ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
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1. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations ° Disregard of obligations deriving from a directive ° Pleas in defence ° Allegation that the directive is unlawful ° Inadmissibility ° Limits ° Non-existent measure

(EEC Treaty, Arts 169, 170, 173 and 175)

2. Tax provisions ° Harmonization of laws ° Turnover tax ° Common system of value added tax ° Special scheme for travel agents ° National rules providing for exemptions not limited to transactions performed outside the Community ° Not permissible

(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 26)

Summary

1. The system of remedies set up by the Treaty distinguishes between the remedies provided for in Articles 169 and 170, which permit a declaration that a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations, and those contained in Articles 173 and 175, which permit judicial review of the lawfulness of measures adopted by the Community institutions, or the failure to adopt such measures. Those remedies have different objectives and are subject to different rules. In the absence of a provision of the Treaty expressly permitting it to do so, a Member State cannot, therefore, properly plead the unlawfulness of a directive as a defence in an action for a declaration that it has failed to fulfil its obligations under it.

The position could be different only if the measure in question contained such particularly serious and manifest defects that it could be deemed non-existent.

2. A Member State which applies to travel agents' margins a value added tax scheme which, for certain transactions performed by third parties for the agent, provides for exemptions which, contrary to Article 26 of the Sixth Directive, are not limited to transactions performed outside the Community but also relate to all international air or sea transport operations or those carried out exclusively outside the national tax territory, is in breach of its obligations under the Treaty.

Although exemptions could be maintained by a Member State under the transitional measures provided for in Article 28 of the directive, provided that the conditions laid down by that article were satisfied, they cannot be maintained by a Member State which has not, for the various transactions performed by travel agents, maintained the general value added tax scheme but, on the contrary, has adopted a special scheme based on the rules laid down by Article 26 of the directive.
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Common Customs Tariff ° Tariff headings ° Residues resulting from the extraction of maize germ oil ° Classification within subheading 23.04 B notwithstanding the presence of other substances deriving in particular from the maize plant, other cereals or soya ° Conditions ° Very small quantity of the extraneous substances and technical impossibility of avoiding their presence

(Commission Regulation No 482/74, Art. 1)

Summary

The last sentence of Article 1 of Regulation No 482/74 on the classification of goods under subheading No 23.04 B of the Common Customs Tariff must be interpreted as meaning that the products resulting from the extraction of maize oil fall under that subheading even when they contain, in addition to the residues resulting from the extraction of oil from the actual maize germs, other substances deriving in particular from the whole of the maize plant, other cereals or soya, in so far as those substances extraneous to maize grain are present in very small quantities and it is established that it is technically impossible to avoid their presence under normal conditions of production, processing, transport, transshipment and storage, save by incurring cost disproportionate to the commercial value of the derived products in question. Since the Community legislature has not set a maximum permitted level for matter extraneous to maize grains, it is for the national court, in resolving the case before it, to fix the permissible level of such matter.
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Social security for migrant workers ° Family benefits ° Community rules against overlapping of benefits ° Article 10(1)(b)(i) of Regulation No 574/72 ° Worker entitled to benefits in the State of employment for a child in respect of whom there is also a right to benefits in another Member State, the place of

residence of the child and employment of the person having care of the child ° Right to allowances suspended in the State of employment up to the amount of the allowances paid in the State of residence

(Council Regulations Nos 1408/71, Art. 73 and 574/72, Art. 10(1)(b)(i))

Summary

The exercise by a person having the care of children, and in particular, by the spouse of the person entitled in pursuance of Article 73 of Regulation No 1408/71, of a professional or trade activity in the Member State of residence of the children suspends, under Article 10 of Regulation No 574/72, the right to allowances in pursuance of Regulation No 1408/71 up to the amount of the allowances of the same kind actually paid by the State of residence, irrespective of who is designated as directly entitled to the family allowances by the legislation of the State of residence.
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Competition ° Community rules ° Undertaking ° Meaning ° Organizations charged with the management of a special social security scheme ° Not included

(EEC Treaty, Arts 85 and 86)

Summary

The concept of an undertaking, within the meaning of Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty, encompasses all entities engaged in an economic activity. It does not include, therefore, organizations involved in the management of the public social security system, which fulfil an exclusively social function and perform an activity based on the principle of national solidarity which is entirely non-profit-making.
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1. Accession of new Member States to the Communities ° Portugal ° State monopolies of a commercial character ° Article 208(1) of the Act of Accession 1985 ° Obligation to make progressive adjustments during the transitional period ° No direct effect before the end of the transitional period

