CELEX: C1996/336/32
Language: en
Date: 1996-11-09 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale di Genova by an order of that court of 5 July 1996 in the case pending before it between Società Corsica Ferries France and 1. Gruppo Antichi Ormeggiatori del Porto di Genova 2. Gruppo Ormeggiatori del Golfo di La Spezia 3. Ministero dei Trasporti e della Navigazione (Case C-266/96)

9 . 11 . 96           EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 336/ 17
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale di                Action brought on 12 September 1996 by the French
Genova by an order of that court of 5 July 1996 in the case           Republic against the Commission of the European
pending before it between Società Corsica Ferries France                                          Communities
and 1 . Gruppo Antichi Ormeggiatori del Porto di Genova 2 .                                    ( Case C-299/96 )
Gruppo Ormeggiatori del Golfo di La Spezia 3 . Ministero
                                                                                                 ( 96/C 336/33 )
               dei Trasporti e della Navigazione
                        ( Case C-266/96
                          ( 96/C 336/32 )                             An action against the Commission was brought before the
                                                                      Court of Justice of the European Communities on
                                                                      12 September 1996 by the French Republic, represented by
                                                                      Catherine de Salins and Gautier Mignot, acting as Agents,
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                with an address for service in Luxembourg at the French
European Communities by order of the Tribunale ( District             Embassy, 9 Boulevard du Prince Henri .
Court ), Genoa, of 5 July 1996 , which was received at the
Court Registry on 2 August 1 996 , for a preliminary ruling in
the case pending before it between Societa Corsica Ferries            The applicant claims that the Court should :
France and 1 . Gruppo Antichi Ormeggiatori del Porto di
Genova 2 . Gruppo Ormeggiatori del Golfo di La Spezia 3 .             — annul the registration of ' feta ' as a protected designation
Ministero dei Trasporti e della Navigazione on the                        of origin in Part A of the Annex to Commission
following questions :                                                     Regulation ( EC ) No 1107/96 ( 1 ) of 12 June 1996 ,
                                                                      — order the Commission to pay the costs .
1 . Must Article 30 of the Treaty be interpreted as
     precluding legislation and/or administrative practice in a
     Member State which debars shipping companies                     Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
     established in other Member States from berthing their
     vessels on entry to docks in the first-mentioned State, or       Infringement of Article 17 of Council Regulation ( EEC )
     unmooring those vessels on departure, unless they use            No 2081 /92 ( 2 ) of 14 July 1992 on the protection of
     the services provided by a local undertaking by virtue of        geographical indications and designations of origin for
     its exclusive concession in respect of berthing and              agricultural products and foodstuffs :
     unmooring facilities, which entails paying to that
     undertaking dues which may not be commensurate with              — the name ' feta ' does not fulfil the criteria laid down by
     the actual cost of the services provided ?                           Article 2 of Regulation ( EEC ) No 2081 /92 for the
                                                                          registration of a name as a protected designation of
                                                                          origin : the term ' feta ' does not refer in any way to the
2 . Does Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 4055/86 of                         name of a region or a specific place in Greece, nor to the
     22 December 1 986 ( 1 ) in conjunction with Article 59 of            name of that country ( Article 2 ( 2 )). Nor is it a
     the Treaty preclude the imposition in a Member State of              traditional name designating an agricultural product or
     a requirement whereby berthing services are obligatory               a foodstuff originating in a region or a specific place
     and shipping companies established in another Member                 ( Article 2 ( 3 )). Feta has in fact never been exclusively
     State are charged tariffs which are fixed not by law but             produced in a region or specific place within the Hellenic
     merely by administrative discretion in respect of the                Republic, but was traditionally known by the name
     arrival or departure of their vessels in or from the                 'telemea' in Romania and northern Greece and by the
     first-mentioned Member State ?
                                                                          name 'touloumootyri ' in southern Greece before being
                                                                          designated by the generic term ' feta', originating from
                                                                          the Italian . It was not until 1987 that the Hellenic
3 . Do Articles 3 , 5 , 90 ( 1 ), 85 and 86 of the Treaty, in
                                                                          Republic laid down various characteristics with regard
     conjunction, preclude legislation and/or administrative
                                                                          to the method of manufacturing feta and its
     practice in a Member State which confers on an
                                                                          composition, as well as its origin. Ultimately, the
     undertaking established in that State an exclusive right
                                                                          designation of origin ' feta ' was recognized by a 1994
     to provide berthing services such as to enable those
                                                                          decree, the zones authorized to produce feta being
     services to be made compulsory, dues to be charged
                                                                          restricted to most of the territory of the Hellenic
     which may not be commensurate with the actual cost of
                                                                          Republic and almost all of its mainland territory . The
     the services provided, tariffs to be applied which have
                                                                          applicant further states, in the alternative, that feta does
     been determined by agreement and/or administrative                   not essentially owe its quality or characteristics to the
     discretion, and tariff conditions to be imposed which
                                                                          geographical location of the regions in which it is
     vary from one port to another, even for like services ?
                                                                          produced in Greece,
(') OJ No L 378 , 31 . 12 . 1986 , p . 1 .
                                                                      — the name ' feta ' may in fact be seen as a generic name
                                                                          designating a type of cheese . Whilst the name ' feta '
                                                                          undeniably has specifically Greek connotations for
                                                                          consumers in that country, it does not evoke any
                                                                          specifically Greek origin . As regards the situation in the
                                                                          other Member States, feta has for several decades been