Greece v Council: ECJ 29 Mar 1990

Europa The need for a complete and consistent review of legality requires the first paragraph of Article 173 to be construed as not depriving the Court of jurisdiction to consider, in proceedings for the annulment of a measure based on a provision of the EEC Treaty, a submission concerning the infringement of a rule of the EAEC or ECSC Treaties. In the context of the organization of the powers of the Community, the choice of the legal basis for a measure, which may influence its content in so far as it determines the procedure to be followed for its adoption, must be based on objective factors which are amenable to judicial review. Although Article 190 of the Treaty compels a reference to the Commission’ s proposal in measures which may be adopted only on a proposal from the Commission, it does not thereby impose the obligation to indicate whether or not the measure in question is in conformity with that proposal. By subjecting the release for free circulation of certain agricultural products originating in non-member countries to compliance with maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination, Regulation No 3955/87 pursues the aim of ensuring that agricultural products and processed agricultural products intended for human consumption and likely to be contaminated are introduced into the Community only according to common arrangements which safeguard the health of consumers, maintain, without having unduly adverse effects on trade between the Community and non-member countries, the unified nature of the market and prevent deflections of trade. It follows that, according to its objective and its content, the regulation seeks to regulate trade between the Community and non-member countries; accordingly it comes within the common commercial policy within the meaning of Article 113 of the EEC Treaty.

Citations:

C-62/88, [1990] EUECJ C-62/88

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Updated: 23 May 2022; Ref: scu.134832