CELEX: C2001/134/02
Language: en
Date: 2001-05-05 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 14 December 2000 in Case C-99/99: Italian Republic v Commission of the European Communities (Action for annulment — Regulation (EC) No 2815/98 — Marketing standards for olive oil)

5.5.2001                 EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                               C 134/1
                                                                         I
                                                                   (Information)
                                                     COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                               COURT OF JUSTICE
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                       1.    Declares that, by imposing in Decree No 96-351 of 19 April
                                                                                   1996 concerning the reagents mentioned in Article L.761-14-
                          (Sixth Chamber)                                          1 of the Code de la Santé Publique the obligation to state the
                                                                                   registration number on the external packaging and to mention
                                                                                   that registration on the notice accompanying each medical
                       of 14 December 2000
                                                                                   reagent, the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations
                                                                                   under Article 30 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
in Case C-55/99: Commission of the European Communi-                               Article 28 EC);
                     ties v French Republic (1)
                                                                             2.    Dismisses the remainder of the application;
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Free
movement of goods — Measures having equivalent effect —                      3.    Orders the French Republic and the Commission of the
Medical reagents — Compulsory registration procedure                               European Communities to bear their own costs.
applicable to all reagents — Obligation to state the regis-
tration number on the external packaging and the notice                      (1) OJ C 100 of 10.4.1999.
                   accompanying each reagent)
                           (2001/C 134/01)
                     (Language of the case: French)
                                                                                               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published                                  (Fifth Chamber)
                    in the European Court Reports)
                                                                                                    of 14 December 2000
In Case C-55/99: Commission of the European Communities
(Agents: R.B. Wainwright and O. Couvert-Castéra) v French                    in Case C-99/99: Italian Republic v Commission of the
Republic (Agents: K. Rispal-Bellanger and R. Loosli-Surrans) —                                   European Communities (1)
application for a declaration that, by introducing in Decree
No 96-351 of 19 April 1996 concerning the reagents men-                      (Action for annulment — Regulation (EC) No 2815/98 —
tioned in Article L.761-14-1 of the Code de la Santé Publique                                Marketing standards for olive oil)
(Code of Public Health) (JORF, 26 April 1996, p. 6386) a
registration procedure for all medical reagents, and by                                                 (2001/C 134/02)
imposing in that decree the obligation to state the registration
number on the external packaging and the notice
accompanying each reagent, the French Republic has failed to                                      (Language of the case: Italian)
fulfil its obligations under Article 30 of the EC Treaty (now,
after amendment, Article 28 EC) — the Court (Sixth Chamber),
composed of: V. Skouris, President of the Second Chamber,                    (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
acting as President of the Sixth Chamber (Rapporteur),                                           in the European Court Reports)
J.-P. Puissochet and F. Macken, Judges; N. Fennelly, Advocate
General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar, has given             In Case C-99/99: Italian Republic (Agents: U. Leanza, G. Castel-
a judgment on 14 December 2000, in which it:                                 lani Pastoris, and O. Fiumara) v Commission of the European
 ---pagebreak--- C 134/2                 EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                            5.5.2001
Communities (Agent: F.P. Ruggeri Laderchi) — application for               1.   The letting of spaces for the parking of vehicles is an activity
the annulment of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2815/98                          which, where it is carried on by a body governed by public law,
of 22 December 1998 concerning marketing standards for                          is carried on by that body as a public authority within the
olive oil (OJ 1998 L 349 p. 56) or, in the alternative, of                      meaning of the first subparagraph of Article 4(5) of Sixth
Articles 1, 2(1) and the third subparagraph of 2(2), the third                  Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 oil the
subparagraph of Article 3(2), and Article 3(3) of that regulation               harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to
— the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of: A. La Pergola,                        turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform
President of the Chamber, M. Wathelet, D.A.O. Edward, P. Jann                   basis of assessment, if it is carried on under a special legal
(Rapporteur) and L. Sevón, Judges; S. Alber, Advocate General;                 regime applicable to bodies governed by public law. That is the
H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, has given a judgment on                      case where the pursuit of the activity involves the use of public
14 December 2000, in which it:                                                  powers.
1.    Dismisses the application;
                                                                           2.   The third subparagraph of Article 4(5) of Sixth Directive
2.    Orders the Italian Republic to pay the costs.                             77/388 must be interpreted as meaning that bodies governed
                                                                                by public law are not necessarily regarded as taxable persons in
                                                                                respect of the activities they engage in which are not negligible.
(1) OJ C 188 of 3.7.1999.                                                       Only if those bodies engage in an activity or perform a
                                                                                transaction listed in Annex D to that directive may the criterion
                                                                                of the negligible scale of that activity or transaction be taken
                                                                                into account with the aim, if national law makes use of the
                                                                                option provided for in the third subparagraph of Article 4(5) of
                                                                                Sixth Directive 77/388, of excluding them from being taxable
                                                                                persons for value added tax purposes where their activities are
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                          negligible.
                          (Fifth Chamber)                                  3.   The Finance Minister of a Member State may be authorised by
                                                                                a national law to define what is covered by, first, the concept of
                      of 14 December 2000                                       significant distortions of competition within the meaning of the
                                                                                second subparagraph of Article 4(5) of Sixth Directive 77/388
in Case C-446/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from                       and, second, the concept of negligible activities within the
the Supremo Tribunal Administrativo, Portugal): Fazenda                         meaning of the third subparagraph of Article 4(5) of that
           Pública v Câmara Municipal do Porto (1)                             directive, provided that his decisions of application may be
                                                                                reviewed by the national courts.
(Taxation — Sixth VAT Directive — Taxable persons —
Bodies governed by public law — Letting of spaces for the                  4.   The fourth subparagraph of Article 4(5) of Sixth Directive
                        parking of vehicles)                                    77/388 must be interpreted as meaning that the absence of an
                                                                                exemption for the letting of spaces for the parking of vehicles,
                          (2001/C 134/03)                                       which follows from Article 13(b) of that directive, does not
                                                                                prevent bodies governed by public law which carry out that
                                                                                activity from being treated as non-taxable persons for value
                 (Language of the case: Portuguese)                             added tax in respect of it, where the conditions stated in the first
                                                                                and second subparagraphs are satisfied.
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                   in the European Court Reports)                          5.   A national court is entitled, and in certain cases obliged, to
                                                                                refer to the Court, even of its own motion, a question concerning
In Case C-446/98: reference to the Court under Article 177 of                   the interpretation of Directive 77/388, if it considers that a
the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from the Supremo Tribunal                    decision on the point by the Court is necessary for it to give
Administrativo (Supreme Administrative Court, Portugal) for                     judgment, and once it has made that reference it is bound by
a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that                     the Court’s decision when it gives final judgment in the main
court between Fazenda Pública and Câmara Municipal do                          proceedings.
Porto, third party: Ministério Público — on the interpretation
of Article 4(5) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of
17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member
States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value
added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1)               (1) OJ C 33 of 6.2.1999.
— the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of: A. La Pergola
(Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, D.A.O. Edward and
P. Jann, Judges; S. Alber, Advocate General; L. Hewlett,
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
14 December 2000, in which it has ruled: