ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
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Member States - Obligations - Implementation of directives - Failure to fulfil obligations - Justification - Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

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A Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances existing in its internal legal system in order to justify a failure to comply with obligations and time-limits laid down in Community directives.
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Tax provisions ° Internal taxation ° Special consumption tax on cars ° Calculation of basis of assessment favouring cars produced domestically ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 95)

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A Member State which, in calculating the basis of assessment for a special consumption tax on private cars, lays down rules for cars imported from other Member States which differ from those applicable to cars manufactured on national territory, so that, by virtue of deductions available to the latter or increases applied to the former, imported cars are, even if only in certain cases, more heavily taxed, is in breach of its obligations under Article 95 of the Treaty.
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1. Agriculture ° Common organization of the markets ° Price formation ° National measures ° Incompatible with Community rules

2. Aid granted by States ° Plans to grant or alter aid ° Notification to the Commission ° Obligation ° Non-compliance ° Use of the procedure under Article 169 ° Permissible

(EEC Treaty, Arts 93(3) and 169)

3. Action against a Member State for failure to fulfil obligations ° Reasoned opinion ° Application initiating proceedings ° Identical nature of arguments and submissions

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

Summary

1. The common organizations of the markets are based on the concept of an open market to which every producer has free access under genuinely competitive conditions and the functioning of which is regulated solely by the instruments provided for in those organizations. In particular in sectors covered by a common organization of the market, and a fortiori when that organization is based on a common price system, Member States can no longer take action, through national provisions adopted unilaterally, affecting the machinery of price-formation as established under the common organization.

2. The Commission may avail itself of the procedure under Article 169 of the Treaty when it seeks a finding by the Court that a Member State is in breach of Article 93(3) of the Treaty, which obliges Member States to inform the Commission of any plans to grant or alter aid within the meaning of Article 92.

3. An application brought under Article 169 of the EEC Treaty may be based only on the arguments and submissions already set forth in the reasoned opinion.
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International agreements ° Third Lomé ACP-EEC Convention ° Provisions concerning financial and technical cooperation ° Procedure for the award of contracts for public works and supplies ° Respective roles of the ACP States and the Commission ° Powers of ACP States concerning the conclusion of contracts ° Act or omission on the part of the Commission against which an action for annulment or for failure to act may be brought by an undertaking participating in the procedure ° None ° Putting in issue the liability of the Community ° Permissibility ° Conditions

(EEC Treaty, Art. 173, second para., Art. 175, third para., Art. 178, and Art. 215, second para; Third Lomé ACP-EEC Convention of 8 December 1984, Arts 192 and 225)

Summary

The procedure for the award of contracts for public works and supplies forming part of the financial and technical cooperation provided for by the Third Lomé ACP-EEC Convention involves a division of powers between the Commission and the authorities of the ACP State concerned. Whilst it is incumbent on the Commission to take financing decisions on behalf of the Community, the responsibility for preparing, negotiating and concluding the contracts falls to the authorities of the ACP State.

It follows that no act or omission on the part of the Commission can, as far as tenderers are concerned, be the subject of an action under the second paragraph of Article 173 or the third paragraph of Article 175 of the EEC Treaty.

Whilst such undertakings are entitled to bring an action to establish liability under Article 178 and the second paragraph of Article 215 of the Treaty, the Commission can be held liable only if, in the exercise of the strictly limited powers conferred on it by the Convention, it adopted an unlawful measure or engaged in improper conduct.
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1. Free movement of goods ° Industrial and commercial property ° Patent right ° Refusal or grant, to licencee of right, of authorization to import the patented product from non-member countries according to whether the national market is supplied by way of manufacture there or imports from other Member States by the proprietor of the patent ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Arts 30 and 36)

2. Accession of new Member States to the Communities ° Spain ° Portugal ° Free movement of goods ° Industrial and commercial property ° Patent right ° Licencee of right of a pharmaceutical product prohibited from importing it from Spain or Portugal ° Whether permissible ° Conditions

(EEC Treaty, Arts 30 and 36; 1985 Act of Accession, Arts 47 and 209)

Summary

1. Articles 30 and 36 of the Treaty must be interpreted as precluding the authorities of Member States competent to settle, in the absence of agreement, the terms of licences of right from relying upon provisions of national legislation in order to refuse the licensee of right authorization to import the patented product from non-member countries where the proprietor of the patent manufactures the product within the national territory and in order to grant such authorization where the proprietor of the patent works his patent by importing the product from other Member States of the Community. Such a practice is discriminatory because it encourages proprietors of patents to manufacture patented products within the national territory rather than to import them from other Member States and does not correspond to any requirement for the safeguarding of rights constituting the specific subject-matter of the industrial and commercial property.

