PROCEEDINGS OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
No. 20/73
CASES 63-69/72 WILHELM WERHAHN AND OTHERS
v.
COMMUN I TY 13/11/1973
Damagej and Interest
The Court of Justice has given judgment in seven
(joined) cases in which seven German undertakings
claim damages and interest from the Community.
1 he applicants process d u r um wheat into cereal meal
which they supply mainly to manufacturers of maca-
r
°ni, spaghetti and similar products. Whilst the pro-
duction of common wheat intended for bread-making
shows a substantial surplus within the Community, that
du r um wheat not only shows a substantial deficit
but is also concentrated in certain regions, namely, as
re
gards France, in Beauce and the south, and in
southern Italy.
The claims are for an order against the Council and
the Commission—as it is put in the application—and
a
gainst the Community-—as it is put in the reply—for
Payment of sums amounting to a total of DM 9,487,281
by wayof damages, plus interest at 7% since 1 Feb-
ruary 1972, as compensation for detriment which the
applicants allegedly sustained during the cereal market-
l n
g year 1971/1972. This detriment is said to have
ar
isen from the deficient, irrational and illegal manage-
ment of the common organisation of the market in
Ce
reals, especially as regards du r um wheat, which is
said to have resulted in German cereal meal manu-
facturers being obliged to buy their raw material—
durum wheat imported from third countries—at the
threshold price (125.25 u.a.), whereas their French and
Italian competitors had been able to obtain home-
grown du r um wheat at the intervention price (112.44
u
-a.) or thereabouts.
1 his distortion of competition allegedly resulted in
the loss by the applicants of 20% of the German
market in cereal meal, made up of the manufacturers
macaroni, spaghetti and similar products, and this
'°ss had redounded largely to the advantage of French
undertakings. The applicants base their claim to com-
pensation chieflv on a wrongful act on the part of the
Community institutions, in that they fixed the inter-
Ve
ntion price for French and Italian d u r um wheat at
foo low a level, or the threshold price for du r um wheat
'mported from third countries at too high a level. By
^
a
y of reply they further and as a subsidiary point cite
me principle of entitlement to compensation for an
megal intervention by the administration—even if not
capable—affecting private property and equivalent to
expropriation or dispossession.
_ The Court rejected the claims on the basis that the
i m m u n i t y cannot incur liability in respect of a detri-
ment allegedly suffered by individuals as the result of
a
legislative measure implying choices as to economic
Policy, save in the event of a sufficiently flagrant
Relation of a higher rule of law for the protection of
me individual.
The institutions can give temporary priority to
c.er-
ta
in of the objectives of Article 39 in preference to
maintaining existing positions. T he concept of stabili-
Za
tion of markets cannot cover the maintenance of
N a t i o n s existing under previous conditions of the
market.
If, when introducing a sole derived intervention
price, the Council omitted to correct the disadvantages
which indirectly the German manufacturers of cereal
meal suffered in comparison with their French com-
petitors, such an omission does not give rise to illegality.
The Council was not obliged to verify whether cir-
cumstances of such a special nature could preclude the
application of provisions that are satisfactory under
normal circumstances.
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