Opinion of Mr Advocate General Tesauro delivered on 20 April 1989

1 Original language: Italian.

2 See the judgments in Case 138/78 Stalling v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas [1979] ECR 713; Case 179/84 Bozzetti v Invemizzi [1985] ECR 2301; Case 300/86 Van Landschoot v Mera NV[i9M] ECR 3443 and Case 64/87 Versele-Laga v Robegra NV[1987] ECR 1961.

3 The paragraph in question provides (hat lhe levy referred to in this article shall be regarded as one of the intervention measures designed to stabilize agricultural markets and shall be allocated to the financing of costs in the cereals sector.

4 These observations too, made in the context of the levy in the milk sector, may obviously be applied to the levy introduced in the cereals sector. Besides the fact that, as already mentioned, they serve a similar purpose, it should be mentioned that structurally both are calculated on the basis of a single rate (1.5 to 3% for milk; 3% in the first two years for cereals) for a uniform basic taxable amount (the target price for milk; the intervention price for cereals). Moreover, in both cases, as has been seen, the burden of the levy falls on the agricultural producer.

5 Biovilaci ££C[1984] ECR 4057, paragraph 17.

6 The sixth recital in the preamble to Regulation No 2040/86 provides that:... one of the objectives of the co-responsibility levy system is to make producers more aware of the realities of the market; ... to that end, the burden of the levy should be passed on to them; ... an invoicing system which takes account of that requirement should accordingly be introduced; ... the principle whereby the levy is to be passed on is to apply notwithstanding any contractual clause to the contrary. Article 5(1) of the regulation provides that:Operators who carry out the operations referred to in Article 1(1) shall pass on the co-responsibility levy to their suppliers. The levy shall also be passed on at each transaction prior thereto, as far as supply by the producer. Supporting documents for each of the transactions referred to in the first subparagraph shall indicate separately the amount of the levy deducted.