Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 3 May 2001 in Case C-481/98: Commission of the European Communities v French Republic (Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Sixth VAT Directive — Articles 12(3)(a) and 28(2)(a) — Reduced rate)
Date: 2001-07-14
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, France, VAT, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, medicinal product, tax harmonisation

C 200/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

14.7.2001

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Sixth Chamber)

of 3 May 2001

(Sixth Chamber)

of 3 May 2001

in Case C-481/98: Commission of the European Communi-
ties v French Republic (1)

(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Sixth
VAT Directive — Articles 12(3)(a) and 28(2)(a) — Reduced
rate)

in Case C-28/99 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg te Gent, Belgium):
Jean Verdonck, Ronald
criminal proceedings against

Everaert and Edith de Baedts (1)

(Directive 89/592/EEC — National rules on insider dealing
— Power of Member States to adopt more stringent pro-
visions — Definition of national provisions applied gener-
ally)

(2001/C 200/17)

(Language of the case: French)

(2001/C 200/18)

(Language of the case: Dutch)

(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
in the European Court Reports)

(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
in the European Court Reports)

In Case C-481/98: Commission of the European Communities
(Agent: E. Traversa, acting as Agent, assisted by N. Coutrelis) v
French Republic (Agents: K. Rispal-Bellanger and S. Seam),
supported by Republic of Finland (Agents: H. Rotkirch and
T. Pynnä) — application for a declaration that, by introducing
and maintaining in force legislation relating to value added tax
which provides for a rate of 2,1 % to be charged on medicinal
products reimbursable under the social security system, where-
as other medicinal products are taxed at the reduced rate of
5,5 %, the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations
under Article 12 of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of
17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member
States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value
added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1)
— the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann,
President of
J.-P. Puissochet,
R. Schintgen and N. Colneric (Rapporteur), Judges; J. Mischo,
Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar,
has given a judgment on 3 May 2001, in which it:

the Chamber, V. Skouris,

1. Dismisses the action;

In Case C-28/99: reference to the Court under Article 177 of
the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from the Rechtbank van
Eerste Aanleg te Gent, Belgium, for a preliminary ruling in the
criminal proceedings pending before that court between Jean
Verdonck, Ronald Everaert and Edith De Baedts — on the
interpretation of Article 6 of Council Directive 89/592/EEC of
13 November 1989 coordinating regulations on insider deal-
ing (OJ 1989 L 334, p. 30) — the Court (Sixth Chamber),
composed of: C. Gulmann, President of the Chamber, V. Skour-
is, J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), R. Schintgen and F. Macken,
Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General; H.A. Rühl, Principal
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
3 May 2000, in which it has ruled:

1. Article 6 of Directive 89/592/EEC of 13 November 1989
coordinating regulations on insider dealing does not preclude
the application of legislative provisions of a Member State
which, as regards the prohibition of use of inside information,
are more stringent than those laid down by the directive,
provided that the scope of the definition of inside information
used for applying that legislation is the same for all natural or
legal persons subject to the legislation.

2. Orders the Commission of the European Communities to pay

2.

the costs;

3. Orders the Republic of Finland to bear its own costs.

If provisions of national
law run counter to Article 6 of
Directive 89/592, by reason of the fact that certain natural or
legal persons are specifically exempted from a more stringent
prohibition of use of inside information than that laid down by
the directive, the national court must disapply those more
stringent provisions with regard to all persons to whom they
might otherwise apply.

(1) OJ C 48 of 20.2.1999.

(1) OJ C 121 of 1.5.1999.