CELEX: C1999/226/38
Language: en
Date: 1999-08-07 00:00:00
Title: Case C-216/99: Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale di Milano, First Civil Chamber, by order of that court of 15 May 1998 in the case of Riccardo Prisco Srl v Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato

7.8.1999                EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                        C 226/23
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Landesgericht                          Presidential Decree No 641/1972, regard being had to the
Feldkirch als Arbeits- und Sozialgericht by order of that                        fact that the said Article 11 retroactively extended to taxes
court of 16 March 1999 in the case of Friedrich Jauch                            paid but not due the three-year time-limit which, however,
      against Pensionsversicherungsanstalt der Arbeiter                          in the abovementioned second paragraph of Article 13 —
                                                                                 on the basis of the true meaning of the words used in
                          (Case C-215/99)                                        context — was expressly limited solely to the case of
                                                                                 ‘repayment of charges paid by mistake’ so as to induce not
                                                                                 only the interested parties but also all the trial judges to
                          (1999/C 226/37)                                        interpret it in that manner?
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                           In short, does the principle of legal certainty allow the
European Communities by order of the Landesgericht                               national court to apply — both then and now — a
(Regional Court) Feldkirch, in its capacity as a court with                      time-limit based on a provision which, having regard to
jurisdiction in employment and social security matters, of                       the ordinary meaning of the words, does not apply to the
16 March 1999, received at the Court Registry on 7 June                          case before it?
1999, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Friedrich Jauch v
Pensionsversicherungsanstalt der Arbeiter (Employees’ Retire-               2. Must the provisions of Articles 10 and 12(1)(e) of Council
ment Insurance Institution) on the following question:                           Directive 69/335/EEC (2) be interpreted as preventing the
                                                                                 introduction of national legislation, like that introduced by
‘Is it an infringement of Article 19(1) of Council Regulation                    the Italian legislature in the form of Article 11(1) and (2)
(EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 (1) on the application of                       of Law No 448/1998, which — ex post facto — reduces
social security schemes to employed persons, to self employed                    refunds in respect of amounts paid but not due by way of
persons and to members of their families moving within the                       annual charge on a flat-rate basis for entry on the register
Community, in its current version, to make entitlement                           of undertakings (at that time document registries) of
to nursing benefit pursuant to the current version of the                        company documents in respect of each of which the
Bundespflegegeldgesetz (Federal Law on nursing benefit; BGBl                     company had already paid a sum provided for by the
110/1993) dependent on the person in need of care having                         national legislation?
his normal residence in Austria?’
                                                                                 In short, is it permitted—in the light of the abovemen-
                                                                                 tioned directive—for the national legislature to duplicate,
(1) OJ, English Special Edition 1971 (II), p. 416.                               ex post facto by means of what purports to be an
                                                                                 interpretative law, levies which have already been paid?
                                                                            (1) (1988) ECR 3249.
                                                                            (2) OJ L 249 of 3.10.1969, p. 25.
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale di
Milano, First Civil Chamber, by order of that court of
15 May 1998 in the case of Riccardo Prisco Srl v
          Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato
                          (Case C-216/99)                                   Action brought on 8 June 1999 by the Commission of the
                                                                             European Communities against the Kingdom of Belgium
                          (1999/C 226/38)
                                                                                                      (Case C-217/99)
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by an order of the First Civil Chamber
of the Tribunale di Milano by order of 15 May 1999, which                                             (1999/C 226/39)
was received at the Court Registry on 7 June 1999, on the
following questions:                                                        An action against the Kingdom of Belgium was brought before
                                                                            the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 8 June
1. Do the principles of legal certainty and the protection of               1999 by the Commission of the European Communities,
     individuals — which, according to the judgment of the                  represented by Hendrik van Lier, Legal Adviser, acting as
     Court of Justice of 21 June 1988 in Case 257/88 (1) and                Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office
     in other judgments, require that, in areas covered by                  of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner
     Community law, the Member States’ legal rules should be                Centre, Kirchberg.
     worded unequivocally so as to give the persons concerned
     a clear and precise understanding of their rights and
     obligations and enable the national courts to ensure that              The applicant claims that the Court should:
     those rights and obligations are observed — and the
     Community principle of proportionality preclude a Mem-                 — declare that, by laying clown in Article 6(1)(1) of the Royal
     ber State from relying on national rules setting a peremp-                  Decree of 3 March 1992, concerning the placing on the
     tory time-limit, such as those deriving from the combined                   market of nutrients and foodstuffs to which nutrients have
     provisions of the second paragraph of Article 13 of                         been added an obligation to indicate on the labelling of the