2. Articles 47 and 209 of the Act of Accession of 1985, according to which the holder (or his beneficiary) of a patent for a pharmaceutical product filed in a Member State at a time when a product patent could not be obtained in Spain or Portugal for that product may rely upon the rights granted by the patent in order to prevent the import and marketing of that product in the existing Member State or States where that product enjoys patent protection, even if that product was put on the market in Spain or Portugal for the first time by him or with his consent, must be interpreted to the effect that the authorities of the Member States competent to settle, in the absence of agreement, the conditions of licences of right may, on the basis of those provisions and in derogation from the principles laid down by Articles 30 and 36 of the Treaty, prohibit the licensee from importing from Spain and Portugal a patented pharmaceutical product if national law confers upon the proprietor of the patent the right to prevent imports and if the proprietor exercises the right conferred upon him by Articles 47 and 209.
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1. Acts of the institutions ° Directives ° Implementation by the Member States ° Information given to the Commission concerning planned measures ° Obligation of the Commission to react within a specific period ° None ° Possibility of subsequently bringing proceedings against a Member State for failure to fulfil obligations

(EEC Treaty, Arts 5, 169 and 189, third para.)

2. Approximation of laws ° Quality of bathing water ° Directive 76/160 ° Bathing waters ° Definition ° Areas specially equipped for bathing and supervised by lifeguards ° Included irrespective of the actual number of bathers

(Council Directive 76/160, Art. 1(2)(a), second indent)

3. Approximation of laws ° Quality of bathing water ° Directive 76/160 ° Implementation by the Member States ° Obligation as to the result to be achieved

(Council Directive 76/160)

Summary

1. A Member State which is bound to implement a directive is not entitled to draw the inference from the Commission' s initial failure to react to a communication addressed to it regarding the manner in which the Member State intended to implement the directive that the Commission, which was obliged by neither Article 5 of the Treaty nor the provisions of the directive to express a view within a given period, had approved the criteria notified. It is for the Commission to decide when it intends to formulate objections and there is nothing to prevent it subsequently bringing proceedings against the Member State for failure to fulfil obligations.

2. The definition of "bathing water" within the meaning of the second indent of Article 1(2)(a) of Directive 76/160 concerning the quality of bathing water must, in the light of the directive' s underlying purpose as expressed in the recitals in the preamble thereto, be understood as encompassing at all events the waters of bathing resorts equipped with certain facilities, such as changing huts, toilets and markers indicating bathing areas, and supervised by lifeguards.

3. Directive 76/160 concerning the quality of bathing water, Article 4(1) of which imposes an obligation on Member States to take all the measures necessary to ensure that their bathing waters conform to the physical, chemical and microbiological values laid down by the directive within a period of ten years from its notification, requires Member States to take steps to ensure that the prescribed results are attained within the period laid down; apart from the derogations expressly provided for by the directive they may not rely on particular circumstances to justify a failure to fulfil that obligation.
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Free movement of persons - Exceptions - Employment in the public service - Definition - Participation in the exercise of powers conferred by public law and protection of the general interests of the State - Secondary school teacher

(EEC Treaty, Art. 48(4) )

Summary

Employment in the public service within the meaning of Article 48(4), which is excluded from the ambit of Article 48(1) to (3), must be understood as meaning a series of posts which involve direct or indirect participation in the exercise of powers conferred by public law and duties designed to safeguard the general interests of the State or of other public authorities and which, because of that fact, presume on the part of those occupying them the existence of a special relationship of allegiance to the State and reciprocity of rights and duties which form the foundation of the bond of nationality. The only posts excluded are those which, having regard to the tasks and responsibilities involved, are apt to display the characteristics of the specific activities of the public service in the spheres described above.

