Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:174
Date: 2002-03-14
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of goods;Measures having equivalent effect;Quantitative restrictions
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Free movement of goods — Quantitative restrictions — Measures having equivalent 
effect — Definition — Promotional measures for national products by a body set up 
as a private company but established by a Member State and financed by a contribution 
imposed on producers — Included 
(Art. 30 EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Art. 28 EC)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-325/00 
2. Free movement of goods — Quantitative restrictions — Measures having equivalent 
effect — National scheme for the promotion of agricultural and food products 
manufactured in a Member State — Quality label referring to the national origin of 
the products — Not permissible — Justification — Protection of industrial and 
commercial property — None 
(EC Treaty, Arts 30 and 36 (now, after amendment, Arts 28 EC and 30 EC) 
1. The award of a quality label which 
emphasises the national origin of the 
products concerned by a body which 
although set up as a private company, 
is established by a national law of a 
Member State and financed by a con­
tribution imposed on producers must 
be considered to be a public measure 
for the purpose of Article 30 of the 
Treaty (now, after amendment, 
Article 28 EC) ascribable to the State. 
Such a body, cannot, under Commu­
nity law, enjoy the same freedom as 
regards the promotion of national 
production as that enjoyed by pro­
ducers themselves or producers' associ­
ations of a voluntary character. Thus it 
is obliged to respect the basic rules of 
the Treaty on the free movement of 
goods when it sets up a scheme, open 
to all undertakings of the sectors con­
cerned, which can have effects on 
intra-Community trade similar to those 
arising under the scheme adopted by 
the public authorities. 
(see paras 17-18, 21) 
2. A scheme seeking to promote the dis­
tribution of agricultural and food 
products made in a Member State and 
for which the advertising message, 
conveyed by a quality and origin label, 
underlines the national origin of the 
relevant products, may encourage con­
sumers to buy the products with the 
label in question to the exclusion of 
imported products, and therefore, at 
least potentially, have restrictive effects 
on the free movement of goods 
between Member States referred to in 
Article 30 of the Treaty (now, after 
amendment, Article 28 EC). 
While it is true that the protection of 
geographical indications may, under 
certain conditions, fall within the pro­
tection of industrial and commercial 
property for the purposes of Article 36 
of the Treaty (now, after amendment, 
Article 30 EC), a scheme defining the 
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COMMISSION v GERMANY 
area of provenance as the extent of the 
territory of the Member State con­
cerned and applying to all agricultural 
and food products fulfilling certain 
quality requirements, cannot in any 
case be considered a geographic indi­
cation capable of justification under 
Article 36 of the Treaty. 
(see paras 23, 27) 
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