Judgment_paragraph 1. · 99/74

1.Article 9 (1) of Regulation No 120/67/EEC of the Council of 13 June 1967 on the common organization of the market in cereals (OJ 1967, p. 2269) provides that a carry-over payment may be granted in respect of stocks of certain cereals harvested in the Community remaining at the end of the marketing year.With regard to maize, it is provided that such a payment must necessarily be made if certain conditions are fulfilled. In Regulation No 1406/73 (OJ 1973, L 139, p. 30) the Council fixed the amount of such payments in respect of stocks remaining at the end of the 1972/73 marketing year and certain conditions for the grant thereof.In Regulation No 1554/73 (OJ L 156, p. 13) the Commission laid down further conditions for the grant of such payments. Article 3 (1) of the latter regulation states that a carry-over payment shall be granted by the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the stocks are situated; this authority is the intervention agency or any other agency appointed by the Member State (Article 6 (4) of Regulation No 1554/73).Article 16 (1) of Regulation No 120/67/EEC provides that the difference between quotations on the world market for products covered by the organization of the market and prices in the Community may be covered by an export refund to the extent necessary to enable those products to be exported.Article 16 (2) provides that the refund, which is fixed by the Commission in accordance with the Management Committee procedure, shall be the same for the whole Community and that it shall be granted on application by the person concerned.According to the first indent of Article 7 (1) of Regulation No 139/67/EEC of the Council laying down general rules for granting export refunds on cereals and criteria for fixing the amount of such refunds (OJ 1967, L 125, p. 2453), the refund shall be paid upon proof that the products in question have been exported from the Community.Regulation No 1041/67/EEC of the Commission, on detailed rules for the application of export refunds on products subject to a single price system (OJ L 314, p. 9) provides that the Member State from whose territory the goods are exported is empowered to pay the refund: ‘The refund shall be paid by the Member State in whose territory the customs export formalities were concluded’ (Article 10 (1)).Pursuant to Article 227 (1) of the EEC Treaty that Treaty applies to the French Republic. Pursuant to paragraph (2) thereof, with regard to the French overseas departments, the general and particular provisions of the Treaty relating to agriculture, save for Article 40 (4), shall be applicable as soon as the Treaty enters into force.According to the second subparagraph of Article 227 (2) ‘The conditions under which the other provisions of this Treaty are to apply shall be determined, within two years of the entry into force of this Treaty, by decisions of the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission’.Under Article 40 (4) of the EEC Treaty, ‘In order to enable the common organization referred to in paragraph (2) to attain its objectives, one or more agricultural guidance and guarantee funds may be set up’.The European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) was set up on the basis of Article 40 (4) of the EEC Treaty by Regulation No 25 of the Council of 4 April 1962 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (OJ 1962, L 30, p. 991).The EAGGF finances refunds on exports to third countries, granted in accordance with the Community rules within the framework of the common organization of the agricultural markets (Article 2 (1) in conjunction with Article 1 (2) (a) of Regulation No 729/70 of the Council of 21 April 1970 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (OJ 1970, L 94, p. 13).Carry-over payments for stocks are available under the EAGGF [Article 2 (d) of Regulation No 787/69 of the Council of 22 April 1969 on the financing of the costs of intervention on the internal markets in cereals and rice (OJ L 105, p. 4)].Article 3 of the Council Decision of 21 April 1970 (OJ 1970, L 94, p. 19) provides that ‘From 1 January 1971 the total revenue from the agricultural levies shall be entered in the budget of the Communities’.

Société des grands moulins des Antilles v Commission of the European Communities (99/74)

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