Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber) of 27 February 2013 — Poland v Commission
(Case T‑241/10)
EAGGF, EAGF and EAFRD — ‘Guarantee’ Section — Expenditure excluded from financing — Direct payments — Identification system for agricultural parcels — Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 — Lack of effectiveness and reliability — Intentional irregularities — Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 796/2004
1. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — EAGGF, EAGF and EAFRD financing — Grant of aids and premiums — Obligation of Member States to organise an effective system of administrative controls and on-the-spot checks — Unreliable controls — Disallowance by the funds (Council Regulation No 1782/2003, Art. 20; Commission Regulation No 796/2004, Art. 69(2)) (see paras 20-23, 44, 45, 57, 58, 68)
2. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — Integrated administration and control system for certain aid schemes — Single payment scheme and other ‘surface’ aid schemes — Intentional error in declaration of area — National legislation making application of sanctions subject to the prior existence of a court decision confirming intentional non-compliance — Legislation making it practically impossible to implement EU legislation — Not permissible — Infringement of the principle of the presumption of innocence — None — Administrative sanctions (Commission Regulation No 796/2004, Art. 53) (see paras 81, 82, 86, 91-93)
3. Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Pleas in law not set out in the application — General reference to documents annexed to the application — Inadmissible (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 44(1)(c)) (see paras 102, 107, 150)
4. Acts of the institutions — Statement of reasons — Obligation — Scope — Decision relating to the clearance of accounts in respect of expenditure financed by the EAGGF — Financial corrections — Addressee State having been closely associated with the process of drawing up the decision — Infringement of the duty to state reasons — None (Art. 296 TFEU) (see paras 109-111)
5. 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 (Council Regulations No 1258/1999, Arts 7(4), fourth para., and No 1290/2005, Art. 31(2)) (see paras 138-142)
Re:
| APPLICATION for the annulment of Commission Decision 2010/152/EU of 11 March 2010 excluding from European Union 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 2010 L 63, p. 7), in so far as it excludes certain expenditure incurred by the Republic of Poland. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders the Republic of Poland to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission. |