Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 20 January 2005 in Case C-245/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling by the Conseil d'État): Merck, Sharp & Dohme BV v État belge (Directive 89/105/EEC — Medicinal products for human use — Application for entry on a positive list — Nature of the time-limit for responding — Mandatory nature — Consequences of exceeding the time-limit)
Date: 2005-03-05
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: fixing of prices, health insurance, interpretation of the law, medicinal product

C 57/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

5.3.2005

to the transparency of measures regulating the pricing of medicinal
products for human use and their
inclusion in the scope of
national health insurance systems is a mandatory time-limit which
the national authorities are not entitled to exceed.

2. The first subparagraph of Article 6(1) of Directive 89/105 does
not impose the automatic entry of a medicinal product on the list
of proprietary medicinal products covered by the sickness insurance
system where the time-limit laid down in that article is exceeded.

(1) OJ C 213 of 06.09.2003.

On a proper
construction of Article 4(5) of Council Directive
92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats
and of wild fauna and flora, the protective measures prescribed in
Article 6(2), (3) and (4) of that directive are required only as regards
sites which, in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 4(2)
of the directive, are on the list of sites selected as sites of Community
importance adopted by the Commission of the European Communities
in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 21 of the direc-
tive.

In the case of sites eligible for identification as sites of Community
importance which are included in the national lists transmitted to the
Commission and, in particular, sites hosting priority natural habitat
types or priority species, the Member States are, by virtue of Directive
92/43, required to take protective measures that are appropriate,
from the point of view of the directive's conservation objective, for the
interest which those
purpose of safeguarding the relevant ecological
sites have at national level.

(1) OJ C 146 of 21.06.2003.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(First Chamber)

of 13 January 2005

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

in Case C-254/03 P Eduardo Vieira SA v Commission of
the European Communities (1)

(Second Chamber)

of 20 January 2005

(Appeal — Fisheries — Fisheries agreement with Argentina
— Community financial aid — Reduction)

in Case C-245/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling by the
Conseil d'État): Merck, Sharp & Dohme BV v État belge (1)

(Directive 89/105/EEC — Medicinal products for human use
— Application for entry on a positive list — Nature of the
time-limit for responding — Mandatory nature — Conse-
quences of exceeding the time-limit)

(2005/C 57/14)

(Language of the case: French)

In Case C-245/03: reference for a preliminary ruling under
Article 234 EC from the Conseil d'État (Belgium), by decision
of 9 May 2003, received at the Court on 10 June 2003, in the
proceedings, between Merck, Sharp & Dohme BV and État
belge – the Court (Second Chamber), composed of C.W.A.
Timmermans, President of the Chamber, R. Silva de Lapuerta
(Rapporteur), C. Gulmann, R. Schintgen and G. Arestis, Judges;
A. Tizzano, Advocate General; M. Múgica Arzamendi, Principal
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 20
January 2005, in which it has ruled:

1. The time-limit laid down in the first subparagraph of Article 6(1)
of Council Directive 89/105/EEC of 21 December 1988 relating

(2005/C 57/15)

(Language of the case: Spanish)

In Case C-254/03 P: appeal under Article 56 of the Statute of
the Court of Justice brought on 13 June 2003 by Eduardo
Vieira SA (lawyers: J.-R. García-Gallardo Gil-Fournier and D.
Domínguez Pérez), the other party to the proceedings being:
Commission of the European Communities (Agents: S. Pardo
Quintillán, and J. Rivas-Andres and J. Gutiérrez Gisbert) – the
Court (First Chamber), composed of P. Jann, President of the
Chamber, N. Colneric (Rapporteur), J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, M.
Ilešič and E. Levits, Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate General; R.
Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment on 13 January 2005, in
which it:

1. Dismisses the appeal;

2. Orders Eduardo Vieira SA to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 184, 2.8.2003.