2.

The first question reads as follows: “Does Article 11 of Council Directive 72/461/EEC of 12 December 1972. on health problems affecting intra-Community trade in fresh meat (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1972 (31 December), p. 3 — corrigenda published in the Consolidated Edition of Corrigenda 1952-1972 of July 1975 — permit the charging of a fee to cover the cost of issuing an import licence under Paragraphs 7 and 15 of the Klauentiere-Einfuhrverordnung [Order on the importation of ungulates] as published on 30 August 1972 (BGBl. I p. 1363) and most recently amended by Order of 5 April 1976 (BGBl. I p. 914)?” In order to answer that question, it seems to me that it is first of all necessary to determine whether the requirement of an authorization for the importation of beef and pigmeat from nonmember countries and the corresponding levying of a fee are lawful under Community law. But that investigation is in its turn based on a premise which I would summarize in the following terms: in intra-Community trade charges having an effect equivalent to customs duties are subject to a prohibition which, being intended to ensure the free movement of goods, is absolute and subject to no exceptions (cf. Article 9 of the Treaty); in trade with nonmember countries, on the other hand, decisions to abolish, maintain, amend or introduce such charges are from time to time dictated by the requirements of the common commercial policy and the Common Customs Tariff. They are provided for by means of secondary legislation. Subject to that consideration, it is true, as the plaintiff states, that the fees levied in the Member States for health inspections on imports from outside the Community are charges having equivalent effect; and, in relation to this case, it is correct that the decision to which I have referred is given specific expression in the prohibition of such charges laid down in the regulations on the common organizations of the market in beef and veal and pigmeat (cf. Article 20 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68, Official Journal, English Special Edition 1968 (I), p. 187, and Article 17 (2) of Regulation No 2759/75, Official Journal L 282, p. 1). However, the legislative framework which is relevant here is not limited to those regulations. The provisions on health inspection are consolidated by Council Directive No 72/462/EEC of 12 December 1972 (Official Journal, English Special Edition 1972 (31 December), p. 7) which in Articles 22 to 25 provides that imports of bovine animals, swine and fresh meat from nonmember countries are subject to a Community inspection procedure. For the application of that procedure — and this is the crux of the case — various implementing measures are required at Community and national level. According to the first indent of Article 23 (2) for example, the origin of the meat must be apparent on inspection and the nonmember country from which the meat comes must be included on a list drawn up by the Council and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. The third indent of Article 23 (2) provides that the meat must be accompanied by an animal health certificate, in conformity with a specimen drawn up by the Standing Veterinary Committee, and by a public health certificate corresponding to the specimen contained in Annex C to the directive. Furthermore, according to Article 4, meat may be imported into the Community only if it comes from establishments appearing on lists supplementing the list of nonmember countries; according to Article 16, meat may be imported only if it complies with the health requirements laid down by the Standing Veterinary Committee; finally, Article 27 requires the Member States to draw up and communicate to the Commission lists of the inspection posts for the importing of fresh meat. It is clear that when IFG was granted the import authorization, many of those measures had not yet been adopted. For example, the list of nonmember countries provided for in Article 3 was published only in Official Journal L 146 of 14 July 1979, whilst the health requirements and the list of Romanian slaughterhouses (Articles 16 and 4) were not drawn up by the Commission until 4 February 1982 (Official Journal L 60, p. 16). The consequence of those omissions is plain. As the Member States were unable to organize the inspections provided for by the directive according to its provisions, they retained the right to carry them out on the basis of their own laws. That very right is recognized, albeit subject to a clear restriction, by the provision which the German court asks the Court of Justice to interpret. Article 11 of Directive 72/461 in fact provides that: “Until Community provisions relating to importation of fresh meat from third countries are implemented, national provisions relating to fresh meat imported from those countries shall not be more favourable than those resulting from this directive.”