Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato (Italy) lodged on 19 March 2018 — SAIGI Società Cooperativa Agricola a r.l., MA.GE.MA. Società Agricola Cooperativa v Regione Emilia-Romagna, A.U.S.L. Romagna

(Case C-343/18)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: SAIGI Società Cooperativa Agricola a r.l., MA.GE.MA. Società Agricola Cooperativa

Respondents: Regione Emilia-Romagna, A.U.S.L. Romagna

Questions referred

By providing that Member States must ensure the collection of fees for the activities referenced in Annex IV, Section A, and Annex V, Section A, must Article 27 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 be interpreted as placing an obligation to pay on all agricultural operators, even those which ‘carry out the activities of slaughtering and cutting of meat instrumental to and connected with the activity of rearing livestock’?

Can a [Member] State make certain categories of undertaking exempt from payment of the veterinary fees in the case where it has set up a system for the collection of fees that, overall, guarantees coverage of the costs of the official controls, or may it apply charges that are lower than those provided for by Regulation (EC) No 8[8]2/2004? 1

____________

1 Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules (OJ 2004 L 165, p. 1).