ddrg/super_eurlex huggingface dataset:
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Officials - Vacancy notice - Competition notice - Conditions in both notices must be the same

(Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 29(1); Annex III, Art. 5)

Summary

Article 29(1) of the Staff Regulations requires the same conditions of recruitment to be laid down in the vacancy notice as in the notice of internal competition in a procedure for filling a vacant post in an institution where it was not possible to fill the post on completion of the first stage of the procedure, that is to say by promotion or transfer. An institution cannot, without infringing both that provision and Article 5 of Annex III to the Staff Regulations, replace the list in the notice of internal competition of the conditions concerning the knowledge and qualifications required of candidates with an assessment by the selection board of the merits of the candidates in relation to those conditions when the competition tests are held. The effect of such replacement is to reduce the importance and the role of the competition notice, which is to give those interested the most accurate information possible on the conditions of eligibility for the post to be filled, in order to enable them to determine whether they should apply for it. Furthermore, such a procedure is not without repercussions for the result of the competition since, if the two notices do not correspond, it becomes easier for candidates not in possession of the prescribed qualifications and knowledge to be appointed to the post in question.
Measures to defend the forest environment against the risks of destruction and degradation associated with fires and atmospheric pollution inherently form part of the environmental action for which Community competence is founded on Article 130s of the Treaty. Although the associated forest protection measures referred to in Regulations Nos 3528/86 and 2158/92, as amended by Regulations Nos 307/97 and 308/97 respectively, may have certain positive repercussions on the functioning of agriculture, those indirect consequences are incidental to the primary aim of the Community schemes for the protection of forests, which are intended to ensure that the natural heritage represented by forest ecosystems is conserved and turned to account, and does not merely consider their utility to agriculture.

Furthermore, Annex II to the Treaty, listing the products covered by Articles 39 to 46 concerning agriculture, cannot be regarded as covering in general terms trees and forestry products even though some of those products, taken in isolation, may fall within the scope of those provisions. It follows that Regulations Nos 307/97 and 308/97 do not constitute rules on the production and marketing of agricultural products for which, to the extent to which those rules contribute to the attainment or one or more objectives of the common agricultural policy, Article 43 of the Treaty would have been the appropriate legal basis. Accordingly, by basing those regulations on Article 43 of the Treaty when Article 130s was the appropriate legal basis, the Council infringed essential procedural requirements and undermined the Parliament's prerogatives; the contested regulations must therefore be annulled.
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Approximation of laws - Procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations - `Technical regulations' for the purposes of Directive 83/189 - Meaning - National legislation prohibiting the administration of growth promoters to cattle - Covered - Member States required to notify all draft technical regulations to the Commission - Exemption - Where the Member State is thereby honouring obligations under Community directives or regulations

(Council Directive 83/189, Arts 1(1) and (5), 8 and 10, and Council Directive 86/469)

Summary

Rules of national law prohibiting the administration 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 that substance has been administered constitute technical specifications within the meaning of Article 1(1) of Directive 83/189 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations. Such rules define the production methods and procedures for agricultural products intended for human consumption. They therefore constitute technical regulations within the meaning of Article 1(5) of Directive 83/189, in respect of which the Member State which adopted them is exempt, under Article 10 of that directive, from the obligation to notify the Commission (laid down in Article 8 thereof) since, in adopting those rules, it was honouring its obligations under Directive 86/469 concerning the examination of animals and fresh meat for the presence of residues.
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Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Enforcement - Judgments `enforceable' in the State of origin - Meaning - Enforceability in formal terms - Proceedings for enforcement in the State in which enforcement is sought - Effect of a subsequent decision falling outside the scope of the Convention and granting immunity from enforcement in the State of origin - Appraisal by the court of the State in which enforcement is sought

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 31, first para. and Art. 36)

Summary

$$The term `enforceable' in the first paragraph of Article 31 of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters is to be interpreted as referring solely to the enforceability, in formal terms, of foreign decisions and not to the circumstances in which such decisions may be executed in the State of origin. It is for the court of the State in which enforcement is sought, in appeal proceedings against the order for enforcement of such a decision brought under Article 36 of the Convention, to determine, in accordance with its domestic law, including the rules of private international law, the legal effects in its territory of another decision given in the State of origin in relation to a court-supervised liquidation, a matter not falling within the scope of the Convention.
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Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Enforcement of a document which has been formally drawn up and registered as an authentic instrument and is enforceable in a Contracting State - Definition of `authentic instruments' - Document drawn up without any involvement of a competent authority - Excluded

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 50)

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$$An acknowledgment of indebtedness enforceable under the law of the State of origin whose authenticity has not been established by a public authority or other authority empowered for that purpose by that State does not constitute an authentic instrument within the meaning of Article 50 of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters.

