ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
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Transport - Maritime transport - Cargo-sharing agreement between a Member State and a non-member country - Obligation to adjust an existing agreement before the entry into force of Regulation No 4055/86 - Deadlines for adjustment - Failure to comply - Justification put forward - Existence of a difficult political situation in the non-member country - Not acceptable

(Council Regulation No 4055/86, Art. 4(1))

Summary

$$Article 4(1) of Regulation No 4055/86 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport between Member States and between Member States and third countries draws a distinction, as regards determination of the date from which existing cargo-sharing agreements - which Member States have entered into with non-member countries - should have been adjusted, between trades governed by the United Nations Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences and trades not so governed. Only with respect to the latter does Regulation No 4055/86 allow Member States a period expiring on 1 January 1993 for the adjustment prescribed. For trades governed by the Code of Conduct, no period is allowed for adjustment of an agreement; this must follow immediately upon ratification of the Code by the Member State concerned.

The existence of a difficult political situation in a non-member country which is a contracting party cannot justify a delay in the adjustment of an agreement. If a Member State encounters difficulties which make it impossible to adjust an agreement, it must denounce the agreement.
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Social policy - Men and women - Equal pay - Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security - Family and marriage allowances taken into account in the calculation of pensions - Failure to abolish discriminatory conditions retroactively - Failure to fulfil obligations - Whether justified - No justification

(EC Treaty, Art. 119 (Arts 117 to 120 of the EC Treaty have been replaced by Arts 136 EC to 143 EC); Council Directives 75/117, Art. 3, and 79/7, Art. 4(1))

Summary

$$A Member State which fails to abolish with retroactive effect, from the date of entry into force in its territory of Article 119 of the Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of the Treaty have been replaced by Articles 136 EC to 143 EC), Article 3 of Directive 75/117 and Article 4(1) of Directive 79/7, regulations which impose conditions on married women workers which are not imposed on their married male counterparts in respect of the grant to employees of family or marriage allowances, which are taken into account in determining their income for the purposes of calculating pension rights, fails to fulfil its obligations under the above provisions.

The fact that the discrimination at issue arises from collective agreements in the negotiation of which the government concerned played no part cannot absolve the latter of its obligation to adopt such complementary provisions as may be required to ensure compliance with the requirements of Community rules. In so far as those discriminatory conditions continue to have an effect on the pay of the workers concerned and on the calculation of their pensions, that government cannot escape the above obligation by relying on the direct effectiveness of the relevant provisions of its Constitution.
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Freedom of movement for persons - Workers - Equal treatment - National legislation refusing to grant entitlement to compensation on termination of employment to a worker who terminates his contract of employment himself - Whether permissible

(EC Treaty, Art. 48 (now, after amendment, Art. 39 EC))

Summary

$$

Article 48 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 39 EC) does not preclude national legislation which denies entitlement to compensation on termination of employment in the case of a worker who terminates his contract of employment himself in order to take up employment with a new employer established in that Member State or in another Member State, but grants it in the case of a worker whose contract ends without the termination being at his own initiative or attributable to him.

First, such legislation applies irrespective of the nationality of the worker concerned and does not affect migrant workers to a greater extent than national workers. Secondly, although provisions which, even if they are applicable without distinction, preclude or deter nationals of a Member State from leaving their country of origin in order to exercise the right to freedom of movement constitute an obstacle to that freedom if they affect access of workers to the labour market, legislation of the kind at issue is not such as to preclude or deter a worker from ending his contract of employment in order to take a job with another employer, because the entitlement to compensation on termination of employment is not dependent on the worker's choosing whether or not to stay with his current employer, but on a future and hypothetical event, namely the subsequent termination of his contract without such termination being at his own initiative or attributable to him. Such an event is too uncertain and indirect a possibility for that legislation to be capable of being regarded as liable to hinder freedom of movement for workers.

