DUTCH FEED COMPOUNDER STARTS CASE AGAINST EC LEVY
A major animal feed producer, Cehave
NV Veghel (CHV), has begun legal proceedings against the
application of the European Community grain co-responsibility
levy, with the full backing of the Dutch animal grain and feed
trade association, Het Comite, association chief executive
Peter Pex told Reuters.
    Oral proceedings were held in the Hague on Friday and the
court said it would give its verdict within six weeks. "However,
that is the normal wording and we expect the Hague court to
refer questions on the interpretation and application of the
levy to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg," Pex added.
    Het Comite claims the way the levy is applied does not take
account of currency cross-rates of exchange and can mean a
compounder in one country being asked to pay a higher levy in
its own national currency than it received down the chain from
the original producer of the grain.
    "We would like the Business Administration Court in the
Hague to ask the Luxembourg Court of Justice not only whether
the Dutch Grain Commodity Board, the levy collection agency,
has interpreted the levy regulations correctly, but also
whether the regulations themselves may contravene European law,"
Pex said.
    "It is only with great regret that we have taken this route,
but we have had no political help, and therefore have no option
even though it could take years," Pex added.
    Het Comite asked CHV to act as a test case against the
grain levy because the bill the company received from the
commodity board included grain from a wide variety of origins
and was therefore considered to be the best general basis for a
legal challenge to the levy, Pex noted.
    Het Comite's actions will run in tandem with questions on
the levy already posed to the Luxembourg Court in a case
brought by the Association of European Animal Feed
Manufacturers, FEFAC.
 REUTER
