CELEX: C2004/047/02
Language: en
Date: 2004-02-21 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court of 13 January 2004 in Case C-440/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesarbeitsgericht ): Gesamtbetriebsrat der Kühne & Nagel AG & Co. KG v Kühne & Nagel AG & Co. KG (Social policy — Articles 4 and 11 of Directive 94/45/EC — European Works Councils — Informing and consulting employees in Community-scale undertakings — Group of undertakings whose central management is not located in a Member State)

21.2.2004                EN                           Official Journal of the European Union                                                  C 47/1
                                                                           I
                                                                    (Information)
                                                       COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                                COURT OF JUSTICE
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                              the Community’ in Article 19(1) of Regulation No 1768/92
                                                                                    refers solely to the first authorisation required under provisions
                          (Sixth Chamber)                                           on medicinal products, within the meaning of Council Directive
                                                                                    65/65/EEC of 26 January 1965 on the approximation of
                       of 11 December 2003                                          provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action
                                                                                    relating to proprietary medicinal products, granted in any of the
in Case C-127/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling                                Member States, and does not therefore refer to authorisations
from the Bundesgerichtshof): Hässle AB v Ratiopharm                                 required under legislation on pricing of or reimbursement for
                               GmbH (1)                                             medicinal products.
(Council Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 — Medicinal prod-                        3.    A supplementary protection certificate which, contrary to the
ucts — Supplementary protection certificate — Articles 15                           requirements of Article 19 of Regulation No 1768/92, has
and 19 — Validity of Article 19 — Concept of ‘first                                 been delivered where the first marketing authorisation in the
authorisation to place ... on the market in the Community’                          Community was obtained prior to the relevant date fixed by
— Legal effects of non-compliance with the relevant date                            that provision is invalid pursuant to Article 15 thereof.
                      referred to in Article 19)
                                                                              (1) OJ C 163 of 10.6.2002.
                           (2004/C 47/01)
                    (Language of the case: German)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)                                               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                        of 13 January 2004
In Case C-127/00: Reference to the Court under Article 234
EC by the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany) for a preliminary                       in Case C-440/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between                   the Bundesarbeitsgericht ): Gesamtbetriebsrat der Kühne
Hässle AB and Ratiopharm GmbH, on the interpretation of                        & Nagel AG & Co. KG v Kühne & Nagel AG & Co. KG (1)
Articles 15 and 19 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92
of 18 June 1992 concerning the creation of a supplementary                    (Social policy — Articles 4 and 11 of Directive 94/45/EC —
protection certificate for medicinal products (OJ 1992 L 182,                 European Works Councils — Informing and consulting
p. 1), the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: V. Skouris,                    employees in Community-scale undertakings — Group of
acting for the President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann,                          undertakings whose central management is not located in a
J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, R. Schintgen and F. Macken (Rappor-                                                  Member State)
teur), Judges; C. Stix-Hackl, Advocate General; D. Louterman-
Hubeau, Head of Division, for the Registrar, has given a                                                  (2004/C 47/02)
judgment on 11 December 2003, in which it has ruled:
                                                                                                   (Language of the case: German)
1.    Consideration of the second question referred has disclosed no
      factor capable of affecting the validity of Article 19 of Council
      Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 of 18 June 1992 concerning                  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
      the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for                                   in the European Court Reports)
      medicinal products.
2.    So far as concerns medicinal products for human use, the                In Case C-440/00: Reference to the Court under Article 234
      concept of ‘first authorisation to place ... on the market ... in       EC by the Bundesarbeitsgericht (Germany) for a preliminary
 ---pagebreak--- C 47/2                  EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                             21.2.2004
ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between                 2.    The obligation to provide information deriving from
Gesamtbetriebsrat der Kühne & Nagel AG & Co. KG and                               Articles 4(1) and 11(1) of the Directive encompasses infor-
Kühne & Nagel AG & Co. KG, on the interpretation of Articles 4                    mation on the average total number of employees and their
and 11 of Council Directive 94/45/EC of 22 September 1994                         distribution across the Member States, the establishments of
on the establishment of a European Works Council or a                             the undertaking and the group undertakings, and on the
procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-                          structure of the undertaking and of the undertakings in the
scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing                        group, as well as the names and addresses of the employee
and consulting employees (OJ 1994 L 254, p. 64), the Court,                       representation which might participate in the setting up of a
composed of: V. Skouris, President, P. Jann and J.N. Cunha                        special negotiating body in accordance with Article 5 of the
Rodrigues (Presidents of Chambers), A. La Pergola, J.-P. Puisso-                  Directive or in the establishment of a European Works
chet, R. Schintgen, F. Macken (Rapporteur), N. Colneric and                       Council, where that information is essential to the opening of
S. von Bahr, Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate General; M.-                            negotiations for the establishment of such a council.
F. Contet, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given
a judgment on 13 January 2004, in which it has ruled:
                                                                            (1) OJ C 45 of 10.2.2001.
1.   Articles 4(1) and 11(1) of Council Directive 94/45/EC of
     22 September 1994 on the establishment of a European Works
     Council or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and
     Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of
     informing and consulting employees must be interpreted as
     meaning that:
                                                                                              JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
     —     where, in a situation such as that at issue before the                                    of 13 January 2004
           national court, the central management of a Community-
           scale group of undertakings is not located in a Member           in Case C-453/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
           State, central management’s responsibility for providing         the College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven): Kühne &
           the employees’ representatives with the information essen-          Heitz NV v Productschap voor Pluimvee en Eieren (1)
           tial to the opening of negotiations for the establishment
           of a European Works Council lies with the deemed
           central management under the second subparagraph of              (Poultrymeat — Export refunds — Failure to refer a question
           Article 4(2) of the Directive;                                   for a preliminary ruling — Final administrative decision —
                                                                            Effect of a preliminary ruling given by the Court after that
                                                                            decision — Legal certainty — Primacy of Community law
                                                                                     — Principle of cooperation — Article 10 EC)
     —     where central management does not, for the purpose of
           establishing a European Works Council, make certain
           information available to the deemed central management                                      (2004/C 47/03)
           under the second subparagraph of Article 4(2) of the
           Directive, the latter, in order to be able to fulfil its
           obligation to provide information to the employees’                                   (Language of the case: Dutch)
           representatives, must request the information essential to
           the opening of negotiations for the establishment of such
           a council from the other undertakings belonging to the           (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
           group which are located in the Member States, and has a                              in the European Court Reports)
           right to receive that information from them;
     —     the management of each of the other undertakings                 In Case C-453/00: Reference to the Court under Article 234
           belonging to the group which are located in the Member           EC by the College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven (Nether-
           States is under an obligation to supply the deemed               lands) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending
           central management under the second subparagraph of              before that court between Kühne & Heitz NV and Productschap
           Article 4(2) of the Directive with the information               voor Pluimvee en Eieren, on the interpretation of Community
           concerned where it is in possession of the information or        law and, in particular, the principle of cooperation arising
           is in a position to obtain it;                                   from Article 10 EC, the Court, composed of: V. Skouris,
                                                                            President, P. Jann, C.W.A. Timmermans, C. Gulmann,
                                                                            J.N. Cunha Rodrigues and A. Rosas, Presidents of Chambers,
                                                                            D.A.O. Edward, A. La Pergola, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen,
     —     the Member States concerned are to ensure that the               F. Macken, N. Colneric (Rapporteur) and S. von Bahr, Judges;
           management of those other undertakings supplies the              P. Léger, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator,
           information to the deemed central management under the           for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 13 January 2004,
           second subparagraph of Article 4(2) of the Directive.            in which it has ruled: