Abstract

 
Spain claimed that the Court should annul legislation (Council Regulation 975/2003) opening and providing for the administration of a tariff quota for imports of canned tuna. Spain advanced several grounds, including: that the regulation had breached the principle of Community preference; that it had distorted competition on the market at issue; and that the EC-ACP Partnership Agreement had been infringed. The Court dismissed all grounds, holding, inter alia: that 'Community preference' although a political consideration in adopting trading arrangements with non-member countries, was not a legal requirement; Community law did not prohibit the adoption of tariff measures which resulted in the market distortion alleged by Spain, as such a prohibition would prevent the Community contributing to the progressive removal of restrictions on international trade and, in fact, any reduction in customs duties was liable to have some effect on competition between goods imported from non-member countries and the equivalent Community products, to the disadvantage of the Community producers; and there was no infringement of the EC-ACP Agreement because the ACP States were duly informed of the intended measure.
  

Bibliographic references

-

Documents

Links