20.10.2007   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 247/2

1.

Is a national legislature, when availing itself of the power laid down in Article 5(3) of Council Directive 85/73/EEC of 29 January 1985 in the version of Council Directive 96/43/EC of 26 June 1996 and in point 4(a) of Chapter I of Annex A thereto to increase the standard amounts of fees for individual establishments and in point 4(b) to collect a fee which covers actual costs, strictly bound by the fee structure laid down in points 1 and 2(a) of Chapter I of Annex A (according to type of animal, young or adult animals, carcase weight etc) or may it make a distinction, when setting the amounts of scales of fees, between inspections of slaughtering units in large establishments and other inspections and, in addition, also within those two groups adjust the rate of fees on a diminishing scale according to the number of animals slaughtered within the animal types, provided only that that reflects the actual costs?

2.

On the basis of the abovementioned provisions, may a national legislature collect, in respect of slaughtering carried out outside normal slaughtering hours at the request of the owner, an additional fee on a percentage basis on top of the fee collected for slaughtering inspections in normal slaughtering hours when the latter reflects the additional actual costs, or must those costs be contained in the standard (increased) fee for all persons subject to a fee?