The authentic nature of such instruments must be established beyond dispute so that the court in the State in which enforcement is sought is in a position to rely on their authenticity, since the instruments covered by Article 50 are enforced under exactly the same conditions as judgments.
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1 Actions for annulment - Judgment annulling a measure - Scope - Whether the institution concerned is obliged to re-examine a decision similar to the measure annulled but uncontested in judicial proceedings - No such obligation

(EC Treaty, Art. 176 (now Art. 233 EC)

2 Actions for annulment - Time-limits - Decision not contested in good time - Legal certainty - Whether the institution concerned is obliged to re-examine similar decisions - No such obligation

(EC Treaty, Art. 173 (now, after amendment, Art. 230 EC))

Summary

1 Although, in cases where a measure has been annulled by the Community judicature, Article 176 of the Treaty (now Article 233 EC) requires the institution which had adopted that measure to ensure that any measure intended to replace it is not affected by the same irregularities as those identified in the judgment annulling the original measure, that provision does not mean that, at the request of parties to whom identical or similar decisions have been addressed, but who have not themselves brought proceedings, the institution must re-examine those decisions, allegedly affected by the same irregularity.

The scope of a judgment annulling a measure is limited in two respects:

- first, since it would be ultra vires for the Community judicature to rule ultra petita, the scope of the annulment may not go further than that sought by the applicant;

- secondly, although the authority erga omnes exerted by an annulling judgment given by the Community judicature attaches to both the operative part and the ratio decidendi, it cannot entail annulment of a measure alleged to be vitiated by the same illegality, but which has not been challenged before the Community judicature.

2 A decision which has not been challenged by the addressee within the time-limit laid down by Article 173 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 230 EC) becomes definitive as against him. The purpose of time-limits for bringing legal proceedings is to ensure legal certainty by preventing Community measures which produce legal effects from being called in question indefinitely. Where a number of similar individual decisions imposing fines have been adopted pursuant to a common procedure and where only some of the addressees have taken legal action and secured the annulment of those decisions, the principle of legal certainty precludes any need for the institution which adopted the decisions to re-examine, at the request of other addressees and in the light of the grounds of the annulling judgment, the legality of the unchallenged decisions and to determine, on the basis of that examination, whether the fines paid must be refunded.
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1 Preliminary rulings - Jurisdiction of the Court - Limits - Assessment as to whether a particular grant of aid is compatible with the common market - Not covered

(EC Treaty, Arts 93 and 177 (now Arts 88 EC and 234 EC))

2 State aid - Concept - Facilities for the payment of social security contributions granted to an undertaking in a discretionary manner by a body with responsibility for their collection - Covered - Conditions

(EC Treaty, Art. 92(1) (now, after amendment, Art. 87(1) EC))

Summary

1 In providing through Article 93 (now Article 88 EC) for aid to be kept under constant review and supervised by the Commission, the intention of the Treaty is that a finding that a particular grant of aid may be incompatible with the common market is to be made, subject to review by the Court, by means of an appropriate procedure which it is the Commission's responsibility to set in motion. It follows that the Court has no jurisdiction to reply to a question referred for a preliminary ruling which raises the issue of whether a grant of aid assessed by the national court is compatible with the common market.

2 The concept of State aid embraces not only positive benefits, such as subsidies, but also measures which, in various forms, mitigate the charges which are normally included in the budget of an undertaking and which, accordingly, without being subsidies proper, are of the same nature and have identical effects. For instance, where a public body with responsibility for collecting social security contributions tolerates late payment of such contributions, its conduct undoubtedly gives the recipient undertaking a significant commercial advantage by mitigating, for that undertaking, the burden associated with normal application of the social security system.

Moreover, it follows from the wording of Article 92(1) of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 87(1) EC) that general measures which do not favour only certain undertakings or the production of only certain goods do not fall within that provision. By contrast, where the body granting financial assistance enjoys a degree of latitude which enables it to choose the beneficiaries or the conditions under which the financial assistance is provided, that assistance cannot be considered to be general in nature.

