European Parliament v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1995-07-13
10 The Court has consistently held (see, in particular, Case C-187/93 Parliament v Council [1994] ECR I-2857, paragraph 14) that an action for annulment brought by the Parliament against an act of the Council or the Commission is admissible provided that the action seeks only to safeguard its prerogatives and that it is founded only on submissions alleging their infringement. That condition is satisfied where the Parliament indicates in an appropriate manner the substance of the prerogative to be safeguarded and how that prerogative is allegedly infringed (see Case C-316/91 Parliament v Council [1994] ECR I-625, paragraph 13).
11 Applying those criteria, the action must be declared inadmissible inasmuch as it is founded on the infringement of Article 190 of the Treaty. In alleging that the contested provisions are inadequately reasoned for the purposes of that article, the Parliament has failed to indicate in an appropriate manner how that infringement, assuming that it has been committed, is such as to impair its own prerogatives.
12 On the other hand, the right to be consulted in accordance with a provision of the Treaty is a prerogative of the Parliament (see Case C-316/91 Parliament v Council, paragraph 16). The Parliament maintains that the effect of the contested regulation, in so far as it governs the question whether GMMOs can be authorized in the organic production of agricultural products, is to exclude the Parliament from the normal procedure for settling that question. According to the Parliament, the question falls within the ambit of the Council' s basic regulation based on Article 43 of the Treaty, which provides that the Parliament must be consulted.
14 According to the final paragraph of Article 37 of the Statute of the Court, submissions made in an application to intervene are to be limited to supporting the form of order sought by one of the parties to the dispute (see Case C-155/91 Commission v Council [1993] ECR I-939, paragraph 24).
18 As the Court has previously held (see, in particular, Case 46/86 Romkes [1987] ECR 2671, paragraph 16, and the judgment of 10 May 1995 in Case C-417/93 Parliament v Council [1995] ECR I-0000, paragraph 30), the Council cannot be required to draw up all the details of the regulations concerning the common agricultural policy according to the procedure laid down in Article 43 of the Treaty. It is sufficient for the purposes of that provision that the essential elements of the matter to be dealt with have been adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down by that provision, and the provisions implementing the basic regulations may be adopted according to a different procedure, as provided for by Article 5(7) and (8) of the basic regulation. Nevertheless, an implementing regulation such as the contested regulation, adopted without consultation of the Parliament, must respect the essential elements laid down in the basic regulation after consultation of the Parliament.
31 The Court' s case-law (see, in particular, Case C-248/89 Cargill v Commission [1991] ECR I-2987, paragraph 26) defines misuse of powers as the adoption by a Community institution of a measure with the exclusive or main purpose of achieving an end other than that stated or evading a procedure specifically prescribed by the Treaty for dealing with the circumstances of the case.