Opinion of Mr Advocate General Darmon
Mr President,
Members of the Court,
1. On 14 January 1983, the Commission of the European Communities adopted two decisions relating to the clearance of the accounts submitted by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in respect of expenditure for the 1976 and 1977 financial years financed by the European Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF).
Council Regulation No 816/70 of 28 April 1970 contains further provisions on the common organization of the market in wine. It takes account, in particular, of the need to stabilize markets and ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community concerned and makes arrangements so that intervention measures may be taken in the form of aid for private storage ... of table wines. Article 6 (1) of the regulation provides as follows :
The detailed rules applying to such intervention measures were laid down by Regulation No 1437/70 of the Commission and subsequently by Commission Regulation No 2015/76.
The first subparagraph of Article 3 (1) of Regulation No 1437/70 provides that Intervention agencies shall conclude contracts only for table wines. The second paragraph of Article 1 of Regulation No 2015/76 provides that storage contracts may be concluded, not only for table wines, but also for grape musts and concentrated grape musts.
Several of the provisions of Regulation No 2015/76 were amended by Commission Regulation No 2206/77 of 5 October 1977, which, among other things, recasts Article 6. The new Article 6 (7) reads as follows:
The third recital in the preamble to Regulation No 2206/77 states:
Whereas, so as to avoid abuses, it should be stipulated [confirmer- confirmed is used in the French version] that a table wine which has been the subject of a storage contract may not be subsequently recognized as a quality wine psr.
The basis of this dispute is a disagreement between the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Commission over the régime for quality wines and the interpretation of the relevant texts.
3. In the words of a memorandum drawn up on 3 March 1983 by the Luxembourg Ministry for Agriculture, Viticulture, Water Control and Forestry, under the Luxembourg system
4. The Commission disagrees completely with all those contentions.
5. The Court therefore has to choose between two interpretations of the Community rules relating to the organization of the market in wine :
6. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has submitted an application in the alternative for the grant of part of the storage aid requested.
7. The Commission, in its rejoinder, states that:
8. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg seeks the sums in question as financing under the common agricultural policy.
1 Translated from the French.
2 Decision 83/38/EEC (Official Journal L 38 of 10 February 1983, p. 32) as regards the 1976 financial year and Decision 83/49/EEC (Official Journal L 40 of 12 February 1983, p. 57) as regards the 1977 financial year.
3 Article 8 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1437/70 of the Commission of 20 July 1970 on storage contracts for table wine (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1970 (II), p. 469) and Article 8 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2015/76 of 13 August 1976 on storage contracts fot table wine, grape must and concentrated grape must (Official Journal L 221 of 14 August 1976, p. 20).
4 Regulation (EEC) No 817/70 of the Council of 28 April 1970 laying down special provisions relating to quality wines produced in specified regions (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1970, (I), p. 252).
5 Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 of the Council of 28 April 1970 laying down additional provisions for the common organization of the market in wine (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1970, (I), p. 234).
6 Official Journal L 255 of 6 October 1977, p. 13.
7 Judgment of 7 February 1979 in Case 11/76 Netherlands v Commission [1979] ECR 248, at p. 279, paragraph 9 of the grounds for the decision.
8 Regulation (EEC) No 1153/75 of the Commission of 30 April 1975 prescribing the form of the accompanying documents for wine products and specifying the obligations of wine producers and traders other than retailers (Official Journal, L 113 of 1 May 1975, p. 1).
9 Official Journal, English Special Edition 1970 (I) p. 218.