(see paras 15-16, 23-26 and operative part)
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Social policy - Approximation of laws - Protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer - Directive 80/987 - Responsible guarantee institution - Employee residing in a Member State and employed there by a branch of a company placed in liquidation whose registered office is in another Member State - Responsibility of the institution of the Member State in which he was employed

(Council Directive 80/987, Art. 3)

Summary

$$Where the employees adversely affected by the insolvency of their employer were employed in a Member State by the branch established in that State of a company incorporated under the laws of another Member State, where that company has its registered office and in which it was placed in liquidation, the competent institution, under Article 3 of Directive 80/987 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer, for payment to those employees of outstanding claims is that of the State within whose territory they were employed.
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Free movement of goods - Quantitative restrictions - Measures having equivalent effect - Meaning - National legislation prohibiting growth promoters for bovines adopted pursuant to Directive 86/469 - Not included

(EC Treaty, Art. 30 (now, after amendment, Art. 28 EC); Council Directive 86/469)

Summary

$$A national provision prohibiting the administering of sympathicomimetic substances to fattening cattle over 14 weeks old and the holding, having in stock, buying or selling of fattening cattle over 14 weeks old to which such substances have been administered, whereby a Member State discharges its obligations under Directive 86/469 concerning the examination of animals and fresh meat for the presence of residues, and which does not therefore constitute a unilateral measure designed to protect individual interests of the Member State which enacted it, cannot be characterised as a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction on imports within the meaning of Article 30 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 28 EC).

( see paras 23-25 )
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Agriculture - Approximation of laws on health policy - Directives 88/407 and 93/60 - Intra-Community trade in deep-frozen semen of domestic animals of the bovine species - Semen from a bull which, before its admission to an approved semen collection centre, belonged to a herd which was not officially brucellosis free - Excluded

(Council Directives No 88/407, Art. 3(b) and Annex B, and No 93/60)

Summary

$$Article 3(b) of Directive 88/407 laying down the animal health requirements applicable to intra-Community trade in and imports of deep-frozen semen of domestic animals of the bovine species, read in conjunction with paragraph 1(b) of Chapter I of Annex B to that directive, in its original version and as amended by Directive 93/60, amending Directive 88/407 and extending it to cover fresh bovine semen, must be interpreted as meaning that semen from a bull which, before its admission to an approved semen collection centre, belonged to a herd which was not officially brucellosis free is precluded from intra-Community trade, if only on account of the change in the health status of the herd in the period during which the animal was kept in that herd.

( see para. 30 and operative part )
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1. Approximation of laws - Mutual assistance by the authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation - Directive 77/799 - Spontaneous exchange of information - Lack of requirement of an express measure covering the reduction in or exemption from tax

(Council Directive 77/799, Art. 4(1)(a))

2. Community law - Multilingual texts - Uniform interpretation - Differences between the various language versions - Purpose and general scheme of the rules in question to be taken as the basis for reference

3. Approximation of laws - Mutual assistance by the authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation - Directive 77/799 - Spontaneous exchange of information - Loss of tax within the meaning of Article 4(1)(a) of the Directive - Definition

(Council Directive 77/799, Art. 4(1)(a))

Summary

1. Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 77/799 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation, which obliges the competent authority of a Member State without prior request to forward to the competent authority of any other Member State the information which may enable a correct assessment of, in particular, taxes on income and on capital to be effected where it has grounds for supposing that there may be a loss of tax in that other Member State, must be interpreted as meaning that it is not necessary for the loss of tax referred to therein to be covered by an express measure on the part of the competent authority of the latter Member State.

( see paras 13, 19 and operative part )

2. The various language versions of a provision of Community law must be uniformly interpreted, and thus, in the case of divergence between those versions, the provision in question must be interpreted by reference to the purpose and general scheme of the rules of which it forms part.

( see para. 21 )

3. The expression a loss of tax in Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 77/799 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation, a provision which obliges the competent authority of a Member State without prior request to forward to the competent authority of any other Member State the information which may enable a correct assessment of, in particular, taxes on income and on capital to be effected where it has grounds for supposing that there may be a loss of tax in that other Member State, refers to an unjustified saving in tax in the latter Member State.

( see para. 24 and operative part )
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Free movement of capital - Restrictions - Income tax exemption on dividends on shares paid to natural persons - Limited to shares in companies whose seat is on national territory - Not permissible - Justification - None

(Council Directive 88/361, Art. 1(1))

Summary

$$Article 1(1) of Directive 88/361 for the implementation of Article 67 of the Treaty precludes a legislative provision of a Member State which makes the grant of an exemption from the income tax payable on dividends paid to natural persons who are shareholders subject to the condition that those dividends are paid by a company whose seat is in that Member State.

Such a provision has the effect of dissuading Community nationals residing in the Member State concerned from investing their capital in companies which have their seat in another Member State and also has a restrictive effect as regards such companies in that it constitutes an obstacle to the raising of capital in the Member State concerned; the restriction cannot be justified by any overriding reason in the general interest such as the need to preserve the cohesion of the tax system.

