ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. State aid - Definition - Measures intended to offset the costs which an undertaking incurs in discharging public service obligations - Excluded - Condition - Equivalence between the exemption and the additional costs incurred

(EC Treaty, Art. 92 (now, after amendment, Art. 87 EC))

2. State aid - Prohibition - Derogations - Aid paid to an undertaking entrusted with the operation of a service of general economic interest - Restrictions - Measure conferring an advantage exceeding the additional costs of performing the public service

(EC Treaty, Art. 90(2) (now Art. 86(2) EC))

Summary

1. Provided that the tax on direct sales of medicines imposed by a Member State on pharmaceutical laboratories corresponds to the additional costs actually incurred by wholesale distributors in discharging their public service obligations, not assessing wholesale distributors to the tax may be regarded as compensation for the services they provide and hence not State aid within the meaning of Article 92 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 87 EC). Moreover, provided there is the necessary equivalence between the exemption and the additional costs incurred, wholesale distributors will not be enjoying any real advantage for the purposes of Article 92(1) of the Treaty because the only effect of the tax will be to put distributors and laboratories on an equal competitive footing.

( see para. 27, and operative part 1 )

2. Article 90(2) of the Treaty (now Article 86(2) EC) is to be interpreted as meaning that it does not cover a tax advantage enjoyed by undertakings entrusted with the operation of a public service such as wholesale distributors supplying medicines to pharmacies in so far as that advantage exceeds the additional costs of performing the public service because the advantage, to the extent that it exceeds the additional costs, cannot be regarded as necessary to enable them to carry out the particular tasks assigned to them.

( see paras 32, 33, and operative part 2 )
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Acts of the institutions - Directives - Implementation by the Member States - Mere administrative practices or mere practices of economic operators do not constitute fulfilment of that obligation

(Art. 249, third para. EC)
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Freedom of movement for persons - Freedom of establishment - Restrictions resulting from the rules in the Member State of establishment relating to the pursuit of certain activities - Existence of a directive on the mutual recognition of diplomas in the sector concerned - Application not resulting in the automatic recognition of the applicant's qualifications - Member State required to determine whether the diplomas and qualifications obtained by the applicant correspond to those required under national law

(Arts 43 EC and 47 EC)

Summary

$$Article 43 EC is to be interpreted as meaning that where a Community national applies to the competent authorities of a Member State for authorisation to practise a profession, access to which depends, under national legislation, on the possession of a diploma or professional qualification or on periods of practical experience, those authorities are required to take into consideration all of the diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications of the person concerned, and his relevant experience, by comparing the specialised knowledge and abilities so certified, and that experience, with the knowledge and qualifications required by the national legislation, even where a directive on the mutual recognition of diplomas has been adopted for the profession concerned, but where application of that directive does not result in automatic recognition of the applicant's qualification or qualifications.

It is of no consequence, in this respect, that the person concerned, albeit he can prove that he holds a diploma in a field in which such a directive has been adopted, cannot avail himself of the mechanism for automatic recognition laid down by that directive because his diploma was awarded in a third country or because, for other reasons, the conditions for the application of that mechanism are not met.

( see paras 28, 31 and operative part )
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Officials - Rights and obligations - Freedom of expression - Application for permission to publish - Balance to be struck between an official's freedom of expression and the gravity of any prejudice to the interests of the Community as a result of publication - Obligation to state reasons

(Staff Regulations, Art. 17, second para.)

Summary

$$The second paragraph of Article 17 of the Staff Regulations clearly provides that, in principle, permission is to be granted and may be refused only in exceptional cases.

In so far as the provision enables institutions to refuse permission to publish, and thus potentially interfere to a serious extent with freedom of expression, one of the fundamental pillars of a democratic society, it must be interpreted restrictively, in such a way that permission to publish is refused only where publication is liable to cause serious harm to the Communities' interests.

When it applies the second paragraph of Article 17 of the Staff Regulations, the appointing authority must balance the various interests at stake, taking account, first, of the freedom that an official has to express, orally or in writing, opinions that dissent from or conflict with those held by the employing institution - that freedom arising from the fundamental right of the individual to express himself freely - and, second, of the gravity of the potential prejudice to the interests of the Communities to which publication of the relevant text might give rise. In that connection, only where there is a real risk of serious prejudice to the interests of the Communities, established on the basis of specific, objective evidence, may the risk be taken into consideration for the purpose of applying the second paragraph of Article 17 of the Staff Regulations.

