Opinion of Mr Advocate General Mancini

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. Ferriere San Carlo SpA asks the Court to declare void the decision of 9 October 1985 in which the Commission of the European Communities imposed on it a fine of ECU 117500 on the ground that it had exceeded the quota for reinforcing bars (Category V) which it could deliver on the common market during the last quarter of 1983.

2. Let me now consider the substance of the application. Reduced to its essentials, the applicant's argument is very simple. It claims that the new rules do not expressly prohibit the sale outside the quota system of products in stock, on condition, however, that they were lawfully accumulated, that is to say, in compliance with the production quotas. That is precisely the case in regard to the consignment of bars for which the fine was imposed; it comes from a stock of 7327 tonnes which was held in stock on 30 June 1983 and declared by San Carlo to the supervisory authorities. Furthermore, that stock was perfectly lawful because during the period from 1 July 1982 to 30 June 1983 the undertaking scrupulously observed the production quotas allocated to it.

3. The application cannot be upheld. With regard to the first argument, I must point out that if undertakings were really entitled to sell, without any limitations as to deliveries, stocks accumulated under the production quota system (and thus, to stock part of the production allocated to them each quarter in order to sell it later outside the quota system on the common market, which is the most advantageous) the Community authorities would no longer be able to control the development of supply and demand. However, in Section 1 I have shown that that control is one of the most important objectives of the reform introduced in 1981.

4. Having regard to the foregoing considerations, I propose that the Court should dismiss the application brought on 15 November 1985 by Ferriere San Carlo SpA and, in accordance with Article 69 (2) of the Rules of Procedure, order the applicant to pay the costs.

1 Translated from the Italian.