CELEX: C1999/121/14
Language: en
Date: 1999-05-01 00:00:00
Title: Order of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 11 February 1999 in Case C-313/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Oberlandesgericht Köln): administrative fine imposed on Arnold Claasen (Application for interpretation of an agreement concluded between certain Member States under Article 8 of Directive 93/89/EEC - Lack of jurisdiction of the Court)

C 121/8                 EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                       1.5.1999
                    ORDER OF THE COURT                                     Instance, Ghent), received at the Court Registry on 5 Februa-
                                                                           ry 1999, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Public
                        (Fourth Chamber)                                   Prosecutor against J. M. G. H. Verdonck, R. A. A. Everaert and
                                                                           E. M. De Baedts on the following questions:
                       of 11 February 1999
in Case C-313/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from                  1. Does Article 6 of Council Directive 89/592/EEC (1) of
the Oberlandesgericht Köln): administrative fine imposed                       13 November 1989 coordinating regulations on insider
                      on Arnold Claasen (1)                                    dealing, which reads as follows: ‘Each Member State may
                                                                               adopt provisions more stringent than those laid down by
(Application for interpretation of an agreement concluded                      this Directive or additional provisions, provided that such
between certain Member States under Article 8 of Directive                     provisions are applied generally ...’ allow a Member State
       93/89/EEC — Lack of jurisdiction of the Court)                          to provide for a more stringent definition in its legislation,
                                                                               whilst denying a given category, namely holding compa-
                          (1999/C 121/14)                                      nies, a specific exemption from that more stringent
                                                                               definition.
                   (Language of the case: German)
                                                                           2. Is the implementation of Directive 89/592/EEC, transposed
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published         in Belgium by Article 181 of the law of 4 December 1990
                   in the European Court Reports)                              on financial transactions and financial markets, compatible
                                                                               with Article 6 of the Directive. Article 181 reads as follows:
In Case C-313/98: reference to the Court under Article 177 of                  Privileged information, for the application of this code,
the EC Treaty from the Oberlandesgericht Köln (Germany) for                    means information not know to the public which is
a preliminary ruling, in the appeal against an administrative                  sufficiently clear and relates to one or more issuers of
fine brought before that court by Arnold Claasen, on the                       shares or other financial instruments, or to one or more
interpretation of Article 8(1) of the Agreement of 9 February                  shares or other financial instruments, and which, if made
1994 on the levying of charges for the use of certain roads by                 public, may have an appreciable influence on the price of
heavy commercial vehicles, concluded between the Govern-                       such share(s) or of other financial instruments.
ments of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of
Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Grand Duchy of                            Privileged information does not include information avail-
Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Bundesge-                       able to holding companies by virtue of their role in the
setzblatt 1994, Part II, p. 1768) — the Court (Fourth Chamber),                management of companies which they own in part, unless
composed of P. J. G.Kapteyn (Rapporteur), President of the                     it constitutes information which must be made public
Chamber, J. L. Murray and H. Ragnemalm, Judges; D. Ruiz-                       pursuant to the legislative and regulatory provisions con-
Jarabo Colomer, Advocate-General; R. Grass, Registrar, has                     cerning the obligations arising from the official listing of
made an order on 11 February 1999, the operative part of                       shares on the stock exchange.
which is as follows:                                                           The provisions of this code shall apply to shares and other
                                                                               financial instruments within the meaning of Article 1.
The Court manifestly lacks jurisdiction to reply to the reference for a
preliminary ruling made by the Oberlandesgericht Köln by order of
4 August 1998.
                                                                           3. If the Member State has implemented Directive
                                                                               89/592/EEC of 13 November 1989 coordinating regu-
(1) OJ C 327, 24.10.1998.                                                      lations on insider dealing, as the Belgian legislature has
                                                                               done in Article 181 of the Law of 4 December 1990 on
                                                                               financial transactions and financial markets, and such
                                                                               implementation is contrary to the Directive, does this
                                                                               mean that the more stringent provisions are deemed not
                                                                               to form part of national legislation, or that they remain
                                                                               fully applicable in the case of holding companies as well?
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Rechtbank van
Eerste Aanleg te Gent by judgment of that court of
27 January 1999 in the case of Public Prosecutor against
J. M. G. H. Verdonck, R. A. A. Everaert and E. M. De
                               Baedts
                                                                           (1) OJ L 334, 18.11.1989, p. 30.
                           (Case C-28/99)
                          (1999/C 121/15)
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by judgment of 27 January 1999 of
the Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg te Gent (Court of First