Hauptzollamt Koblenz v Kurt und Thomas Etling in GbR (C-230/09) and Hauptzollamt Oldenburg v Theodor Aissen and Hermann Rohaan (C-231/09).
Date: 2011-05-05
53. It should next be noted that the operation of reallocating the unused part of the national reference quantity allocated to deliveries and the operation of establishing the contribution of producers to payment of the levy due constitute two distinct operations, even if they are linked, in so far as the first is an optional precursor of the second and affects the result of the latter.
60. According to settled case-law, the wording used in one language version of an EU provision cannot serve as the sole basis for the interpretation of that provision, or be made to override the other language versions in that regard. (see, in particular, Case C-187/07 Endendijk [2008] ECR I‑2115, paragraph 23; Case C-239/07 Sabatauskas and Others [2008] ECR I‑7523, paragraph 38). The various language versions of a text of EU law must be given a uniform interpretation and hence, in the case of divergence between the language versions, the provision in question must be interpreted by reference to the purpose and general scheme of the rules of which it forms a part (see, to that effect, Endendijk , cited above, at paragraph 24, and Case C‑340/08 M and Others [2010] ECR I-0000, paragraph 44).
61. In that respect, it is important to note, first, that as the fourteenth recital of Regulation No 1788/2003 states, the legislature wished to give a certain flexibility to the management of the levy system in the milk and dairy sector by authorising Member States to reallocate unused reference quantities at the end of a period.
62. It does not however appear that that possibility was an innovation in relation to the previous system or that a notable modification of the latter was made by the legislature on this point.
63. On the contrary, the seventh recital of Regulation No 3950/92, which Regulation No 1788/2003 replaced, already provided that ‘in order to keep the management of the scheme sufficiently flexible, provision should be made for individual overruns to be equalled out over all the individual reference quantities of the same type within the territory of a Member State’. In the same way, the second subparagraph of Article 2(1) of Regulation No 3950/92, corresponding to Article 10(3) of Regulation No 1788/2003, provided that ‘[i]n accordance with a decision of the Member State, the contribution of producers towards the levy payable shall be established, after the unused reference quantities have been reallocated or not, either at the level of the purchaser, in the light of the overrun remaining after unused reference quantities have been allocated in proportion to the reference quantities of each producer, or at national level, in the light of the overrun in the reference quantity of each individual producer’.
64. It is clear from all the language versions of that latter provision that it was indeed the allocation of unused reference quantities which was to be carried out ‘in proportion to the reference quantities of each producer’ and that the contribution of producers to the payment of the levy due was, for its part, established by reference to the overrun of the reference quantity of each individual producer.
74. When adopting measures to implement EU legislation, Member States must exercise their discretion in compliance with the general principles of EU law (Case C‑313/99 Mulligan  [2002] ECR I‑5719, paragraph 35, Case C‑495/00 Azienda Agricola Giorgio, Giovanni and Luciano Visentin [2004] ECR I‑2993, paragraph 40), which include the principles of legal certainty, the protection of legitimate expectations, proportionality and non-discrimination. Similarly, such implementing measures must comply with fundamental rights, such as the right to property ( Mulligan , paragraph 36).
75. Moreover, having regard to the fact that the adoption of national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings forms part of the common agricultural policy, such legislation cannot be established or applied in such a way as to compromise the objectives pursued by that policy, and more particularly those envisaged by the common organisation of the markets in the milk sector ( Mulligan , paragraph 33). Reference should be made in particular, on that subject, to the principles of the functioning of the levy system, established by Regulation No 1788/2003, including those concerning the transfer of reference quantities.
78. Member States must however ensure that such legislation is established in such a way as not to give rise to transfers which, while formally complying with the conditions laid down by Regulation No 1788/2003, are intended solely to allow certain overdelivering producers to obtain a more favourable position on the reallocation of the unused part of the national reference quantity allocated to deliveries. The case-law of the Court shows that the application of EU regulations cannot be extended to cover abusive practices of economic operators (Case C‑206/94 Paletta  [1996] ECR I‑2357, paragraph 24 and case-law cited, Case C‑110/99 Emsland-Stärke  [2000] ECR I‑11569, paragraph 51).
79. Having regard to the whole of the above considerations, the answers to the questions in Case C‑231/09 are as follows:
– Article 10(3) of Regulation No 1788/2003 must be interpreted as meaning that the reallocation of the unused part of the national reference quantity allocated to deliveries must be carried out in proportion to the individual reference quantity of each producer having overdelivered, namely that determined at 1 April of the relevant twelve-month period, or according to objective criteria to be set by the Member States. The concept of individual reference quantity used in that provision does not allow transfers of reference quantities during that period to be taken into account.
– National legislation implementing the option, provided for in Article 10(3) of Regulation No 1788/2003, of setting objective criteria according to which the reallocation of the unused part of the national reference quantity allocated to deliveries is to be carried out must comply, in particular with general principles of EU law and the objectives pursued by the common agricultural policy, especially those concerning the common organisation of the markets in the milk sector.
– Those objectives do not preclude national legislation, adopted in the context of the implementation of that option, which allows overdelivering producers, who have, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation No 1788/2003, received a transfer, during the relevant twelve-month period, of an individual reference quantity under which milk has already been delivered for that same period by the producer who previously held it, to participate in that reallocation by including some or all of that reference quantity. Member States must however ensure that such legislation does not give rise to transfers which, while formally complying with the conditions laid down by that regulation, are intended solely to allow certain overdelivering producers to obtain a more favourable position on that reallocation.
The question in Case C-230/09