Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2005:300
Date: 2005-05-24
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Free movement of goods;Measures having equivalent effect;Quantitative restrictions;Seeds and seedlings;Plant health legislation
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgment 1. Agriculture – Harmonisation of laws – Marketing of vegetable seed – Directive 70/458 (Council Directives 70/458, Art. 2(1)(A), and 92/33, Annexe II) 2. Free movement of goods – Quantitative restrictions – Measures having equivalent effect (Art. 28 EC) 1. The provisions of Directive 70/458 on the marketing of vegetable seed, as amended, and of Directive 92/33 on the marketing of vegetable propagating and planting material, other than seed, do not support the inference that, where a vegetable does not appear in the list set out in Article 2(1)(A) of Directive 70/458, a variety of that vegetable may nevertheless be entered in the common catalogue of varieties of vegetable species as seed on the ground that such a vegetable appears in the list set out in Annex II to Directive 92/33. It follows that, since shallots do not appear in the list of vegetables falling within the scope of Directive 70/458, the entry by the Commission of the ‘Ambition’ and ‘Matador’ varieties as seeds of that vegetable in the common catalogue after the national catalogue was sent to it by the competent authorities of a Member State was not made in compliance with that directive. (see paras 65-66) 2. A Member State which allows only vegetables produced by vegetative propagation to be marketed as ‘shallots’, to the exclusion of shallots grown from seed produced and marketed under that name in other Member States fails to fulfil its obligations under Article 28 EC. Such a rule cannot be regarded as justified for the purposes of Article 28 EC, since it is not necessary in order to satisfy overriding requirements relating, inter alia, to consumer protection. But for the difference in their method of reproduction, the two kinds of shallots are substantially similar in appearance. Accordingly, the purpose of the national legislation at issue, namely the protection of consumers, can be achieved by means of appropriate labelling stating that the shallots in question are grown from seed and not produced by vegetative propagation. (see paras 75, 77, 79-80, operative part)