Employment as a secondary school teacher does not constitute employment in the public service within the meaning of Article 48(4) of the EEC Treaty.
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1. Officials ° Remuneration ° Family allowances ° Dependent child allowance ° Treatment of a person as a dependent child ° Article 2(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations ° Scope

(Staff Regulations, Art. 67; Annex VII, Art. 2)

2. Officials ° Staff Regulations ° General implementing rules ° Rules for implementing Article 2(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations ° Illegality

(Staff Regulations, Arts 67 and 110; Annex VII, Art. 2(4))

Summary

1. The Court of First Instance rightly considered that Article 2(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, which permits the appointing authority in exceptional cases to treat a person whom the official has a legal responsibility to maintain and whose maintenance involves heavy expenditure as if he were a dependent child, must be interpreted as meaning that a child who does not satisfy the conditions for granting dependent child allowance defined in Article 2(3) and (5), merely because he is a legitimate, natural or adopted child of an official, or of his spouse, is not excluded from the scope of the provision.

2. In fixing minimum and maximum age-limits for a person to be treated as a dependent child, Articles 3 and 7 of the Council decision adopting general provisions for applying Article 2(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations restrict the scope of that provision and deprive the appointing authority of the opportunity of exercising its discretion in each particular case. Those articles thus run contrary to the objective of Article 2(4) which seeks in a general way to deal with situations in which the official cannot claim the benefit of Article 2(3) and (5) although he is in fact responsible for the maintenance of a person who causes him to incur similar expenditure.

The Court of First Instance therefore rightly considered Articles 3 and 7 of the Council decision to be vitiated by illegality.
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Social security for migrant workers ° Community rules ° Scope ratione personae ° Members of a worker' s family ° Benefit granted on a basis other than that of the person' s being a member of a worker' s family ° Regulation No 1408/71 not applicable

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts 2 and 3)

Summary

Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation No 1408/71 must be interpreted as meaning that they cannot be relied on by a national of a non-member country, who is the spouse of a national of a Member State, in order to claim a handicapped person' s allowance which is provided for by national legislation as a personal right and not on account of membership of a worker' s family.

Under that regulation, members of a worker' s family can only claim derived rights, that is to say, rights acquired through their status as members of a worker' s family.
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Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments ° Special jurisdiction ° Jurisdiction "in matters relating to a contract" ° Concept ° Independent interpretation ° Chain of contracts ° Action to establish liability brought by a sub-buyer against the manufacturer ° Excluded

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Arts 2 and 5(1))

Summary

The phrase "matters relating to a contract" in Article 5(1) of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, which must be interpreted independently, is not to be understood as covering a situation in which there is no obligation freely assumed by one party towards another. Strengthening legal protection of persons established in the Community, which is one of the objectives of the Convention, also requires that the jurisdictional rules which derogate from the general principle set out in Article 2 of the Convention should be interpreted in such a way as to enable a normally well-informed defendant reasonably to predict before which courts, other than those of the State in which he is domiciled, he may be sued. It follows that Article 5(1) of the Convention is to be understood as meaning that it does not apply to an action between a sub-buyer of goods and the manufacturer, who is not the seller, relating to defects in those goods or to their unsuitability for their intended purpose.
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1. Acts of the institutions ° Decision ° Direct effect ° Conditions ° Power of Member States to derogate from provisions which may have direct effect ° Consequences

(EEC Treaty, Art. 189, fourth para.)

2. Agriculture ° Approximation of laws concerning health controls ° Financing of health inspections and controls of fresh meat ° Directive 85/73 ° Levels of fees fixed by Decision 88/408 ° Power of Member States to set higher fees by way of derogation ° Power amenable to delegation to regional or local authorities ° Power not precluding, as a result of objective conditions applicable to its exercise, individuals from relying on the decision in order to contest the level of the fee invoiced

(Council Directive 85/73; Council Decision 88/408, Arts 2 and 11)

Summary

1. By virtue of the binding effect attributed to Community decisions by Article 189 of the Treaty, a provision of such a decision addressed to a Member State may be relied on as against that Member State where the provision in question imposes on its addressee an obligation which is unconditional and sufficiently clear and precise. Where it must be implemented within a specified period, the provision may be relied on by individuals as against a Member State only after that period has expired if the Member State fails to implement the decision or does so incorrectly.

