“(6) The Member States should enforce feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules and monitor and verify that the relevant requirements thereof are fulfilled by business operators at all stages of production, processing and distribution. Official controls should be organised for that purpose. (7) It is therefore appropriate to establish at Community level a harmonised framework of general rules for the organisation of such controls. It is appropriate to assess in light of experience whether such a general framework functions properly, in particular in the area of animal health and welfare. It is therefore appropriate for the Commission to present a report together with any necessary proposal. (8) As a general rule this Community framework should not include official controls with regards to organisms harmful to plants and plant products. … (32) Adequate financial resources should be available for organising official controls. Hence, the competent authorities of the Member States should be able to levy the fees or charges to cover the costs incurred through official controls. In the process, the competent authorities of the Member States will be at liberty to establish the fees and charges as flat-rate amounts based on the costs incurred and taking the specific situation of the establishments into account. Where fees are imposed on operators, common principles should apply. It is appropriate therefore to lay down the criteria for setting the level of inspection fees. With regard to fees applicable for import controls, it is appropriate to establish directly the rates for main import items with a view to ensuring their uniform application and to avoiding trade distortions. …”
“Member States shall ensure that adequate financial resources are available to provide the necessary staff and other resources for official controls by whatever means considered appropriate, including through general taxation or by establishing fees or charges.”
“When the detection of non-compliance leads to official controls that exceed the competent authority’s normal control activities, the competent authority shall charge the operators responsible for the non-compliance, or may charge the operator owning or keeping the goods at the time when the additional official controls are carried out, for the expenses arising from the additional official controls. Normal control activities are the routine control activities required under Community or national law and, in particular, those described in the plan provided for in article 41. Activities that exceed normal control activities include the taking and analysis of samples as well as other controls that are required to check the extent of a problem, to verify whether corrective action has been taken, or to detect and/or substantiate non-compliance.”
“Operators of slaughterhouses and cutting plants receive a discount that reduces the time cost charge. For each financial year the discount is normally based on the full time costs and charges at the approved premises during the previous calendar year. The discount is set so that the monthly charges for official controls will, assuming all factors are unchanged, be the same as in 2008/09, subject to compliance with the EU minimum (see paragraphs 61 to 62).”
“60. The EC Legislation (Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004) which governs the charging for official controls sets minimum charges per carcase for species types and for the weight of meat for cutting premises. Although the FSA charges on a time cost basis we are still required to ensure compliance with the minimum charges. The minimum charges which will apply are shown in Annex C. The FSA cannot charge more than the full cost of official controls. If time based charges, invoiced in full with no discount, fall below the EU minimum you will not be required to pay any more. 61. During the year the FSA will monitor minimum EU compliance and update you during the course of the year on your status. After the end of each financial year the FSA will compare the time based charge which you have been invoiced with the minimum charge for your premises. If the charge that you have been invoiced falls below the minimum charge the FSA will invoice an additional sum to you for the difference between your actual charges invoiced to date and the minimum charge. 62. The euro to sterling conversion rate is calculated on the daily exchange rate, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, Series C. Using the average daily rate for each billing period (roughly each calendar month) to be applied to the throughput for that billing period. … ”
“A regulation shall have general application. It shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.”
“… certain provisions of Regulation number 120/67/EEC should be regarded as conferring rights on private persons, whilst others should be regarded as binding Member States only, without conferring such rights. It may be asked: ‘How can this be, when Article 189 [now Article 288] of the Treaty provides: “A regulation shall have general application. It shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States”?’ The answer, I think, lies in this. …The provisions of Article 189 were the means chosen by the authors of the Treaty to ensure that every Regulation should, automatically, be incorporated into the law of each Member State. In the absence of such a provision, each Community Regulation would have had to be so incorporated by the method appropriate by the constitutional law of the State – a bewildering prospect. But it does not follow that every provision of every regulation confers rights on citizens of Member States that they can rely upon in their national Courts. We are familiar with national statutes, which unquestionably form part of national law, some provisions of which impose obligations on the State or on public authorities without conferring personal rights on citizens. This must be so too in the case of Community Regulations. Their provisions can have direct effect, in the sense of conferring personal rights, capable of being upheld by national Courts, only in so far as they satisfy the familiar tests laid down by the Court, i.e. the tests of being clear and unconditional, and of requiring no further legislative action for their implementation. …”
“… the direct application of a Community regulation means that its entry into force and its application in favour of or against those subject to it are independent of any measure adopting it into national law.” (Emphasis added)
“The principle of legal certainty requires that rules imposing charges on the taxpayer must be clear and precise so that he may know without ambiguity what are his rights and obligations and may take steps accordingly.”
“…it is trite law that nothing less than clear, express and unambiguous language is effective to levy a tax. …”
“… if the facts have been found and the Community law issue is critical to the court’s final decision, the appropriate course is ordinarily to refer the issue to the Court of Justice unless the national court can with complete confidence resolve the issue itself. In considering whether it can with complete confidence resolve the issue itself the national court must be fully mindful of the differences between national and Community legislation, of the pitfalls which face a national court venturing into what may be an unfamiliar field, of the need for uniform interpretation throughout the Community and of the great advantages enjoyed by the Court of Justice in construing Community instruments. If the national court has any real doubt, it should ordinarily refer.”