EAGGF - Withdrawal of financial assistance - Articles 24 and 25 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88.

«(EAGGF – Withdrawal of financial assistance – Articles 24 and 25 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88)» Summary of the Judgment 1.. Acts of the institutions – Temporal scope – Immediate application of a new procedural rule – Retroactive effect of a substantive rule – Conditions – Rules concerning Community assistance (Council Regulations Nos 2052/88 and 4253/88, Art. 24, and 4256/88 and 2082/93) 2.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding – Commission's powers of review – Scope (Council Regulations Nos 2052/88 and 4253/88, Art. 23(2)) 3.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding – Obligation on applicants for, and beneficiaries of, EAGGF assistance to provide information and act in good faith – Compliance with the conditions laid down in the decision to grant assistance – Compliance with the information contained in the application for assistance (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24(2)) 4.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding – Commission's powers to carry out on-the-spot checks and inspections – Option for the Commission to use the results of a check carried out in the context of national criminal proceedings – Non-binding nature of those results (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Arts 23(2) and 24) 5.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding – Correspondence between the financing and a service essential for the implementation of the project – Burden of proof on the beneficiary (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24) 6.. Economic and social cohesion – Structural assistance – Community funding – Withdrawal of assistance – Need for a clear and unequivocal legal basis (Council Regulation No 4253/88, Art. 24(2)) JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Second Chamber)28 January 2004 (1) ((EAGGF – Withdrawal of financial assistance – Articles 24 and 25 of Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88)) applicants, v defendants, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Second Chamber), having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 25 March 2003, gives the following On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Second Chamber), Forwood Pirrung Meij H. Jung J. Pirrung Registrar President 1 – Language of the case: Italian.