Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2007:200
Date: 2007-03-29
Language of the case: Italian
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment Approximation of laws – Construction products – Directive 89/106 (Art. 249 EC; Council Directive 89/106, Art. 13(4); Commission Decision 1999/93, Arts 2 to 4 and Annexes II and III) An individual cannot rely, in the context of legal proceedings against another individual concerning contractual liability, on the infringement by the latter of Articles 2 and 3 of, and Annexes II and III to, Decision 1999/93 on the procedure for attesting the conformity of construction products pursuant to Article 20(2) of Council Directive 89/106/EEC as regards doors, windows, shutters, blinds, gates and related building hardware. Decision 1999/93 was adopted on the basis of Article 13(4) of Directive 89/106 and is addressed to the Member States. It is an act of general application which specifies the types of attestation of conformity procedures that are applicable, respectively, to doors, windows, shutters, blinds, gates and related building hardware and which authorises the European Committee for Standardisation (‘CEN/Cenelec’) to specify the content of those procedures in the relevant harmonised standards, which will then be transposed by the standardisation bodies of each Member State. In accordance with Article 249 EC, Decision 1999/93 is binding only upon the Member States, which, under Article 4 of that decision, are the sole addressees. (see paras 21-22 , operative part)