CELEX: C2006/331/23
Language: en
Date: 2006-12-30 00:00:00
Title: Case C-315/05: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 23 November 2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Giudice di pace di Monselice (Italy)) — Lidl Italia Srl v Comune di Arcole (VR) (Directive 2000/13/EC — Labelling of foodstuffs to be delivered as such to the ultimate consumer — Scope of the obligations under Articles 2, 3 and 12 — Compulsory statement of the alcoholic strength by volume for certain alcoholic beverages — Alcoholic beverage produced in a Member State other than that in which the distributor is established — Amaro alle erbe — Actual alcoholic strength by volume lower than that appearing on the label — Overstepping of the tolerance — Administrative fine — Liability of the distributor)

30.12.2006   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 331/14
            
         Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 23 November 2006 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Giudice di pace di Monselice (Italy)) — Lidl Italia Srl v Comune di Arcole (VR)
   (Case C-315/05) (1)
   
   (Directive 2000/13/EC - Labelling of foodstuffs to be delivered as such to the ultimate consumer - Scope of the obligations under Articles 2, 3 and 12 - Compulsory statement of the alcoholic strength by volume for certain alcoholic beverages - Alcoholic beverage produced in a Member State other than that in which the distributor is established - ‘Amaro alle erbe’ - Actual alcoholic strength by volume lower than that appearing on the label - Overstepping of the tolerance - Administrative fine - Liability of the distributor)
   (2006/C 331/23)
   Language of the case: Italian
   Referring court
   Giudice di pace di Monselice (Italy)
   Parties to the main proceedings
   
      Applicant: Lidl Italia Srl
   
      Defendant: Comune di Arcole (VR)
   Re:
   Reference for a preliminary ruling — Giudice di Pace di Monselice — Interpretation of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs (OJ 2000 L 109, p. 29) — Scope of the obligations under Articles 2, 3 and 12 of the directive — Alcoholic beverage produced and packaged in another Member State having an alcohol content lower than that stated on the label — ‘Amaro alle erbe’
   Operative part of the judgment
   Articles 2, 3 and 12 of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs are to be interpreted as not precluding legislation of a Member State, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which makes it possible for an operator, established in that Member State, which distributes a pre-packaged alcoholic beverage to be delivered as such within the meaning of Article 1 of that directive, produced by an operator established in another Member State, to be held liable for an infringement of that provision, established by a public authority, resulting from the producer's inaccurate statement on the product label of the alcoholic strength by volume of the product and, consequently, to be penalised by an administrative fine, even where, as the mere distributor, it simply markets the product as delivered to it by the producer.
   
      (1)  OJ C 281, 12.11.2005.