In order to enable the Community courts to exercise their power of review as regards the legality of a decision refusing permission to publish and to provide the official concerned with sufficient information to enable him to understand the reasons for the decision, the official must be given such information with the decision refusing permission or, at the very latest, with the decision rejecting his complaint.

( see paras 17-20 )
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Agriculture - Common agricultural policy - EAGGF financing - Principles - Expenditure associated with practices that are incompatible with Community law disallowed - Commission's measure of discretion - None

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

Summary

$$Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation No 729/70 on the financing of the common agricultural policy authorise the Commission to charge to the EAGGF only sums paid in accordance with the rules laid down in the context of the common organisation of the agricultural markets, and leaving all other sums to be borne by the Member States, in particular sums which the national authorities wrongly considered themselves authorised to pay in the context of that common organisation. The Commission has no discretion in that regard even in cases where national practices incompatible with Community law have a beneficial effect on the amounts recorded in other EAGGF items. The purpose of the EAGGF account clearing procedure, which is to check that refunds and interventions are made in accordance with the Community rules and thereby to guarantee that all traders are subject to the same conditions of competition, would be jeopardised if the Commission were able, when it finds a national practice to be irregular, to invoke a discretionary power to accept or reject it for Community financing according to the seriousness of its financial repercussions for the EAGGF.

( see paras 44-46 )
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Approximation of laws - Package travel, package holidays and package tours - Directive 90/314 - Organiser's and/or retailer's liability vis-à-vis consumers - Duty to compensate damage resulting from the non-performance or improper performance of the contract - Non-material damage - Included

(Council Directive 90/314, Art. 5(2))

Summary

$$Article 5 of Directive 90/314 on package travel, package holidays and package tours must be interpreted as conferring, in principle, on consumers a right to compensation for non-material damage resulting from the non-performance or improper performance of the services constituting a package holiday.

( see paras 22, 24, operative part )
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1. EC Treaty - Matters covered - Copyright and related rights - Included

2. Community law - Principles - Equal treatment - Discrimination on grounds of nationality - Prohibition - Author who died prior to the entry into force of the EEC Treaty in the Member State of which he was a national - Included

(Art. 6, first para., EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Art. 12, first para., EC))

3. Community law - Principles - Equal treatment - Discrimination on grounds of nationality - Prohibition - Term of protection granted to the works of an author who is a national of another Member State shorter than the term granted to the works of the State's own nationals - Not permissible

(Art. 6, first para., EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Art. 12, first para., EC))

Summary

$$1. By reason in particular of their effects on intra-Community trade in goods and services, copyright and related rights fall within the scope of application of the Treaty.

( see para. 24 )

2. The prohibition of discrimination in the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, the first paragraph of Article 12 EC) is also applicable to the protection of copyright in cases where the author had died when the EEC Treaty entered into force in the Member State of which he was a national.

( see para. 34, operative part )

3. The prohibition of discrimination in the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, the first paragraph of Article 12 EC) precludes the term of protection granted by the legislation of a Member State to the works of an author who is a national of another Member State being shorter than the term granted to the works of its own nationals. In prohibiting any discrimination on grounds of nationality that provision requires each Member State to ensure that nationals of other Member States in a situation governed by Community law are placed on a completely equal footing with its own nationals.

( see paras 31, 34, operative part )
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1. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations - Examination of the merits by the Court - Situation to be taken into account - Situation prevailing at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion

(Art. 226 EC)

2. Member States - Obligations - Implementation of directives - Failure to fulfil obligations - Justification based on practices or circumstances existing in its internal legal order, including technical difficulties - Not permissible

(Art. 226 EC)
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State aid - Examination by the Commission - Power to adopt guidelines - Measures proposed to the Member States in the context of the constant review of the aid schemes governed by the guidelines - Acceptance by the Member States - Binding effect - Decisions on the ceilings for aid cover constituting an integral part of the guidelines on regional aid

(Arts 87 EC and 88 EC)

Summary

$$In the exercise of the powers conferred on it by Articles 87 EC and 88 EC, the Commission may adopt guidelines designed to indicate how it intends, under those articles, to exercise its discretion in regard to new aid or in regard to existing systems of aid.

When they are based on Article 88(1) EC, those guidelines constitute one element of the regular and periodic cooperation under which the Commission, in conjunction with the Member States, must keep under constant review existing systems of aid and propose to them any appropriate measures required by the progressive development or by the functioning of the common market. As also follows from Article 19(1) of Regulation No 659/1999, in the case where those proposals for appropriate measures are accepted by a Member State, that Member State will be bound by those measures.

