Opinion of Advocate General Darmon delivered on 9 July 1992

1 Original language: Italian.

2 Gazzetta Ufficiale delta Repubblica /taliana (GURI), 30 April 1986, Supplemento Ordinario, Serie Generale No 99.

3 See ibid, at the end, Tariffa, Parte Prima.

4 GURI, 26 May 1975, No 137, p. 3298.

5 OJ, English Special Edition 1972(11), p. 324.

6 OJ 1985 L 93, p. 1.

7 Case 312/85 SpA Villa Banfi v Regione Toscana and Others [1986] ECR 4039.

8 That article defines the expression a farm suitable for development.

9 Judgment in Villa Banfi v Regione Toscana, paragraph 10.

10 Case 85/77 Società Santa Anna Azienda Agricola v INPS [1978] ECR 527.

11 Ibid., paragraphs 8 and 9.

12 Ibid., paragraph 14.

13 Regulation amending Regulations (EEC) No 797/85 and (EEC) No 1760/87 as regards the set-aside of arable land and the extensifìcadon and conversion of production (OJ 1988 L 106, p. 28).

14 Case C-190/91, Lante, [1993] ECR I-67.

15 My emphasis.

16 Regulation on improving the efficiency of agricultural structures (OJ 1991 L 218, p. 1); see Article 40 of that regulation.

17 Article 1(1) of the Regulation.

18 Ibid., Article 26(2).

19 Ibid., Article 4(1).

20 Activities provided for under Article 8 do not give rise to eligible expenditure reimbursable by the Fund (Article 26(1) and (2) of the Regulation).

21 R. Priebe, Le droit communautaire des structures agricoles, Cahiers de droit européen, 1988, No 1-2, p. 26.

22 The provisions of Article 8(5) have been taken over in Article 12(5) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2328/91, cited above.

23 See R. Priebe, op. cit., p. 27.

24 See for this view C. Blumann, Jurisclasseur Europe, Marché commun agricole, Politique commune des structures agricoles, Fascicule 1340, point 63, paragraph 2.

25 See Articles 12 and 13 of Italian Law No 153 of 9 May 1976, cited above.

26 The Regulation replaced and repealed the Directive: Article 33(2) of the Regulation.

27 See the 19th and 20th recitals in the preamble to the Directive and Article 15 thereof and the 25th recital in the preamble to the Regulation and Article 1 thereof.

28 Blumann, Jurisclasseur Europe, op. cit., point 43, my emphasis.

29 Leaving aside the last two indents of Article 3(1) of the Directive, which are not included in Article 2(5) of the Regulation. That difference has no bearing on the question referred for a preliminary ruling.

30 Directive, Article 1.

31 Regulation, Article 1.