Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Wine ° Quality wines produced in specified regions ° Community provisional list referring to the designations awarded by the producing Member State ° Italian wines ° Regulation No 1311/73 ° Acceptance only of wines designated "denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) and "denominazione di origine controllata e garantita" (DOCG)

(Regulation No 1311/73 of the Commission, Art. 1)

2. European Communities' own resources ° Post-clearance recovery of import duties or export duties ° Monetary compensatory amounts ° Absence of Community rules ° Application of national law ° Conditions

3. Community law ° Principles ° Protection of legitimate expectations ° Scope ° National authorities responsible for applying Community law ° Authorities acting in the absence of powers on the basis of a misinterpretation of the Community rules ° No legitimate expectation

(Regulations Nos 1769/72 and 1311/73 of the Commission)

Summary

1. Article 1 of Regulation No 1311/73 relating to the provisional list of quality wines produced in specified regions and the identification of those wines in the accompanying document must be interpreted as meaning that only wines designated "denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) and "denominazione di origine controllata e garantita" (DOCG) were entitled in Italy, during the period of validity of that provision, that is between 22 May and 31 August 1973, to be classified as "quality wines produced in specified regions".

2. Where at the time of the events which gave rise to the dispute before the national court, there were no provisions of Community law applicable to the post-clearance recovery of monetary compensatory amounts by the national authorities following an initial misinterpretation of the Community rules by their departments, it is for the national court to apply the provisions of national law on the prescription of export duties wrongly not collected from the person liable owing to a mistake by the national authorities, provided that those provisions apply without discrimination to national claims and Community claims and do not affect the scope or effectiveness of Community law.

3. The national authority responsible for issuing the accompanying VA(2) forms for wines awarded the designation "quality wines produced in specified regions" is required to observe the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations. Nevertheless, where such a document was issued by a national authority which was not empowered to do so and which, owing to a mistaken interpretation of the applicable Community rules, did not demand payment of the monetary compensatory amounts, as provided for by those rules, no legitimate expectations can arise on the part of the parties concerned, notwithstanding their good faith.