In particular, so far as the guidelines governing regional aid are concerned, decisions such as those fixing the ceilings for aid cover and updating such cover constitute one of the stages in a process designed to lay down the general conditions governing Community examination of regional aid schemes. Those decisions consequently form an integral part of the guidelines on regional aid and have, in themselves, binding force only on condition that they have been accepted by the Member States.

( see paras 27-29, 33-35 )
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Free movement of goods — Quantitative restrictions — Measures having equivalent effect — National legislation prohibiting the marketing as chocolate of cocoa and chocolate products containing fats other than cocoa butter and lawfully manufactured in the Member State of production — Not permissible — Whether justifiable — Protection of consumers — No justification — (Art. 30 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Art. 28 EC); Council Directive 73/241)

Summary

A Member State is in breach of its obligations under Article 30 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 28 EC) where it prohibits cocoa and chocolate products which comply with the minimum content requirements for cocoa and cocoa butter, laid down in point 1.16 of Annex I to Directive 73/241 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cocoa and chocolate products intended for human consumption to which vegetable fats other than cocoa butter have been added, and which are lawfully manufactured in Member States that authorise the addition of such fats, from being marketed in its territory as "chocolate" , the name under which they are marketed in the Member State of production.

Such legislation cannot be justified as being necessary in order to satisfy overriding requirements relating inter alia to consumer protection. The addition to cocoa and chocolate products of vegetable fats other than cocoa butter does not substantially alter their composition or their nature, so that they retain the characteristics expected by consumers buying products bearing the name "chocolate" . The inclusion in the label of a neutral and objective statement informing consumers of the presence in the product of vegetable fats other than cocoa butter is sufficient to ensure that consumers are given correct information.

see paras 83, 87-88, 92-93, 98, operative part
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Summary



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1. Agriculture — Common agricultural policy — Priority over the objectives of the Treaty in the field of competition — Consequences as regards application of the State aid provisions in a sector covered by a common organisation of the market — (Arts 36 EC, 87 EC, 88 EC and 89 EC)

2. Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Wine — State aid relating to products covered by a common organisation of the market — Incompatibility of the aid with the provisions governing that common organisation — (Council Regulations Nos 822/87 and 1493/1999)

3. State aid — Prohibition — Derogations — Commission's discretion — Review by the Court — Limits — (Art. 87(3) EC)

Summary

1. The Commission's assessment of State aid in a sector where common organisation of the market has been established involves examining the effect which such aid may have on the operation of that common organisation, since the Member States are under an obligation to refrain from taking any measures which might undermine or create exceptions to it. In other words, recourse by a Member State to the provisions of Articles 87 EC, 88 EC and 89 EC cannot receive priority over the provisions of the regulation on the common organisation of the market concerned. Moreover, Article 36 EC recognises the priority of the common agricultural policy over the objectives of the Treaty in the field of competition.

see paras 31-33

2. Since cognac is a potable spirit obtained from wine, it is excluded from the category of agricultural products and, consequently, is not among the products regulated under the common organisation of the market in wine. Thus, if areas planted with vines of the ugni blanc variety, the yield from which is used to make a spirit which, as an industrial product, is not sold on the wine market, are converted into areas intended for the production of local wines sold on that market, the quantity of such wines produced in the region in question will necessarily increase, which runs counter to the objective of balance between production and demand pursued by the common organisation of the market in wine. Accordingly, national aid designed to promote the grubbing of vines of the ugni blanc variety and their replacement with varieties of vine from which local wines can be produced is incompatible with the provisions governing that common organisation.

see paras 35, 37-39

3. The Commission enjoys a wide discretion for the purposes of applying Article 87(3) EC, the exercise of which involves assessments of an economic and social nature which must be made within a Community context. The Court, in reviewing whether that freedom was lawfully exercised, cannot substitute its own assessment for that of the competent authority but must restrict itself to examining whether the authority's assessment is vitiated by a manifest error or misuse of powers.

see para. 41
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Approximation of laws — Trade marks — Directive 89/104 — Right for the owner of a registered trade mark to contest its unlawful use — Sign identical with the trade mark — Sign reproducing, without any modification or addition, all the elements constituting the trade mark or, viewed as a whole, containing differences so insignificant that they may go unnoticed by an average consumer — Interpretation applicable both to Article 5(1)(a) and to Article 4(1)(a) of the directive — (Council Directive 89/104, Arts 4(1)(a), and 5(1)(a) and (b))

Summary

Article 5(1)(a) of First Directive 89/104 relating to trade marks, which determines the circumstances in which the proprietor of a trade mark is entitled to prevent third parties from using signs which are identical with his trade mark, must be interpreted as meaning that a sign is identical with the trade mark where it reproduces, without any modification or addition, all the elements constituting the trade mark or where, viewed as a whole, it contains differences so insignificant that they may go unnoticed by an average consumer who is deemed to be reasonably well informed, reasonably observant and circumspect.

