ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
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Agriculture - Common agricultural policy - Support for producers of certain arable crops - Common organisation of the markets - Beef and veal - Payments aimed at compensating the loss of income caused by the reform of the common agricultural policy - Obligation to pay the sums at issue in full to the beneficiaries - Levying of administrative fees - Prohibition - Infringement of Article 5 of the Treaty and breach of the principle of proportionality - Absence

(EC Treaty, Art. 5; Council Regulations No 805/68, Art. 30a, and No 1765/92, Art. 15(3))

Summary

Article 15(3) of Regulation No 1765/92 establishing a support system for producers of certain arable crops, and Article 30a of Regulation No 805/68 on the common organisation of the market in beef and veal, as inserted by Regulation No 2066/92, which provide that the compensatory payments and premiums laid down in the regulations at issue, whose object is to grant compensation to the farmers affected by the consequences of the reform of the common agricultural policy, are paid in full to the beneficiaries, prohibit the authorities in the Member States from charging applicants administrative fees for processing their applications for aid even if the administrative fees fixed by those authorities correspond to the rates which are otherwise usual in national law and those fees are so low that they are not capable of deterring applicants from applying for aid.

In fact, to allow Member States the freedom to reduce the levels of compensatory aid by making a deduction of or charging fees for administrative expenses would lead to different compensation for the loss of income of the farmers in one Member State and between the farmers of different Member States, which could interfere with the uniform application of Community law, which is necessary in order to avoid unequal treatment of producers and traders.

In adopting the said regulations, the Council did not, moreover, infringe Article 5 of the Treaty or breach the principle of proportionality, since the objective pursued can be achieved only by the obligation to pay the compensatory aid in full to the farmers concerned.
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Common Customs Tariff - Tariff headings - Collections and collectors' pieces of historical or ethnographic interest within the meaning of heading No 9705 of the combined nomenclature - Motor vehicles - Covered - Conditions

Summary

Heading No 9705 of the combined nomenclature must be interpreted as meaning that motor vehicles which are:

- in their original state, without substantial changes to the chassis, steering or braking system, engine, etc.;

- at least 30 years old; and

- of a model or type which is no longer in production

are presumed to be of historical or ethnographic interest.

However, motor vehicles which satisfy those conditions are not of historical or ethnographic interest where the competent authority establishes that they are not liable to evidence a significant step in the evolution of human achievements or illustrate a period of that evolution.

In addition, such vehicles must be collectors' pieces within the meaning of heading No 9705, that is to say, objects which are relatively rare, are not normally used for their original purpose, are the subject of special transactions outside the normal trade in similar utility articles and are of high value.
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1 Officials - Actions - Prior complaint through administrative channels - Subject-matter - Correspondence between complaint and action

(Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91)

2 Officials - Decision having an adverse effect - Obligation to state reasons - Purpose - Scope - Decision finding that an official's absence is irregular, following a medical examination - Medical confidentiality

(Staff Regulations, Art. 25, second para.)

Summary

3 Although a complaint through administrative channels is an indispensable preliminary to bringing an action against an act adversely affecting a person to whom the Staff Regulations apply, it is not the function of that complaint to bind strictly and absolutely the judicial stage of the proceedings, provided that the claims submitted at the latter stage change neither the cause nor the object of the complaint. That applies to an action for the annulment of the decisions which gave rise to the complaint, in which the pleas in law relied on in support of the claim for annulment are closely linked to the grounds of challenge in the complaint.

4 The purpose of the statement of the reasons on which a decision adversely affecting an official is based, required by the second paragraph of Article 25 of the Staff Regulations, is to enable the Community judicature to review the legality of the decision and to provide the person concerned with details sufficient to allow him to ascertain whether or not the decision is well founded. The requirement of a statement of reasons must be assessed in the light of the circumstances of the case, in particular the measure at issue and the nature of the reasons relied on.

