ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
Keywords

Subject of the case

Operative part



Keywords

Actions for failure to fulfil obligations

–

Examination of the merits by the Court

–

Situation to be taken into consideration

–

Situation on expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (Art. 226 EC) (see para. 6

)

Subject of the case

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations – Failure to adopt or communicate, within the prescribed time-limit, all the measures necessary to comply with Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing (OJ 2005 L 309, p. 15).

Operative part

Operative part

The Court:

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt, within the prescribed period, all the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.
Keywords

Subject of the case

Operative part



Keywords

Actions for failure to fulfil obligations

–

Examination of the merits by the Court

–

Situation to be taken into consideration

–

Situation on expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (Art. 226 EC) (see para. 11

)

Subject of the case

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Failure to take, within the prescribed period, the provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2005 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products and amending Council Directive 92/42/EEC and Directives 96/57/EC and 2000/55/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ 2005 L 191, p. 29).

Operative part

Operative part:

The Court:

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt, within the prescribed period, all the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2005 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products and amending Council Directive 92/42/EEC and Directives 96/57/EC and 2000/55/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.
Keywords

Subject of the case

Operative part



Keywords

Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Examination of the merits by the Court – Situation to be taken into consideration – Situation on expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (Art. 226 EC) (see para. 9)

2. Member States – Obligations – Implementation of directives – Failure to fulfil obligations – National system pleaded as justification – Not permissible (Art. 226 EC) (see para. 10)

Subject of the case

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Failure to adopt or notify, within the prescribed period, the provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC (OJ 2006 L 157, p. 87).

Operative part

Operative part

The Court:

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt, within the prescribed period, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to implement Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.
Keywords

Subject of the case

Operative part



Keywords

Tax provisions

–

Harmonisation of laws

–

Turnover taxes

–

Common system of value added tax

–

Taxable amount (Council Directive 2006/112, Arts 78(1)(a), 79, 83 and 86) (see paras 33-34, 39-40, 46-48, 50-51

)

Subject of the case

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Infringement of Articles 78, 79, 83 and 86 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) – Sale of a motor vehicle – Inclusion in the taxable amount of a duty payable on the registration of a vehicle.

Operative part

Operative part:

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders the European Commission to pay the costs.
Keywords

Summary



Keywords

Common Customs Tariff – Tariff headings – Riding gloves made up of fabric raised on one side and covered with a layer of plastic

(Council Regulation No 2658/87, Annex I; Commission Regulation No 1789/2003)

Summary

The Combined Nomenclature constituting Annex I to Regulation No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, as amended by Regulation No 1789/2003, must be interpreted as meaning that riding gloves, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, made up of fabric raised on one side and covered with a layer of plastic, where the support fabric is raised on one side and the raised side is then completely covered with a layer of polyurethane foam, which has an essential function in use of the gloves as riding gloves, must be classified under subheading 3926 20 00 of the Combined Nomenclature.

The raising of the textile material on those gloves cannot be the decisive criterion for their classification. It is instead necessary to assess the general appearance of the riding gloves and all the features that give them their essential character, taking into account, in particular, the relative importance of the criteria used for their classification. Those gloves have the primary function of enabling the reins to be held and the horse controlled, by facilitating flexibility and grip. The element which allows that function to be performed, and is especially designed for that purpose, is the polyurethane foam which covers all of the outer part of those gloves and which comes into contact with the reins. The textile material inside the gloves does not fundamentally change the polyurethane’s properties, but merely increases its effectiveness by improving grip and comfort for the wearer.

(see paras 40, 43, operative part)
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Summary



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Environment – Assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment – Directive 2001/42 – Plan and programme – Meaning

(European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/42, Arts 2(a) and 3(2)(a); Council Directives 85/337, Annexes I and II, and 91/676, Art. 5(1))

Summary

An action programme adopted pursuant to Article 5(1) of Directive 91/676 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources is in principle a plan or programme covered by Article 3(2)(a) of Directive 2001/42 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment since it constitutes a ‘plan’ or ‘programme’ within the meaning of Article 2(a) of the latter directive and contains measures compliance with which is a requirement for issue of the consent that may be granted for carrying out projects listed in Annexes I and II to Directive 85/337 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 97/11.