(Act of Accession 1985, Art. 208(1))

2. Accession of new Member States to the Communities ° Portugal ° State monopolies of a commercial character ° Obligation to make progressive adjustments during the transitional period ° Detailed rules ° National authorities' discretion ° No obligation to open quotas for free importation

(EEC Treaty, Art. 37(1); Act of Accession 1985, Art. 208(1))

Summary

1. Article 208(1) of the Act of Accession 1985, concerning the progressive adjustment of Portuguese national monopolies of a commercial character, does not create for Portugal, during the transitional period for which it provides, an unconditional and sufficiently precise obligation which can be relied on by an individual before a national court. It is not until the expiry of the transitional period that the elimination of all discrimination becomes unconditional and cannot be made subject, as far as its execution or effect is concerned, to the intervention of any act, either of the Community or of the Member States.

2. Article 37(1) of the Treaty and Article 208(1) of the Act of Accession are to be interpreted as meaning that the obligation imposed on Portugal progressively to adjust the monopoly in ethyl alcohol does not necessarily require the opening, during the transitional period, of quotas for free importation of the products forming the subject of the monopoly from the other Member States. By virtue of those provisions, Portugal enjoys a wide discretion in the choice of methods suitable for the required adjustment and may, in order to fulfil its obligations during the transitional period, apply measures other than those involving the opening of quotas.
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Tax provisions ° Harmonization of laws ° Indirect taxes on the raising of capital ° Registration of capital companies ° Collection of taxes not covered by the derogations contained in Directive 69/335 ° Not permissible ° Derogation ° Duties paid by way of fees or dues ° Concept

(Council Directive 69/335, Arts 10 and 12(1)(e))

Summary

Article 10 of Directive 69/335 concerning indirect taxes on the raising of capital, which lists the taxes with the same characteristics as capital duty, collection of which is consequently prohibited, must be interpreted as prohibiting, subject to the derogating provisions of Article 12, an annual charge due in respect of the registration of capital companies even though the product of that charge contributes to financing the department responsible for keeping the register of companies.

The said Article 12 must be interpreted as meaning that duties paid by way of fees or dues referred to in Article 12(1)(e) may be payment collected by way of consideration for transactions required by law in the public interest such as, for example, the registration of capital companies. The amount of such duties, which may vary according to the legal form taken by the company, must be calculated on the basis of the cost of the transaction, which may be assessed on a flat-rate basis, but may not be calculated on the basis of all the running and capital costs of the department responsible for effecting the registration.
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Social security for migrant workers ° Old-age and death insurance ° Special rules for the application of the Netherlands legislation on general old-age insurance ° Calculation of insurance periods ° Treatment of periods prior to 1 January 1957 during which the person concerned had a sufficiently close link with the Netherlands as periods of insurance ° Activity abroad as the servant of a legal person governed by Netherlands public law

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Annex VI, Part J, section 2(a))

Summary

A person who has been employed by a legal person governed by Netherlands public law and who, although residing outside the Netherlands, was, in that capacity, subject to the Netherlands social security legislation, is linked to the Netherlands as closely as a person who resided in that country or carried on an activity as an employed person there for an employer established in that country whilst residing in the territory of another Member State, which cases are expressly provided for by section 2(a) of Part J of Annex VI to Regulation No 1408/71. Such a link must accordingly also be regarded as sufficient in order to require that the periods before 1 January 1957 during which that link existed should be treated as equivalent to periods of insurance under the Netherlands law on general old-age insurance.

It follows that section 2(a) of Part J of Annex VI of that regulation should be interpreted as meaning that the reduction referred to in Article 13(1) of the Netherlands law on general old-age insurance does not apply to periods before 1 January 1957 during which a person who does not satisfy the conditions on the basis of which those periods may be treated as periods of insurance was employed between the ages of 15 and 65 by a legal person governed by Netherlands public law and was, in that capacity, subject to the Netherlands social security legislation, even though he was resident outside the Netherlands.
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1. Agriculture ° Common agricultural policy ° Financing by the EAGGF ° Principles ° Aid paid in breach of Community rules ° Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligation to carry out checks ° Flat-rate reduction ° Permissibility

(Council Regulation No 729/70, Arts 2 and 3)

2. Agriculture ° Common agricultural policy ° Financing by the EAGGF ° Principles ° Aid paid in breach of Community rules ° Obligation to recover ° Recovery from a producers' organization not charged with negligence ° Not permissible

(Council Regulation No 729/70, Art. 8(1))

Summary

1. Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation No 729/70 on the financing of the common agricultural policy enable the Commission to charge to the EAGGF only sums paid in accordance with the Community rules. Consequently, where those rules authorize the payment of aid only on condition that certain checking procedures are observed, the payment of aid in breach of that condition is not in conformity with Community law. Article 8(1) of the regulation requires the Member States to check as to whether any irregularity or negligence has been committed in that respect.

