Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2004:72
Date: 2004-03-10
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Second Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Foodstuffs;Consumer protection
Concepts: General;Food safety
Procedure: Action for damages - unfounded
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgment 1. Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Damage – Causal link – Where one of the conditions is not satisfied – Action for damages must be dismissed (Art. 288, second para., EC) 2. Approximation of laws – General safety of goods – Directive 92/59 – Community rapid alert system for food and feed – Respective powers of the national authorities and of the Commission (Council Directive 92/59) 3. Approximation of laws – General safety of goods – Directive 92/59 – Community rapid alert system for food and feed – Precautionary principle (Council Directive 92/59) 1. Non-contractual liability on the part of the Community is subject to a number of conditions: unlawfulness of the conduct alleged against the Community institutions, actual damage and the existence of a causal link between the conduct of the institution and the damage complained of. If one of those conditions is not satisfied, the entire action must be dismissed and it is not necessary to consider the other conditions. (see para. 32) 2. The Community rapid alert system for food and feed introduced by Directive 92/59 on general product safety confers on the national authorities only, and not on the Commission, responsibility for establishing whether there is a serious and immediate risk to the health and safety of consumers. It is thus incumbent upon the national authorities, once they have detected a serious and immediate risk the effects of which extend or could extend beyond their territory, immediately to inform the Commission and provide it with information to identify the product and the supply chain. The Commission, for its own part, confines itself to checking whether the information falls, as such, within the scope of the directive, and the accuracy of the findings and analyses that led the national authorities to send that information does not have to be checked. (see paras 51-52) 3. As regards the prevention of risks to the health of consumers, and if any doubt remains, under the precautionary principle prevailing in the matter of the protection of public health the competent authority may be obliged to take appropriate measures to prevent certain potential risks for public health without having to wait until the existence and seriousness of those risks has been fully demonstrated. If it was necessary to wait until all the research was completed before adopting such measures the precautionary principle would be rendered devoid of purpose. That reasoning also applies in the case of a rapid information procedure such as the one introduced by Directive 92/59 on general product safety, and, consequently, an undertaking which is a victim of that alert system introduced in order to protect human health must accept its adverse economic consequences, since the protection of public health must take precedence over economic considerations. (see para. 54)