CELEX: C2001/331/02
Language: en
Date: 2001-11-24 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 9 October 2001 in Case C-409/98 [reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen's Bench Division (Divisional Court)]: Commissioners of Customs & Excise v Mirror Group plc (Sixth VAT Directive — Exemption for the leasing or letting of immovable property — Meaning — Undertaking to become a tenant)

24.11.2001              EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                           C 331/1
                                                                         I
                                                                   (Information)
                                                     COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                               COURT OF JUSTICE
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                       Registrar, has given a judgment on 9 October 2001, in which
                                                                             it:
                        of 9 October 2001
                                                                             1.    Dismisses the application;
in Case C-377/98: Kingdom of the Netherlands v European                      2.    Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands to bear the costs;
     Parliament and Council of the European Union (1)
                                                                             3.    Orders the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Norway and the
(Annulment — Directive 98/44/EC — Legal protection of                              Commission each to bear their own costs.
biotechnological inventions — Legal basis — Article 100a
of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 95 EC),                      (1) OJ C 378 of 5.12.1998.
Article 235 of the EC Treaty (now Article 308 EC) or
Articles 130 and 130f of the EC Treaty (now Articles 157
EC and 163 EC) — Subsidiarity — Legal certainty —
Obligations of Member States under international law —
Fundamental rights — Human dignity — Principle of
     collegiality for draft legislation of the Commission)                                    JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                          (2001/C 331/01)                                                             (Sixth Chamber)
                    (Language of the case: Dutch)                                                   of 9 October 2001
                                                                             in Case C-409/98 [reference for a preliminary ruling from
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published       the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s
                   in the European Court Reports)                            Bench Division (Divisional Court)]: Commissioners of
                                                                                       Customs & Excise v Mirror Group plc (1)
In Case C-377/98: Kingdom of the Netherlands (Agents:                        (Sixth VAT Directive — Exemption for the leasing or letting
M.A. Fierstra and I. van der Steen) supported by Italian                     of immovable property — Meaning — Undertaking to
Republic (Agent: U. Leanza, assisted by P.G. Ferri), and by                                           become a tenant)
Kingdom of Norway (Agent: H.W. Longva) v European
Parliament (Agents: J. Schoo and E. Vandenbosch) and Council                                          (2001/C 331/02)
of the European Union (Agents: R. Gosalbo Bono, G. Houttuin
and A. Lo Monaco) supported by Commission of the European                                       (Language of the case: English)
Communities (Agents: K. Banks and P. van Nuffel) — appli-
cation for annulment of Directive 98/44/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal                    In Case C-409/98: reference to the Court under Article 177 of
protection of biotechnological inventions (OJ 1998 L 213,                    the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from the High Court of
p. 13) — the Court, composed of: G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias,                   Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s Bench Division (Div-
President, P. Jann, F. Macken, N. Colneric and S. von Bahr                   isional Court) (United Kingdom) for a preliminary ruling in the
(Presidents of Chambers), C. Gulmann, D.A.O. Edward, A. La                   proceedings pending before that court between Com-
Pergola, J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), L. Sevón, M. Wathelet,              missioners of Customs & Excise and Mirror Group plc — on
V. Skouris and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; F.G. Jacobs,                    the interpretation of Article 13B(b) of the Sixth Council
Advocate General; H.A. Rühl, Principal Administrator, for the                Directive of 17 May 1977 (77/388/EEC) on the harmonisation
 ---pagebreak--- C 331/2                 EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                         24.11.2001
of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes —              the Verwaltungsgericht, Frankfurt am Main for a preliminary
Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assess-                 ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
ment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — the Court (Sixth Chamber),                    Ernst-Otto Flemmer (C-80/99), Renate Christoffel (C-81/99)
composed of: F. Macken, President of the Chamber, N. Colneric              and Council of the European Union and Commission of the
(Rapporteur), C. Gulmann, J.-P. Puissochet and R. Schintgen,               European Communities represented by: Bundesanstalt für
Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate General; D. Louterman-Hubeau,                 Landwirtschaft und Ernährung, and between Marike Leit-