Payment facilities in respect of social security contributions granted in a discretionary manner to an undertaking by the body responsible for collecting such contributions constitute State aid for the purposes of Article 92(1) of the Treaty if, having regard to the size of the economic advantage so conferred, the undertaking would manifestly have been unable to obtain comparable facilities from a private creditor in the same situation vis-à-vis that undertaking as the collecting body.
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1. Community law - Interpretation - Effectiveness

2. Community law - Interpretation - Multilingual texts - Divergence between the various language versions

3. Tax provisions - Harmonisation of laws - Excise duty - Directives 92/12 and 92/83 - Alcohol and alcoholic beverages - Indirect taxation for a specific purpose - Implementing rules

(Council Directives 92/12, Art. 3(2), and 92/83)

Summary

$$1. Where a provision of Community law is open to several interpretations, preference must be given to the interpretation which ensures that the provision retains its effectiveness.

( see para. 21 )

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. 22 )

3. Article 3(2) of Directive 92/12 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products - which is designed to allow the Member States to establish (in addition to the minimum excise duty fixed by Directive 92/83 on the harmonisation of the structures of excise duties on alcohol and alcoholic beverages) other indirect taxes having a specific purpose, that is to say, a purpose other than a budgetary purpose - does not require Member States to comply with all rules applicable for excise duty or VAT purposes as far as determination of the tax base, calculation of the tax, and chargeability and monitoring of the tax are concerned. It is sufficient that the indirect taxes pursuing specific objectives should, on these points, accord with the general scheme of one or other of these taxation techniques as structured by the Community legislation.

( see paras 19, 27 )
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Freedom to provide services - Restrictions - Trade tax on capital and earnings - National legislation providing for the add-back of certain elements to the taxable amount for undertakings leasing assets from lessors established outside that State - Not permissible - Whether justified on grounds relating to the general interest - No such justification

(EC Treaty, Art. 59 (now, after amendment, Art. 49 EC)

Summary

$$Article 59 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49 EC) precludes national legislation governing trade tax (on the capital and earnings of industrial and commercial establishments) under which the taxable amount is to include part of the rental payments for the use of fixed business assets owned by another person, as well as the value of those assets, in so far as that tax is not already payable on such rentals or assets by the lessor.

National legislation which reserves a fiscal advantage - consisting in the lack of any obligation to make that `add-back' to the taxable amount - to the majority of undertakings which lease assets from lessors established in that State whilst depriving those leasing from lessors established in another Member State of such an advantage gives rise to a difference of treatment based on the place of establishment of the provider of services. Such a difference of treatment cannot be justified either by grounds linked to the need for coherency of taxation or by the fact that the lessor established in another Member State is there subject to lower taxation.
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Agriculture - Common organisation of the markets - Milk and milk products - Additional levy on milk - Allocation of reference quantities exempt from the levy - Initial allocation in a Member State which acceded to the European Communities in 1995 - Determination on the basis of average quantities delivered between 1991 and 1993 - Application of reductions to new producers and producers who have increased their production - Requirement of a continuous period of production - Whether permitted by Regulation 3950/92 and by the principle of non-discrimination

(EC Treaty, Art. 40(3), second subpara. (now, after amendment, Art. 34(2), second subpara., EC); 1994 Act of Accession, Council Regulation No 3950/92

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$$Regulation No 3950/92 establishing an additional levy in the milk and milk products sector, as amended by the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden, and the principle of equal treatment enshrined more specifically in the second subparagraph of Article 40(3) of the Treaty (now, after amendment, the second subparagraph of Article 34(2) EC), are to be interpreted as not precluding national legislation governing the initial allocation of individual reference quantities (milk quotas) and adopted by a Member State which acceded to the European Communities on 1 January 1995, whereby:

- individual reference quantities for producers who did not alter their production between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 1994 are determined on the basis of the average quantities delivered between 1991 and 1993;

- new producers who commenced production between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 1994 and producers who increased their production during the same period, but not producers who did not alter their production between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 1994 and ecological milk producers, have a reduction applied (and at different rates) in the calculation of their milk quotas;

- an individual reference quantity is granted only to producers who can show that their production was continuous between 1 March 1994 and 1 January 1995, unless a producer who was compelled to interrupt delivery during that period can show special circumstances justifying the grant of a reference quantity.

