answers to the national court' s questions must be that
° the first indent of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 857/84, read in the light of the third recital in the preamble to that regulation, is to be construed as not imposing on Member States an obligation to grant a special reference quantity to producers who had adopted milk production development plans under Directive 72/159;
° no requirement flowing from the protection afforded by general principles of law, such as the protection of legitimate expectations, the prohibition of discrimination, proportionality and legal certainty, or by fundamental rights, such as the right to property and the freedom to pursue a trade or profession, imposes on the competent national authority any obligation, under the first indent of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 857/84, to grant special reference quantities to producers who have adopted development plans, even where those plans had been approved by the competent authorities;
° consideration of the abovementioned general principles and fundamental rights has not disclosed any factor of such a nature as to affect the validity of the first indent of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 857/84.