Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 29 April 2004 in Case C-359/01 P: British Sugar plc v Tate & Lyle plc, Napier Brown & Co. Ltd and Commission of the European Communities (Appeal — Competition — Sugar market — Article 85(1) of the EC Treaty (now Article 81(1) EC) — Agreement — Effect on trade between Member States — Fine — Proportionality)
Date: 2004-04-30
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, appeal, fine, infringement of EU law, restriction on competition, sugar industry

30.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 118/13

1. Article 3(1) of European Parliament and Council Directive
94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging
waste must be construed as meaning that plastic carrier bags given
to customers in a shop, whether free of charge or not, are packa-
ging within the meaning of that directive.

1) Dismisses the appeal;

2) Orders British Sugar plc to pay the costs.

2. The concept of ‘producer’ in the context of the first subparagraph
of Article 3(1) of Directive 94/62 refers to the producer of the
goods, not the manufacturer of the packaging produced.

(1) OJ C 317, 10.11.2001.

(1) OJ C 331, 24.11.2001.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Fifth Chamber)

of 29 April 2004

in Case C-359/01 P: British Sugar plc v Tate & Lyle plc,
Napier Brown & Co. Ltd and Commission of the European
Communities (1)

(Appeal — Competition — Sugar market — Article 85(1) of
the EC Treaty (now Article 81(1) EC) — Agreement —
Effect on trade between Member States — Fine — Propor-
tionality)

(2004/C 118/23)

(Language of the case: English)

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

In Case C-359/01 P: appeal by British Sugar plc, established in
Peterborough (United Kingdom), (Lawyers: T. Sharpe QC and
D. Jowell, barrister, and A. Nourry, solicitor) against the judg-
ment of the Court of First Instance of the European Commu-
nities (Fourth Chamber) of 12 July 2001 in Joined Cases T-
202/98, T-204/98 and T-207/98 Tate & Lyle and Others v
Commission [2001] ECR II-2035, seeking the annulment of
that judgment, the other parties to the proceedings being: Tate
& Lyle plc, established in London (United Kingdom), Napier
Brown & Co. Ltd, established in London (United Kingdom),
first
applicants at
the European
Communities
(Agents: K. Wiedner, assisted by N. Khan,
barrister) — the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of: P. Jann,
acting for the President of the Fifth Chamber, C.W.A Timmer-
mans and S. von Bahr (Rapporteur),
Judges; C. Stix-Hackl,
Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator, for the
Registrar, has given a judgment on 29 April 2004, in which it:

instance, Commission of

(Sixth Chamber)

of 29 April 2004

in Case C-387/01 (reference for a preliminary ruling by the
Verwaltungsgerichtshof): Harald Weigel and Ingrid Weigel
v Finanzlandesdirektion für Vorarlberg (1)

(Free movement of workers — Importation of a car — Duty
payable on standard consumption (‘Normverbrauchsabgabe’)
— Customs duties and duties having equivalent effect —
Discriminatory taxation — Sixth VAT Directive — Turnover
tax)

(2004/C 118/24)

(Language of the case: German)

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

In Case C-387/01: reference to the Court under Article 234 EC
by the Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Federal Administrative Court)
(Austria) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending
before that court between Harald Weigel and Ingrid Weigel, on
the one hand, and Finanzlandesdirektion für Vorarlberg, on the
other, concerning the interpretation of Articles 12 EC, 23 EC,
25 EC, 39 EC and 90 EC, and 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), as amended by Council Directive
91/680/EEC of 16 December 1991 supplementing the
common system of value added tax and amending Directive
77/388/EEC with a view to the abolition of fiscal frontiers (OJ
1991 L 376, p. 1) – the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of:
V. Skouris, acting as President of
the Sixth Chamber, C.
J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen and N. Colneric
Gulmann,
Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate General; M.-F.
(Rapporteur),
Contet, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has delivered
a judgment on 29 April 2004, the operative part of which is as
follows: