ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
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Preliminary rulings - Reference to the Court - National court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 234 EC - Definition - Landesgericht acting as a court responsible for maintaining the register of companies and delivering decisions outside the context of disputes - Excluded

(Art. 234 EC)

Summary

$$It follows from Article 234 EC that a national court may refer a question to the Court only if there is a case pending before it and if it has been called upon to give judgment in proceedings intended to lead to a decision of a judicial nature.

When it takes an administrative decision without at the same time being required to resolve a legal dispute, the Landesgericht (Regional Court) Wels (Austria) cannot therefore make a reference to the Court. That is the position when it is ruling in its capacity as a Handelsgericht (commercial court) pursuant to the national provisions governing the obligations on certain types of companies to disclose their annual accounts and annual report. When so acting, as it is not dealing with a dispute but is simply maintaining a register of companies, the Landesgericht limits itself to establishing whether the statutory requirements as to disclosure have been satisfied and, if necessary, orders production of those accounting documents on pain of a periodic penalty.

( see paras 13-15 )
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1. International agreements - Agreements concluded by the Community - Direct effect - Conditions - First indent of Article 37(1) of the Association Agreement between the Communities and Poland

(Association Agreement between the Communities and Poland, Art. 37(1), first indent)

2. International agreements - Association Agreement between the Communities and Poland - Workers - Equal treatment - Conditions of employment - Exemption, exclusively for foreign-language assistants, from the obligation to justify recourse to fixed-term contracts of employment by objective reasons - Not permissible

(Association Agreement between the Communities and Poland, Art. 37(1), first indent)

3. International agreements - Association Agreement between the Communities and Poland - Workers - Equal treatment - First indent of Article 37(1) of the Association Agreement - Temporal application

(Association Agreement between the Communities and Poland, Art. 37(1), first indent)

Summary

1. The first indent of Article 37(1) of the Europe Agreement between the Communities and Poland, which lays down, in clear, precise and unconditional terms, a prohibition preventing each Member State from discriminating in relation to its own nationals, on grounds of their nationality, against Polish nationals as far as their conditions of employment, remuneration and dismissal are concerned, has direct effect. This rule of equal treatment lays down a precise obligation to produce a specific result and, by its nature, can be relied on by an individual to apply to a national court to set aside the discriminatory provisions of a Member State's legislation, without any further implementing measures being required for that purpose.

( see paras 21, 22, 30, 45, and operative part 1 )

2. The first indent of Article 37(1) of the Europe Agreement, which lays down a prohibition preventing each Member State from discriminating in relation to its own nationals, on grounds of their nationality, against Polish nationals as far as their conditions of employment, remuneration and dismissal are concerned, precludes the application to Polish nationals of a national provision according to which positions for foreign-language assistants may be filled by means of fixed-term contracts of employment, whereas, for other teaching staff performing special duties, recourse to such contracts must be individually justified by an objective reason.

( see para. 45, and operative part 1 )

3. The first indent of Article 37(1) of the Europe Agreement, which lays down a prohibition preventing each Member State from discriminating in relation to its own nationals, on grounds of their nationality, against Polish nationals as far as their conditions of employment, remuneration and dismissal are concerned, applies, from the date of entry into force of that agreement, to a fixed-term contract of employment which was concluded prior to the date of its entry into force but which is due to expire after that date.

( see para. 57, and operative part 2 )
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Environment - Protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources - Directive 91/676 - Implementation of action programmes in respect of vulnerable zones - Member States' obligation to limit the amount of livestock manure applied to the land each year - Criteria

(Council Directive 91/676, Art. 5(4) and Annex III, point 2, first para.)

Summary

$$The action programmes in respect of vulnerable zones referred to in Article 5(4) of Directive 91/676 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources must contain measures which, as required by the first paragraph of point 2 of Annex III, limit the amount of livestock manure applied to the land each year per hectare. Given both the context and objectives of the directive, the decisive criterion which the directive lays down for limiting pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources is the amount of nitrogen applied to the land by spreading on its surface, by injection into the land, by placing below the surface of the land or by mixing with the surface layers of the land, and not the amount of nitrogen actually penetrating into the land. It follows that, in providing for the use of another criterion for calculating the maximum permissible amount of livestock manure to be applied each year per hectare, national rules are not in accordance with the directive.

