Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 3 August 2004 by Syndicat National de l'Industrie des Viandes (SNIV) against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-327/04)

(Language of the case: French)

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 3 August 2004 by Syndicat National de l'Industrie des Viandes (SNIV), established in Paris, represented by Nicole Coutrelis and Sévérine Henneresse, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

-    annul the Commission decision of 30 March 2004 concerning the State aid 'N515/2003 - France - Aid in the rendering sector - Slaughter tax';

-    order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

Regarded as a public service mission, rendering is financed in France by a fund financed by an endowment from the State and a slaughter tax levied on slaughterhouses. That scheme was notified to the Commission. The applicant, which represents slaughterhouses, drew the Commission's attention to the need to initiate the formal investigation procedure in respect of the aid, laid down in Article 88(2) EC. However, by the contested decision the Commission found that the scheme at issue was not incompatible with Community law in respect of 'animals which have died on the farm' and did not constitute aid in respect of 'slaughterhouse waste'.

Since it considers that the Commission thereby approved the system established by the French Government, the applicant claims that the Court should annul the contested decision on the ground of breach of Article 88(2) EC and Article 4(4) of Regulation No 659/1999. ¹ The applicant submits that, on account of the serious problems in the assessment of the compatibility of the aid at issue, which it had mentioned, the Commission was not entitled to declare the aid at issue compatible without initiating the formal investigation procedure.

The applicant also relies on a number of errors of fact and of assessment in the contested decision. It also claims that the slaughter tax is manifestly contrary to a number of provisions of Community law, namely:

-    the VAT rules;

-    the prohibition on quantitative restrictions between Member States (Article 28 EC), to the extent that the slaughter tax also relates to animals of 'mixed' origin, in accordance with Regulation No 1760/2000, ² that is slaughtered in France, but from another Member State;

-    Regulation No 1774/2002; ³

-    freedom to provide services (Article 50 EC), to the extent that a single undertaking by département may provide rendering services to the slaughterhouses and farmers in the département;

-    the scheme of the Common Agricultural Policy. The applicant claims on that subject that by imposing the tax in question, France is undermining the common organisation of the market in meat and infringing the regulations relating to it, by artificially raising the price of meat.

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¹ - - COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty, OJ 1999 L 83, p. 1

² - - Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, OJ 2000 L 204, p.1

³ - - Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 October 2002 laying down health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption, OJ 2002 L 273, p. 1