When a Member State fails to comply with that obligation to carry out checks, the Commission may make a flat-rate reduction in the sums to be charged to the EAGGF as expenditure incurred by that Member State.

2. Although Member States are obliged under Article 8(1) of Regulation No 729/70 to take, in accordance with the provisions of national law, the measures required to recover overpaid aid, that function is exercised subject to the limits established by Community law. Since its rules are designed to ensure that all producers' organizations fulfilling the conditions laid down in that regard by the common organization of markets should benefit from aid, Community law precludes the recovery by a Member State of sums of overpaid aid from all producers' organizations where no negligence has been found on the part of one of those organizations.
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Competition ° Undertakings to which Member States grant special or exclusive rights ° Undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest ° Postal monopoly ° Permissibility ° Limits ° Specific services dissociable from the service of general economic interest and not compromising its economic equilibrium

(EEC Treaty, Art. 90)

Summary

It is contrary to Article 90 of the EEC Treaty for legislation of a Member State which confers on a body such as the Régie des Postes the exclusive right to collect, carry and distribute mail, to prohibit, under threat of criminal penalties, an economic operator established in that State from offering certain specific services, dissociable from the service of general interest, which meet the special needs of economic operators and call for certain additional services not offered by the traditional postal service, in so far as those services do not compromise the economic equilibrium of the service of general economic interest performed by the holder of the exclusive right.

Although the obligation for the holder of the exclusive right to perform a task of general interest by performing its services in conditions of economic equilibrium presupposes that it will be possible to offset less profitable sectors against the profitable sectors and hence justifies a restriction of competition from individual undertakings where the economically profitable sectors are concerned, such a restriction of competition is, however, not justified in all cases. In particular it is not permissible as regards specific services which may be dissociated from the service of general interest, which meet special needs of economic operators and which call for certain additional services such as, where the carriage of mail is concerned, collection from the sender' s address, greater speed or reliability of distribution or the possibility of changing the destination in the course of transit, which the traditional postal service does not offer, in so far as such specific services, by their nature and the conditions in which they are offered, such as the geographical area in which they are provided, do not compromise the economic equilibrium of the service of general economic interest performed by the holder of the exclusive right.
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Social policy ° Men and women workers ° Access to employment and working conditions ° Equal treatment ° Directive 76/207 ° Article 5 ° Direct effect ° Prohibition of night work by women where the same prohibition does not apply to men not permissible ° Role of national courts with regard to obligations towards non-member countries arising under agreements concluded prior to the EEC Treaty and irreconcilable with obligations arising under Article 5 ° Application of the rule of precedence set out in Article 234 of the Treaty

(EEC Treaty, Art. 234, first para.; Council Directive 76/207, Art. 5)

Summary

The national court is under an obligation to ensure that Article 5 of Directive 76/207 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions is fully complied with by refraining from applying any conflicting provision of national legislation, unless the application of such a provision is necessary in order to ensure the performance by the Member State concerned of obligations arising under an agreement concluded with non-member countries prior to the entry into force of the EEC Treaty.

While it is true that equal treatment of men and women constitutes a fundamental right recognized by the Community legal order, its implementation, even at Community level, has been gradual, requiring the Council to take action by means of directives. Those directives allow, temporarily, certain derogations from the principle of equal treatment. In those circumstances, it is not sufficient to rely on the principle of equal treatment in order to evade performance of the obligations which are incumbent on a Member State in that field under an earlier international agreement and observance of which is safeguarded by the first paragraph of Article 234 of the Treaty.

