Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Accession of new Member States to the Communities - Austria - Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Transitional measures in respect of trade in agricultural products - Taxation of surplus stocks - Competence of the Commission

(Act of Accession of 1994, Art. 149(1); Commission Regulation No 3108/94, Art. 4)

2. Accession of new Member States to the Communities - Austria - Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Transitional measures in respect of trade in agricultural products - Taxation of surplus stocks - Principles of proportionality and protection of legitimate expectations - Breach - No such breach

(Act of Accession of 1994, Arts 145(2) and 149(1); Commission Regulation No 3108/94, Art. 4)

3. Accession of new Member States to the Communities - Austria - Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Transitional measures in respect of trade in agricultural products - Taxation of surplus stocks - Holder of surplus stock - Definition

(Commission Regulation No 3108/94, Art. 4)

4. Accession of new Member States to the Communities - Austria - Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Transitional measures in respect of trade in agricultural products - Taxation of surplus stocks - Calculation of the tax - Tunisian olive oil - Import charge applicable

(Commission Regulation No 3108/94, Art. 4(3))

5. Accession of new Member States to the Communities - Austria - Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Transitional measures in respect of trade in agricultural products - Taxation of surplus stocks - Calculation of the tax - Breach of the principle of equal treatment - No such breach

(Commission Regulation No 3108/94, Art. 4(3))

Summary

1. The Commission of the European Communities was competent, under Article 149(1) of the Act of Accession of 1994, to adopt the measures in respect of the taxation of surplus stocks in the new Member States provided for in Article 4 of Regulation No 3108/94 on transitional measures to be adopted on account of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden in respect of trade in agricultural products.

( see para. 24 and operative part 1 )

2. Article 4 of Regulation No 3108/94 on transitional measures to be adopted on account of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden in respect of trade in agricultural products does not breach either the principle of proportionality or the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations.

On the one hand, by introducing the tax on surplus stocks in the new Member States and laying down arrangements for it to be levied, the Commission chose the formula, amongst several, which it considered most appropriate to avert any risk of undermining the proper functioning of the common organisation of the markets, such risk being associated with the accumulation of stocks exceeding the quantity which might be regarded as constituting normal carryover stock within the meaning of Article 145(2) of the Act of Accession of 1994. The aim of that taxation is to preclude the build-up of such stocks or, at the very least, to neutralise the economic advantages anticipated by those holding them, by placing the latter on the same footing as operators in the Community of Twelve, with whom they compete in the same market. The principle of that tax must be regarded as conducive to attainment of the aim of facilitating implementation of the common organisation of the markets in the new Member States, referred to in Article 149(1) of the Act of Accession, without going further than was necessary for that purpose. It follows that the Commission did not exceed the bounds of its discretion in agricultural matters and did not breach the principle of proportionality.

On the other hand, since the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations may be invoked as against Community rules only to the extent that the Community itself has previously created a situation which could give rise to a legitimate expectation, the Community did not, by act or omission, give the impression to the relevant circles that transitional measures intended to prevent distortion of competition and speculative profits from the accumulation of surplus stocks would not be adopted in relation to the enlargement which took place on 1 January 1995. Moreover, any normally diligent economic operator must have known, since the publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities of the Act of Accession of 1994, that, under Article 149(1) thereof, the Commission was specifically empowered to adopt transitional measures in order to bring the rules existing in the new Member States into line with the common organisation of the markets, and that such measures might, in some circumstances, have repercussions on surplus stocks already built up when Regulation No 3108/94 was published.

( see paras 27-29, 31-33 and operative part 2 )

3. The term holder of surplus stock, within the meaning of Article 4 of Regulation No 3108/94 on transitional measures to be adopted on account of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden in respect of trade in agricultural products and providing for measures in respect of the taxation of surplus stocks in the new Member States, refers to a person who has authority to place the stored products on the market and thereby realise a profit.

( see para. 45 and operative part 3 )

4. Article 4(3) of Regulation No 3108/94 on transitional measures to be adopted on account of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden in respect of trade in agricultural products must be interpreted as meaning that, in the case of imports of Tunisian olive oil, the import charge applicable in the Community of Twelve on 31 December 1994 is the one provided for in Annex I to Regulation No 3307/94 fixing the minimum levies on the importation of olive oil and levies on the importation of other olive oil sector products.

( see para. 48 and operative part 4 )

5. By providing for taxation, under the general rules contained in Regulation No 3307/94 fixing the minimum levies on the importation of olive oil and levies on the importation of other olive oil sector products, of surplus stocks held on 1 January 1995 in the new Member States, with a view to preventing or neutralising deflections of trade liable to disrupt the common organisation of the markets, Article 4(3) of Regulation No 3108/94 on transitional measures to be adopted on account of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden in respect of trade in agricultural products does not infringe the principle of equal treatment for economic operators in the Member States.

Operators in the new Member States who, on that date, held surplus stocks of Tunisian olive oil imported under the rules in force in those States were not in a situation comparable to that of operators in the Community of Twelve who, from 1 March to 31 October 1994, were able, where appropriate, to import olive oil originating in Tunisia under the preferential regime provided for by the former cooperation agreement between the European Economic Community and the Tunisian Republic.

( see paras 50-51 and operative part 5 )