Case C-384/05
Johan Piek
v
Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuurbeheer en Visserij
(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the
Hoge Raad der Nederlanden)
(Milk and milk products – Additional levy on milk – Special reference quantity – Second subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EEC) No857/84)
Summary of the Judgment
Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Milk and milk products – Additional levy on milk
(Council Regulation No 857/84, Art. 3(1), second subpara.)
The first subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 857/84 adopting general rules for the application of the levy referred to in Article 5c of Regulation No 804/68 confers a discretion on the Member States in deciding whether or not to allocate special reference quantities to producers who entered into a development plan before 1 March 1984, and in determining, if necessary, the size of those allocations in order to take account of a development plan in the course of implementation or a development plan implemented after 1 January 1981.
Nothing in the wording of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 857/84 prevents a Member State from limiting the category of producers who may obtain a special reference quota to producers who incurred investment obligations after 1 September 1981.
Moreover, the pursuit of its objective, consisting in enabling the Member States to adapt the reference quantities in order to take into account the special situations of certain producers, must, as is apparent from Article 5 of that regulation, be pursued within the limits of the reserve constituted by the Member State concerned within the guaranteed quantity. Such a constraint may be capable of justifying a temporal limitation of the investment obligations that may be taken into account in that regard.
It follows that the second subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 857/84 must be interpreted as not precluding a national rule which restricts the category of milk producers who may obtain a special reference quantity to those who incurred investment obligations after 1 September 1981 but before 1March1984.
(see paras 29-31, 39-41, 47, operative part)