CELEX: C1997/009/24
Language: en
Date: 1997-01-11 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling made by the Tribunal de Première Instance de Huy on the judgment of the Tribunal Correctionnel de Huy of 29 October 1996 in the criminal proceedings pending before that court in the case of Ministère public against J. C. Arblade and Arblade et Fils SARL (Case C-369/96)

No C 9/ 14            [ EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                   11 . 1 . 97
           is required from the competent energy                                 entire duration of the market-sharing agreement
           supervisory authority in order to commence                            or only for a shorter transitional period ? If so,
           supply operations ( paragraph 5 of the EnWG ),                        what are the criteria for assessment ?
           and from a certain threshold the construction,
           renewal, extension or closure of energy                     (!) OJ No C 123 , 4 . 5 . 1994 , p . 26 .
           installations belonging to the supply undertakings          (2) OJ No 13 , 21 . 2 . 1962, p. 204.
           must be notified to the supervisory authority and
           may be prohibited by the latter in the public
           interest (paragraph 4 of the EnWG ). Do special
           arrangements apply to long-distance gas
           undertakings which commenced their supply
           operations before the enactment of the German               Reference for a preliminary ruling made by the Tribunal
           Energiewirtschaftsgesetz and were allowed to                de Premiere Instance de Huy on the judgment of the
           continue them without being subject to the                  Tribunal Correctionnel de Huy of 29 October 1996 in the
           authorization requirement ?                                 criminal proceedings pending before that court in the case
                                                                       of Ministere public against J. C. Arblade and Arblade et
           If the provisions of German law on the energy                                              Fils SARL
           industry cannot provide support for such
                                                                                                 ( Case C-369/96 )
           arrangements, are there other considerations
           which justify regarding the long-distance gas                                            ( 97/C 9/24 )
           undertakings as entrusted undertakings within the
           meaning of Article 90 ( 2 ) of the EC Treaty and, if        Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
           so, what are they ?
                                                                       European Communities by judgment of the Tribunal
     ( b) If the long-distance gas undertakings referred to            Correctionnel ( Criminal Court ), Huy, of 29 October 1996,
           are entrusted undertakings within the meaning of            which was received at the Court Registry on 25 November
           Article 90 ( 2 ) of the EC Treaty:                          1996, for a preliminary ruling in the criminal proceedings
                                                                       before that court in the case of Ministere public against
           what are the criteria for interpretation of the             J. C. Arblade and Arblade et Fils SARL on the following
           further requirements pursuant to Article 90 ( 2 ),          questions :
           that is to say does the application of Article 85 ( 1 )
           of the EC Treaty to a market-sharing agreement              A. Must Articles 59 and 60 of the Treaty be interpreted
           under which the undertakings divide their sales                 as meaning that they preclude a Member State from
           areas, obstruct the performance, in law or in fact,             requiring an undertaking established in another
           of the particular tasks assigned to them and, if so,            Member State and temporarily carrying out work in
           does the exemption from the rules on competition                the first State :
           contained in the EC Treaty affect the
           development of trade to such an extent as is                    1 . to keep social documents ( staff register and
           contrary to the interests of the Community ?                        individual account ), in the absence of a company
                                                                               seat in Belgium, at the Belgian residence of a legal
11 . ( a ) May undertakings, of the kind referred to, claim                    person who is to keep those documents in his
           protection of their legitimate expectations to                      capacity as agent or servant of the employer;
           ensure    continuance     of  their   market-sharing
           agreement if both the EC Commission and the                     2 . to pay to its workers the minimum remuneration
           national authorities have for decades acquiesced                    laid down in a collective labour agreement;
           in the use of such agreements ?
                                                                           3 . to keep a special staff register;
     ( b ) If no legitimate expectations have been aroused
           under ( a ) is it relevant that the national                    4 . to issue an individual record for each worker;
           authorities stated in an official report ( in this
                                                                           5 . to appoint an agent or servant responsible for
           case Bundeskartellamt Tatigkeitsbericht 1987/88 ,
           Drucksachen des Deutschen Bundestags 11 /4611
                                                                               keeping the individual accounts of employees;
           p. 108 ) that it was not 'currently' expedient for              6 . to pay contributions in respect of loyalty and bad­
           them to take up of their own accord possible                        weather stamps for each worker,
           infringements of Article 85 ( 1 ) of the EC Treaty
           in the supply industry ?                                        where that undertaking is already subject to
     (c ) If legitimate expectations have been aroused :                   requirements which, while not identical, are at least
                                                                           comparable as regards their objective, in respect of the
           in weighing the interests of the individual and of              same workers and for the same period of activity in
           the Community, a matter on which the protection                 the State where it is established ?
           of legitimate expectations ultimately depends,
           what is to be put on the Community side of the              B. Can Articles 59 and 60 render inoperative the first
           scales ?                                                        paragraph of Article 3 of the Civil Code on Belgian
                                                                           public order legislation ?
           If legitimate expectations are acknowledged, do
           they afford protection from a prohibition for the