Europa The limit-date of 1 August for fixing the intervention price and derived intervention prices in Article 3(4) and (5) of Regulation No 1785/81 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector is not strict. Therefore, failure to observe that date cannot have the effect of rendering invalid Regulations No 1580/96 and 1361/98 fixing, for the 1998/99 marketing year, intervention prices after 1 August.
Whilst the protection of legitimate expectations is one of the fundamental principles of the Community, economic operators cannot have a legitimate expectation that an existing situation which is capable of being altered by the Community institutions in the exercise of their discretionary power will be maintained; this is particularly true in an area such as the common organisation of the markets, which involves constant adjustments to meet changes in the economic situation.
Since Regulation No 1785/81 on the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector obliges the Council and the Commission each year to determine the intervention prices, minimum prices and increased prices afresh, on the basis, in particular, of the pattern of production and the pattern of consumption, economic operators can have no legitimate expectation that the prices fixed for previous marketing years will be repeated.
The statement of reasons required by Article 190 of the Treaty (now Article 253 EC) must be appropriate to the nature of the measure in question and must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the institution which adopted the contested measure so as to inform the persons concerned of the justification for the measure adopted and to enable the Court to exercise its powers of review. The requirements in respect of the statement of reasons must be assessed with regard not only to its wording but also to its context and to all the legal rules governing the matter in question. It is not required to specify the often very numerous and complex matters of fact or of law dealt with in those regulations, provided that the latter fall within the general scheme of the body of measures of which they form part.
Citations:
[2002] EUECJ C-340/98, [2002] ECR I-2663
Links:
Jurisdiction:
European
Cited by:
Cited – Marks and Spencer Plc v Customs and Excise HL 28-Jul-2005
The claimant had sought repayment of overpaid VAT, and the respondent resisted arguing that this would be an unjust enrichment. A reference to the European Court was sought.
Held: It was not possible to say that the House’s opinion was acte . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European
Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.168563