In proceedings for a preliminary ruling, it is not for this Court but for the national court to determine which obligations are imposed by an earlier international agreement on the Member State concerned and to ascertain their ambit so as to be able to determine the extent to which they constitute an obstacle to the application of Article 5 of the directive.
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1. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations ° Scope of the proceedings ° Determination during the pre-litigation procedure ° Subsequent enlargement ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

2. Tax provisions ° Harmonization of laws ° Turnover taxes ° Common system of value added tax ° Prohibition on charging other national taxes in the nature of turnover taxes ° Labour market contribution introduced in Denmark ° Not permissible

(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 33)

Summary

1. The scope of an action brought under Article 169 of the Treaty is circumscribed both by the preliminary administrative procedure provided for by that article and by the form of order sought in the application. The Commission' s reasoned opinion and its application must be founded on the same grounds and pleas. In so far as a complaint was not raised in the pre-litigation procedure, it is not admissible.

2. A Member State, in this case Denmark, infringes Article 33 of the Sixth Directive (77/388), which prohibits the Member States from levying taxes, duties or charges in the nature of turnover taxes, and thereby fails to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty, in particular Article 189, if it introduces and maintains fiscal rules providing for the payment of a labour market contribution, which is a levy of a fiscal nature generally charged on the same basis of assessment as value added tax, but without complying with the Community rules applying to value added tax, in so far as the said contribution:

° is paid both on activities subject to value added tax and on other industrial or commercial activities which consist in the supply of services for consideration;

° is charged, in the case of undertakings which are taxable persons for value added tax purposes, on the same basis of assessment as that used for value added tax, in other words as a percentage of the volume of sales after deduction of purchases;

° unlike value added tax, is not paid on importation, but is charged on the full sale price of imported goods at the first sale in the Member State concerned;

° unlike value added tax, does not have to be indicated separately on invoices; and

° is charged alongside value added tax.
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1. Social policy ° Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security ° Scope of Directive 79/7 ratione materiae ° Survivor' s pension ° Exclusion ° Consequences ° Application of domestic and international law

(Council Directive 79/7, Art. 3(2))

2. Social policy ° Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security ° National legislation coupling, for women only and with no option, the grant of a survivor' s pension with the withdrawal of benefits for incapacity for work ° Not permissible

(Council Directive 79/7, Art. 4(1))

3. Social policy ° Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security ° Directive 79/7 ° Article 4(1) ° Direct effect ° Scope

(Council Directive 79/7, Art. 4(1))

Summary

1. Directive 79/7, which seeks the gradual implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security, does not yet extend to the whole of this field; in particular, according to Article 3(2), it does not apply to provisions concerning survivors' benefits. Consequently, in the absence of harmonization in this area, these benefits are regulated by the provisions of domestic and international law in force in the Member State concerned.

It follows that Community law does not preclude a national court from interpreting Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as requiring equal treatment for men and women as regards survivors' benefits, inasmuch as that matter lies outside the scope of Directive 79/7 and in so far as no obstacles are thereby created to the implementation of the principle of equal treatment in the context of Community law.

2. Article 4(1) of Directive 79/7 precludes a national rule which withdraws from widows who are unfit for work the benefits applicable to that risk on their being granted a widow' s pension, if that withdrawal is not the result of a voluntary renunciation by the beneficiary and is not applicable to widowers who are entitled to benefits for incapacity to work.

3. Article 4(1), considered alone and in the light of the purpose and content of Directive 79/7, is sufficiently precise to be relied upon by an individual before a national court in order to have any national provision not in conformity with that article disapplied.

In the absence of adequate measures transposing Article 4(1) of Directive 79/7 into national law, it is for the national courts to apply such procedures of domestic law as will guarantee to women the benefit of the same rules as those applicable to men in the same situation.
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Procedure ° Revision of a judgment ° Conditions for the admissibility of the application ° New fact ° Fact which is subsequent to delivery of the judgment and irrelevant ° Inadmissible

(Statute of the Court of Justice of the EC, Arts 41 and 46)

Summary

It follows from the first paragraph of Article 41 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the EC that revision is not an appeal procedure but an exceptional review procedure that allows the authority of res judicata attaching to a final judgment to be called in question on the basis of the findings of fact relied upon by the court. Revision presupposes the discovery of elements of a factual nature which existed prior to the judgment and which were unknown at that time to the court which delivered it as well as to the party applying for revision and which, had the court been able to take them into consideration, could have led it to a different determination of the proceedings.

An application for revision supported only by a legal opinion provided subsequent to the delivery of the judgment which is, moreover, completely irrelevant, since it concerns a case wholly unrelated to that which the Community court has had to hear and determine, is therefore inadmissible.