CELEX: C1996/197/19
Language: en
Date: 1996-07-06 00:00:00
Title: Appeal brought on 3 May 1996 by Roberto Galtieri against the judgment delivered on 27 February 1996 by the First Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in Case T-235/94 between R. Galtieri and the European Parliament (Case C-150/96 P)

No C 197/10           EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                             6 . 7 . 96
26 February 1996 (*) and order the Commission to pay the                    of public health. The ministerial order of 7 February
costs .                                                                      1996 ( 2 ) constitutes a supplementary legal guarantee of
                                                                            this .
Pleas in law and main arguments:
                                                                       — Breach of Article 103 of Council Decision 91 /482/EEC
— Breach of Article 3 ( 1 ) ( a ) of Directive 92/46/EEC laying             on the association of the overseas countries and
    down the health rules for the production and placing on                 territories with the European Economic Community
   the market of raw milk, heat-treated milk and
   milk-based products                                                      As a result of the abovementioned ministerial order the
                                                                            authorities of the Dutch Antilles guarantee a level of
   The contested decision is based on irrelevant facts,                     protection identical to that provided by the relevant
   particularly in regard to the veterinary situation. As                   Community legislation. The requirements for the
   regards the processing of dairy products in the Dutch                    application of Article 103 are not therefore satisfied
   Antillean Dairy Industry, the inspectors ' report provided               because the export from the Dutch Antilles concerns
    for under Article 23 (4 ) of Directive 92/46/EEC                        exclusively products made from milk or milk products
   concludes that dairy products originating in the                         from Member States of the European Community.
    Community are processed in accordance with that
    Directive .                                                             In contrast with countries on the list of third countries
                                                                            established by Decision 94/70/EC or Decision
— Breach       of Article    31     of   Directive    92/46/EEC;             95/340/EC, the Dutch Antilles offer guarantees
    alternatively, breach of Article 190 of the EC Treaty                   regarding Chapter II of Directive 92/46/EEC . The
                                                                            failure, even so, to place the Dutch Antilles on the list of
   Although the Standing Veterinary Committee ( SVC )                       third countries for the purposes of Directive 92/46/EEC
    discussed the veterinary inspectors' report at its meeting              constitutes arbitrary discrimination . The contested
    on 13 and 14 February 1996 , it made no                                 decision is therefore contrary to Article 103 ( 2 ) of
    recommendations .       As     far   as   the    Netherlands            Decision 91 /482/EEC .
    Government is aware, a draft of the contested decision
    has also not been submitted to the SVC, as required by
    Article 31 of Directive 92/46/EEC .                                (*) Letter to the Minister President of the Dutch Antilles stating
                                                                            that the Dutch Antilles is not included in the list of third
                                                                            countries established in accordance with Article 23 of Council
— Breach of the principle that a party has a right to be                    Directive 92/46/EEC of 16 June 1992 laying down the health
    heard .                                                                 rules for the production and placing on the market of raw milk,
                                                                            heat-treated milk and milk-based products ( OJ No L 268, 14 . 9 .
— Breach of the principle that measures must be                             1992 , p . 1 ).
    meticulously prepared .                                            (2 ) Order prohibiting the export of dairy products from the Dutch
                                                                            Antilles to the customs territory of the European Community
                                                                            without a licence from the Minister for public health and
— Breach of Article 2 ( 2 ) of the WTO agreement on the                     environmental hygiene. A licence is issued only if the production
    application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures                      has taken place in accordance with the procedures and in
                                                                            establishments equivalent to those described in Chapter II of
    The contested decision infringes the prohibition on                     Directive 92/46/EEC . Moreover, that licence is issued
    adopting sanitary measures in such a way that they may                  exclusively for products produced from materials originating in
    constitute a disguised restriction on international trade .             the Community or at least in countries on the list drawn up
                                                                            pursuant to Directive 92/46/EEC.
    The contested decision amounts to a complete
    prohibition on the import of dairy products originating
    in the Dutch Antilles, even though, according to the
    Commission's findings, the products comply with the
    applicable general principles and rules of Directive
     92/46/EEC .
— Breach of the principle of proportionality
                                                                       Appeal brought on 3 May 1996 by Roberto Galtieri against
    Antillean domestic milk production is negligibly small             the judgment delivered on 27 February 1996 by the First
     and is consumed exclusively on the local market. The              Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European
                                                                       Communities in Case T-235 /94 between R. Galtieri and the
     establishment inspected uses hydrated milk fat and milk
     powder from the Community as the raw material for the                                    European Parliament ( J )
     preparation of its products. To apply to the Dutch                                          (Case C-150/96 P)
     Antilles the current requirements regarding the standard                                      ( 96/C 197/19 )
     and enforcement of veterinary legislation, which are
     relevant exclusively in the case of the use of milk from
     the establishment's own dairy herd or at least from dairy          An appeal against the judgment delivered on 27 February
     cattle elsewhere in the Dutch Antilles, is thus not                1996 by the First Chamber of the Court of First Instance of
     necessary in order to achieve the aim of Directive                 the European Communities in Case T-235/94 between R.
