Official Journal of the European Union

C 112/17

(Case C-24/13) (<span class="super">1</span>)

((Agriculture - Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 - EAFRD - Requirements relating to the legal form of local action groups - Amendment of those requirements - Competence of the Member States - Limits))

2014/C 112/20

Language of the case: Hungarian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Dél-Zempléni Nektár Leader Nonprofit kft

Defendant: Vidékfejlesztési Miniszter

Re:

Request for preliminary ruling — Fővárosi Közigazgatási és Munkaügyi Bíróság — Interpretation of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1974/2006 of 15 December 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2005 L 368, p. 15) and of Article 62 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ 2005 277, p. 1) — Non-profit-making company declared Leader local action group, set up in the context of agricultural aid — Withdrawal of designation as local action group on the ground that only associations may be classified as such.

Operative part of the order

1.The provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), in particular Articles 61 and 62 thereof, must be interpreted as meaning that it does not require nor, in principle, prohibit, the adoption of national provisions to the effect that a local action group which meets all of the conditions listed in Article 62(1) of that regulation may not operate unless it does so under a particular form of legal organisation. It is, however, for the referring court to ensure that, bearing in mind all of its relevant characteristics, such legislation does not obstruct the direct applicability of that regulation and that it specifies the exercise of the margin of discretion granted to the Member States by that regulation whilst remaining within its bounds. It is likewise for the referring court to ensure that that national rule observes the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the general principles of European Union law.

2.European Union law does not preclude, in principle, a rule of national law which provides that local action groups may not operate unless they do so under a specific legal form from applying, at the end of a transitional period of one year, to local action groups that have been validly created under a different form of legal organisation under earlier national legislation, even though the aid programmes and the programming period relating thereto are underway. That is so, however, only in so far as it is for the national court to verify that, in the light, in particular, of the specific characteristics of the abovementioned successive rules of national law and of the practical implications thereof, the application of the new legislation to such local action groups specifies the exercise of the margin of discretion granted to the Member States by Regulation No 1698/2005 whilst remaining within its bounds and that such application is in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union as well as the general principles of European Union law.

(<span class="super">1</span>) OJ C 156, 1.6.2013.