Europa 1. Member states – sovereignty – limitation in favour of community institutions – fiscal sovereignty involved 2. Agriculture – common organization of the markets – levy – concept 3. Agriculture – common organization of the markets – levy – legality – validity of rules not affected by the nature of the levy 4. Agriculture – poultry meat – common organization of the markets – sluice-gate price – internal free-at-frontier price – levy – increase by the importing member state – legality (regulation no 22 of the council, article 6(3) and (4)) 5. Agriculture – poultry meat – common organization of the markets – imports from third countries – sluice-gate price – internal free-at-frontier price – levy – increase – individual offer prices not to be taken into consideration (regulation no 22 of the council, article 6(3); regulation nos 109/62 and 135/62 of the commission) 6. Institutions of the EEC – common provisions – regulations – entry into force – date – power of the institutions to fix that date – review by the court (EEC treaty, article 191) 1. When the member states conferred powers on the community institutions, they agreed to a corresponding limitation in their sovereign rights. In accordance with the treaty the fiscal sphere is not automatically excluded from those limitations. 2. The agricultural levy, which is based on community law, and not on national law, constitutes a change regulating external trade and is connected with a common price policy, whatever similarities it may have to a tax or a customs duty. 3. The treaty establishing the EEC conferred on the institutions of that community the right to establish systems of levy directly applicable in the member states in order to set up a common organization of agricultural markets; consequently the validity of the said regulation cannot be affected by the character of the levy thus established as either a customs duty or a tax. 4. Pursuant to article 6(3) and (4) of regulation no 22, the general methods of fixing the amounts additional to the levy are to be determined by the commission or, if necessary, by the council; the same provisions authorize the importing member state to fix the amount additional to the levy, whilst it falls within the powers of the commission or, if necessary, of the council according to the procedure laid down in article 17, when a decision has been taken to formulate a measure jointly. 5. The validity of regulation no 135/62 of the commission with regard to regulation no 22 of the council and regulation no 109/62 of the commission is not affected by the fact that it did not take into account the individual offer price in fixing the additional levy. 6. The liberty granted by the treaty to the authors of a regulation to fix the date of its entry into force cannot be considered as excluding any review by the court, particularly with regard to any retroactive effect.
Citations:
C-17/67
European
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.131847