Where the decision concerned concludes, following a medical examination, that an official's absence is irregular and refers expressly to the assessment of the medical officer to the effect that the official is fit to resume his duties on the day following his visit, and the official fails to comply, it is not necessary for the institution, on its own initiative, to attach to that decision, or to reproduce in the statement of reasons for it, the medical assessments made by the medical officer after his visit to the official's home. Since such assessments may be a matter of medical secrecy or be covered by other requirements of confidentiality, it is incumbent on the person concerned himself or his attending medical practitioner, if appropriate, to ask the institution to notify the medical officer's medical assessments to him.
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Approximation of laws - Cosmetic products - Packaging and labelling - Directive 76/768 - Measures to prevent advertising attributing to cosmetic products characteristics which they do not possess - Subject to the principle of proportionality - Rules prohibiting all advertising in respect of substances not expressly listed - Not permissible

(Council Directive 76/768, Art. 6(3))

Summary

Although Article 6(3) of Directive 76/768 on the approximation of the laws relating to cosmetic products requires the Member States to take all measures necessary to ensure that, in the labelling, putting up for sale and advertising of cosmetic products, text, names, trade marks, pictures and figurative or other signs do not attribute to those products characteristics which they do not have, the measures which the Member States are required to take for the implementation of that provision must observe the principle of proportionality.

Consequently, that provision precludes the application of national rules which prohibit the advertising of cosmetic products intended to come into contact with mucous membranes, where the product in question is claimed to prevent the formation of tartar and parodontosis but is not in fact composed of any of the active substances listed in those rules as capable of achieving such a result and the party concerned has not obtained authorisation for the use of other substances.

In so far as those rules do not list all active substances which may prevent the formation of tartar or parodontosis, they may prohibit the advertising of certain toothpastes even though it is not likely to mislead consumers, and the need to obtain an authorisation in order to gain exemption from that prohibition constitutes a wholly unjustified obstacle to the free movement of the product in question.
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1 Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Milk and milk products - Additional levy on milk - `Purchaser' - Meaning - Collection of milk producers' cooperatives entrusted with the performance on behalf of its members of the operations necessary for payment of the levy - Covered

(Council Regulation No 3950/92, Arts 2(2) and 9(e); Commission Regulation No 536/93, Art. 7)

2 Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Milk and milk products - Additional levy on milk - Purchaser's liability to pay the levy - Deduction of the amount of the levy from the price of milk paid to the producer - Whether obligatory - No such obligation

(Council Regulation No 3950/92, Art. 2(2))

Summary

1 For the purposes of Articles 2(2) and 9(e) of Regulation No 3950/92 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector, the term purchaser is to be interpreted as covering any intermediary undertaking which acquires milk from a producer under a contract, irrespective of the manner in which the producer is paid, for the purpose either of treating or processing the milk itself or of transferring it to another undertaking for treatment or processing and which, in the event that the undertaking in question is a collection of cooperatives which are themselves purchasers, carries out on behalf of those cooperatives the administrative and accounting operations necessary for payment of the levy, and in particular the operations referred to in Article 7 of Regulation No 536/93 laying down detailed rules on the application of the levy.

2 Article 2(2) of Regulation No 3950/92 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector is to be understood as meaning that, whilst purchasers are entitled to deduct from the price of milk paid to a producer the amount owed by that producer by way of additional levy, they are under no obligation in that regard.
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European Community public procurement - Arbitration clause attributing jurisdiction to the Court of Justice - Unilateral termination under the terms of the contract - Claim for reimbursement of monies advanced and for damages

(EC Treaty, Art. 181 (now Art. 238 EC))
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1 Community law - Rights conferred on individuals - Protected by the national courts - National rules of procedure - Application for annulment of an arbitration award - Consideration by the court seised of a plea in law alleging infringement of Article 85 of the Treaty (now Article 81 EC)

(EC Treaty, Arts 85 and 177 (now Arts 81 EC and 234 EC))

2 Community law - Rights conferred on individuals - Protected by the national courts - National rules of procedure - Application for annulment of an arbitration award - Examination of the validity under Article 85 of the Treaty (now Article 81 EC) of a contract held valid in the context of an interim arbitration award - Precluded under domestic rules of procedure concerning res judicata - Whether compatible with Community law

(EC Treaty, Art. 85 (now Art. 81 EC))

Summary

1 Where domestic rules of procedure require a national court to grant an application for annulment of an arbitration award where such an application is founded on failure to observe national rules of public policy, it must also grant such an application where it is founded on failure to comply with the prohibition laid down in Article 85 of the Treaty (now Article 81 EC). That provision constitutes a fundamental provision which is essential for the accomplishment of the tasks entrusted to the Community and, in particular, for the functioning of the internal market. Also, Community law requires that questions concerning the interpretation of the prohibition laid down in Article 85 should be open to examination by national courts when they are asked to determine the validity of an arbitration award and that it should be possible for those questions to be referred, if necessary, to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling.

