ECJ The community institutions alone have power to determine the economic use to which community tariff quotas must be put and, consequently, to lay down how they are to be administered. To this end they may provide access to the quota for any user, or themselves decide to what use it must be put, or, again, leave member states free to use it as they see fit in their own interests. Under this last alternative, the grant to the states of this freedom requires a declared intention to this effect on the part of the institutions of the community and the absence of any direction as to the use which is to be made of a quota must be interpreted as freedom for all interested to have access to it. The provisions of regulation no 92/68 and regulation no 110/69 on the delegation of administrative arrangements to the member states must be interpreted as meaning that, in the absence of any direction by the council as to use, the reference in these regulations to the ‘administrative’ provisions of member states cannot be regarded as going outside the confines of the technical and procedural rules designed to ensure conformity with the general terms of the quota and equality of treatment for those entitled to make use of it. These provisions do not give states authority to lay down rules governing the use to which their allotted share is put.
Citations:
C-131/73, R-131/73, [1973] EUECJ R-131/73
Links:
European, Customs and Excise
Updated: 21 May 2022; Ref: scu.132129