The position is not in any way changed by the fact that the taxpayer applying for such a tax exemption is an ordinary shareholder or an employee who holds shares giving rise to the payment of dividends under an employees' savings plan.

( see paras 34-35, 56, 62, 67 and operative part )
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1. Freedom of movement for persons - Workers - Definition - National of a Member State employed by an international organisation - Included

(EC Treaty, Art. 48 (now, after amendment, Art. 39 EC))

2. Community law - Principles - Equal treatment - Discrimination on grounds of nationality - Higher scales of fees for medical and hospital care for persons not affiliated to the national social security scheme of a Member State, such as officials - Prohibition in the absence of objective justification

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

Summary

1. A national of one Member State working in another Member State does not lose his status of worker within the meaning of Article 48(1) of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 39(1) EC) through occupying a post within an international organisation, even if the rules relating to entry into and residence in the country in which he is employed are specifically governed by an international agreement. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that an EC official has the status of a migrant worker.

( see para. 42 )

2. The first paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, the first paragraph of Article 12 EC) also applies in cases where a group or organisation such as the Entente des hôpitaux luxembourgeois exercises a certain power over individuals and is in a position to impose on them conditions which adversely affect the exercise of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Treaty.

The application, on a unilateral basis, by a group of healthcare providers of a Member State to EC officials of scales of fees for medical and hospital maternity care which are higher than those applicable to residents affiliated to the national social security scheme of that State constitutes discrimination on the ground of nationality prohibited under the first paragraph of Article 6 of the EC Treaty, in the absence of objective justification in this respect.

The criterion of affiliation to the national social security scheme, on which the differentiation of fees for medical and hospital care is based, constitutes indirect discrimination on the ground of nationality. First, the great majority of those affiliated to the Sickness Insurance Scheme common to the institutions of the European Communities and not to the national social security scheme, although in receipt of medical and hospital care given in Luxembourg, are nationals of other Member States. Second, the overwhelming majority of nationals residing in Luxembourg are covered by the national social security scheme.

( see paras 50, 58, 62 and operative part )
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1. Actions for annulment - Pleas in law - Ineffective plea - Concept

2. Appeals - Pleas in law - Misappraisal of the facts - Inadmissible - Whether the Court of Justice may review the appraisal of the evidence - Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted

(EC Treaty, Art. 168a (now Art. 225 EC); Statute of the EC Court of Justice, Art. 51, first para.)

3. Common commercial policy - Protection against dumping - Discretion of the institutions - Judicial review - Limits - Manifest error of assessment of the facts known to the institutions when an anti-dumping regulation was adopted

(EC Treaty, Art. 173 (now, after amendment, Art. 230 EC); Council Regulation No 2423/88, Art. 12(1))

Summary

1. In an action for annulment, the ineffective nature of a plea which has been raised refers to its capacity, in the event that it is well founded, to lead to the annulment sought by an applicant, and not to the interest which that applicant may have in bringing such an action or even in raising a specific plea, since those are issues relating to the admissibility of the action and the admissibility of the plea respectively.

( see para. 38 )

2. Under Article 168a of the EC Treaty (now Article 225 EC) and Article 51, first paragraph, of the Statute of the Court of Justice, an appeal may be based only on grounds relating to the infringement of rules of law, to the exclusion of any appraisal of the facts. The Court of First Instance has exclusive jurisdiction, first, to establish the facts except where the substantive inaccuracy of its findings is apparent from the documents submitted to it and, second, to assess those facts. Further, the appraisal by the Court of First Instance of the evidence put before it does not constitute (save where the clear sense of that evidence has been distorted) a point of law which is subject, as such, to review by the Court of Justice.

( see paras 42 and 43 )

3. In an action for annulment under Article 173 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 230 EC), it is not for the Court of First Instance to carry out a re-examination of the substance of the contested regulation but to determine whether there was any manifest error of assessment on the part of its author. The Council's assessment at the close of the administrative anti-dumping procedure relates, according to Article 12(1) of Regulation No 2423/88, which is the basic anti-dumping regulation, to the facts as finally established. It follows that the Court of First Instance could, within the framework of its judicial review, confine itself to determining whether the Council had committed a manifest error in its assessment of the facts of which it was aware when the contested regulation was adopted, and therefore take the view that it was unnecessary to take account of a report subsequently produced.

( see paras 60 and 61 )
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1. Acts of the institutions - Directives - Implementation by Member States - Need for full transposition - Activity referred to in a directive not existing in a Member State - Irrelevant

(EC Treaty, Art. 189, third para. (now Art. 249 EC, third para.))

