Community law, and in particular the machinery of the common agricultural policy laid down for the cereals sector in, inter alia, Regulation No 2727/75 on the common organization of the market in cereals, precludes a Member State from levying a charge on a limited number of agricultural products over a prolonged period where that charge is likely to encourage economic agents to alter the structure of their production or consumption. It is for the national court to determine whether the charge at issue in a dispute before it has had such effects.
A parafiscal charge imposed on a basic product constitutes a charge having equivalent effect to a customs duty prohibited by Article 12 of the Treaty, when the charge is definitively levied on the importation of certain products, whereas it is reimbursed where those products are manufactured on the national territory, or when the revenue from it is entirely used for the benefit of domestic products only, thereby fully offsetting the charge imposed on those products. If that revenue is allocated in part to those benefits, thus offsetting only partly the burden borne by domestic products, the charge in question constitutes discriminatory taxation prohibited by Article 95 of the Treaty.
The fact that a parafiscal charge imposed on a basic product is reimbursed on the manufacture of derived products within national territory, whilst it is levied definitively on the importation of those derived products, or the revenue from it is used for the benefit of domestic products only, thereby offsetting the charge imposed on those products, may constitute State aid incompatible with the common market if the conditions for the application of Article 92 are met; that assessment falls within the competence of the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down for that purpose in Article 93 of the Treaty.
C-149/91, [1992] EUECJ C-149/91, [1992] ECR I-3899
Bailii
European
Cited by:
Cited – Bloomsbury International Ltd v Sea Fish Industry Authority and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs SC 15-Jun-2011
The 1995 Regulations imposed a levy on fish both caught and first landed in the UK and also on imported fish products. The claimants, importers challenged the validity of the latter charges, saying that they went beyond the power given by the 1981 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Agriculture
Updated: 30 November 2021; Ref: scu.160719
