Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:521
Date: 1999-10-21
Language of the case: French
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Free movement of capital
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgment 
(Free movement of capital — Restrictions — System of prior authorisation for direct 
foreign investments — Measure justified on grounds of public policy or public security — 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-54/99 
Lack of precision — Infringement of the principle of legal certainty) 
(EC Treaty, Arts 73b and 73d(1)(b) (now Arts 56 EC and 58(1)(b) EC» 
Article 73d(1)(b) of the EC Treaty (now 
Article 58(1)(b) EC), which provides that 
Article 73b of the Treaty (now Arti­
cle 56 EC), prohibiting restrictions on the 
movement of capital between Member 
States and between Member States and 
non-member countries, is without prejudice 
to the right of Member States to take any 
measures which are justified on grounds of 
public policy or public security, must be 
interpreted as precluding a system of prior 
authorisation for direct foreign investments 
which confines itself to defining in general 
terms the affected investments as being 
investments that are such as to represent a 
threat to public policy and public security, 
with the result that the persons concerned 
are unable to ascertain the specific circum­
stances in which prior authorisation is 
required. Since such a lack of precision 
does not enable individuals to be apprised 
of the extent of their rights and obligations 
deriving from Article 73b of the Treaty, the 
system in question is contrary to the 
principle of legal certainty. 
(see paras 21-23 and operative part) 
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