Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 17 October 2002 in Case C-79/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Corte d'appello di Milano): Payroll Data Services (Italy) Srl, ADP Europe SA and ADP GSI SA (Freedom of establishment — Freedom to provide services — Activity of preparing and printing pay slips)
Date: 2002-12-07
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: document, interpretation of the law, pay, provision of services, self-employed person, size of business

7.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 305/5

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Fifth Chamber)

of 17 October 2002

(First Chamber)

of 17 October 2002

in Case C-79/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Corte d’appello di Milano): Payroll Data Services
(Italy) Srl, ADP Europe SA and ADP GSI SA (1)

(Freedom of establishment — Freedom to provide services —
Activity of preparing and printing pay slips)

(2002/C 305/06)

(Language of the case: Italian)

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

In Case C-79/01: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC
by the Corte d’appello di Milano (Italy) for a preliminary ruling
in the non-contentious proceedings (giurisdizione volontaria)
brought before that court by Payroll Data Services (Italy) Srl,
ADP Europe SA and ADP GSI SA, on the interpretation of
(Fifth Chamber),
Articles 43 EC and 49 EC,
composed of: M. Wathelet, President of
the Chamber,
C.W.A. Timmermans (Rapporteur), D.A.O. Edward, P. Jann,
and S. von Bahr,
J. Mischo, Advocate General;
M.-F. Contet, Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a
judgment on 17 October 2002, in which it has ruled:

the Court

Judges;

Article 43 EC is to be interpreted as meaning that it precludes
legislation of a Member State which requires undertakings with less
than 250 employees which wish to entrust the preparation and
printing of their pay slips to data-processing centres to have recourse
only to those established staffed exclusively by persons registered with
certain professional associations in that Member State if, under that
legislation, undertakings with more than 250 employees may entrust
such activities to data-processing centres on the sole condition that
they are assisted by one or more such persons.

( 1) OJ C 108 of 7.4.2001.

in Case C-208/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Castilla-La Mancha):
Isabel Parras Medina, Adelina Parras Medina v Consejería
de Agricultura y Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Comuni-
dades de Castilla-La Mancha (1)

(Agriculture — Common organisation of markets — Wine
sector — Regulation (EC) No 1294/96 — Harvest, pro-
duction and stock declarations — Failure of a holding to
comply with the time-limits for making declarations —
Death of the director of the holding — Force majeure)

(2002/C 305/07)

(Language of the case: Spanish)

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

In Case C-208/01: Reference to the Court under Article 234
EC by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Castilla-La Mancha
(Spain) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending
before that court between Isabel Parras Medina, Adelina Parras
Medina and Consejería de Agricultura y Medio Ambiente de
la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha on the
interpretation of Article 12 of Commission Regulation (EC)
No 1294/96 of 4 July 1996 laying down detailed rules for the
application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 as regards
harvest, production and stock declarations relating to wine-
sector products (OJ 1996 L 166, p. 14), the Court (First
Chamber), composed of: M. Wathelet, President of the Cham-
ber, P. Jann (Rapporteur) and A. Rosas, Judges; C. Stix-Hackl,
Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment
on 17 October 2002, in which it has ruled:

On a proper construction of Article 12 of Commission Regulation
(EC) No 1294/96 of 4 July 1996 laying down detailed rules for the
application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 822/87 as regards
harvest, production and stock declarations relating to wine-sector
products:

— the concept of ‘force majeure’ referred to therein is not limited to
absolute impossibility but must be understood in the sense of
abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances, outside the oper-
ator’s control, the consequences of which, in spite of the exercise
of all due care, could not have been avoided;