Article 38 [Common Agriculture and Fisheries Policy]

Abstract

Article 38 TFEU establishes the scope of the common market in agriculture and trade in agricultural products and determines the general competences of the EU in this respect. It also defines the general principles of legal order in relation to agriculture. The vast majority of specific provisions of the title on agriculture are contained in Articles 39–44 TFEU. Although Article 38.4 TFEU mentions the “internal market for agricultural products”, the wording of paragraph 1 clearly indicates that this market is not a separate institution but an integral part of the broad, internal market embracing all types of products (➔ para 12–28). Paragraph 4, which refers to EU responsibility for the “operation and development” of the agricultural sector in the internal market, reflects an awareness of the dynamic of its determinants. Under Article 356 TFEU, the functions and competences of the EU concerning agriculture, apart from several exceptions, are continuous and have been granted for an unlimited time.

Appendices

Annex: List Referred to in Article 38 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Annex I to the Treaties)

(1) No in the Brussels nomenclature	(2) Description of products
CHAPTER 1	Live animals
CHAPTER 2	Meat and edible meat offal
CHAPTER 3	Fish, crustaceans and molluscs
CHAPTER 4	Dairy produce; birds’ eggs; natural honey
CHAPTER 5
05.04	Guts, bladders and stomachs of animals (other than fish), whole and pieces thereof
05.15	Animal products not elsewhere specified or included; dead animals of Chapter 1 or Chapter 3, unfit for human consumption
CHAPTER 6	Live trees and other plants; bulbs, roots and the like; cut flowers and ornamental foliage
CHAPTER 7	Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers
CHAPTER 8	Edible fruit and nuts; peel of melons or citrus fruit
CHAPTER 9	Coffee, tea and spices, excluding maté (heading No 09.03)
CHAPTER 10	Cereals
CHAPTER 11	Products of the milling industry; malt and starches; gluten; inulin
CHAPTER 12	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruit; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial and medical plants; straw and fodder
CHAPTER 13
ex 13.03	Pectin
CHAPTER 15
15.01	Lard and other rendered pig fat; rendered poultry fat
15.02	Unrendered fats of bovine cattle, sheep or goats; tallow (including “premier jus”) produced from those fats
15.03	Lard stearin, oleostearin and tallow stearin; lard oil, oleo-oil and tallow oil, not emulsified or mixed or prepared in any way
15.04	Fats and oil, of fish and marine mammals, whether or not refined
15.07	Fixed vegetable oils, fluid or solid, crude, refined or purified
15.12	Animal or vegetable fats and oils, hydrogenated, whether or not refined, but not further prepared
15.13	Margarine, imitation lard and other prepared edible fats
15.17	Residues resulting from the treatment of fatty substances or animal or vegetable waxes
CHAPTER 16	Preparations of meat, of fish, of crustaceans or molluscs
CHAPTER 17
17.01	Beet sugar and cane sugar, solid
17.02	Other sugars; sugar syrups; artificial honey (whether or not mixed with natural honey); caramel
17.03	Molasses, whether or not decolourised
17.05a	Flavoured or coloured sugars, syrups and molasses (including vanilla sugar or vanillin), with the exception of fruit juice containing added sugar in any proportion
CHAPTER 18
18.01	Cocoa beans, whole or broken, raw or roasted
18.02	Cocoa shells, husks, skins and waste
CHAPTER 20	Preparations of vegetables, fruit or other parts of plants
CHAPTER 22
22.04	Grape must, in fermentation or with fermentation arrested otherwise than by the addition of alcohol
22.05	Wine of fresh grapes; grape must with fermentation arrested by the addition of alcohol
22.07	Other fermented beverages (for example, cider, perry, and mead)
ex 22.08a
ex 22.09a	Ethyl alcohol or neutral spirits, whether or not denatured, of any strength, obtained from agricultural products listed in Annex I, excluding liqueurs and other spirituous beverages and compound alcoholic preparations (known as “concentrated extracts”) for the manufacture of beverages
22.10a	Vinegar and substitutes for vinegar
CHAPTER 23	Residues and waste from the food industries; prepared animal fodder
CHAPTER 24
24.01	Unmanufactured tobacco, tobacco refuse
CHAPTER 45
45.01	Natural cork, unworked, crushed, granulated or ground; waste cork
CHAPTER 54
54.01	Flax, raw or processed but not spun; flax tow and waste (including pulled or garnetted rags)
CHAPTER 57
57.01	True hemp (Cannabis sativa), raw or processed but not spun; tow and waste of true hemp (including pulled or garnetted rags or ropes)

