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23.7.2005 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 182/7 |
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
(First Chamber)
of 26 May 2005
in Case C-283/03: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven A.H. Kuipers v Productschap Zuivel (1)
(Common organisation of the markets - Milk and milk products - Regulation (EEC) No 804/68 - National scheme under which dairies withhold deductions from the price payable to dairy farmers or pay price supplements to them according to the quality of the milk supplied - Incompatibility)
(2005/C 182/14)
Language of the case: Dutch
In Case C-283/03: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven (Adminstrative Court for Trade and Industry) (Netherlands), made by dcision of 27 June 2003, received at the Court on 30 June 2003, in the proceedings between A.H. Kuipers and Productschap Zuivel — the Court (First Chamber), composed of P. Jann, President of the Chamber, K. Lenaerts, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, K. Schiemann (Rapporteur) and M. Ilešič, Judges; J. Kokott, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on 26 May 2005, the operative part of which is as follows:
The common pricing system which forms the basis of the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products instituted by Regulation No 804/68 of the Council of 27 June 1968 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1538/95 of 29 June 1995, prohibits Member States from unilaterally adopting provisions affecting the machinery of price formation at the production and marketing stages established under the common organisation. That is the case with regard to a system such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which, whatever its alleged or stated objective may be, institutes a mechanism under which:
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on the one hand, dairies are required to withhold deductions from the price of milk delivered to them when that milk does not meet certain quality criteria and, |
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on the other hand, the amount thus withheld over a given period by all the dairies is aggregated before being redistributed, after possible financial adjustments between the dairies, in the form of supplements identical in amount paid by each dairy, per 100 kilogrammes of milk delivered to it during that period, to those dairy farmers alone who have delivered milk meeting those quality criteria. |