Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Approximation of laws - Procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations - Directive 83/189 - Application ratione temporis

(European Parliament and Council Directive 94/10; Council Directive 83/189)

2. 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 rules concerning the determination of the date on which a vehicle was first authorised for use on the public highway - Excluded

(Council Directive 83/189, Art. 1(1) and (5))

3. Free movement of goods - Quantitative restrictions - Measures having equivalent effect - National rules which provide that the date on which an imported vehicle was first authorised for use on the public highway is to be fixed at the date on which its registration certificate was issued, on condition that it has not been registered for more than two days in another Member State - Not permissible - Justification - Protection of road safety - Protection of the environment - Conditions

(EC Treaty, Art. 30 (now, after amendment, Art. 28 EC))

Summary

1. For the purposes of determining whether national rules introduced after the adoption of Directive 94/10 materially amending for the second time Directive 83/189 but before the expiry of the period prescribed for the transposition of the directive constitute a technical regulation covered by the obligation to notify the Commission laid down in Directive 83/189 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, as amended by Directive 88/182, the subsequent amendments introduced by Directive 94/10 should not be taken into consideration.

The purpose of Directive 94/10 is not solely to clarify the terms which appear in Directive 83/189. It is clear from the title, from the second recital in the preamble to and from the actual provisions of Directive 94/10, that that directive materially amends the scope ratione materiae of Directive 83/189.

( see paras 31, 33 and operative part 1 )

2. National rules concerning the determination of the date on which a vehicle is first authorised for use on the public highway do not fall within the scope of Directive 83/189 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, as amended by Directive 88/182.

Rules which are designed to determine the date on which a vehicle is first authorised for use on the public highway, for the purposes of issuing a registration certificate, do not define any characteristic required of the product as such and are therefore not technical specifications within the meaning of Directive 83/189. Accordingly, they cannot be classified as technical rules falling within the scope of that directive.

( see paras 37-40 and operative part 2 )

3. National rules which provide that the date on which an imported vehicle was first authorised for use on the public highway is to be fixed at the date on which its registration certificate was issued only where the vehicle has not been registered for more than two days in another Member State constitute a measure having an effect equivalent to a quantitative restriction on imports for the purposes of Article 30 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 28 EC).

Even though the rules draw no formal distinction between official importers and parallel importers, in practice they place parallel importers at a disadvantage in that they must comply with strict requirements which are difficult to satisfy in order to obtain registration certificates on which the date on which the vehicle was first authorised for use on the public highway is shown as the date on which the certificate was issued. The rules thus do not have the same effect on the marketing of vehicles imported by approved distributors and the marketing of vehicles imported via parallel channels by non-approved distributors.

Such rules may, in spite of their restrictive effects on the free movement of goods, be justified by imperative requirements such as road safety and/or protection of the environment if it can be shown that the resulting restriction is necessary to ensure road safety and/or protection of the environment and that the restriction is not disproportionate to those objectives, particularly in the sense that no other, less restrictive, measures are available.

( see paras 46, 48, 60 and operative part 3-4 )