Établissement national des produits de l’agriculture et de la mer (FranceAgriMer) v Société anonyme d'intérêt collectif agricole Unanimes (C-671/11 and C-672/11), Organisation de producteurs Les Cimes (C-673/11), Société Agroprovence (C-674/11), Regalp SA (C-675/11) and Coopérative des producteurs d’asperges de Montcalm (COPAM) (C-676/11).
Date: 2013-06-13
17. As regards, first, the objectives of Regulation No 4045/89, that regulation seeks, as is apparent from the first, third and fourth recitals, read together, to reinforce the effectiveness of the scrutiny for which Member States are responsible in order to prevent and eliminate irregularities which may exist in the context of the EAGGF.
18. To ensure that national scrutiny is actually carried out and executed correctly and, accordingly, that the need to protect the financial interests of the European Union is served, Regulation No 4045/89 makes that scrutiny itself subject to supervision and coordination on the part of the Commission, reflecting the reasoning of the tenth recital. Article 2 specifically of that regulation seeks to organise the uniform system for scrutiny under the supervision of the Commission. Article 2(4) ensures inter alia that scrutiny is to a certain extent systematic and to a certain extent regular.
26. In addition, the terms in which the second subparagraph of Article 2(4) of Regulation No 4045/89 is framed preclude an interpretation to the effect that a Member State may limit its scrutiny to a period which ends before the beginning of the preceding scrutiny period, because that approach neither meets the requirement that the period initially under scrutiny must end at some point during the preceding scrutiny period, nor constitutes an extension for the purposes of that provision. In that regard, it should be noted that the interpretation of a provision of European Union law cannot have the result of depriving the clear and precise wording of that provision of all effectiveness (see, most recently, Joined Cases C‑147/11 and C‑148/11 Czop and Punakova [2012] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 32), which would be the consequence, however, of the above interpretation.
28. Contrary to the assertions made by the operators concerned in the main proceedings, the second subparagraph of Article 2(4) of Regulation No 4045/89 merely lays down organisational rules in order to secure the effectiveness of the scrutiny and, as is apparent from paragraph 18 above, governs the relations between the Member States and the European Union for the purposes of safeguarding the European Union’s financial interests. On the other hand, that provision does not apply to relations between scrutiny authorities and the operators scrutinised.
29. Accordingly, Article 2(4) of Regulation No 4045/89 cannot, in particular, be construed as conferring upon the operators concerned a right enabling them to oppose checks other or broader than those envisaged by that provision. Moreover, in so far as it might have the effect of preventing the recovery of aid which has been unlawfully collected or used, such a right would imperil the protection of the financial interests of the European Union.
30. In any event, the checks required under Regulation No 4045/89 concern operators who voluntarily signed up for the support scheme established by the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF and who, in order to receive aid, accepted the performance of inspections to verify that the European Union’s resources had been used properly. Those operators cannot validly call into question the lawfulness of such scrutiny simply because it was not in conformity with the organisational rules concerning the relations between the Member States and the Commission.
31. The fact remains that legal certainty for the operators scrutinised vis-à-vis the public authorities who carry out those inspections and who decide, where appropriate, whether to bring proceedings is ensured by the rule laid down in Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial interests (OJ 1995 L 312, p. 1), under which proceedings are, as a rule, time-barred after four years have elapsed from the time of the infringement of a provision of European Union law as a result of an act or omission on the part of an economic operator, which has, or would have, the effect of adversely affecting the budget of the European Union. As the Court has already observed, in general, time-bars fulfil the function of ensuring legal certainty (see Case C‑278/02 Handlbauer , [2004] ECR I‑6171, paragraph 40 and the case-law cited).