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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions) >> Thomsen (Agriculture) [2002] EUECJ C-401/99 (20 June 2002) URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/2002/C40199.html Cite as: [2002] EUECJ C-401/99 |
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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Sixth Chamber)
20 June 2002 (1)
(Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92 - Additional levy in the milk and milk products sector - Reference quantities - Conditions of transfer to lessor in the event of the surrender of leased lands - Notion of 'producer')
In Case C-401/99,
REFERENCE to the Court under Article 234 EC by the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Oberverwaltungsgericht (Germany) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
Peter Heinrich Thomsen
and
Amt für ländliche Räume Husum,
joined parties:
Helga Henningsen,
Ute Henningsen
and
Peter Henningsen,
on the interpretation of Articles 7(2) and 9(c) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92, of 28 December 1992, establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector (OJ 1992 L 405, p. 1),
THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),
composed of: N. Colneric, President of the Second Chamber, acting for the President of the Sixth Chamber, C. Gulmann and V. Skouris (Rapporteur), Judges,
Advocate General: P. Léger,
Registrar: H.A. Rühl, Principal Administrator,
after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:
- P. Thomsen, by U. Jensen, Rechtsanwalt,
- the Amt für ländliche Räume Husum, by B. Mildenstein, acting as Agent,
- H. Henningsen and U. Henningsen as well as P. Henningsen, by A. Piltz, Rechtsanwalt,
- the German Government, by W.-D. Plessing and B. Muttelsee-Schön, acting as Agents,
- the Commission of the European Communities, by M. Niejahr, acting as Agent,
having regard to the Report for the Hearing,
after hearing the oral observations of Mr Thomsen, of the German Government and of the Commission at the hearing on 7 June 2001,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 20 September 2001,
gives the following
The legal framework
The Community provisions
'... reference quantities available to producers who have not marketed milk or other milk products for one of the 12-month periods shall be allocated to the national reserve and may be reallocated in accordance with the first subparagraph. Where the producer resumes production of milk or other milk products within a period to be determined by the Member State, he shall be granted a reference quantity in accordance with Article 4(1) no later than 1 April following the date of his application.'
'1. Reference quantities available on a holding shall be transferred with the holding in the case of sale, lease or transfer by inheritance to the producers taking it over in accordance with detailed rules to be determined by the Member States taking account of the areas used for dairy production or other objective criteria and, where applicable, of any agreement between the parties. Any part of the reference quantity which is not transferred with the holding shall be added to the national reserve.
...
2. Where there is no agreement between the parties, in the case of rural leases due to expire without any possibility of renewal on similar terms, or in situations involving comparable legal effects, the reference quantities available on the holdings in question shall be transferred in whole or in part to the producers taking them over, in accordance with provisions adopted or to be adopted by the Member States, taking account of the legitimate interests of the parties.'
'For the purposes of this Regulation:
...
(c) producer means a natural or legal person or a group of natural or legal persons farming a holding within the geographical territory of a Member State:
- selling milk or other milk products directly to the consumer,
- and/or supplying the purchaser'.
The national provisions
The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling
'(1) Is Article 7(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92, of 28 December 1992, establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector to be construed as meaning that, on the expiry of rural leases, the reference quantities available on the holdings in question may be transferred in whole or in part in accordance with provisions adopted or to be adopted by the Member States, taking account of the legitimate interests of the parties, only if at the time of surrender the lessors are producers as defined in Article 9(c) of Regulation No 3950/92?
(2) If the notion of producer in Article 7(2) is to be understood in a broader sense, is a transfer in such cases also possible where the lessors do not envisage taking up the marketing of milk but are desirous of transferring the reference quantities together with the land to third parties?
(3) If the answer to (2) is affirmative, must the third parties to whom the reference quantities are to be transferred be producers as defined in Article 9(c) of Regulation No 3950/92?'
The questions referred
Observations submitted to the Court
Findings of the Court
Costs
47. The costs incurred by the German Government and by the Commission, which have submitted observations to the Court, are not recoverable. Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court.
On those grounds,
THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),
in answer to the questions referred to it by the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Oberverwaltungsgericht by order of 22 September 1999, hereby rules:
On a proper construction of Article 7(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3950/92, of 28 December 1992, establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector, upon expiry of a rural lease of a dairy holding, the transfer in whole or part to the lessor of the reference quantity attached to that holding is possible only where the lessor has the status of a 'producer' within the meaning of Article 9(c) of that regulation or, at the date of expiry of the lease, transfers the reference quantity available to a third party who has that status. For the purposes of the attribution of the relevant reference quantities to lessors under Article 7(2) of Regulation No 3950/92, it is sufficient that, on the abovementioned date, the lessor can show that he is preparing in a definite manner to take up as soon as possible the activity of a 'producer' within the meaning of Article 9(c) of that regulation.
Colneric
|
Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 20 June 2002.
R. Grass F. Macken
Registrar President of the Sixth Chamber
1: Language of the case: German.