Opinion of Mr advocate general Reischl

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

The case in respect of which I give my opinion today is concerned with the compatibility of some features of what the French Government calls a national organization of the market in mutton and lamb with the provisions of Community law.

In its application the Commission has given particulars of this French system which is administered by the Office National Interprofessionnel du Bétail et des Viandes [National Cattle and Meat Trades Board] and whose import regulations — leaving out of account non-member countries — in practice only have relevance now in relation to the United Kingdom. I take the liberty of referring to this description and of merely mentioning the following features of the system by means of which it is intended to stabilize prices on the French market, which is of course unable to obtain sufficient supplies from home production.

Thus for example, the importation of frozen mutton and lamb, with certain exceptions, is in principle forbidden. In so far as such importation is permitted — that is, in the case of live animals and fresh and refrigerated meat — national threshold prices play a part and an import licence is required. It appears that the importation procedure is to grant a general import licence restricted as to the amount to be imported and its duration, within the framework of which individual import licences are issued. Imports are permitted only when the prices quoted in France reach or exceed the level of the threshold price. Should these quoted prices in France stay below the threshold price for one week then the issue of import licences is suspended and resumed only if the level of the threshold price is reached in the following week. If the level of the threshold price on the French market is not reached for two successive weeks that leads to a ban on imports which is lifted only if the level of the threshold price is exceeded' during two consecutive weeks.

In addition a surcharge is levied on the importation of live animals for slaughter and on fresh and refrigerated meat. Six different flat rates are applicable in this connexion which vary according to the national prices quoted weekly. These rates, like the threshold price, are adjusted at regular intervals to the trend of costs; when the surcharge is calculated the trend of the currencies of the exporting countries, for example the depreciation of the pound sterling, is taken into consideration.

This set of rules has already been the subject-matter of Case 58/77, in which the application was brought by the Irish Republic, and which was discontinued, because the French and Irish Governments reached a settlement under the terms whereof as from 1 January 1978 Irish mutton and lamb were granted free access to the French market under certain conditions.

By a letter of January 1978 the British Government protested to the Commission against the discriminatory treatment of British traders interested in export and in the following month it also complained to the Commission about the notification by the French Government of an increase in the import surcharge.

The Commission, which considers that the French rules infringe the Treaty in so far as they impede trade, thereupon initiated proceedings under Article 169 of the EEC Treaty for a declaration that the French Government had infringed the Treaty. The Directorate-General for Agriculture had already sent a telex message to the French Government on 16 January 1978 requesting it to give its views, which was done on 21 January 1978. The proceedings were then initiated by a letter from the Commission dated 2 February 1978 to the Permanent Representation of France. The latter expressed its opinion on this letter in a letter of 18 April 1978, in which special attention was drawn to the serious economic consequences of an immediate discontinuance of the import system in view of the lower British price level and the fact that there were still no appropriate Community rules. Nevertheless the Commission delivered a reasoned opinion on 22 May 1978. As France did not comply with the request contained in it within the period of one month which had been laid down, the Commission finally brought the matter before the Court of Justice on 23 October 1978.

The Commission in its application claims that the Court should declare that the French Republic, by continuing after 1 January 1978 to apply its national system for the importation of mutton and lamb from the United Kingdom, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 12 and 30 of the EEC Treaty.

During the oral procedure the Commission, having regard to the judgment of the Court of 29 March 1979 in Case 231/78, Commission of the European Communities v United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, [1979] ECR, and to the time-limits laid down in Articles 35, 36 and 42 of the Act of Accession, amended its application by claiming that the Court should declare that France had failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty from the date of accession in respect of quantitative restrictions on imports, from 1 January 1975 in respect of measures having equivalent effect and from 1 July 1977 wich reference to charges having an effect equivalent to customs duties.

My view on these claims, which the French Government has continued to dispute energetically during the oral procedure, is as follows.

1 Translated from the German.