Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:195
Date: 2000-04-06
Language of the case: Dutch
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Approximation of laws;Veterinary legislation
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 — Technical regulations within the meaning of 
Directive 83/189 — Meaning — National provision requiring farms to have contain­
ers for disinfecting footwear — Excluded 
(Council Directive 83/189, Art. 1, first para.) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-37/99 
2. Approximation of laws — Procedure for the provision of information in the field of 
technical standards and regulations — Technical regulations within the meaning of 
Directive 83/189 — Meaning — National provision requiring pigs to be vaccinated 
against Aujeszky's disease — Excluded 
(Council Directive 83/189, Art. 1, fifth para.) 
1. A provision of national law which 
requires there to be one or more 
disinfectant containers or appropriate 
cleaning facilities for disinfecting foot­
wear on pig farms, is not, for the 
purposes of Directive 83/189/EEC lay­
ing down a procedure for the provision 
of information in the field of technical 
standards and regulations, as amended 
by Directive 88/182, a technical regu­
lation which ought to have been noti­
fied to the Commission before being 
adopted. Such a provision does not 
concern production in the strict sense 
of the agricultural product under con­
sideration and the rule which it lays 
down is not a technical specification 
within the meaning of Article 1(1) of 
Directive 83/189 
(see paras 21-23 and operative part 1) 
2. A provision of national law which 
requires every farmer to have the pigs 
on his holding vaccinated against 
Aujeszky's disease is not, for the pur­
poses of Article 1(5) of Directive 
83/189 laying down a procedure for 
the provision of information in the field 
of technical standards and regulations, 
as amended by Directive 88/182, a 
technical regulation which ought to 
have been notified to the Commission 
before being adopted, since the rule 
which it lays down imposes no restric­
tions on either the marketing or the use 
of the products concerned in the case of 
contravention of that rule. 
(see paras 33-34 and operative part 2) 
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