( see paras 36, 46-47 )
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Community law - Principles - Equal treatment - Discrimination on the ground of nationality - National legislation providing for a disproportionate difference in treatment between persons contravening the highway code according to the place of registration of the vehicle - Not permissible

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

Summary

$$A Member State which maintains in force a disproportionate difference in treatment between offenders based on the place of registration of their vehicles, by providing that where there is a breach of the highway code committed with a vehicle registered in that Member State, the offender has 60 days from the recording or notification of the offence in which to pay the minimum amount prescribed or to bring an appeal if he has not already paid the minimum amount, whereas where an infringement is committed with a vehicle registered in another State the offender must either immediately pay the minimum amount prescribed, or, if he wishes to contest the alleged infringement, he must provide security equal to twice the minimum amount, on pain of having his driving licence confiscated or his vehicle impounded, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 6 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 12 EC).

( see paras 16, 29, operative part )
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Agriculture - Approximation of laws on health inspections - Directive 64/433 - Costs of bacteriological examinations and examinations for trichinae - Covered by the Community fee levied by the Member States

(Council Directives 64/433, as amended by Directive 89/662 and as amended and consolidated by Directive 91/497, and 85/73, as amended by Directive 93/118; Council Decision 88/408)

Summary

$$Costs of bacteriological examinations and examinations for trichinae carried out in accordance with Directive 64/433 on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in fresh meat, both in the version resulting from Directive 89/662 concerning veterinary checks in intra-Community trade with a view to the completion of the internal market and in that resulting from Directive 91/497 amending and consolidating Directive 64/433 to extend it to the production and marketing of fresh meat, are covered by the Community fee levied by the Member States for health inspections and controls in respect of fresh meat pursuant to, first, Directive 85/73 on the financing of health inspections and controls of fresh meat and poultrymeat and 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 and, secondly, Directive 85/73 as amended by Directive 93/118.

( see para. 59, operative part )
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Environment - Treatment of residual urban waste water - Directive 91/271 - Discharge into sensitive area - Concept

(Art. 174(2) EC; second subpara. of Article 3(1) and Article 5(2) of Council Directive 91/271)

Summary

$$The second subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Directive 91/271, concerning the treatment of urban waste water, which deals with discharges of urban waste water into receiving waters considered sensitive areas, and Article 5(2) of the directive, which requires urban waste water entering collecting systems to be subjected to more stringent treatment before discharge into sensitive areas, make no distinction between direct and indirect discharges into sensitive areas.

That interpretation is, moreover, supported by the objective of the directive, which is, according to Article 1, the protection of the environment, and by Article 174(2) EC, which provides that Community policy on the environment is to aim at a high level of protection.

That objective would be undermined if only waste water which discharges directly into a sensitive area had to be subjected to more stringent treatment than that mentioned in Article 4 of the directive.

( see paras 30-32 )
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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)

Summary

As regards the inspections carried out by Commission staff in connection with the clearance of EAGGF accounts, the Member State concerned cannot disprove the Commission's findings without substantiating its own claims by providing evidence of a reliable and operational supervisory system. If it is not able to show that the Commission's findings are inaccurate, they are likely to raise serious doubts as to the existence of an appropriate and effective body of supervisory measures and inspection procedures.

see para. 36
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Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Excise duty — Directive 92/12 — Products moving under duty-suspension arrangements intended for export to non-member countries but not arriving at their destination — Offence deemed to have been committed in the Member State of departure — Possibility of the operator who has guaranteed the payment of excise duty's providing evidence to the contrary — Subject to a time-limit of four months from the date of dispatch — Not permissible if insufficient to safeguard rights of defence — Relative invalidity of the corresponding provision — (Council Directive 92/12, Art. 20(3))

Summary

Where, in connection with the rules laid down by Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, products subject to excise duty and moving under duty-suspension arrangements do not arrive at their destination and it is impossible to determine where the offence or irregularity was committed, Article 20(3) of the Directive provides, on the one hand, that the offence or irregularity is deemed to have been committed in the Member State of departure, which is therefore entitled to collect the excise duty and, on the other, that within a period of four months of the date of dispatch of the products, the persons concerned may provide evidence of the correctness of the transaction or of the place where the offence or irregularity was actually committed.

