«(EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Financial year 1995 – Cereals – Durum wheat – Common wheat, barley and maize)»

1.. Procedure – Application initiating proceedings – Procedural requirements – Statement of the subject-matter of the proceedings – Summary of the pleas in law relied upon (Rules of Procedure of the Court, Art. 38(1)(c))

2.. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules – Not possible to establish conclusive factual data except by impartial checks – Conditions under which other evidence may be allowed

3.. Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Cereals – Durum wheat – System of securities – Conditions governing release of the security – All the primary requirements must be fulfilled – Possibility of derogating explicitly and on special grounds from that principle (Commission Regulations No 2220/85, Art. 21, and No 2668/94, Art. 11(2), second para., and (4))

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber) 9 January 2003 (1)

((EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Financial year 1995 – Cereals – Durum wheat – Common wheat, barley and maize))

In Case C-178/00,

applicant,

v

defendant,

APPLICATION for partial annulment of Commission Decision 2000/197/EC of 1 March 2000 amending Decision 1999/187/EC on the clearance of the accounts presented by the Member States in respect of the expenditure for 1995 of the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2000 L 61, p. 15), in so far as it imposed financial adjustments in respect of certain expenditure declared by the applicant Member State,

THE COURT (Fifth Chamber),,

composed of: M. Wathelet, President of the Chamber, D.A.O. Edward, A. La Pergola, P. Jann (Rapporteur) and S. von Bahr, Judges,

Advocate General: P. Léger,

having regard to the report of the Judge-Rapporteur,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 26 September 2002,

gives the following

The quantity of 84 481.128 tonnes

The quantity of 38 228.064 tonnes

Legal background

The contested adjustment

On those grounds,

THE COURT (Fifth Chamber)

hereby:

Wathelet

Edward

La Pergola

Jann

von Bahr

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 9 January 2003.

R. Grass

M. Wathelet

Registrar

President of the Fifth Chamber