Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1988 > Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities (5th Committee) > Report No. 02 - Statutory Instruments [19]

APPENDIX 4

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS ON IMMATURE SPIRITS) REGULATIONS, 1985

[S.I. NO. 368/85]

2 December 1986

Secretary

Department of Finance.

I am directed by Mr. Gerard Collins TD, Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities to refer to the above Regulations.

I am to request you to be good enough to supply for the information of the Joint Committee a memorandum explaining why the Regulations were necessitated by the obligations of Articles5 and 30 of the EEC Treaty.

As the Regulations amend one Statute and repeal two others I am to ask if it is intended that they will continue indefinitely or whether it is expected that in due course the statutory amendments and repeals will be incorporated in primary legislation e.g. Finance Act.

Seamus Phelan

Clerk to the Joint Committee.

Department of Finance

3 February 1987

Clerk to the Joint Committee

on the Secondary Legislation

of the European Communities.

I am directed by the Minister for Finance to refer again to your letter of 2 December, 1986 regarding the European Communities (Removal of Restrictions on Immature Spirits) Regulations, 1985 (S.I. No. 368/85).

The contents of Articles 5, 30 and 169 of the EEC Treaty are set out on the page attached.

The EC Commission under Article 169 of the EEC Treaty delivered its Reasoned Opinion on 17 June, 1985 that

(i)the Irish Government, by requiring spirits to be warehoused in Ireland for a period of at least one year in the case of rum and at least three years in the case of all other spirits has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 30 of the EEC Treaty (quantitative restrictions on imports).

(ii)the Irish Government, by neglecting to reply to the Commission’s letters and telexes within a reasonable time and by failing to make progress in modifying the relevant legislation, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 5 of the EEC Treaty.

After consultations with the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism and Health and on the advice of the Attorney General it was considered that Ireland would almost certainly lose its case before the Court of Justice if it decided to contest the opinion of the Commission. It was necessary, therefore, to make regulations to correct the situation. Accordingly, on the advice of the Attorney General the appropriate Regulations were made under the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972).

Regulations made under the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), Section 4 of which was amended by the European Communities (Amendment) Act, 1973, have statutory effect and therefore it is not necessary to incorporate in primary legislation the amendments and repeals included in the Regulations.

Hugh Murphy

Extracts from the EEC Treaty

Article 5

Member States shall take all appropriate measures, whether general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of this Treaty or resulting from action taken by the institutions of the Community. They shall facilitate the achievement of the Community’s tasks.

They shall abstain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the objections of this Treaty.

Article 30

Quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having equivalent effect shall, without prejudice to the following provisions be prohibited between Member States.

Article 169

If the Commission considers that a Member State has failed to fulfil an obligation under this Treaty, it shall deliver a reasoned opinion on the matter after giving the State concerned the opportunity to submit its observations.

If the State concerned does not comply with the opinion within the period laid down by the Commission, the latter may bring the matter before the Court of Justice.