(see para. 55, operative part)
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Summary



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Approximation of laws – Uniform legislation – Industrial and commercial property – Patent right – Supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products – Transitional measures for Lithuania covering medicinal products which obtained a marketing authorisation in that State

(Council Regulation No 1768/92 as amended by the 2003 Act of Accession, Arts 7 and 19a(e), and Council Regulation No 2309/93)

Summary

Articles 7 and 19a(e) of Regulation No 1768/92 concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products, as amended by the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded, must be interpreted as not allowing the holder of a valid basic patent in respect of a product to apply to the competent Lithuanian authorities, within six months of the date upon which the Republic of Lithuania acceded to the European Union, for the grant of a supplementary protection certificate where an authorisation to place that product on the market as a medicinal product was obtained more than six months before accession under Regulation No 2309/93 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products, but the product did not obtain a marketing authorisation in Lithuania.

Under Article 19a(e) of Regulation No 1768/92, a supplementary protection certificate may be granted only in respect of a product for which a first authorisation to place it on the market as a medicinal product has been obtained in Lithuania. This provision does not lay down any derogation concerning products which have been the subject of a Community marketing authorisation. Since the provision is couched in clear and unambiguous terms, it must, in accordance with the rule that transitional provisions are to be interpreted strictly, be construed in a manner which accords with its wording and which reflects the will of the European Union legislature as resulting from the negotiations which led to the 2003 Act of Accession.

It follows that, since Article 19a(e) of Regulation No 1768/92 lays down an exception to the period prescribed in Article 7 of that regulation, within which an application for a supplementary protection certificate is to be lodged, only for the holder of a national marketing authorisation, the holder of a Community marketing authorisation obtained at least six months before 1 May 2004 cannot rely on Article 19a(e) to obtain a supplementary protection certificate in Lithuania.

(see paras 33, 35, 53, operative part)
Keywords

Summary



Keywords

Social policy – Approximation of laws – Transfers of undertakings – Safeguarding of employees’ rights – Directive 2001/23 – Autonomy of the entity transferred – Meaning

(Council Directive 2001/23, Art. 6(1))

Summary

A transferred economic entity preserves its autonomy, within the meaning of Article 6(1) of Council Directive 2001/23/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of undertakings or businesses, provided that the powers granted to those in charge of that entity, within the organisational structures of the transferor, namely, the power to organise, relatively freely and independently, the work within that entity in the pursuit of its specific economic activity and, more particularly, the powers to give orders and instructions, to allocate tasks to employees of the entity concerned and to determine the use of assets available to the entity, all without direct intervention from other organisational structures of the employer, remain, within the organisational structures of the transferee, essentially unchanged.

The mere change of those ultimately in charge cannot in itself be detrimental to the autonomy of the entity transferred, except where those who have become ultimately in charge have available to them powers which enable them to organise directly the activities of the employees of that entity and therefore to substitute their decision-making within that entity for that of those immediately in charge of the employees.

(see para. 56, operative part)
Keywords

Summary



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Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – Direct support schemes – Common rules – Separate sugar payment

(Council Regulation No 1782/2003, Art. 143ba(1))

Summary

Article 143ba(1) of Regulation No 1782/2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers and amending Regulations No 2019/93, No 1452/2001, No 1453/2001, No 1454/2001, No 1868/94, No 1251/1999, No 1254/1999, No 1673/2000, No 2358/71 and No 2529/2001, as amended by Regulation No 319/2006, must be interpreted as precluding national provisions which exclude from entitlement to a separate sugar payment a farmer not having delivery rights who delivers sugar beet to a sugar manufacturer through an integrátor which does have such rights, when on the other hand those provisions grant a separate payment to a farmer having delivery rights who delivers sugar beet direct to a sugar manufacturer, and to a farmer not having delivery rights who is a member of a producer group which does have delivery rights and who delivers sugar beet to a sugar manufacturer through that group.

