Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Beef and veal ° Intervention mechanisms ° Implementing measures within the Commission' s sphere of competence ° Weight-limit on carcases eligible for intervention ° Included

(EEC Treaty, Art. 43; Council Regulation No 805/68, Art. 6(7), as amended)

2. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Beef and veal ° Intervention mechanisms ° Weight-limit on carcases eligible for intervention ° Principle of proportionality ° Prohibition of discrimination ° Principle of protection of legitimate expectation ° Right to property ° Obligation to state reasons ° Breach ° None

(EEC Treaty, Arts 39(1)(c), 40(3) and 190; Commission Regulation No 685/93)

Summary

1. The fifth indent of Article 6(7) of Regulation No 805/68 on the common organization of the market in beef and veal, as amended, must be interpreted as meaning that a limitation on the weight of carcases eligible for intervention falls within the implementing measures which the Commission is empowered to take under the Management Committee procedure provided for in Article 27 thereof.

Albeit such a measure may lead to a reorientation of beef and veal production, its aim is to implement in the most appropriate way the intervention mechanism laid down by the Council and it is not of such importance that it must be adopted by the Council itself in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 43 of the Treaty. Furthermore, not only does it not conflict with any provision of the regulation to recognize such a power for the Commission but it is the only way of rendering the fifth indent of Article 6(7) effective.

Finally, the Council may find it necessary, particularly where it has recourse to the Management Committee procedure which safeguards its own right to intervene, to confer wide powers to implement the common agricultural policy on the Commission, which alone is able to monitor market trends continually and closely and to act with urgency if the situation requires.

2. The limitation imposed by Regulation No 685/93 on the weight of beef and veal carcases eligible for intervention is not in breach of the principle of proportionality. That limitation, judicial review of which must take account of the wide discretion enjoyed by the Commission and the Management Committee in the evaluation of complex economic situations, was not decided on as a result of a manifest error in the assessment of the relevant market situation, is not unsuited to attain its aim of reducing overproduction of beef and veal and was not wrongly preferred over other less restrictive but equally effective measures.

Nor is it in breach of the prohibition of discrimination, since it applies to all Community producers who must, together and in equal measure, bear the consequences of a measure pursuing one of the objectives of the common agricultural policy, namely to maintain a balance between production and the marketing outlets available.

Nor does it conflict with the principle of the protection of legitimate expectation, since producers ° who cannot in any event rely on a vested right to maintain an advantage which a common market organization may have given them ° had not previously been encouraged to seek to produce heavier carcases.

Nor, again, is there any infringement of the right to property, since, although it does prevent producers from presenting certain carcases for intervention, it does not in any way prevent them from disposing freely of their products.

Finally, the obligation to state the reasons for the limitation was respected, since the reasons which led the Commission to adopt it are clearly stated in the preamble to the regulation.