CELEX: C1998/397/29
Language: en
Date: 1998-12-19 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Divisional Court, Queen's Bench Division, by order of that court of 13 March 1998, in the case of The Queen against Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte: Trevor Robert Fisher and Penny Fisher trading as T. R. and P. Fisher (a firm) (Case C-369/98)

19.12.98              EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                    C 397/17
Ð The requirement of authorisation from the Ministry of                  competent institution or in accordance with that
    Finance for the transfer of shares representing more                 organised by the State on whose territory the hospital
    than 10 % of the voting capital of privatised                        treatment has taken place?
    companies (or of a specified participation in financial
    institutions), in the terms set out in Decree-Law
    No 380/93, is incompatible with Articles 73(b) and 52
    of the EC Treaty, the requirement of such                       Ð Is a limitation of the amount reimbursed under the
    authorisation could only be justified by imperative                  legislation of the State of the competent institution
    reasons in the general interest and if they were based               permitted, having regard to Article 36 of Regulation
    on objective criteria which are consistent and public in             (EEC) No 1408/71 which refers to reimbursement in
    character, in the absence of which that requirement                  full?
    could be used so as to keep control of the undertaking
    in question in the hands of nationals. The Portuguese
    authorities have not indicated what imperative reasons          (1) (OJ, English Special Edition 1971 (II), p. 416).
    in the general interest might justify such a measure. As
    regards the criteria which are to serve as guidance for
    the grant of authorisation, the Commission continues
    to hold the view that such criteria either are not
    indicated in the legislation or, in the event of Decree-
    Law No 380/93 referring to Decree-Law No 11/90,
    the prescribed criteria may be interpreted and applied
    in such a way as to benefit Portuguese citizens, to the         Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Divisional
    detriment of the nationals of other Member States.              Court, Queen's Bench Division, by order of that court of
                                                                    13 March 1998, in the case of The Queen against
(1) OJ L 302, 15.11.1985.                                           Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte:
                                                                    Trevor Robert Fisher and Penny Fisher trading as T. R.
                                                                                          and P. Fisher (a firm)
                                                                                             (Case C-369/98)
                                                                                              (98/C 397/29)
Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour du
Travail, Mons, by judgment of that court of 9 October
1998 in the case of Abdon Vanbraekel, Marie-Ange
                                                                    Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
Vanbraekel,      Marie-Paule    Vanbraekel,     Marie-Claire
                                                                    European Communities by an order of the Divisional
Vanbraekel, Brigitte Vanbraekel, Edith Vanbraekel and
                                                                    Court, Queen's Bench Division, of 13 March 1998, which
Alexandre Vanbraekel v. Alliance Nationale des
                                                                    was received at the Court Registry on 16 October 1998,
                   MutualiteÂs ChreÂtiennes
                                                                    for a preliminary ruling in the case of The Queen against
                       (Case C-368/98)                              Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte:
                                                                    Trevor Robert Fisher and Penny Fisher trading as T. R.
                        (98/C 397/28)
                                                                    and P. Fisher (a firm), on the following questions:
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by a judgment of the Sixth                     (1) (i) Do Articles 3(1) and 9 of Regulation (EEC)
Chamber of the Cour du Travail (Higher Labour Court),                          No 3508/92 (1), coupled with the general
Mons, of 9 October 1998, which was received at the                             principles of Community law, permit information
Court Registry on 16 October 1998, for a preliminary                           held on a computerised data base set up under
ruling in the case of Abdon Vanbraekel, Marie-Ange                             Article 2, relating to data supplied by or on
Vanbraekel, Marie Paule Vanbraekel, Marie-Claire                               behalf of a former claimant for payments under
Vanbraekel, Brigitte Vanbraekel, Edith Vanbraekel and                          AAPs, to be disclosed to third parties?