2 Community law does not require a national court to refrain from applying domestic rules of procedure according to which an interim arbitration award which is in the nature of a final award and in respect of which no application for annulment has been made within the prescribed time-limit acquires the force of res judicata and may no longer be called in question by a subsequent arbitration award, even if this is necessary in order to examine, in proceedings for annulment of a subsequent arbitration award, whether an agreement which the interim award held to be valid in law is nevertheless void under Article 85 of the Treaty (now Article 81 EC), where the time-limit prescribed does not render excessively difficult or virtually impossible the exercise of rights conferred by Community law.
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1 Preliminary rulings - Jurisdiction of the Court - Limits - Questions which are manifestly irrelevant and hypothetical questions in a context precluding a useful answer

(EC Treaty, Art. 177 (now Art. 234 EC))

2 Accession of new Member States - Austria - Finland - Sweden - Free movement of persons, services and capital - Transitional measures concerning Austria - Existing legislation on secondary residences - `Existing legislation'

(1994 Act of Accession, Art. 70)

Summary

1 The presumption of relevance attaching to questions referred by the national courts for a preliminary ruling may be rebutted only in exceptional cases, where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or to its purpose, or where the problem is hypothetical and the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted. Save for such cases, the Court is, in principle, required to give a ruling on questions concerning the interpretation of Community law.

2 The concept of existing legislation, within the meaning of Article 70 of the 1994 Act of Accession, under which the Republic of Austria may maintain its existing legislation regarding secondary residences for five years from the date of accession, covers provisions adopted after the date of accession which are in substance identical to the legislation previously in force or limited to reducing or eliminating an obstacle to the exercise of Community rights and freedoms in the earlier legislation.
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1 Agriculture - EAGGF - Clearance of accounts - Disallowance of expenditure arising from irregularities in the application of the Community rules - Disputed by the Member State concerned - Burden of proof

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

2 Agriculture - Common agricultural policy - EAGGF financing - Principles - Expenditure must be in conformity with the Community rules - Member States under an obligation to monitor compliance

(EC Treaty, Art. 5 (now Art. 10 EC); Council Regulation No 729/70, Art. 8(1))

Summary

1 Where the Commission refuses to charge certain expenditure to the EAGGF, on the ground that it was incurred as a result of breaches of Community law imputable to a Member State, it is for that State to show that the conditions for obtaining the financing in question are fulfilled. That also applies where the Commission considers that the Member State has not discharged its obligation to check the various operations properly and to recover the refunds and aid improperly received by the beneficiaries.

2 Article 8(1) of Regulation No 729/70, which constitutes a specific expression in the agricultural area of the obligations imposed on Member States by Article 5 of the Treaty (now Article 10 EC), defines the principles according to which the Community and the Member States must ensure the implementation of Community decisions on agricultural intervention financed by the EAGGF and combat fraud and irregularities in relation to those operations. It imposes on the Member States the general obligation to take the measures necessary to satisfy themselves that the transactions financed by the EAGGF are actually carried out and are executed correctly, even if the specific Community act does not expressly provide for the adoption of particular supervisory measures, particularly when there is evidence such as to give rise to serious suspicions that a prohibition laid down by the Community act in question has been circumvented.
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Competition - Public undertakings or undertakings to which States grant special or exclusive rights - Undertakings with responsibility for the management of services of general economic interest - Postal service - Imposition of internal taxes in order to offset the costs of processing and delivering incoming trans-border mail posted in large quantities with the postal services of another Member State - Whether compatible with the rules of the Treaty - Limits

(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC) and Arts 86 and 90(1) (now Arts 82 EC and 86(1) EC))

