Brussels, 10/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling on Wednesday 10 June, the Court of First Instance dismissed in its entirety Poland's appeal against the obligation imposed by the Commission to tax stocks of certain agricultural products considered surplus at the time of the country's accession (case T-257/04).
At the enlargement of the EU in 2004, the 10 new member states became subject to regulation (EC) 1972/2003, which calls for the taxation of individuals who had amassed stocks of products before accession. The objective of this regulation was to create a disincentive to stockpiling and also to limit the destabilising effect of this on the internal market for agricultural products. Poland appealed to the Court of First Instance against this regulation and against those which followed it to add additional products.
In Wednesday's ruling, the Court rejects the appeal against the original regulation without even examining it, as it was not received within two months laid down by the EC Treaty (article 230). Even though Poland was not a member of the EU during the first part of the time period, the ruling explains that there was nothing preventing it from appealing to the Court of Justice of the European Communities as a party concerned by the legislation. The Court did, however, consider its appeals against the various amendments subsequently made to the regulation.
Further to examination of the regulations in question, however, the Court concluded that the taxes required by the Commission were designed to fight against stockpiling for speculative purposes, which means that they are in line with article 41, first indent, of the accession act. Reducing the taxes, as per Poland's wishes, could possibly have helped to deter people from building up stocks from other producer countries, but would have stripped the taxes of their deterrent effect as regards stockpiling from national production. The Court also noted that the Commission was well within its rights to insist that these taxes be imposed on any holder of surplus stock, without any requirement to demonstrate a surplus of stock at national level, as individuals may contribute to speculation by means of their own private stocks, even if surplus level has not been reached nationally. Furthermore, the Court notes that the Commission had drawn up a list of products on the basis of the information provided by the Polish authorities themselves, which are therefore unable to plead ignorance as to which products were likely to be stored on their territory. Poland now has two months to appeal against this ruling, but all appeals must be limited to points of law. (C.D./transl.fl)