Case T-285/03

Agraz, SA and Others

v

Commission of the European Communities

(Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets in processed fruit and vegetable products – Production aid for processed tomato products – Method of calculating the amount – 2000/01 marketing year)

Summary of the Judgment

1.      Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Discretionary power of the Community institutions – Limits – Observance of the procedural guarantees conferred by the Community legal order in administrative procedures – Taking into account, in fixing production aid, the price of the raw material in one of the main producing and exporting countries – None – Illegality capable of engaging the non-contractual liability of the Community

(Council Regulation No 2201/96, Art. 4(1) and (2); Council Regulation No 1519/2000)

2.      Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Actual and certain damage caused by an unlawful act – Burden of proof

(Arts 235 EC and 288, second para., EC)

1.      In matters relating to the common agricultural policy, the Commission enjoys a discretion, while being required, by virtue of the principles of a duty of care and of sound administration, to gather the factual elements necessary for the exercise of its discretion. Where a Community institution has a wide discretion, observance of the procedural guarantees conferred by the Community legal order is of even more fundamental importance. Those guarantees include, in particular, the obligation for the competent institution to examine carefully and impartially all the relevant elements of the individual case.

Concerning Regulation No 1519/2000 setting for the 2000/01 marketing year the minimum price and the amount of production aid for processed tomato products, the Commission, by taking no account whatsoever of the price of the raw material in one of the main producing and exporting third countries, namely China, failed to comply with the mandatory conditions laid down in Article 4(1) and (2) of Regulation No 2201/96 on the common organisation of the markets in processed fruit and vegetable products, which establishes the data which the Commission must take into account when fixing the amount of production aid.

Such an illegality, which constitutes a sufficiently serious breach of a rule intended to confer rights on individuals, is capable of engaging the non-contractual liability of the Community owing to its harmful consequences.

(see paras 49, 61)

2.      In the context of the non-contractual liability of the Community, the damage for which compensation is sought must be actual and certain. It is for the applicant to produce to the Court the evidence to establish the fact and the extent of such damage. Accordingly, if the damage calculated by the applicants is not certain, the action for damages must be dismissed.

(see paras 70-71, 77)