Order — ECLI:EU:C:2008:593
Date: 2008-10-24
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Right of establishment;Freedom to provide services;Free movement of workers
Concepts: The various activities;The various services;General
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Order Freedom of movement for persons – Freedom of establishment – Freedom to provide services – Restrictions (Arts 43 EC and 49 EC) Articles 43 EC and 49 EC are to be interpreted as precluding national legislation of one Member State under which a self-employed person residing in that Member State is required to register there a vehicle leased from a company established in another Member State, when it is not intended that that vehicle should be used essentially in the first Member State on a permanent basis and it is not, in fact, used in that manner. A Member State may impose an obligation to register a motor vehicle leased by a worker residing in that Member State from a company established in another Member State where that vehicle is intended to be used essentially in the first Member State on a permanent basis or where it is, in fact, used in that manner. On the other hand, if those conditions are not satisfied, the connection with one Member State of the vehicle registered in another Member State is weaker, so that another justification for the restriction in question is necessary. In that regard, since those conditions do not apply to the use of his vehicle by the worker, the fact that he is self-employed in a Member State other than that in which he is resident as a natural person who owns a fixed establishment there and not as a director or manager of a company established there, or the fact that he has leased a vehicle from a company of that Member State himself and not through an employer who then made a vehicle available to him, cannot justify an obligation to register the vehicle in that worker’s Member State of residence. (see paras 32-36, operative part)