Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 12 November 2010 – Spain v Commission
(Case T-113/08)
EAGGF – Guarantee Section – Expenditure excluded from Community financing – Aid for the production of olive oil – Aid for arable crop areas
1. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Definitive refusal to accept responsibility for certain expenses – Need for a prior inter partes procedure (see paras 61, 132)
2. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Communication to Member States of the results of investigations by control services – Substantive conditions (Council Regulation No 729/70, Art. 5(2)(c); Commission Regulation No 1663/95, Art. 8(1), first para.) (see paras 62-69)
3. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules – Challenge by the Member State concerned – Burden of proof – Allocation between the Commission and the Member State (see paras 91-92, 96-97)
4. Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Oils and fats – Olive oil (Council Regulations Nos 154/75, 2261/84, Art. 14(3), and 1638/98, Art. 2(1) to (3); Commission Regulation No 2366/98, Art. 8(b)) (see paras 98-100, 103-106)
5. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules – Assessment of losses incurred by the Fund – Challenge by the Member State concerned – Burden of proof (Council Regulation No 729/70) (see paras 108-109)
6. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Limitation of the refusal of financing – Twenty-four month period – Point from which time starts to run – Communication by the Commission of the results of verifications (Council Regulation No 1258/1999, Art. 7(4)) (see paras 118-123, 138)
7. Agriculture – EAGGF – Grant of aids and premiums – Obligation on Member States to organise an efficient system of administrative controls and spot checks – Unreliable controls – Disallowance by the Fund (Commission Regulation No 2419/2001, Art. 15) (see para. 152)
Re:
APPLICATION for partial annulment of Commission Decision 2008/68/EC of 20 December 2007 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (OJ 2008 L 18, p. 12), in so far as it relates to certain expenditure incurred by the Kingdom of Spain in the olive oil and arable crop sectors.
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Dismisses the action;
2.
Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.
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