European Parliament v Council of the European Union (25 February 1999) European Court of Justice C-164/97 and C-165/97

These two joined cases concerned the annulment of Council Regulations EC 307/97 and EC 308/97. The European Parliament submitted that the Regulations were adopted on the basis of an incorrect Treaty provision. The substance of the Regulations was not contested. In its decision to annul the Regulations the European Court of Justice took into account the detrimental effect that such annulment may have to the progress of action undertaken in the Member States for protection of the environment. As a result, it decided that the annulled Regulations should be fully maintained until the Council of Ministers had adopted, within a reasonable period, new Regulations having the same subject matter. The Regulations concern the protection of forests against atmospheric pollution and against fire and both were adopted on the basis of Article 43 of the Treaty of Rome, entitled "Agriculture". Article 43(2) requires the Commission to "submit proposals for working out and implementing the common agricultural policy". The European Parliament submitted that the Regulations should have been adopted on the basis of Article 130 of the Treaty of Rome which provides that the Council of Ministers shall decide what action is to be taken by the Community in order that Community policy on the environment be observed. The thrust of the European Parliament's case was that, by virtue of their aims and content, the Regulations fall within the realms of environment policy, even if they have beneficial effects for agriculture and farmers. The Council of Ministers acknowledged that forests were not listed among the agricultural products to which Article 43 applies, however, its defence was that protection of forests was an essential component of the Community's agricultural policy since it helped to conserve and improve soil, fauna, flora and water systems and to develop ecosystems favourable to agriculture. The European Court of Justice decided that the Regulations should have been adopted on the basis of Article 130 of the Treaty of Rome. The court stated that the aims and content of the Regulations, read together with the Regulations that they were amending, clearly fall within the ambit of Article 130 of the Treaty of Rome, and in particular within policy on "preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment". The court therefore concluded that the Regulations should be annulled.
(Transcript of the European Court of Justice, 25 February 1999)