Gascogne Limousin viandes SA v Office national interprofessionnel des viandes de l'élevage et de l'aviculture (Ofival).

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Writing for the Court: Schintgen
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:1999:630
• Date: 16 December 1999
• Docket Number: C-56/99
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling

Important legal notice

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61999C0056

Opinion of Mr Advocate General Cosmas delivered on 16 December 1999. - Gascogne Limousin viandes SA v Office national interprofessionnel des viandes de l'élevage et de l'aviculture (Ofival). - Reference for a preliminary ruling: Tribunal administratif de Paris - France. - Beef and veal - Premium for early marketing of calves - Grant thereof dependent on average carcase weight of calves slaughtered in each Member State during 1995 - Validity under Article 40(3) of the EC Treaty (now, following amendment, Article 34(2) EC. - Case C-56/99.

European Court reports 2000 Page I-03079

Opinion of the Advocate-General

I - Introduction

1. In the present case the Tribunal Administratif (Administrative Court), Paris (France) is raising an issue, by way of a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice, concerning the validity of the Community regime governing early marketing of calves, as laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 2222/96 of 18 November 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 on the common organization of the market in beef and veal, and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2311/96 of 2 December 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3886/92 laying down detailed rules for the application of premium schemes in the beef and veal sector.

II - Applicable Community law

A - EC Treaty provisions

2. Amongst Community policies the EC Treaty expressly mentions (Title II) agriculture (Articles 38 to 47, now Articles 32 to 38 EC) to which the common market established by it is to extend (Article 38 of the EC Treaty, now, as subsequently amended, Article 32 EC).

3. Article 39(1) of the EC Treaty (now Article 33(1) EC) sets out the objectives of the common agricultural policy which are, inter alia, (b) to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture; and (c) to stabilise markets.

4. Under Article 40(2) and (3) of the EC Treaty (now, following amendment, Article 34(1) and (2) EC):

2. In order to attain the objectives set out in Article 39 a common organisation of agricultural markets shall be established.

The organisation shall take one of the following forms, depending on the product concerned:

(...)

(c) a European market organisation.

3. (...)

The common organisation shall be limited to pursuit of the objectives set out in Article 39 and shall exclude any discrimination between producers or consumers within the Community.

(...)

B - Establishment of a common organisation of the market in beef and veal

5. Pursuant to the provisions of Articles 42 (now Article 36 EC) and 43 (now, following amendment, Article 37 EC), the Council adopted Regulation (EEC) No 805/68, which codified the basic provisions concerning the common organisation of the market in beef and veal.

6. In order to restore equilibrium to the market in beef and veal which had been seriously disturbed, mainly as a result of consumer fears concerning bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a sharp fall in consumption, and the resultant collapse in prices paid to producers, the Council adopted Regulation No 2222/96. This regulation includes a certain number of measures to ensure that production is brought more closely into line with consumption.

7. Taking the view that improvement of the market in beef and veal required a reduction in the number of finished animals offered on the market with greater encouragement for withdrawal and/or marketing of young, light animals, the Council, first, modified the rules governing the processing premium in respect of young male calves originating in the Community which are withdrawn from production before they are over 10 days old, or 20 days old provided they take the necessary measures to ensure that in the latter case the animals are excluded from entering the human food chain (Article 4i(1) of Regulation No 805/68, as amended by Regulation No 2222/96) and, secondly, made provision in paragraph 2 of that article for the grant of an early marketing premium for calves.

8. Under the terms of Article 4i(2):

2. Member States may, until 30 November 1998, grant an early marketing premium for calves. The premium shall be granted on the slaughter, in a Member State, of each calf:

- of a weight of not more than the average slaughter weight of calves in the Member State concerned, less 15%. The average slaughter weight per Member State shall be that deriving from Eurostat statistics for 1995 or any other official published statistical information for that year accepted by the Commission,

- held, immediately before slaughter, in the Member State of slaughter for a period to be determined.

9. Moreover, Article 4i(4), (5) and (6) of Regulation No 805/68, as amended by Regulation No 2222/96, provided as follows:

4. Save in duly justified exceptional cases, the premiums referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 must be paid within five months of the date of submission of the application.

5. In accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27, the Commission:

- shall adopt detailed rules for the application of this Article,

- shall determine the maximum calf slaughter weights referred to in paragraph 2 which are applicable in each Member State,

- shall set the processing premium at a level or, where appropriate, levels enabling a sufficient number of calves to be withdrawn from production in line with market requirements,

- shall set the early marketing premium at a level enabling a sufficient number of calves to be slaughtered in line with market requirements,

- may, at the request of a Member State, authorise the early marketing premium to be applied on a differentiated regional basis within a Member State, provided that the animals have been held immediately before slaughter in the slaughter area for a period to be determined,

- may suspend the granting of either or both of the premiums referred to in this Article.

6. The Commission shall check, six months after the entry into force of the schemes referred to in this Article, whether such schemes have achieved satisfactory results.

Should this not be the case, the Commission shall submit an appropriate proposal to the Council, on which the Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall decide taking into account, in particular, the distribution of adjustment efforts between the Member States and possible distortions to trade.

10. The adoption of the foregoing provisions is justified as follows in the ninth, tenth and eleventh recitals in the preamble to Regulation No 2222/96:

Whereas the introduction of an early marketing premium for calves may also help to restore some balance to the market; whereas, in order to ensure that such a premium is properly geared to the production conditions in the Member States it is necessary to define the eligibility of calves in the Member States in terms of the statistically determined average carcase weight of calves slaughtered in each Member State; whereas such an average weight may vary within a given Member State; whereas it is necessary therefore to make provision for the Commission to authorise regionalised application of the premium; whereas, in order to avoid deflections of trade, a retention period is necessary; whereas, for the same reasons as in the case of the processing premium, setting the amount of the premium should be the Commission's responsibility;

Whereas production and consumer expectations vary considerably between Member States; whereas they should therefore be given a choice between the processing premium and the early marketing premium, but must be required to implement one or the other during the period 1 December 1996 to 30 November 1998;

Whereas after six months a check should be carried out on the early marketing scheme for calves and the processing premium scheme and on whether such schemes have been correctly implemented, with regard in particular to the effect achieved compared with the objective of reducing by about 1 000 000 the number of calves entering red meat production, to the distribution of adjustment efforts between the Member States and to possible distortions to trade.

11. On the basis, mainly, of Article 4i(5) of Regulation No 805/68, as amended by Regulation No 2222/96, the Commission adopted Regulation No 2311/96 in which it laid down the conditions for the grant of early marketing premium for calves, by replacing Article 50 of Regulation (EEC) No 3886/92 entitled Payment of the premium with the following provision:

1. A Member State may grant the early marketing premium for veal calves (hereinafter called "premium") only in respect of animals slaughtered on its territory and having a carcase weight no greater than the weight referred to in Annex IV.

(...).

12. Annex IV, which determines maximum carcase weight of veal calves in the Member States as referred to in Article 50, (1), is set out as follows:

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13. Under Article 50(3) of Regulation No 3886/92, as amended by Regulation No...