Contrary to Article 5(1)(b) of that directive, which is designed to apply only if, because of the identity or similarity between the signs and marks and between the goods or services which they designate, there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, Article 5(1)(a) does not require evidence of such a likelihood in order to afford absolute protection in the case of identity of the sign and the trade mark and of the goods or services. Accordingly, the criterion of identity of the sign and the trade mark must be interpreted strictly. The very definition of identity implies that the two elements compared should be the same in all respects. Indeed, the absolute protection in the case of a sign which is identical with the trade mark in relation to goods or services which are identical with those for which the trade mark is registered, which is guaranteed by Article 5(1)(a), cannot be extended beyond the situations for which it was envisaged, in particular, to situations which are more specifically protected by Article 5(1)(b).

Moreover, since the conditions of application of Article 5(1)(a) correspond essentially to those of Article 4(1)(a) of the directive, the interpretation thus adopted of Article 5(1)(a) is transposable, mutatis mutandis , to Article 4(1)(a) which provides that a registered trade mark is to be liable to be declared invalid if it is identical with an earlier trade mark, and the goods or services for which the trade mark is registered are identical with the goods or services for which the earlier trade mark is protected.

see paras 40-41, 43, 48-54, operative part
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1. Environment — Waste — Regulation No 259/93 on shipments of waste — Classification of the proposed shipment by the notifier — Competence of the authorities to which notification of a proposed shipment is addressed to check classification (recovery or disposal) and to object to a shipment which is wrongly classified — (Council Regulation No 259/93, Art. 7(2) and (4))

2. Environment — Waste — Directive 75/442 on waste — Annex II B — Distinction between a disposal operation and a recovery operation — Combustion of waste — Classified as a recovery operation — Conditions — (Council Directive 75/442, as amended by Commission Decision 96/350, Annex II B)

Summary

1. Under the system established by Regulation No 259/93 on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, all the competent authorities to which notification of a proposed shipment of waste is addressed must check that the classification by the notifier is consistent with the provisions of the regulation. If that classification is incorrect, those authorities must object to a shipment on the ground of that classification error, without reference to one of the specific provisions of the regulation setting out the objections which the Member States may raise. It is not, however, for the competent authority to reclassify ex officio the purpose of the shipment of waste.

see paras 21-22

2. The combustion of waste constitutes a recovery operation under point R1 of Annex II B to Directive 75/442, as amended by Decision 96/350, where its principal objective is for the waste to fulfil a useful function as a means of generating energy, replacing the use of a source of primary energy which would have had to have been used to fulfil that function. In particular, the combustion of household waste may be classified as a recovery operation if the main purpose is to enable the waste to be used as a means of generating energy, it takes place in conditions which give reason to believe that it is indeed a means to generate energy, the greater part of the waste is consumed during the operation and the greater part of the energy generated is reclaimed and used.

It follows that an operation whose principal objective is the disposal of waste must be classified as a disposal operation where the reclamation of the heat generated by the combustion constitutes only a secondary effect of that operation.

see paras 31-37, 43
Case C-422/00





Capespan International plc

v

Commissioners of Customs & Excise





(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the VAT and Duties Tribunal, London)

«(Community Customs Code – Fruit and vegetables – Calculation of customs value)»

Opinion of Advocate General Léger delivered on 13 June 2002 I - 0000

Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber), 16 January 2003 I - 0000

Summary of the Judgment

1.. Common Customs Tariff – Customs value – Determination in regard to fruit and vegetables coming under Regulation No 3223/94 – Application of the specific rules provided for in that regulation

(Council Regulation No 2913/92, Arts 29 to 36; Commission Regulations Nos 2454/93, Arts 173 to 177, and 3223/94, Art. 5)

2.. Common Customs Tariff – Customs value – Determination in regard to fruit and vegetables coming under Regulation No 3223/94 – Determination on the basis of the entry price of the products – Validity of the relevant regulation

(Commission Regulations Nos 3223/94, Art. 5, and 1498/98)

3.. Common Customs Tariff – Customs value – Determination in regard to fruit and vegetables coming under Regulation No 3223/94 – Article 5 thereof providing for several methods of determination – Possibility for the importer to provide a provisional declaration limited to one of those methods

(Commission Regulations Nos 2454/93, Art. 254, and 3223/94, Art. 5)

1.

2.

3.