Article 47 - Right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial
Key facts of the case:
Request for a preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of health – Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 – Article 5(2) – Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 – Article 54(3) – Hygiene rules applicable to food of animal origin – Post-mortem inspection of the carcass and offal – Official veterinarian – Health marking – Refusal – Meat declared unfit for human consumption – Right of appeal against a decision of the official veterinarian – Effective judicial protection – Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Outcome of the case:
On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:
34) The appellants in the main proceedings accept that the justice of the peace cannot order an official veterinarian to affix a health mark, but they submit, first, that an official veterinarian can be expected to respect the decision of the justice of the peace and, second, that compensation may be awarded. Furthermore, the appellants in the main proceedings also allege infringement of the right to property guaranteed by Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’), which, in their view, requires that provision be made for a mechanism for judicial review of the decision of the official veterinarian declaring a carcass unfit for human consumption. In that regard, they take the view that there would be infringement of that provision if the operator concerned were deprived of the property in the carcass, or required to dispose of the carcass in such a way as to render it valueless, without proper justification or compensation.
35) The FSA, however, takes the view that the procedure laid down in section 9 of the 1990 Act does not serve to resolve a dispute as to whether a carcass is fit for human consumption, as the justice of the peace has no power to order an official veterinarian to apply a health mark or do anything other than declare a carcass not bearing such a mark as unfit for human consumption. The FSA takes the view that the carcass at issue in the main proceedings must therefore, in any case, be disposed of as an animal by-product. As to the alleged infringement of Article 17 of the Charter, the FSA contends that it is clear from the case-law of the Court that that article authorises control of the use of property if this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (judgment of 10 July 2003 2003, Booker Aquaculture and Hydro Seafood, C‑20/00 and C‑64/00, EU:C:2003:397). It takes the view that the objective of ensuring a high level of protection of human health and consumers’ interests with regard to food is legitimate and the means chosen proportionate.
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71) By its second question, the referring court is asking, in essence, whether Article 54 of Regulation No 882/2004, read in conjunction with recital 43 of that regulation and in the light of Article 47 of the Charter, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation under which the decision made by the official veterinarian, in accordance with Article 5(2) of Regulation No 854/2004, not to affix a health mark to a carcass may be subject to limited judicial review only, in the context of which the court seised may annul that decision on any ground rendering it unlawful, including where that veterinarian acts for a purpose other than that for which his or her powers have been conferred on him or her, fails to apply the correct legal test or reaches a decision that is irrational or has no sufficient evidential basis.
75) That requirement on the part of the Member States corresponds to the right enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter, entitled ‘Right to an effective remedy and to a fair trial’, which provides that everyone whose rights and freedoms guaranteed by the law of the Union are violated has the right to an effective remedy before a tribunal (judgment of 27 September 2017, Puškár, C‑73/16, EU:C:2017:725, paragraph 58 and the case-law cited).
76) It follows that, when they lay down detailed procedural rules governing actions in law for safeguarding the rights conferred by Regulations No 854/2004 and No 882/2004 on slaughterhouse operators who have been adversely affected by decisions of the official veterinarian not to affix a health mark to a carcass, the Member States must ensure compliance with the right to an effective remedy and to have access to an impartial tribunal, enshrined in Article 47 of the Charter, which constitutes a reaffirmation of the principle of effective judicial protection (see, by analogy, judgment of 27 September 2017, Puškár, C‑73/16, EU:C:2017:725, paragraph 59 and the case-law cited).
77) In that connection, it should be recalled that Article 52(3) of the Charter is intended to ensure the necessary consistency between the rights contained in the Charter and the corresponding rights guaranteed in the ECHR, without adversely affecting the autonomy of EU law and that of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Account must therefore be taken of the corresponding rights of the ECHR for the purpose of interpreting the Charter, as the minimum threshold of protection (judgment of 6 October 2020, La Quadrature du Net and Others, C‑511/18, C‑512/18 and C‑520/18, EU:C:2020:791, paragraph 124 and the case-law cited).
78) It should be borne in mind, in that context, that compliance with the right to effective judicial protection, guaranteed by Article 47 of the Charter, must be examined, in accordance with settled case-law, in relation to the specific circumstances of each case, including the nature of the act at issue, the context in which it was adopted and the legal rules governing the matter in question (see, to that effect, judgment of 26 July 2017, Sacko, C‑348/16, EU:C:2017:591, paragraph 41 and the case-law cited).
