Azienda Agricola Disarò Antonio and Others v Cooperativa Milka 2000 Soc. coop. arl.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Writing for the Court: Ilešič
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2009:304
• Date: 14 May 2009
• Docket Number: C-34/08
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling

Case C-34/08

Azienda Agricola Disarò Antonio and Others

v

Cooperativa Milka 2000 Soc. coop. arl

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale ordinario di Padova)

(Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Milk quotas – Levy – Validity of Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 – Objectives of the common agricultural policy – Principles of non-discrimination and proportionality – Determination of the national reference quantity – Criteria – Relevance of the criterion of a Member State’s milk production deficit)

Summary of the Judgment

1. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Objectives

(Art. 33(1) EC; Council Regulation No 1788/2003)

2. Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Milk and milk products – Additional levy on milk

(Arts 33(1) EC and 34(1) EC; Council Regulation No 1788/2003)

1. The fact that Regulation No 1788/2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector does not take into account, for the purposes of determining the national reference quantity, the fact that the Member State concerned has a milk production deficit is not capable of affecting the compatibility of that regulation with the objectives laid down, in particular, in Article 33(1)(a) and (b) EC.

The regulation comes under the objective of stabilising the markets, which is expressly laid down in Article 33(1)(c) EC. The levy system provided for by the regulation aims, by limiting milk production, to re-establish the balance between supply and demand in the milk market, which is characterised by structural surpluses. That purpose therefore falls within the ambit of the objectives of rational development of milk production and, by contributing to a stabilisation of the income of the agricultural community affected, that of ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural community.

(see paras 47, 53, 57, operative part 1)

2. Even if Regulation No 1788/2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector, which applies to all recipients of reference quotas alike, did in fact place a heavier burden on small producers than on large producers, it must be held that the fact that a measure adopted within the framework of the common organisation of the market may affect producers in different ways, depending upon the particular nature of their production, does not constitute discrimination if that measure is determined on the basis of objective criteria which are adapted to meet the needs of the general common organisation of the market. That is true of the milk quota and levy system, which is arranged in such a way that national and individual reference quantities are set at such a level that their total does not exceed the overall guaranteed reference quantity for each Member State. It follows that, since the claimants in the main proceedings are not – as submitted – in a different position, an analysis of the regulation in the light of the principle of non-discrimination does not disclose any factor which might affect its validity.

In addition, Regulation No 1788/2003, whose main purpose is stabilising the market in milk and milk products and which comes under the objective of stabilising markets expressly laid down in Article 33(1)(c) EC, is also compatible with the objectives laid down in Article 33(1)(a) and (b) EC, and is not manifestly inappropriate for the purposes of pursuing the objective of stabilising markets. Nor does the analysis of the regulation therefore disclose any factor which might affect its validity in the light of the principle of proportionality.

(see paras 69-70, 77, 81-83, operative part 2-3)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)

14 May 2009 (*)

(Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Milk quotas – Levy – Validity of Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 – Objectives of the common agricultural policy – Principles of non-discrimination and proportionality – Determination of the national reference quantity – Criteria – Relevance of the criterion of a Member State’s milk production deficit)

In Case C‑34/08,

REFERENCE for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Tribunale ordinario di Padova (Italy), made by decision of 23 January 2008, received at the Court on 28 January 2008, in the proceedings

Azienda Agricola Disarò Antonio and Others

v

Cooperativa Milka 2000 Soc. coop. arl,

Intervening party:

Azienda Agricola De Agostini Lorenzo,

THE COURT (First Chamber),

composed of P. Jann, President of the Chamber, M. Ilešič (Rapporteur), A. Borg Barthet, E. Levits and J.-J. Kasel, Judges,

Advocate General: V. Trstenjak,

Registrar: L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator,

having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 15 January 2009,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

– Azienda Agricola Disarò Antonio and Others, by P. Chiarelli and A. Cimino, avvocati,

– the Commission of the European Communities, by H. Tserepa‑Lacombe and D. Nardi, acting as Agents,

– the Council of the European Union, by M. Moore, A. Vitro and G. Castellan, acting as Agents,

– after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 3 March 2009,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This reference for a preliminary ruling concerns the validity of Council Regulation (EC) No 1788/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing a levy in the milk and milk products sector (OJ 2003 L 270, p. 123) in the light of the objectives of the common agricultural policy laid down in Article 33(1) EC and of the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality.