That provision is invalid in so far as the period of four months is relied on against a trader who has guaranteed the payment of excise duty but was not in a position to know, at the appropriate time, that an offence, consisting of failure to discharge the duty-suspension arrangement, had been committed.

In such circumstances, the application of that period of four months from the date of dispatch of the products at issue does not satisfy the principle of respect for the rights of defence.

see paras 47-48, 53-54, operative part
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Preliminary rulings — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Question aimed at enabling the national court to assess the compatibility with Community law of legislation of another Member State — Special vigilance on the part of the Court — (Art. 234 EC)

Summary

In order that the Court may perform its task in accordance with the Treaty in the context of a reference for a preliminary ruling, it is essential for national courts to explain, when the reasons do not emerge beyond any doubt from the file, why they consider that a reply to their questions is necessary to enable them to give judgment. Thus it is essential that the national court should give at the very least some explanation of the reasons for the choice of the Community provisions which it requires to be interpreted and of the link it establishes between those provisions and the national legislation applicable to the dispute.

Moreover, the Court must display special vigilance when, in the course of proceedings between individuals, a question is referred to it with a view to permitting the national court to assess the compatibility with Community law of the legislation of another Member State, and must be informed in some detail of the national court's reasons for considering that an answer to that question is necessary to enable it to give judgment.

Where the national court confines itself to repeating the arguments of the parties to the main proceedings without indicating whether and to what extent it considers that an answer to its question is necessary to enable it to give judgment, and the Court consequently does not have the material before it to show that it is necessary to rule on the question referred, the question is inadmissible.

see paras 44-49, 53-54
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Agriculture — Uniform laws — Protection of plant variety rights — Article 14(3) of Regulation No 2100/94 and Article 8 of Regulation No 1768/95 — Holder cannot require a farmer to provide the information specified in those provisions where there is no indication of use for propagation of a harvest obtained from seeds of a protected variety — (Council Regulation No 2100/94, Art. 14(2) and (3); Commission Regulation No 1768/95, Art. 8)

Summary

The provisions of the sixth indent of Article 14(3) of Regulation No 2100/94 on Community plant variety rights in conjunction with Article 8 of Commission Regulation No 1768/95 implementing rules on the agricultural exemption provided for in Article 14(3) of Regulation No 2100/94 cannot be construed as meaning that the holder of a Community plant variety right can require a farmer to provide the information specified in those provisions where there is no indication that the farmer has used or will use, for propagating purposes in the field, on his own holding, the product of the harvest obtained by planting, on his own holding, propagating material of a variety other than a hybrid or synthetic variety which is covered by that right and belongs to one of the agricultural plant species listed in Article 14(2) of Regulation No 2100/94.

see para. 72, operative part
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Social policy — Information and consultation of employees in Community-scale undertakings — Directive 94/45 — Information essential to the opening of negotiations for the establishment of a European works council — Obligation of the central management of a group of undertakings to provide the employees ' representatives with that information — Central management not located in a Member State — Obligation on the deemed central management under Article 4(2) of the directive — Scope — (Council Directive 94/45, Arts 4(1) and (2), 5 and 11(1))

Summary

Articles 4(1) and 11(1) of Directive 94/45 on the establishment of a European Works Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees must be interpreted as meaning that:

─ where the central management of a Community-scale group of undertakings is not located in a Member State, central management ' s responsibility for providing the employees ' representatives with the information essential to the opening of negotiations for the establishment of a European Works Council lies with the deemed central management under the second subparagraph of Article 4(2) of the directive;

─ where central management does not, for the purpose of establishing a European Works Council, make certain information available to the deemed central management, the latter, in order to be able to fulfil its obligation to provide information to the employees ' representatives, must request the information essential to the opening of negotiations for the establishment of such a council from the other undertakings belonging to the group which are located in the Member States, and has a right to receive that information from them;

─ the management of each of the other undertakings belonging to the group which are located in the Member States is under an obligation to supply the deemed central management with the information concerned where it is in possession of the information or is in a position to obtain it;

─ the Member States concerned are to ensure that the management of those other undertakings supplies the information to the deemed central management.