(see para. 46, operative part)
Keywords

Summary



Keywords

Freedom of movement for persons – Freedom of establishment – Free movement of capital – Restrictions – Company law

(Arts 49 TFEU and 63 TFEU; Council Directive 68/151)

Summary

First Directive 68/151 on co-ordination of safeguards which, for the protection of the interests of members and others, are required by Member States of companies within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 58 of the Treaty, with a view to making such safeguards equivalent throughout the Community, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation according to which the fines prescribed for infringement of the legislation and rules of good conduct governing the operation of television stations are imposed jointly and severally, not only on the company which holds the licence to found and operate the television station but also on all shareholders with a holding of over 2.5%.

On the other hand, Articles 49 TFEU and 63 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding such national legislation.

Such legislation has a deterrent effect on investors, affects their access to the equity market and thus restricts both freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital. Even if such a restriction pursues the legitimate objective of securing compliance by television companies with legislation and journalists’ rules of professional conduct in order, inter alia, to prevent the honour or the private life of persons whose image appears on the screen or whose name is referred to from being adversely affected, it cannot be held that that restriction is suitable for securing the attainment of the objective which it pursues or, above all, that it does not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it.

(see paras 46, 56, 60, 63, 65, 70, operative part 1-2)
Keywords

Summary



Keywords

State aid – Examination of complaints – Commission’s obligations – Preliminary examination stage – Obligation to close the preliminary examination stage with a decision – Withdrawal of a decision to take no further action on a complaint regarding alleged unlawful aid – Conditions

(Art. 88 EC; Council Regulation No 659/1999, Arts 4(2), (3) and (4), 13(1), and 20(2))

Summary

Article 13(1) of Regulation No 659/1999 on the application of Article 88 EC obliges the Commission, once any additional comments have been lodged by interested parties or the reasonable period has expired, to close the preliminary examination stage by adopting a decision pursuant to Article 4(2), (3) or (4) of that regulation, that is to say, a decision stating that aid does not exist, raising no objections, or initiating the formal investigation procedure.

If, following a decision to take no further action on a complaint regarding alleged unlawful State aid, the Commission were entitled to withdraw such an act it could perpetuate a state of inaction during the preliminary examination stage, contrary to its obligations under Articles 13(1) and 20(2) of Regulation No 659/1999 and avoid any judicial review. To allow such a possibility would run counter to the legal certainty that Regulation No 659/1999 specifically seeks to enhance, as stated in recitals 3, 7 and 11 in the preamble to that regulation.

Consequently, having regard to the requirements of good administration and legal certainty and to the principle of effective legal protection, it must be considered, on the one hand, that the Commission may withdraw a decision to take no further action on a complaint regarding alleged unlawful aid only in order to remedy illegality affecting that decision, and on the other hand, that the Commission may not, after such withdrawal, take up the procedure again at a stage earlier than the exact point at which the illegality found had occurred.

(see paras 63, 68-70)
Keywords

Summary



Keywords

Common Customs Tariff – Tariff headings – Walker-rollators consisting of an aluminium frame on four wheels, two of which are front swivel wheels, with handles and brakes, and designed to assist persons who have difficulty walking

(Commission Regulation No 729/2004)

Summary

Regulation No 729/2004 concerning the classification of certain goods in the Combined Nomenclature, in the version resulting from a corrigendum published on 7 May 2004, is invalid in so far as, first, that corrigendum extended the ambit of the initial regulation to walker-rollators consisting of an aluminium frame on four wheels, two of which are front swivel wheels, with handles and brakes, and designed to assist persons who have difficulty walking and as, secondly, it classifies those walker-rollators under subheading 8716 80 00 of the Combined Nomenclature.

In that regard it must be held that the corrigendum published on 7 May 2004 goes beyond a mere correction of a clerical error and in reality amends the content of Regulation No 729/2004 by making that regulation applicable to those walker-rollators.