2 The reference was made in the course of proceedings brought by a number of companies – Azienda Agricola Disarò Antonio and Others (‘the claimants in the main proceedings’) – against Cooperativa Milka 2000 Soc. coop. arl (‘Cooperativa Milka’), contesting a debt relating to the levy payable by those companies in respect of the milk years 1995/1996 to 2003/2004 and the subsequent milk years.

Legal framework

3 As a result of the continuing imbalance between supply and demand in the milk sector, Council Regulation (EEC) No 856/84 of 31 March 1984 amending Regulation (EEC) No 804/68 on the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products (OJ 1984 L 90, p. 10) introduced in that sector a system of levies payable on quantities of milk that exceed a reference quantity to be determined.

4 That system entered into force on 2 April 1984. It has been extended on a number of occasions, most recently by Regulation No 1788/2003, until 31 March 2015.

5 The third recital in the preamble to that regulation states that the main purpose of the levy system is, essentially, to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand on the milk and milk products market and the resulting structural surpluses.

6 The fifth recital in the preamble to Regulation No 1788/2003 states, inter alia, that producers must be liable vis-à-vis the Member State for payment of their contribution to the levy payable, for the mere fact of having overrun their available quantity.

7 According to recital 22 in the preamble to that regulation, the main purpose of the levy is to regularise and stabilise the milk products market and, accordingly, the revenue accruing from the levy should be used to finance expenditure in the milk sector.

8 In accordance with Article 1(1) of Regulation No 1788/2003, the 12-month national reference quantities are to be fixed in Annex I to the regulation for each Member State. Under Article 1(3), the reference quantities may be reviewed in the light of the general market situation and particular conditions existing in certain Member States.

9 Under Article 1(2) of Regulation No 1788/2003, read in conjunction with Article 6 thereof, milk producers are to be allocated individual reference quantities, the sum of which may not exceed the national reference quantity. If the national reference quantity is exceeded, the Member State concerned must, under Article 3(1) of that regulation, pay the Community a levy commensurate with the overrun.

10 In accordance with the first paragraph of Article 4 of that regulation, the levy is then to be entirely allocated among the producers who have contributed to each of the overruns of the national reference quantities and, under the second paragraph of Article 4, producers are to be liable for payment of the levy merely for having overrun their reference quantities.

11 Article 6(5) of Regulation No 1788/2003 provides essentially that individual reference quantities are to be modified, where appropriate, for each of the 12-month periods concerned.

12 Article 11(1) of Regulation No 1788/2003 states essentially that purchasers are to be responsible for collecting from producers the contributions due from the latter by virtue of the levy and are to pay to the competent body of the Member State the amount of those contributions, which is to be deducted from the price paid for milk to the producers responsible for the overrun, failing which it is to be collected by any other appropriate means.

13 Under Article 22 of that regulation, the levy is to be regarded as intervention to stabilise agricultural markets, and the income from that levy is to be applied to financing expenditure in the milk sector.

The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling

14 The claimants in the main proceedings are milk producers and members of Cooperativa Milka, a cooperative society which, by virtue of its status as ‘first purchaser’, is responsible for collecting the levy in accordance with Article 11(1) of Regulation No 1788/2003.

15 Considerable sums are being demanded from those companies by way of that levy.

16 The claimants in the main proceedings objected to those sums before the Italian courts, contesting the validity of Regulation No 1788/2003, as well as the criterion on the basis of which, under that regulation, the guaranteed total quantity for the whole of the Community...