«(FAO – Fishery agreement – Right to vote – Member States – Community)»

1.. Council – Permanent Representatives Committee – Own powers – None – Implementing powers – Scope (EC Treaty, Arts 145 and 151(1))

2.. Actions for annulment of measures – Actionable measures – Definition – Measures having binding legal effects – Council decision giving the Member States the right to vote in the Food and Agriculture Organization for the adoption of an international agreement (EC Treaty, Art. 173)

3.. Community law – Interpretation – Acts of the institutions – Statement of the Council entered in its minutes – Whether to be taken into consideration – Not permissible in the absence of any reference to it in the act itself

4.. International agreements – Agreement falling partly within the competence of the Community and partly within that of the Member States – Need for close cooperation between the Member States and the Community institutions – Arrangement between the Council and the Commission concerning the right to vote in an international organization – Arrangement providing for voting rights to be exercised by the Commission in areas essentially within the exclusive competence of the Community – Council decision giving the Member States the right to vote for the adoption of an agreement to promote compliance with international conservation and management measures by fishing vessels on the high seas – Breach of the arrangement – Unlawful

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT 19 March 1996 (1)

((FAO – Fishery agreement – Right to vote – Member States – Community))

In Case C-25/94,

applicant,

v

defendant, supported by

intervener,

APPLICATION for annulment of the decision of the Fisheries Council of 22 November 1993 giving the Member States the right to vote in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for the adoption of the Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas,

THE COURT,,

composed of: G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias, President, J.-P. Puissochet and G. Hirsch (Presidents of Chambers), G.F. Mancini, F.A. Schockweiler (Rapporteur), J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, P.J.G. Kapteyn, C. Gulmann, J.L. Murray, H. Ragnemalm and L. Sevón, Judges,

Advocate General: F.G. Jacobs,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing, after hearing oral argument from the parties at the hearing on 27 June 1995,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 26 October 1995,

gives the following

On those grounds,

THE COURT

hereby:

Rodríguez Iglesias

Puissochet

Hirsch

Mancini

Schockweiler

Moitinho de Almeida

Kapteyn

Gulmann

Murray

Ragnemalm

Sevón

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 19 March 1996.

R. Grass

G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias

Registrar

President