Judgment_paragraph 2. · 6/77

2.The levy to be charged is that applicable on the day of importation (Article 15 (1)), but traders may have the levy payable by them fixed in advance. Under Article 15 (2), as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2429/72 of the Council (OJ, English Special Edition 1972 (November) p. 48):‘However, for the products referred to in Article 1 (a) and (b) the levy applicable on the day on which the application for the certificate is lodged, adjusted on the basis of the threshold price valid in the month of importation, shall be applied, if the party concerned so requests at the same time as the application for the certificate is made …, to imports effected during the period of validity of the certificate. In this case a premium, fixed at the same time as the levy, shall be added to the levy.’The general rules of this system were fixed by the Council in Regulation No 140/67/EEC (OJ, English Special Edition 1967, p. 91). This regulation essentially contains rules concerning the ‘premium’ .Under Articles 2 and 4 thereof:Article 2‘When, for one of the products listed in Article 1 (a) and (b) of Regulation No 120/67/EEC, the cif price is higher than the cif forward delivery price for the same product, the rate of the premium shall, subject to the provisions set out below, be equal to the difference between the two prices’.Article 4‘If the cif price is equal to the cif forward delivery price or exceeds the latter by not more than 0.125 units of account per metric ton, the premium shall be equal to 0 units of account.’The detailed rules for the application of the system in force at the time of the facts of the main action set out below are those fixed by Regulation (EEC) No 2637/70 of the Commission (OJ, English Special Edition 1970 (III), p. 932).