Opinion of Mr Advocate General Mancini

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. The tribunal de grande instance (Regional Court), Agen (France), has asked the Court for a preliminary ruling on the compatibility with Community law of intertrade agreements in agriculture whose application has been extended by the public authorities to all the national producers operating in a sector of the market.

2. I should like at the outset to make various general comments. Since 1983 the Community legislation makes provision for a common system for the extension of agreements not unlike the French system (Regulations Nos 3284/83 and 3285/83 of 14 November 1983, Official Journal 1983, L 325, pp. 1 and 8). As regards the abovementioned vegetables, that system entered into force on 1 January 1986 (Regulation No 1977/85 of 16 July 1985, Official Journal 1985, L 186, p. 2). For the purposes of this case therefore it can only be taken into account in so far as it is applicable to the claim concerning the contributions payable for the 1985/86 marketing year.

3. That having been said, I may now turn to the first question, whereby the national court is essentially seeking to establish whether the imposition of a minimum purchase price on independent processors of certain vegetables is compatible with various provisions of primary and secondary Community law.

4. Let us now consider the obligation to pay the contributions. I note in the first place that such charges are also levied where the French processors import their supplies of raw material from other Member States. The proceeds of these contributions which are collected by Unilec are then used by the latter, in accordance with the terms of the agreements, to subsidize initiatives to improve productivity and to promote commercially the trade in preserved vegetables.

5. On the basis of the foregoing considerations I propose that the Court should reply to the questions submitted by the tribunal de grande instance, Agen, by decision of 8 July 1987, in the proceedings between Unilec and Larroche Frères in the following terms:

1 Translated from the Italian.