Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 16 September 2013 —
Poland v Commission

(Case T‑486/09)

EAGGF — Guarantee Section — EAGF and EAFRD — Expenditure excluded from financing — Rural development measures — Less favoured areas and agri environment — Flat-rate financial correction — Expenditure incurred by Poland — Control reports — Effectiveness of controls — System of penalties — Obligation to state reasons

1.                     Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in applying EU rules — Challenge by the Member State concerned — Burden of proof — Allocation between the Commission and the Member State (Commission Regulations No 796/2004 and No 817/2004) (see paras 23-26)

2.                     Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Procedure — Conciliation procedure — Opinion of the conciliation body — No binding effect (Commission Decision 94/442, Art. 1(2)(a)) (see para. 45)

3.                     EU law — Interpretation — Texts in several languages — Differences between the various language versions — Account to be taken of the overall scheme and purpose of the legislation in question (Commission Regulation No 817/2004, Art. 68) (see paras 68, 69)

4.                     Agriculture — EAGGF — Clearance of accounts — Disallowance of expenses arising from irregularities in applying EU rules — Flat-rate correction issued by the Commission in accordance with internal guidelines — Controls not giving the expected level of regularity of claims — Whether permissible to apply a flat rate of 5% where weaknesses found in key controls established by a Member State in the sector concerned (Commission Regulation No 796/2004) (see paras 152-156)

5.                     Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision relating to the clearance of accounts in respect of expenditure financed by the EAGGF (Art. 253 EC) (see paras 161, 162)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment in part of Commission Decision 2009/721/EC of 24 September 2009 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2009 L 257, p. 28).

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders the Republic of Poland to pay the costs.