Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1997:581
Date: 1997-12-04
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Right of establishment
Concepts: Coordination of company law - European Economic Interest Grouping;Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice;Direct effect
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling - decision unnecessary
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgmen t 
1. Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Companies — Directive 
68/151 — Annual accounts — Penalties for non-publication — National rules restricting to 
certain categories of persons the right to apply for the application of those rules — Not permis­
sible 
(EC Treaty, Art. 54(3)(g); Council Directive 68/151, Arts 3 and 6) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-97/96 
2. Preliminary rulings —Jurisdiction of the Court — Question as to the direct effect of a provi­
sion imposing obligations on an individual — No need for a ruling 
(EC Treaty, Art. 177; Council Directive 68/151, Art. 6) 
1. Article 6 of First Directive 68/151 on 
coordination of safeguards which, for the 
protection of the interests of members 
and others, are required by Member 
States of companies within the meaning 
of the second paragraph of Article 58 of 
the Treaty, •with a view to making such 
safeguards equivalent throughout the 
Community, must be interpreted as pre­
cluding the legislation of a Member State 
from restricting to members or creditors 
of a company, the central works council 
or the company's works council the right 
to apply for imposition of the penalty 
provided for by the law of that Member 
State in the event of failure by a company 
to fulfil the obligations regarding disclo­
sure of annual accounts laid down by 
First Directive 68/151. 
Article 54(3)(g) of the Treaty, which 
refers to the need to protect the interests 
of others generally, without distinguish­
ing or excluding any categories falling 
within the ambit of that term, and the 
fourth recital in the preamble to and 
Article 3 of Directive 68/151, which con­
firm the concern to enable any interested 
persons to obtain information, preclude 
Article 6 of the directive from being 
interpreted in such a way as to restrict to 
creditors of the company the right to 
apply for imposition of penalties. 
2. Since a directive cannot of itself impose 
obligations on an individual, and cannot 
therefore be relied upon as such against 
such a person, there is no need for the 
Court, in the context of a request for a 
preliminary ruling, to examine whether 
Article 6 of Directive 68/151 has direct 
effect. 
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