Such products cannot be classified under heading 8716 of the Combined Nomenclature. In order to be classified under that heading, a vehicle with one or more wheels must be designed to transport persons or goods. However, those walker-rollators do not correspond to those characteristics. They were specially designed to allow persons suffering from an impairment of mobility to walk by themselves, thus compensating for the lack of the balance essential for walking. Those walker-rollators therefore serve a function similar to that of crutches, which is a relevant factor for the purposes of their classification under heading 9021 of the Combined Nomenclature.

(see paras 36,46,53,55, 59, operative part)
Keywords

Summary



Keywords

Tax provisions – Harmonisation of laws – Turnover taxes – Common system of value added tax – Member States’ right to apply a reduced rate to certain supplies of goods and services

(Council Directives 77/388, as amended by Directive 2006/18, Art. 12, Annex H, and 2006/112, Arts 96 to 99(1), Annex III)

Summary

By applying a reduced rate of value added tax to all supplies, imports, and intra-Community acquisitions of horses, a Member State fails to fulfil its obligations under Article 12, read in conjunction with Annex H, of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes, as amended by Directive 2006/18/EC, and under Articles 96 to 99(1) of Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax, read in conjunction with Annex III thereto.

First, point 1 of Annex III authorises the application of a reduced rate of VAT only in respect of live animals normally intended for use in the preparation of those foodstuffs and, second, the objective of that provision is to facilitate the purchase of those foodstuffs by the final consumer.

With regard to the particular situation, in the European Union, of horses which, while not normally being intended for use in the preparation of foodstuffs, may nevertheless in some cases be supplied for consumption, it must be considered that, in the light of the EU legislature’s objective of making essential commodities cheaper for the final consumer, point 1 of Annex III to Directive 2006/112 must be interpreted as meaning that only the supply of a horse for slaughter in order to be used in the preparation of foodstuffs may be subject to a reduced rate of VAT.

(see paras 54, 57, 68, operative part)
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Summary



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1. Freedom to provide services – Restrictions – National rules on the reimbursement of medical costs incurred in another Member State

(Art. 49 EC)

2. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Proof of failure – Burden of proof on the Commission – Production of evidence showing failure

(Arts 10 EC and 226 EC)

Summary

1. A Member State that fails to provide, under its social security rules, for the possibility of acceptance of liability for costs relating to laboratory analyses and tests carried out in another Member State by means of reimbursement of the costs paid for those analyses and tests, but provides solely for a system of direct billing to sickness insurance funds, fails to fulfil its obligations under Article 49 EC.

In so far as the application of such rules effectively precludes, in practice, the possibility of acceptance of liability for laboratory analyses and tests carried out by almost all, or even all, medical service providers established in other Member States, it deters or even prevents persons insured by the social security scheme of the said Member State from using such providers and constitutes, both for such persons and for providers, an obstacle to the freedom to provide services.

(see paras 41, 48, operative part 1)

2. In proceedings under Article 226 EC for failure to fulfil obligations, it is for the Commission to prove the alleged failure by placing before the Court of Justice all the information needed to enable the Court to establish that the obligation has not been fulfilled.

The mere fact that the Commission does not have the powers to investigate failures by a Member State to fulfil its obligations and that it depends, for the purpose of investigating cases, on the replies and cooperation of the Member States cannot allow it to circumvent the obligation referred to above, if it does not complain that the Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 10 EC.

(see paras 49, 57-58, 60)
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Summary



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Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Pre-litigation procedure – Purpose

(Art. 258 TFEU)

Summary

In the context of an action for failure to fulfil obligations, the purpose of the pre-litigation procedure is to give the Member State concerned an opportunity, on the one hand, to comply with its obligations under European Union law and, on the other, to avail itself of its right to defend itself against the complaints formulated by the Commission. The opportunity for the Member State concerned to submit its observations, even if it chooses not to avail itself thereof, constitutes an essential guarantee intended by the FEU Treaty, adherence to which is an essential formal requirement of the procedure for finding that a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations.

(see paras 15-16)