1. ^aEntry added by Article 1 of Regulation No 7a of the Council of the European Economic Community of 18 December 1959 (O.J. No 7, 30.1.1961, p. 71/61)

List of Cases

• ECJ 14.12.1962, 2/62, 3/62, Commission v Luxembourg and Belgium “Gingerbread”, ECLI:EU:C:1962:45 [cit. in para 17]

• ECJ 24.10.1973, 5/73, Balkan-Import-Export GmbH v Hauptzollamt Berlin-Packhof, ECLI:EU:C:1973:109 [cit. in para 9]

• ECJ 29.05.1974, 185/73, Hauptzollamt Bielefeld v Offene Handelsgesellschaft in Firma H. C. König, ECLI:EU:C:1974:61 [cit. in para 12 and 17]

• ECJ 16.03.1977, 68/76, Commission v France “Potatoes”, ECLI:EU:C:1977:48 [cit. in para 7]

• ECJ 16.02.1978, 61/77, Commission v Ireland, ECLI:EU:C:1978:29 [cit. in para 16]

• ECJ 20.04.1978, 80-81/77, Les fils de Henri Ramel v Receveur des douanes, ECLI:EU:C:1978:87 [cit. in para 7]

• ECJ 29.03.1979, 231/78, Commission v United Kingdom “Potatoes”, ECLI:EU:C:1979:101 [cit. in para 7]

• ECJ 04.10.1979, 141/78, France v United Kingdom, ECLI:EU:C:1979:225 [cit. in para 16]

• ECJ 03.06.1980, 135/79, Gedelfi Großeinkauf GmbH & Co. KG v Hauptzollamt Hambourg-Jonas, ECLI:EU:C:1979:225 [cit. in para 9]

• ECJ 25.03.1981, 61/80, Coöperatieve Stremsel- en Kleurselfabriek v Commission, ECLI:EU:C:1981:75 [cit. in para 14, 17 and 18]

• ECJ 05.05.1981, 112/80, Firma Anton Dürbeck v Hauptzollamt Frankfurt am Main-Flughafen, ECLI:EU:C:1981:94 [cit. in para 9]

• ECJ 29.02.1984, 77/83, CILFIT, ECLI:EU:C:1984:91 [cit. in para 14 nad 18]

• ECJ 30.01.1985, 123/83, BNIC v Clair, ECLI:EU:C:1985:33 [cit. in para 20]

• ECJ 11.06.1985, 288/83, Commission v Ireland, ECLI:EU:C:1985:251 [cit. in para 7]

• ECJ 23.02.1988, 68/86, United Kingdom v Council, ECLI:EU:C:1988:85 [cit. in para 21]

• ECJ 16.11.1989, C-11/88 Commission v Council, ECLI:EU:C:1989:310 [cit. in para 20]

• ECJ 05.03.1996, C-46/93, C-48/93, Brasserie du Pêcheur SA v Bundesrepublik Deutschland and The Queen v Secretary of State for Transport, ex parte: Factortame Ltd and others, ECLI:EU:C:1996:79 [cit. in para 8]

• ECJ 05.05.1998, 180/96, United Kingdom v Commission, ECLI:EU:C:1998:192 [cit. in para 20]

• ECJ 15.09.2005, C-495/03, Intermodal Transports BV v Staatssecretaris van Financiën, ECLI:EU:C:2005:552 [cit. in para 17]

• ECJ 08.11.2005, C-293/02, Jersey Produce Marketing Organisation, ECLI:EU:C:2005:664 [cit. in para 7]

• ECJ 08.12.2005, C-445/04, Possehl Erzkontor GmbH v Hauptzollamt Duisburg, ECLI:EU:C:2005:754 [cit. in para 17]

• ECJ 16.02.2006, C-500/04, Proxxon GmbH v Oberfinanzdirektion Köln, ECLI:EU:C:2006:111 [cit. in para 17]

• ECJ 23.02.2006, C-346/03 and C-529/03, Giuseppe Atzeni, ECLI:EU:C:2006:130 [cit. in para 20]

• ECJ 07.09.2006, C-310/04, Spain v Council, ECLI:EU:C:2006:521 [cit. in para 19]

• ECJ 02.07.2009, C-343/07 Bavaria NV and Bavaria Italia Srl v Bayerischer Brauerbund eV, ECLI:EU:C:2009:415 [cit. in para 20]

• ECJ 29.10.2009, C-140/08, Rakvere Lihakombinaat, ECLI:EU:C:2009:667 [cit. in para 17]