Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 29 November 2016 —
T & L Sugars and Sidul Açúcares v Commission

(Case T‑279/11)

(Non-contractual liability — Agriculture — Sugar — Exceptional measures — Availability of supply on the EU market — 2010/11 marketing year — Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Sufficiently serious infringement — Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 — Principle of non-discrimination — Proportionality — Legitimate expectations — Duty of diligence and the principle of sound administration)

1.      Judicial proceedings — Intervention — Arguments different from those of the party supported — Admissibility — Conditions

(Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 40, fourth para., and 53; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 142(3))

(see para. 31)

2.      Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Concept — Obligation to consult the Parliament in the context of the adoption of measures under the common agricultural policy — Not included — Whether Commission authorised to suspend, pursuant to Regulation No 1234/2007, the application of import duties for certain agricultural products — Precluded

(Art. 37 EC; Art. 340, second para., TFEU; Council Regulation No 1234/2007, Arts 64(2), and 187)

(see paras 35, 36, 39, 45, 46, 51, 52, 54, 55)

3.      Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals — Concept — Principles of non-discrimination, proportionality and the protection of legitimate expectations — Included — Right to sound administration — Included — Conditions

(Art. 340, second para., TFEU)

(see paras 58, 60)

4.      Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Implementing measures — Measures taken by reason of disturbances caused by exchange rates or prices on the world market — Suspension of import duties — Discretion of the Commission — Limits

(Arts 39 TFEU, 40 TFEU and 43 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1234/2007, Art. 187)

(see paras 67-69, 71)

5.      Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Sugar — Market supply — Producers of sugar taken from beet grown in EU territory and refiners of imported raw sugar cane treated differently — No infringement of principle of non-discrimination

(Art. 40(2), second para., TFEU; Council Regulation No 1234/2007, sixty-fifth, seventieth and seventy-second recitals and Art. 187)

(see paras 94, 95, 98, 100, 104, 105)

6.      EU law — Principles — Proportionality — Common agricultural policy — Implementing measures — Discretion of the Community legislature — Judicial review — Limits — Measure clearly inappropriate in relation to the aim pursued

(Council Regulation No 1234/2007, Art. 187)

(see paras 117-120)

7.      EU law — Principles — Protection of legitimate expectations — Conditions — Specific assurances given by the authorities

(see paras 136, 137)

8.      EU law — Principles — Principle of sound administration — Duty of diligence — Scope

(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41)

(see paras 142, 143)

9.      Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Unlawfulness — Damage — Causal link — Cumulative conditions — One of the conditions not satisfied — Claim for compensation dismissed in its entirety

(Art. 340, second para., TFEU)

(see para. 156)

Re:

ACTION based on Article 268 TFEU for damages for the loss which the applicants allegedly suffered, first, as a result of the adoption of Commission Regulation (EU) No 222/2011 of 3 March 2011 laying down exceptional measures as regards the release of out-of-quota sugar and isoglucose on the Union market at reduced surplus levy during marketing year 2010/11 (OJ 2011 L 60, p. 6), Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 293/2011 of 23 March 2011 fixing the allocation coefficient, rejecting further applications and closing the period for submitting applications for available quantities of out-of-quota sugar to be sold on the Union market at reduced surplus levy (OJ 2011 L 79, p. 8), Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 302/2011 of 28 March 2011 opening an exceptional import tariff quota for certain quantities of sugar in the 2010/11 marketing year (OJ 2011 L 81, p. 8) and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 393/2011 of 19 April 2011 fixing the allocation coefficient for the issuing of import licences applied for from 1 to 7 April 2011 for sugar products under certain tariff quotas and suspending submission of applications for such licences (OJ 2011 L 104, p. 39), and secondly, as a result of the Commission’s refusal to take the necessary measures to re-establish availability of supply in raw cane sugar.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders T & L Sugars Ltd and Sidul Açúcares, Unipessoal Lda, on the one hand, and the European Commission, on the other, to bear their own costs relating to the plea of inadmissibility which gave rise to the judgment of 6 June 2013, T & L Sugars and SidulAçúcares v Commission (T‑279/11, EU:T:2013:299);

3. Orders T & L Sugars and Sidul Açúcares to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the Commission, relating to the merits of the action;

4. Orders the French Republic and the Council of the European Union to bear their own costs, including those relating to the plea of inadmissibility which gave rise to the judgment of 6 June 2013, T & L Sugars and Sidul Açúcares v Commission (T‑279/11, EU:T:2013:299);

5. Orders DAI Sociedade de Desenvolvimento Agro-Industrial, SA, RAR — Refinarias de Açùcar Reunidas, SA, SFIR — Società Fondiaria Industriale Romagnola SpA, SFIR Raffineria di Brindisi SpA and the Comité européen des fabricants de sucre (CEFS) to bear their own costs.