( see paras 41, 61 and operative part )
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Community law - Principles - Equal treatment - Discrimination on grounds of nationality - Rules making the grant of legal personality to an association conditional upon the nationality of the members - Not permissible - Failure to fulfil obligations

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

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$$A Member State which, in order for the legal personality of an association to be recognised, requires that one of the members of the administration of the association possess the nationality of that State - or that a minimum, and majority, presence of members hold that nationality - fails to fulfil its obligations under Article 6 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 12 EC).

Such rules regulating the right to form associations with legal personality, which apply to nationals of the other Member States, affect one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Treaty and accordingly infringe Article 6 thereof by imposing a discriminatory nationality requirement.
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1 Free movement of goods - Customs duties - Charges having equivalent effect - Charge levied on supplies of radio transceivers operating on two-way channels (`CB sets'), imported from other Member States - Not permissible

(EC Treaty, Arts 9, 12 and 95)

2 Free movement of goods - Trade with non-member countries - Customs duties - Charges having equivalent effect - Charge levied on supplies of radio transceivers operating on two-way channels (`CB sets'), imported from other Member States - Not permissible

(EC Treaty, Arts 9, 12 and 113)

Summary

1 Articles 9 and 12 of the Treaty preclude a tax borne by manufacturers, importers and persons making supplies in a Member State of radio transceivers operating on two-way channels (`CB sets'), imported from other Member States, such as the tax governed by Article 302 bis (X) of the French Code Général des Impôts.

Such a tax constitutes not internal taxation within the meaning of Article 95 of the Treaty but a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty. It does not relate to a general system of internal dues applied systematically to categories of products in accordance with objective criteria irrespective of the origin of the products, since it differs from the method of taxing other equipment using the Hertzian radio spectrum in that the tax is levied on the supply, not the use.

2 Articles 9, 12 and 113 of the Treaty preclude a tax borne by manufacturers, importers and persons making supplies in a Member State of radio transceivers operating on two-way channels (`CB sets'), imported from other Member States, such as the tax governed by Article 302 bis (X) of the French Code Général des Impôts.

Since the introduction of the Common Customs Tariff, the levying of a customs duty or charge having equivalent effect, unilaterally introduced by a Member State in respect of goods imported directly from non-member countries, is contrary to those provsions.
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Privileges and immunities of the European Communities - Officials and servants of the Communities - Exemption from national taxes of remuneration paid by the Communities - Scope - Tax on the income of natural persons - Whether permissible

(Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, Art. 13)

Summary

$$Article 13 of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities does not preclude a Member State, which grants tax relief to households with a single income and to those with two incomes, the second of which is less than a certain index-linked sum, from refusing that benefit to households in which one spouse is an official or other servant of the European Communities where his salary exceeds that amount.

The reason for exclusion from the benefit is not the fact of being a Community official in receipt of an income in excess of the index-linked sum, but stems from the general condition, which applies without discrimination to spouses, one of whom is an official, as it does to any other taxpayer, regarding the amount of income giving entitlement to the benefit at issue.
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1 Approximation of laws - Procedures for the award of public works contracts - Directive 93/37 - Award of contracts - Whether it is compulsory to award the contract to the sole tenderer considered suitable - No such obligation

(Council Directive 93/37, Art. 18(1))

2 Approximation of laws - Procedures for the award of public works contracts - Directive 93/37 - Article 18(1) - Direct effect

(Council Directive 93/37, Art. 18(1))

Summary

1 Article 18(1) of Directive 93/37 concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, as amended by Directive 97/52, must be interpreted as meaning that the contracting authority is not required to award the contract to the only tenderer judged to be suitable.

In the first place, Directive 93/37 contains no provision expressly requiring a contracting authority which has put out an invitation to tender to award the contract to the sole tenderer; secondly, the contracting authority is not required to complete a procedure for the award of a public works contract.

2 Since no specific implementing measure is necessary for compliance with the requirements listed in Article 18(1) of Directive 93/37 concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, as amended by Directive 97/52, the resulting obligations for the Member States are unconditional and sufficiently precise. Accordingly, that provision can be relied on by an individual before the national courts.