Case C-342/07: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 17 January 2008 — Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic Republic (Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Directive 2002/91/EC — Energy policy — Energy saving — Failure to transpose within the prescribed period)
Date: 2008-01-17
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, European standard, Greece, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, building, energy saving, national implementing measure, thermal insulation

C 64/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

8.3.2008

Defendants: Groupe Danone, Société Kro beer brands SA (BKSA),
Société Evian eaux minérales d'Evian SA (SAEME)

Parties to the main proceedings

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Cour de cassation — Inter-
pretation of Article 7(2) of Council Directive 86/653/EEC of
18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the
Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents
(OJ 1986 L 382, p. 17) — Termination of the agency contract
— Commission owed to a commercial agent entrusted with a
specific geographical area or group of persons — Whether there
is a right to that commission in the absence of any control,
direct or indirect, by the principal over transactions between a
third party and a customer belonging to the geographical area
entrusted to the agent

Applicant: NV Lammers & Van Cleeff

Defendant: Belgische Staat

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Rechtbank van eerste
aanleg te Antwerpen — Interpretation of Articles 12 EC, 43 EC,
46 EC, 48 EC, 56 EC and 58 EC — National fiscal legislation
reclassifying as taxable dividends interest paid by a subsidiary by
way of remuneration in respect of loans provided by the parent
company established in another Member State, but not reclassi-
fying such interest as taxable dividends when paid to a company
established in Belgium

Operative part of the judgment

Operative part of the judgment

first

The
indent of Article 7(2) of Directive 86/653/EEC of
18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member
States relating to self-employed commercial agents must be interpreted
as meaning that a commercial agent entrusted with a specific geogra-
phical area does not have the right to a commission for transactions
concluded by customers belonging to that area without any action,
direct or indirect, on the part of the principal.

(1) OJ C 69, 24.3.2007.

Articles 43 EC and 48 EC preclude national legislation, such as that
at issue in the main proceedings, under which interest payments made
by a company resident in a Member State to a director which is a
company established in another Member State are reclassified as divi-
dends and are, on that basis, taxable, where, at the beginning of the
taxable period, the total of the interest-bearing loans is higher than
the paid-up capital plus taxed reserves, whereas, in the same circum-
stances, where those interest payments are made to a director which is
a company established in the same Member State, those payments are
not reclassified as dividends and are, on that basis, not taxable.

(1) OJ C 95, 28.4.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 17 January
2008 (reference
a preliminary ruling from the
Rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Antwerpen, Belgium) —
NV Lammers & Van Cleeff v Belgische Staat

for

(Case C-105/07) (1)

(Freedom of establishment — Free movement of capital —
Tax legislation — Corporation tax — Interest paid by a
subsidiary on funds lent by the parent company established in
another Member State — Reclassification of the interest as
taxable dividends — No such reclassification where interest
payments are made to a resident company)

(2008/C 64/17)

Language of the case: Dutch

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 17 January 2008
— Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic
Republic

(Case C-342/07) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Directive
2002/91/EC — Energy policy — Energy saving — Failure to
transpose within the prescribed period)

(2008/C 64/18)

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Referring court

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: M. Patakia and M.B. Schima, acting as Agents)

Rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Antwerpen

Defendant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: N. Dafniou, Agent)

8.3.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 64/13

Re:

Defendants: Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali, Minis-
tero della Salute, Ministero delle Attività Produttive

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Failure to
adopt, within the prescribed period, the measures necessary to
comply with Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on the energy perfor-
mance of buildings (OJ 2003 L 1, p. 65)

Re:

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that by not having adopted, within the prescribed period,
the legislative, regulatory and administrative measures necessary to
comply with Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on the energy perfor-
mance of buildings, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil
its
obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Consiglio di Stato —
Effects of the judgment of the Court of Justice in Joined Cases
C-453/03, C-11/04, C 12/04 and C-194/04 (ABNA and Others)
by which Directive 2002/2/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 28 January 2002 amending Council Directive
79/373/EEC on the circulation of compound feedingstuffs and
repealing Commission Directive 91/357/EEC (OJ 2002 L 63,
p. 23) was declared partially invalid — Obligation for the insti-
tutions to adopt a new act

(1) OJ C 211, 8.9.2007.

Operative part of the order

1. Article 1(4) of Directive 2002/2/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 28 January 2002 amending Council Direc-
tive 79/373/EEC on the circulation of compound feedingstuffs and
repealing Commission Directive 91/357/EEC, which lays down an
obligation to indicate, on the labels of compound feedingstuffs for
animals, the percentages in weight of the raw materials of which
the feedingstuff is composed with a tolerance of ± 15 % of the
declared value as regards those percentages, must be interpreted as
meaning that it does not contradict Articles 8 and 16 of Regu-
lation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles
and requirements of
food law, establishing the European Food
Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food
safety, which are intended, inter alia, to prevent the labelling and
from misleading the
presentation of
consumer.

for animals

feedingstuffs

2. Since Article 1(1)(b) of Directive 2002/2 laid down an indepen-
dent obligation bearing no relation to the obligations laid down by
the other provisions of that directive, the Court's declaration, in its
judgment of 6 December 2005 in Joined Cases C-453/03,
C-11/04, C-12/04 and C-194/04 ABNA and Others, that that
provision was invalid did not create a legal vacuum or a situation
of inconsistency requiring the Community institutions to adopt the
substantive amendments of Directive 2002/2.

In any event,
the invalidity of a Community provision results
directly from the judgment of the Court declaring that invalidity
and it is for the national authorities and courts of the Member
States to draw the consequences from that declaration in their
national legal order.

(1) OJ C 326, 30.12.2006.

Order of the Court (Third Chamber) of 8 November 2007
(reference for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di
Stato — Italy) — Fratelli Martini & C. SpA, Cargill Srl v
Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali, Ministero
della Salute, Ministero delle Attività Produttive

(Case C-421/06) (1)

subparagraph of Article 104(3) of

(First
the Rules of
Procedure — Judgment of the Court declaring a Community
provision invalid — Obligations of the institutions — Animal
health and public health requirements — Compound feeding-
stuffs for animals — Indication, on the label, of the percen-
tages in weight of the raw materials present in the feeding-
stuff, with a tolerance of ± 15 % of the declared value —
Prohibition on misleading the consumer)

(2008/C 64/19)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties

Applicants: Fratelli Martini & C. SpA, Cargill Srl