Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:89
Date: 2000-02-17
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Measures having equivalent effect;Approximation of laws;Quantitative restrictions
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Approximation of laws — Procedure for the provision of information in the field of 
technical standards and regulations — Directive 83/189 — Application ratione 
temporis 
(European Parliament and Council Directive 94/10; Council Directive 83/189) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-314/98 
2. Approximation of laws — Procedure for the provision of information in the field of 
technical standards and regulations — 'Technical regulations' for the purposes of 
Directive 83/189 — Meaning — National rules concerning the determination of the 
date on which a vehicle was first authorised for use on the public highway — 
Excluded 
(Council Directive 83/189, Art. 1(1) and (5)) 
3. Free movement of goods — Quantitative restrictions — Measures having equivalent 
effect — National rules which provide that the date on which an imported vehicle was 
first authorised for use on the public highway is to be fixed at the date on which its 
registration certificate was issued, on condition that it has not been registered for more 
than two days in another Member State — Not permissible — Justification — 
Protection of road safety — Protection of the environment — Conditions 
(EC Treaty, Art. 30 (now, after amendment, Art. 28 EC)) 
1. For the purposes of determining whe­
ther national rules introduced after the 
adoption of Directive 94/10 materially 
amending for the second time Directive 
83/189 but before the expiry of the 
period prescribed for the transposition 
of the directive constitute a technical 
regulation covered by the obligation to 
notify the Commission laid down in 
Directive 83/189 laying down a proce­
dure for the provision of information in 
the field of technical standards and 
regulations, as amended by Directive 
88/182, the subsequent amendments 
introduced by Directive 94/10 should 
not be taken into consideration. 
The purpose of Directive 94/10 is not 
solely to clarify the terms which appear 
in Directive 83/189. It is clear from the 
title, from the second recital in the 
preamble to and from the actual provi­
sions of Directive 94/10, that that 
directive materially amends the scope 
ratione materiae of Directive 83/189. 
(see paras 31, 33 and operative part 1) 
2. National rules concerning the determi­
nation of the date on which a vehicle is 
first authorised for use on the public 
highway do not fall within the scope of 
Directive 83/189 laying down a proce­
dure for the provision of information in 
the field of technical standards and 
regulations, as amended by Directive 
88/182. 
Rules which are designed to determine 
the date on which a vehicle is first 
authorised for use on the public high­
way, for the purposes of issuing a 
registration certificate, do not define 
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SNELLERS 
any characteristic required of the pro­
duct as such and are therefore not 
technical specifications within the 
meaning of Directive 83/189. Accord­
ingly, they cannot be classified as 
technical rules falling within the scope 
of that directive. 
(see paras 37—40 and operative part 2) 
3. National rules which provide that the 
date on which an imported vehicle was 
first authorised for use on the public 
highway is to be fixed at the date on 
which its registration certificate was 
issued only where the vehicle has not 
been registered for more than two days 
in another Member State constitute a 
measure having an effect equivalent to 
a quantitative restriction on imports 
for the purposes of Article 30 of the 
Treaty (now, after amendment, Arti­
cle 28 EC). 
Even though the rules draw no formal 
distinction between official importers 
and parallel importers, in practice they 
place parallel importers at a disadvan­
tage in that they must comply with 
strict requirements which are difficult 
to satisfy in order to obtain registration 
certificates on which the date on which 
the vehicle was first authorised for use 
on the public highway is shown as the 
date on which the certificate was 
issued. The rules thus do not have the 
same effect on the marketing of vehi­
cles imported by approved distributors 
and the marketing of vehicles imported 
via parallel channels by non-approved 
distributors. 
Such rules may, in spite of their restric­
tive effects on the free movement of 
goods, be justified by imperative 
requirements such as road safety and/ 
or protection of the environment if it 
can be shown that the resulting restric­
tion is necessary to ensure road safety 
and/or protection of the environment 
and that the restriction is not dispro­
portionate to those objectives, particu­
larly in the sense that no other, less 
restrictive, measures are available. 
(see paras 46, 48, 60 and 
operative part 3-4) 
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