Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Action for annulment - Judgment of the Court - Principle of res judicata - Scope

2. Agriculture - EAGGF - Clearance of accounts - Refusal to charge to the EAGGF expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules - Irregularity related to the financial conditions governing the implementation of the Community rules - Contestation by the Member State concerned - Burden of proof

(Council Regulation No 729/70)

Summary

1. The principle of res judicata extends only to the matters of fact actually or necessarily settled by a judgment of the Court.

2. In matters concerning the financing of the common agricultural policy by the EAGGF, it is for the Commission, where it intends to disallow expenditure declared by a Member State, to prove an infringement of the Community rules. If the Commission establishes such an infringement, the Member State concerned must then, if appropriate, demonstrate that the Commission committed an error as to the financial consequences to be drawn from it.

In a particular case where it is not possible to draw a distinction between the irregularity and its financial consequences, in so far as the irregularity relates to the financial conditions under which an operation required by the Community rules was carried out, it is for the Member State concerned, which is familiar with the manner in which the operation was conducted, to prove that it complied with the requirements imposed on it.