The obligation to provide information deriving from Articles 4(1) and 11(1) of Directive 94/45 encompasses information on the average total number of employees and their distribution across the Member States, the establishments of the undertaking and the group undertakings, and on the structure of the undertaking and of the undertakings in the group, as well as the names and addresses of the employee representation which might participate in the setting up of a special negotiating body in accordance with Article 5 of the directive or in the establishment of a European Works Council, where that information is essential to the opening of negotiations for the establishment of such a council.

see paras 64, 72, operative part 1-2
Case C-157/00





Hellenic Republic

v

Commission of the European Communities





«(EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Financial years 1996 to 1998 – Export refunds – Fruit and vegetables)»

Opinion of Advocate General Alber delivered on 16 April 2002 I - 0000

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber), 9 January 2003 I - 0000

Summary of the Judgment

1.. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing – Principles – Conformity of expenditure with the Community rules – Obligation to supervise incumbent on the Member States

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

2.. Agriculture – EAGGF – Clearance of accounts – Period to which a financial correction may relate – Period after the date of the written communication of the results of checks – Whether permissible where irregularities persist

(Council Regulation No 729/70, Arts 2, 3 and 5(2)(c); Commission Regulation No 1663/95, Art. 8(1))

3.. Agriculture – Common agricultural policy – EAGGF financing – Premium for the grubbing-up of orchards – Recourse by growers to short-term leases in order to achieve the minimum area required for the grant of the premium – Whether permissible – Abnormally high number of such leases – Obligation of the Member State concerned to exercise particular vigilance

(Council Regulation No 2505/95, Arts 1 and 2; Commission Regulation No 2684/95, Art. 1(2))

1.

2.

3.
Case C-209/00





Commission of the European Communities

v

Federal Republic of Germany





«(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Measure implemented by the Federal Republic of Germany for the bank Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (WestLB) – Merger of the Wohnungsbauförderungsanstalt des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (WfA) with WestLB – Resulting increase in own funds of WestLB – Remuneration of the Land as sole shareholder in WfA – Commission Decision 2000/392/EC – Obligation to recover the illegal State aid – Failure to implement)»

Opinion of Advocate General Tizzano delivered on 20 September 2001 I - 0000

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber), 12 December 2002 I - 0000

Summary of the Judgment

1.. State aid – Recovery of unlawful aid – Application of national law – Suitability of measure adopted for producing the same effect on the conditions of competition as repayment

2.. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Proof of failure – Burden of proof borne by the Commission – Failure to fulfil obligation to recover illegal aid – Recovery allegedly effected by means other than cash payment – Duty of Member State to provide information

(Arts 88(2) EC and 226 EC)

3.. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Non-compliance with a Commission decision concerning State aid – Pleas in defence – Absolute impossibility of implementation

(Art. 88(2) EC)

1.

2.

3.
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Sixth Chamber)

6 March 2003

((Directive 79/409/EEC – Protection of wild birds and their habitats – Special protection areas))

applicant,

v

defendant,

THE COURT (Sixth Chamber),,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 25 April 2002,
Case C-229/00





Commission of the European Communities

v

Republic of Finland





«(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Directive 89/105/EEC – Failure to apply the procedure prescribed in Article 6 of that directive to decisions determining the categories of medicinal products qualifying for higher-rate cover – Failure to provide objective and verifiable grounds for negative decisions)»

Opinion of Advocate General Tizzano delivered on 11 July 2002 I - 0000

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber), 12 June 2003 I - 0000

Summary of the Judgment

1.. Approximation of laws – Medicinal products – Directive 89/105 – Medicinal products for human use – Positive list of medicinal products covered by a national sickness insurance scheme – Obligation of the Member States to apply the procedure laid down in Article 6 to decisions establishing categories of medicinal products qualifying for higher-rate cover

(Council Directive 89/105, sixth recital, Arts 1 and 6(1))

2.. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Proof of failure – Burden on Commission – Submission of evidence that the obligation has not been fulfilled

(Art. 226 EC; Council Directive 89/105)

1.

2.
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

8 April 2003

((Trade marks – Directive 89/104/EEC – Article 7(1) – Exhaustion of the right conferred by the trade mark – Evidence – Place where the goods are first placed on the market by the trade mark proprietor or with his consent – Consent of the trade mark proprietor to placing on the market in the EEA))

and

THE COURT,,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

─

─

─

─

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Lifestyle sports + sportswear Handelsgesellschaft mbH and Mr Orth, of the German Government, of the French Government and of the Commission at the hearing on 8 January 2002,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 18 June 2002,