80) It follows that the Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights adopt the same rule whereby, as the Advocate General observes in point 68 of his Opinion, the right to effective judicial protection guaranteed by Article 47 of the Charter provides that, in order for a court or tribunal to determine a dispute concerning rights and obligations under EU law, it must have power to consider all the questions of fact and law that are relevant to the case before it (judgment of 6 November 2012, Otis and Others, C‑199/11, EU:C:2012:684, paragraph 49 and the case-law cited).
83) It is therefore necessary to determine whether the scope of a judicial review of a decision made by the official veterinarian, in accordance with Article 5(2) of Regulation No 854/2004, not to affix a health mark to a carcass, such as that carried out by the High Court of Justice (England & Wales), meets the requirements of Article 54 of Regulation No 882/2004, read in the light of Article 47 of the Charter and the case-law cited in paragraphs 74 and 79 of the present judgment.
89) Moreover, his or her decision must, pursuant to Article 54(3) of Regulation No 882/2004, comply with certain requirements concerning, in particular, written notification thereof and the statement of reasons, as well as information on rights of appeal. Amongst those requirements, the obligation to state reasons for decisions adopted by the national authorities is, as is clear from the settled case-law of the Court, particularly important, since it puts their addressees in a position to defend their rights under the best possible conditions and decide in full knowledge of the circumstances whether it is worthwhile to bring an action against those decisions. It is also necessary in order to enable the courts to review the lawfulness of those decisions and it is therefore a requirement for ensuring that the judicial review guaranteed by Article 47 of the Charter is effective (see, to that effect, judgments of 9 November 2017, LS Customs Services, C‑46/16, EU:C:2017:839, paragraph 40, and of 15 July 2021, Commission v Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and CRU, C‑584/20 P and C‑621/20 P, EU:C:2021:601, paragraph 103).
90) In that context, it should be observed that, in the light of the specific circumstances of the present case, in particular the food safety rules, the national court having jurisdiction must, when an action is brought before it in order to challenge decisions of an official veterinarian such as that at issue in the main proceedings, ensure that the judicial proceedings as a whole comply both with the right to an effective remedy, within the meaning of Article 47 of the Charter, and with the objective of achieving a high level of protection of public health pursued by Regulations No 854/2004 and No 882/2004, on the basis of Article 168(4)(b) TFEU.
91) That responsibility of the official veterinarian when he or she decides that a carcass is fit for human consumption and can thus be placed on the market does not, in the light of the objective of protecting public health, require that Article 47 of the Charter be interpreted, in the context of proceedings for judicial review of decisions of administrative authorities, as requiring the Member States to establish a judicial review of all of the official veterinarian’s assessments of the very specific facts found during inspections relating to health marking.
93) In so far as such a judicial review before the national court having jurisdiction is carried out in the light of the requisite statement of reasons for the decision of the official veterinarian, its scope thus limited does not go so far as to compromise the very essence of the guarantees protecting the rights of the slaughterhouse operator when it challenges, in accordance with Regulations No 854/2004 and No 882/2004 read in the light of Article 47 of the Charter, a decision of the official veterinarian refusing to affix a health mark after declaring the meat in question unfit for human consumption. Therefore, such a review can be in compliance with the right of a slaughterhouse operator to effective judicial protection, guaranteed by Article 47 of the Charter.
96) On the other hand, according to the settled case-law of the Court, the right to property, which is guaranteed by Article 17 of the Charter, is not an absolute right, but must be considered in relation to its function in society (see, to that effect, judgment of 10 July 2003, Booker Aquaculture and Hydro Seafood, C‑20/00 and C‑64/00, EU:C:2003:397, paragraph 68). In the context of the case in the main proceedings, the right to property must be reconciled with Article 38 of the Charter, which, like Article 168(4)(b) TFEU, seeks to ensure a high level of consumer protection in EU policies, including the protection of public health.
98) In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the second question is that Article 54 of Regulation No 882/2004, read in conjunction with recital 43 thereof and in the light of Article 47 of the Charter, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation according to which the decision made by the official veterinarian, in accordance with Article 5(2) of Regulation No 854/2004, as amended by Regulation No 882/2004, not to affix a health mark to a carcass may be subject to limited judicial review only, in the context of which the court seised may annul that decision on any ground rendering it unlawful, including where that veterinarian has acted for a purpose other than that for which his or her powers have been conferred on him or her, fails to apply the correct legal test or reaches a decision that is irrational or has no sufficient evidential basis.
