10.9.2011

Official Journal of the European Union

C 269/10

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 21 July 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Fővárosi Bíróság) — Károly Nagy v Mezőgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Hivatal

(Case C-21/10) (1)

(Common agricultural policy - EAGGF financing - Regulations (EC) No 1257/1999 and (EC) No 817/2004 - Community support for rural development - Support for agri-environmental production methods - Agri-environmental aid other than ‘livestock’ aid, the grant of which is conditional upon a certain density of livestock - Application of the integrated administration and control system - System for the identification and registration of bovine animals - Duty of national authorities to provide information on the conditions for eligibility)

2011/C 269/16

Language of the case: Hungarian

Referring court

Fővárosi Bíróság

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Károly Nagy

Defendant: Mezőgazdasági és Vidékfejlesztési Hivatal

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Fővárosi Bíróság — Interpretation of Article 22 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations (OJ 1999 L 160, p. 80), and Article 68 of Commission Regulation(EC) No 817/2004 of 29 April 2004 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2004 L 153, p. 30) — Exclusion of a farmer from agri-environmental aid on the ground of failure to register animals in the integrated administration and control system for certain Community aid regimes — Failure discovered only following cross-checks provided for by that system — Application of the integrated system to agri-environmental aid which is not for animals but which is dependent on a certain density of livestock

Operative part of the judgment

As regards the aid based on Article 22 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1783/2003 of 29 September 2003, which is subject to a condition relating to the density of livestock, it is permissible under that provision and Article 68 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 817/2004 of 29 April 2004 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 for the competent authorities to carry out cross-checks with the data from the integrated administration and control system and, in particular, to rely on the data held in the database of a national system for the individual identification and registration of bovine animals, such as the Hungarian system for the individual identification and registration of bovine animals (Egységes Nyilvántartási és Azonosítási Rendszer).

It is permissible under Article 22 of Regulation No 1257/1999, as amended, and Article 68 of Regulation No 817/2004 for the competent authorities, when verifying compliance with the conditions governing eligibility for agri-environmental aid under the former provision, to check only the data held in the database of a national system for the individual identification and registration of bovine animals, such as the Hungarian system for the individual identification and registration of bovine animals, in order to refuse that aid, without necessarily having to carry out other checks.

Article 22 of Regulation No 1257/1999, as amended, and Article 68 of Regulation No 817/2004, interpreted in the light of Article 16 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 796/2004 of 21 April 2004 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of cross-compliance, modulation and the integrated administration and control system provided for in Regulation No 1782/2003, place the national authorities — to the extent that, for the purposes of verifying compliance with the conditions governing eligibility for agri-environmental aid under the former provision, which is subject to a condition relating to density of livestock, those authorities check only the data in a national system for the individual identification and registration of bovine animals, such as the Hungarian system for the individual identification and registration of bovine animals — under an obligation to provide information concerning those eligibility conditions which consists in informing the farmer concerned that any animals found not to be correctly identified or registered in that national system are to count as animals found with irregularities liable to have legal consequences, such as a reduction in or exclusion from the aid concerned.

(1) OJ C 113, 1.5.2010.