Alexandre Vanbraekel v. Alliance Nationale des
MutualiteÂs ChreÂtiennes on the following questions:
                                                                          (ii) If the answer to question 1(i) is yes', is the
Where, in the context of proceedings before it, a national                     disclosure which the competent authority is
court has acknowledged that hospital treatment in a                            lawfully required to provide limited, as regards
Member State other than that of the competent institution                      the persons to whom disclosure can be made:
was necessary, although the prior authorisation provided
for in Article 22 of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 (1) was                       (a) to persons authorised by the former claimant
refused:                                                                            on the UK Base Form; and/or
Ð Must the costs of hospital treatment be reimbursed                           (b) to persons who require the information
    in accordance with the scheme of the State of the                               in connection with their application for
 ---pagebreak--- C 397/18               EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                   19.12.98
                agricultural aid in respect of the same land as        (1) Did Article 12 of the Agreement establishing an
                the former claimant even where the former                  Association between the European Economic
                claimant refuses to disclose the information;              Community and Turkey signed at Ankara on
                                                                           12 September 1963 (the EEC-Turkey Agreement')
                and as regards the information to be                       become directly effective at the end of the transitional
                disclosed:                                                 period (31 December 1993) in accordance with
                                                                           Article 36 of the Additional (Financial) Protocol to
           (c) to that information which does not constitute               the EEC-Turkey Agreement signed at Brussels on
                commercially confidential information; and/                23 November 1970 (the Additional Protocol')?
                or
           (d) to that information which it is necessary to            (2) Is Article 6 of Decision 1/80 of the Council of
                disclose to ensure that the person requesting              Association (Decision 1/80'):
                the information can, by taking reasonable
                steps, avoid incurring penalties in connection             (i)   ultra vires the Council of Association by
                with his own application for agricultural aid.                   requiring satisfaction of the condition duly
                                                                                 registered as belonging to the labour force of a
                                                                                 Member State';
(2) If the answer to question 1(i) is yes', and the
      competent authorities have unlawfully failed to
                                                                           (ii) contrary to the principle of non-discrimination
      disclose information requested in circumstances where
                                                                                 contained in Article 9 of the EEC-Turkey
      had the person received the information he would
                                                                                 Agreement;
      have set aside only eligible land, is the imposition of
      penalties under Article 9 of Regulation (EEC)
      No 3887/92 (2) for this reason alone rendered                        (iii) unlawful after the expiry of the transitional
      unlawful;                                                                  period;
                                                                           (iv) otherwise unlawful;
(3) Whether or not the failure by the competent
      authorities to disclose the information referred to in
      question 1(i) above was lawful or unlawful, are they                 inasmuch as it limits the scope of Article 12 of the
      entitled to use against a person information which,                  EEC-Turkey Agreement?
      despite requests for same, they had refused to supply
      to that person.
                                                                       (3) If the answer to question 2 is that there is no factor
( ) Council Regulation (EEC) No 3508/92 of 27 November 1992
 1                                                                         affecting the validity of Article 6(1) of Decision 1/80,
    establishing an integrated administration and control system           is the phrase duly registered' as belonging to the
    for certain Community aid schemes (OJ L 355, 5.12.1992,                labour force of a Member State:
    p. 1).
(2) Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3887/92 of 23 December
    1992 laying down detailed rules for applying the integrated            (i)   to be interpreterd as meaning that a Turkish
    administration and control system for certain Community aid                  worker must comply with conditions imposed by
    schemes (OJ L 391, 31.12.1992, p. 36).                                       a Member State as part of its immigration laws,
                                                                                 such as a condition restricting the duration of
                                                                                 employment within that Member State, as well
                                                                                 as satisfying the conditions of that Member
                                                                                 State's employment law as to the legality,
                                                                                 stability and permanence of his employment; or
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Immigration                      (ii) to be interpreted by reference to the concept of
Appeal Tribunal, by order of that court of 9 October                             lawful, permanent and stable employment under
1997, in the case of Secretary of State for the Home                             the applicable legislation of the Member State
              Department against Mustafa Saglam                                  relating to employment law; or
                        (Case C-370/98)
                                                                           (iii) to be interpreted as being satisfied, in any event,
                          (98/C 397/30)
                                                                                 by the Turkish worker's name appearing on any
                                                                                 systematic database maintained by the Member
                                                                                 State for the purposes of social security which
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                           contains the details of every member of the
European Communities by an order of the Immigration                              workforce of that Member State?
Appeal Tribunal of 9 October 1997, which was received
at the Court Registry on 16 October 1998, for a
preliminary ruling in the case of Secretary of State for the           (4) Is the answer to question 3, or to any part thereof,
Home Department against Mustafa Saglam, on the                             affected by Article 7 of Decision 2/76 and, if so, in
following questions:                                                       what way and with what result?