Summary

$$In the absence of an agreement between the postal services of the Member States concerned fixing terminal dues in relation to the actual costs of processing and delivering incoming trans-border mail, it is not contrary to Article 90 of the Treaty (now Article 86 EC), read in conjunction with Article 86 of the Treaty (now Article 82 EC) and Article 59 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49 EC), for a body such as Deutsche Post to exercise the right provided for by Article 25(3) of the Universal Postal Convention, in the version adopted on 14 December 1989, to charge, in the cases referred to in the second sentence of Article 25(1) and Article 25(2) thereof, internal postage on items of mail posted in large quantities with the postal services of a Member State other than the Member State to which that body belongs. On the other hand, the exercise of such a right is contrary to Article 90(1) of the Treaty, read in conjunction with Article 86 thereof, in so far as the result is that such a body may demand the entire internal postage applicable in the Member State to which it belongs without deducting the terminal dues corresponding to those items of mail paid by the abovementioned postal services.

( see paras 61 and operative part )
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Social policy - Men and women - Access to employment and working conditions - Equal treatment - Derogations - Measures to promote equality of opportunity between men and women - National provisions laying down measures for the promotion of women in sectors of the public service - Permissible - Criterion

(Council Directive 76/207, Art. 2(1) and (4))

Summary

$$Article 2(1) and (4) 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 does not preclude a national rule which

- in sectors of the public service where women are under-represented, gives priority, where male and female candidates have equal qualifications, to female candidates where that proves necessary for ensuring compliance with the objectives of the women's advancement plan, if no reasons of greater legal weight are opposed, provided that that rule guarantees that candidatures are the subject of an objective assessment which takes account of the specific personal situations of all candidates,

- prescribes that the binding targets of the women's advancement plan for temporary posts in the academic service and for academic assistants must provide for a minimum percentage of women which is at least equal to the percentage of women among graduates, holders of higher degrees and students in each discipline,

- in so far as its objective is to eliminate under-representation of women, in trained occupations in which women are under-represented and for which the State does not have a monopoly of training, allocates at least half the training places to women, unless despite appropriate measures for drawing the attention of women to the training places available there are not enough applications from women,

- where male and female candidates have equal qualifications, guarantees that qualified women who satisfy all the conditions required or laid down are called to interview, in sectors in which they are under-represented,

- relating to the composition of employees' representative bodies and administrative and supervisory bodies, recommends that the legislative provisions adopted for its implementation take into account the objective that at least half the members of those bodies must be women.

( see paras 38, 44, 55, 63, 66 and operative part )
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1 Acts of the institutions - Act amending an earlier provision - Application of the amending rule to the future effects of situations arising during the currency of the earlier provision - Principle of the protection of legitimate expectations - No effect

2 Approximation of laws - Copyright and related rights - Directive 93/98 - Harmonisation of the term of protection - Revival of rights which expired before implementation of the Directive - Protection of rights acquired by third parties - National legislation limiting that protection - Whether permissible

(Council Directive 93/98, Art. 10(2) and (3))

Summary

1 As a matter of principle, amending legislation applies, unless otherwise provided, to the future consequences of situations which arose under the previous legislation. Although the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations is one of the fundamental principles of the Community, it cannot be extended to the point of generally preventing new rules from applying to the future consequences of situations which arose under the earlier rules.

2 It is clear from Article 10(2) and (3), read together, of Directive 93/98 harmonising the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights that the Directive provides for the possibility that copyright and related rights which had expired under the applicable legislation before the date of its implementation could be revived, without prejudice to acts of exploitation performed before that date, while leaving it to the Member States to adopt measures to protect acquired rights of third parties. Such measures must be regarded as measures which the Member States are under an obligation to adopt, but the details of which are left to the discretion of the Member States, provided, however, that those details do not have the overall effect of preventing the application of the new terms of protection on the date laid down by the Directive.

Accordingly, Article 10(3) of Directive 93/98 does not preclude a provision of national law which lays down a limited period in which sound-recording media may be distributed by persons who, by reason of the expiry of the rights relating to those media under previous legislation, had been able to reproduce and market them before the subsequent legislation entered into force. Such legislation satisfies the obligation imposed on the Member States to adopt measures to protect acquired rights of third parties and, by thus limiting that protection with regard to the distribution of sound-recording media, meets the need to circumscribe a provision of that kind, which must necessarily be transitional in order not to prevent the application of the new terms of protection of copyright and related rights on the date laid down by the Directive, that being the Directive's principal objective.