Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Action for a declaration of failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Commission' s right of action - Time-limit for its exercise - None - Exception - Excessive duration of pre-litigation procedure prejudicial to the rights of the defence

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

2. Agriculture - Common organization of markets - Cereals - Importation at a preferential rate of manioc originating in Thailand - Irregularities in issue of import licences - Adoption of appropriate measures by the Commission - Duty of national authorities to comply with instructions requiring them not to grant the benefit of the preferential system unless they have carried out controls of such a kind as to thwart any attempt at fraud

(Commission Regulation No 2029/82, Art. 7(1), and No 3383/82, Art. 7(1) )

3. Community law - Principles - Protection of legitimate expectations - Protection refused to any person committing a manifest infringement of the rules in force

4. European Communities' own resources - Establishment and making available by Member States - Linked responsibilities precluding a refusal to determine a disputed claim - Obligation to credit own resources to the Commission' s account - Delay in entering credits - Obligation to pay default interest

Summary

1. The Commission is not obliged to act within a specific period to bring an action under Article 169 of the Treaty against a Member State for failure to fulfil its obligations, except in a situation where an excessive duration of the pre-litigation procedure laid down by that article would infringe the rights of defence by making it more difficult for the Member State concerned to refute the arguments put forward in support of the action.

2. In the case of imports of manioc originating in Thailand carried out at a preferential rate in 1982 and 1983, the Commission was empowered, pursuant to Article 7(1) of both Regulation No 2029/82 and Regulation No 3383/82, to take all appropriate measures in the event of infringement of the conditions governing the issue of import licences, without having to observe conditions as to form. It was entitled, on the basis of information passed on by the Thai authorities, to require, merely by telex, the authorities of a Member State to ascertain the identity of a cargo of manioc before it is released into free circulation under an import licence issued by the authorities of another Member State and providing for the application of the preferential rate.

3. The principle of the protection of legitimate expectations may not be relied upon by an undertaking which has committed a manifest infringement of the rules in force.

4. It may not be inferred from the fact that, for the purposes of the establishment of the European Communities' own resources, Article 2 of Regulation No 2891/77 provides that an entitlement is to be deemed to be established as soon as the corresponding claim has been duly determined by the appropriate department or agency of the Member State that the Member States may dispense with determining the claims, even where these are disputed. Otherwise it would have to be accepted that the financial equilibrium of the Community may be disrupted, even temporarily, by the arbitrary conduct of a Member State.

There is an inseparable link between the obligation to establish the Communities' own resources, the obligation to credit them to the Commission' s account within the prescribed time-limit and the obligation to pay default interest. Such interest is payable regardless of the reason for the delay in making the entry in the Commission' s account. It follows that it is unnecessary to distinguish between a situation in which a Member State has established the Communities' own resources without paying them and one in which it has wrongfully omitted to establish them, even in the absence of a mandatory time-limit.