Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1999:167
Date: 1999-03-25
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Free movement of goods;Measures having equivalent effect;Quantitative restrictions;Wine
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - unfounded
Origin: Belgium;Spain

Summary of the Judgment 
Free movement of goods — Quantitative restrictions of exports — Measures having 
equivalent effect — National rules requiring bottling in the region of production for wines 
bearing a designation of origin —Justification — Protection of industrial and commercial 
property — Condition — Measure that is necessary and proportionate and capable of 
upholding the considerable reputation of wines bearing a designation of origin 
(EC Treaty, Arts 34 and 36 (now, after amendment, Arts 29 EC and 30 EC); Council 
Regulation No 823/87, Art. 18) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-3S8/95 
National rules applicable to wines bearing 
a designation of origin which make the use 
of the name of the production region 
conditional upon bottling in that region 
constitute a measure having an effect 
equivalent to quantitative restrictions on 
exports within the meaning of Article 34 of 
the Treaty (now, after amendment, Arti­
cle 29 EC), since they have the effect of 
specifically restricting patterns of exports 
of wine eligible to bear the designation of 
origin and thereby of establishing a differ­
ence of treatment between trade within a 
Member State and its export trade. 
They cannot be rendered lawful by Arti­
cle 18 of Regulation No 823/87, which, for 
those types of wine, authorises the Member 
States, taking into account fair and tradi­
tional practices, to impose more stringent 
conditions of movement than those 
imposed by that regulation, since that 
article cannot be interpreted as authorising 
the Member States to derogate from the 
Treaty rules on the free movement of 
goods. 
However, the requirement of bottling in the 
region of production, whose aim is to 
preserve the considerable reputation of the 
wine bearing the designation of origin by 
strengthening control over its particular 
characteristics and its quality, is justified as 
a measure protecting the designation of 
origin which may be used by all the wine 
producers in that region and is of decisive 
importance to them, and it must be regar­
ded as being in conformity with Commu­
nity law despite its restrictive effects on 
trade, since it constitutes a necessary and 
proportionate means of attaining the objec­
tive pursued in that there are no less 
restrictive alternative measures capable of 
attaining it. 
(see paras 41-43, 45, 59, 75-76) 
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