2. Agriculture - Approximation of laws on health policy - Financing of health inspections and controls of fresh meat - Directives 85/73 and 93/118 - Fee levels - Reduction of standard Community amounts to the level of the actual costs of inspection - Obligation on the Member States to justify that reduction automatically - None

(Council Directive 85/73, Art. 2(5), as amended by Directive 93/118; Council Directive 93/118, annex)

Summary

1. The fact that an activity referred to in a directive does not exist in a particular Member State cannot release that State from its obligation to adopt laws or regulations in order to ensure that all the provisions of the directive are properly transposed.

( see para. 22 )

2. Chapter I of the annex to Directive 93/118 amending Directive 85/73 on the financing of health inspections and controls of fresh meat and poultrymeat does not include any provision such as to give rise to an obligation on the Member States to communicate to the Commission the information to justify a reduction in the level of the Community fees.

( see para. 36 )
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1. Agriculture - Common agricultural policy - Support for producers of certain arable crops - Area-linked aid for arable crops and set-aside - Set-aside - Area cultivated in the previous year with a view to harvest - Meaning - Land sown with grass, the latter being subsequently cut and used for silage - Included

(Council Regulation No 1765/92; Commission Regulation No 762/94, Art. 2, first para.)

2. Preliminary rulings - Interpretation - Temporal effects of judgments ruling on interpretation - Retroactive effect - Limits - Legal certainty - Power of assessment of the Court

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

Summary

1. In the context of the support system for the producers of certain arable crops, the first paragraph of Article 2 of Regulation No 762/94 laying down detailed rules for applying the set-aside scheme must be interpreted as meaning that, in relation to a producer' obligation to take out of production an area which has been cultivated in the previous year with a view to a harvest, that expression covers land previously under grass that has subsequently been cut and used for silage.

( see para. 38 and operative part )

2. It is only exceptionally that the Court may, in application of a general principle of legal certainty inherent in the Community legal order, be moved to restrict for any person concerned the opportunity of relying upon a provision which it has interpreted with a view to calling in question legal relationships established in good faith. Two essential criteria must be fulfilled before such a limitation can be imposed, namely that those concerned should have acted in good faith and that there should be a risk of serious difficulties. However, administrative and practical difficulties arising from the re-examination of numerous files cannot be considered as serious difficulties.

( see paras 42-43 )
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1. Tax provisions Harmonisation of laws Excise duties Directive 92/83 Alcohol and alcoholic beverages Exemptions from harmonised duty Products referred to in Article 27(1)(a) and (b) of the directive Criteria governing application of the exemption

(Council Directive 92/83, Art. 27(1))

2. Community law Interpretation Texts in several languages Divergence between the various language versions

3. Tax provisions Harmonisation of laws Excise duties Directive 92/83 Alcohol and alcoholic beverages Exemptions from harmonised duty Member State's power to combat evasion, avoidance or abuse in the application of exemptions

(Council Directive 92/83, Art. 27(5))

Summary

1. It is clear from the wording of Article 27(1)(a) and (b) of Directive 92/83 on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages that the grant or refusal of an exemption from excise duties is dependent on the denaturing method. If that method has been approved at Community level, the alcohol is exempted from excise duties under Article 27(1)(a). If, on the other hand, the alcohol contained in a product not intended for human consumption has been denatured in accordance with a method approved in a Member State, the exemption provided for by Article 27(1)(b) should be applied. Moreover, if the denaturing method is not one of those approved either by the Community rules or by national laws then the product cannot be exempted. Consequently, it would be contrary to Directive 92/83 to withhold exemption for a product which meets the conditions laid down in Article 27(1)(b) solely because it has been found that the use for which it is really intended does not correspond with the name assigned to it by the trader. Neither the use of pure alcohol nor the maximum alcohol content was considered by the Community legislature as a criterion for application of the exemption.

( see paras 40-42 )

2. Where there is divergence between the various language versions of a Community text, the provision in question must be interpreted by reference to the purpose and general scheme of the rules of which it forms part.

( see para. 49 )

3. As regards the conditions under which a Member State is empowered, under Article 27(5) of Directive 92/83 on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages, to combat evasion, avoidance or abuse in the application of exemptions, the general scheme of the rules at issue implies that the Member State concerned must put forward, at the very least, concrete evidence of a serious risk of evasion, avoidance or abuse.

( see paras 46, 52 )