     92/46/EEC, namely to ensure a high level of protection             Galtieri and the European Parliament was brought before
 ---pagebreak--- 6 . 7. 96            LM                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 197/ 11
the Court ofJustice of the European Communities on 3 May                    shipping register to a vessel which is owned in whole or
1996 by Roberto Galtieri, represented by Pietro Como, with                  in part by the Government, a Minister of State, an Irish
an address for service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of S.                 citizen or an Irish body corporate, Ireland has failed to
Oostvogels, 13 rue Aldringen .                                             comply with Articles 6 , 48 , 52 and 58 of the EC Treaty
                                                                           and Article 7 of Commission Regulation ( EEC )
The appellant claims that the Court should :                               No 1251 /70/EEC ( 1 ) of 29 June 1970 and Article 7 of
                                                                            Council     Directive    75/34/EEC     of  17    December
( a) declare the appeal admissible and well founded;                        1974 ( 2 );
( b ) reverse the judgment of the Court of First Instance             2 , order Ireland to pay the costs of these proceedings .
       ( First Chamber );
                                                                      Pleas in law and main arguments:
(c) declare the original action brought by the appellant well
       founded ;                                                      The Commission contents that where a vessel of whatever
                                                                      type it may be is an instrument for pursuing an economic
( d ) annul the decision of the Personnel Division of the             activity, Ireland has infringed Article 52 of the EC Treaty by
       European Parliament of 19 January 1994 to recover the          restricting registration of those vessels in the Irish register
       sum of Lfrs 267 628 (as amended by the European                and the right to fly the Irish flag to those which are owned or
       Parliament's letter of 21 June 1994 );                         shared by the Government, a Minister of State, an Irish
                                                                      citizen or an Irish body corporate .
(e ) order the European Parliament to reimburse forthwith
       the sums previously deducted from the appellant's              Furthermore, the requirement laid down by Section 2 of the
       salary from February 1994 onwards;                             Mercantile Marine Act ( 1955 ) that companies should be
                                                                      established under and subject to Irish law and have their
( f) order the European Parliament to pay default interest            principal place of business in Ireland impedes the right of
       from February 1994, together with costs;                       companies which fulfil the conditions of Article 58 of the EC
                                                                      Treaty and are thereby entitled to exercise freedom of
(g) order the European Parliament to pay Lfrs 100 000 by              establishment in order to manage and operate vessels by way
       way of compensation for the non-material damage                of an agency, branch or subsidiary. As to the condition
       caused by the implementation of the abovementioned             imposed on companies to have their principal place of
       decision of 19 January 1994.                                   business in Ireland, the Commission is of the opinion that
                                                                      this condition unjustifiably precludes a company which is
Pleas in law and main arguments:                                      registered in another Member State from operating a vessel
                                                                      on the basis of a real and continuous representation situated
Infringement of Community law by the Court of First                   onshore in Ireland .
Instance, particularly as regards the assessment as to
whether the payments forming the object of the contested              Where the vessel is not an instrument for pursuing an
decision to recover the sum aforesaid were patently                   economic activity but is rather used as a pleasure craft, the
undue .                                                               Commission considers that, in providing for such
                                                                      restrictions as those mentioned above, Ireland has infringed
(M OJ No C 108 , 13 . 4 . 1996 , p. 7 .                               Articles 6, 48 and 52 of the EC Treaty, Article 7 of
                                                                      Commission Regulation ( EEC ) No 1251/70 and Article 7 of
                                                                      Council Directive 75/34/EEC .
                                                                      (!) OJ No L 142, 30. 6 . 1970, p. 24; EE 05 Fl , p. 93 .
                                                                      (2 ) OJ No L 14, 20. 1 . 1975, p. 10; EE 06 Fl , p. 183 .
Action brought on 6 May 1996 by the Commission of the
              European Communities against Ireland
                         ( Case C-151/96 )
                           ( 96/C 197/20 )
                                                                      Appeal brought on 7 May 1996 by Jan Robert de Rijk
An action against Ireland was brought before the Court of             against the judgment delivered on 7 March 1996 by the Fifth
Justice of the European Communities on 6 May 1 996 by the             Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the European
 Commission of the European Communities, represented by               Communities in Case T-362/94 between Jan Robert de Rijk
 Frank Benyon and Xavier Lewis, Legal Adviser and Member                  and the Commission of the European Communities (*)
 of the Legal Service respectively acting as Agent, with an
                                                                                              (Case C-1 53/96 P)
 address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos
 Gômez de la Cruz, Member of its Legal Service, Wagner                                           ( 96/C 197/21 )
 Centre, Kirchberg.
                                                                       An appeal against the judgment delivered on 7 March 1996
 The applicant claims that the Court should :                          by the Fifth Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                       European Communities in Case T-362/94 between Jan
 1 , declare that, by maintaining in force laws, regulations           Robert de Rijk and the Commission of the European
      and administrative provisions which limit the right to           Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of the
      register a vessel other than a fishing vessel in the Irish       European Communities on 7 May 1996 by Jan Robert de