Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1998:563
Date: 1998-11-24
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: Full Court
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Freedom to provide services;Anti-discrimination;Non-discrimination on grounds of nationality
Concepts: General;Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgmen t 
1. Community law — Principles — Equal treatment — Discrimination on grounds of nationality 
— Prohibition — Scope — Member State nationals who visit another Member State where 
they intend or are likely to receive services and who have the right to freedom of movement 
as provided for by Article 8a of the Treaty — Covered 
(EC Treaty, Arts 6, 8a and 59) 
2. Community law — Principles — Equal treatment — Discrimination on grounds of nationality 
— Prohibition — Scope — National rules concerning the language to be used in criminal 
proceedings — Covered — Conditions 
(EC Treaty, Art. 6) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-274/96 
3. Community law — Principles — Equal treatment — Discrimination on grounds of nationality 
— National rules concerning the language to be used in criminal proceedings — Discrimina­
tion against the nationals of other Member States exercising their right to freedom of move­
ment — Prohibited 
(EC Treaty, Art. 6) 
1. The situations governed by Community 
law which are covered by the prohibition 
of 'any discrimination on grounds of 
nationality', laid down in Article 6 of the 
Treaty, include those covered by the 
freedom to provide services, the right to 
which is laid down in Article 59 of the 
Treaty. That provision applies to all 
nationals of Member States who, indepen-
dently of other freedoms guaranteed by 
the Treaty, visit another Member State 
where they intend or are likely to receive 
services; they are therefore free to visit 
and move around within the host State. 
Furthermore, pursuant to Article 8a of the 
Treaty, '[e]very citizen of the Union shall 
have the right to move and reside freely 
within the territory of the Member States, 
subject to the limitations and conditions 
laid down in this Treaty and by the mea­
sures adopted to give it effect'. 
2. The right conferred by national rules to 
have criminal proceedings conducted in a 
language other than the principal language 
of the State concerned falls within the 
scope of the Treaty and must comply with 
Article 6 thereof. 
Although, generally speaking, criminal leg­
islation and the rules of criminal proce­
dure are matters for which the Member 
States are responsible, Community law 
sets certain limits to their power in that 
respect. Such legislative provisions may 
not discriminate against persons to whom 
Community law gives the right to equal 
treatment or restrict the fundamental free­
doms guaranteed by Community law. 
3. Article 6 of the Treaty precludes national 
rules which, in respect of a particular lan­
guage other than the principal language of 
the Member State concerned, confer on 
citizens whose language is that particular 
language and who are resident in a defined 
area the right to require that criminal pro­
ceedings be conducted in that language, 
without conferring the same right on 
nationals of other Member States travel­
ling or staying in that area, whose lan­
guage is the same. 
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