Head of Division, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on               ensdorfer (C-82/99) and Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und
9 October 2001, in which it has ruled:                                     Ernährung — on the interpretation of the second paragraph
                                                                           of Article 215 and Article 178 of the EC Treaty (now the
1.    A person who does not initially have any interest in the             second paragraph of Article 288 EC and Article 235 EC) and
      immovable property and who enters into an agreement for lease        of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2187/93 of 22 July 1993
      of that immovable property with a landlord and/or accepts the        providing for an offer of compensation to certain producers
      grant of a lease of the property in return for a sum of money        of milk and milk products temporarily prevented from carrying
      paid by the landlord does not make a supply of services              on their trade (OJ 1993 L 196, p. 6) — the Court, composed
      falling within Article 13B(b) of the Sixth Council Directive         of: G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias, President, P. Jann, F. Macken,
      (77/388/EEC) of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the              N. Colneric (Rapporteur) and S. von Bahr (Presidents of
      laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes —               Chambers), A. La Pergola, J.-P. Puissochet, L. Sevón, M. Wathe-
      common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment.       let, V. Skouris and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; A. Tizzano,
                                                                           Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment
2.    A person who does not initially have any interest in the             on 9 October 2001, in which it has ruled:
      immovable property and who enters into an option agreement
      such as the one before the national court in relation to leases of
      that immovable property in return for a sum of money paid by
      the landlord, on terms that the money will remain in a special
      account as security for its obligations under the option             1.    The provisions of the second paragraph of Article 215 and
      agreement, and who subsequently exercises the options under                Article 178 of the EC Treaty (now the second paragraph of
      the option agreement and accepts the grant of leases of the                Article 288 EC and Article 235 EC) read in conjunction must
      immovable property in return for the release of the money in its           be interpreted as meaning that the Court of Justice does not
      special account, at no time makes a supply of services falling             have jurisdiction to rule in disputes arising from a contract for
      within Article 13B(b) of the Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC.                   compensation concluded in the name and on behalf of the
                                                                                 Council and the Commission by the competent national
(1) OJ C 20 of 23.1.1999.                                                        authority, in accordance with Council Regulation (EEC)
                                                                                 No 2187/93 of 22 July 1993 providing for an offer of
                                                                                 compensation to certain producers of milk and milk products
                                                                                 temporarily prevented from carrying on their trade.
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                        of 9 October 2001
                                                                           2.    In the absence of any indication in Regulation No 2187/93,
in Joined Cases C-80/99 to C-82/99 (reference for a                              the contracts for compensation concluded pursuant to that
preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgericht, Frank-                           Regulation are governed by the rules of national law, provided
furt am Main): Ernst-Otto Flemmer (C-80/99), Renate                              that their application does not prejudice the scope and effective-
Christoffel (C-81/99) v Council of the European Union                            ness of Community law.
and Commission of the European Communities and
Marike Leitensdorfer (C-82/99) v Bundesanstalt für Land-
                  wirtschaft und Ernährung (1)
                                                                           3.    Community law does not preclude the application of the
(Non-contractual liability — Milk producers — Non-market-                        principle of legitimate expectations provided for by the national
ing undertaking — Exclusion from milk quota scheme —                             legal order of the Member State concerned for the purposes of
Compensation — Substitution — Flat-rate compensation by                          assessing the scope of contracts concluded by national authorities
contract — Regulation (EEC) No 2187/93 — Relevant                                in the name and on behalf of the Council and Commission,
                 jurisdiction — Applicable law)                                  provided that the Community interest is also taken into account.
                          (2001/C 331/03)
                   (Language of the case: German)
                                                                           (1) OJ C 121, 1.5.1999.
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                   in the European Court Reports)
In Joined Cases C-80/99 to C-82/99: reference to the Court
under Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from