The fact that the decision allows its addressees to derogate from clear and precise provisions in it cannot in itself deprive those provisions of direct effect. In particular, such provisions may have direct effect where recourse to the possibilities of derogation thereby granted may be reviewed by the Court.

2. Article 2(1) of Decision 88/408 on the levels of the fees to be charged for health inspections and controls of fresh meat pursuant to Directive 85/73 may be relied on by a private individual as against a Member State in order to oppose the collection of fees in excess of the amount provided for by that provision where the conditions to which Article 2(2) of the decision subjects the possibility of increasing the level of fees laid down by Article 2(1) are not satisfied, namely where the circumstances prevailing in the Member State concerned diverge from the Community average and the fees do not exceed the actual costs of the inspection. However, Article 2(1) of the decision may be relied on only in order to challenge demands for the payment of fees issued after the expiry of the period laid down by Article 11 of that decision.

Article 2(2) of Decision 88/408 must be interpreted as allowing a Member State to delegate to regional or local authorities the exercise of the power conferred on it by that provision.
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Agriculture ° Approximation of laws ° Prohibition of the use of certain substances having hormonal and thyrostatic effects ° Directives 81/602, 86/469 and 88/146 ° National regulations containing additional measures ° Permissibility ° Limits

(Council Directives 81/602, 86/469 and 88/146)

Summary

Directive 81/602 concerning the prohibition of certain substances having a hormonal action and of any substances having a thyrostatic action, Directive 88/146 prohibiting the use in livestock farming of certain substances having a hormonal action and Directive 86/469 concerning the examination of animals and fresh meat for the presence of residues, which prohibit the administration of any substances having hormonal or thyrostatic effects, the slaughter and placing on the market of farm animals to which the abovementioned substances have been administered and the placing on the market of meat from such farm animals for human or animal consumption, must be interpreted as not precluding a Member State from adopting, as well as those prohibitions, additional measures to reinforce their effect or from prohibiting the keeping or holding in stock of animals to which any of those substances has been administered, provided that such prohibition does not prevent the application of the derogations provided for in those directives concerning the keeping of animals with a view to therapeutic treatment.
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1. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations ° Subject-matter of the proceedings ° Determination during the pre-litigation procedure ° Purely formal adaptation of the complaints after delivery of the reasoned opinion on account of an amendment of the national legislation ° Permissibility

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

2. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations ° Examination by the Court of their justification ° Inapplicability of the de minimis principle

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

3. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations ° Examination by the Court of their justification ° Situation to be taken into consideration ° Situation on the expiry of the period prescribed by the reasoned opinion

(EEC Treaty, Art. 169)

4. Tax provisions ° Internal taxation ° System of differential taxation on cars ° Application to imported cars of a higher rate of tax than that applied to cars of domestic manufacture ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 95)

Summary

1. Although it is true that the subject-matter of an application under Article 169 of the Treaty is limited to that defined during the pre-litigation procedure provided for by that article, and that therefore the Commission' s reasoned opinion and the application to the Court must be based on the same complaints, that requirement cannot go so far as to make it necessary that in every event the national provisions mentioned in the reasoned opinion and in the application should be completely identical. Where a change in the legislation occurred between those two phases in the procedure, it is sufficient that the system established by the legislation contested in the pre-litigation procedure has as a whole been maintained by the new measures which were adopted by the Member State after the issue of the reasoned opinion and have been challenged in the application.

2. In the context of an action under Article 169 of the Treaty, once the existence of a failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty is accepted, the Member State in question is guilty of such a failure regardless of the frequency or the scale of the circumstances complained of.

3. In an action brought under Article 169 of the Treaty, the question whether there has been a failure to fulfil obligations must be examined on the basis of the position in which the Member State found itself at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion and, consequently, the Court cannot take account of any subsequent changes.

4. A Member State which, with a view to protecting national production, applies higher rates of special consumer tax to private cars incorporating traditional technology imported from other Member States than are applied to private cars incorporating traditional technology produced or assembled on its territory, is guilty of a failure to fulfil its obligations under Article 95 of the Treaty.