Case C-339/15: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 4 May 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Nederlandstalige rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Brussel — Belgium) — Criminal proceedings against Luc Vanderborght (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Article 56 TFUE — Freedom to provide services — Provision of oral and dental care — National legislation prohibiting, in absolute terms, advertising for oral and dental care services — Existence of a cross-border element — Protection of public health — Proportionality — Directive 2000/31/EC — Information society service — Advertising via an internet site — Member of a regulated profession — Professional rules — Directive 2005/29/EC — Unfair trading practices — National provisions relating to health — National provisions governing regulated professions)
Date: 2017-05-04
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Internet site, advertising, advertising malpractice, consumer information, dental medicine, electronic commerce, freedom to provide services, public health, trade information








C_2017213EN.01000801.xml










3.7.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 213/8





Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 4 May 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Nederlandstalige rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Brussel — Belgium) — Criminal proceedings against Luc Vanderborght
(Case C-339/15) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Article 56 TFUE - Freedom to provide services - Provision of oral and dental care - National legislation prohibiting, in absolute terms, advertising for oral and dental care services - Existence of a cross-border element - Protection of public health - Proportionality - Directive 2000/31/EC - Information society service - Advertising via an internet site - Member of a regulated profession - Professional rules - Directive 2005/29/EC - Unfair trading practices - National provisions relating to health - National provisions governing regulated professions))
(2017/C 213/07)
Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Nederlandstalige rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Brussel

Party in the main proceedings

Luc Vanderborght

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’) must be interpreted as not precluding a national provision, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which protects public health and the dignity of the profession of dentist, first, by imposing a general and absolute prohibition of any advertising relating to the provision of oral and dental care services and, secondly, by establishing certain requirements of discretion with regard to signs of dental practices;










2.


Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘Directive on electronic commerce’) must be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which imposes a general and absolute prohibition of any advertising relating to the provision of oral and dental care services, inasmuch as it prohibits any form of electronic commercial communications, including by means of a website created by a dentist;










3.


Article 56 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which imposes a general and absolute prohibition of any advertising relating to the provision of oral and dental care services.






(1)  OJ C 311, 21.9.2015.