CELEX: C1998/327/13
Language: en
Date: 1998-10-24 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 12 August 1998 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Italian Republic (Case C-315/98)

24.10.98              EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                           C 327/9
10 August 1998, received at the Court Registry on                        objective pursued by the national rules concerning the
14 August 1998, for a preliminary ruling in the case of                  issue of blank registration certificates if those rules
Snellers Auto's B.V. against Algemeen Directeur van de                   make it impossible to prove that a vehicle is new? Is
Dienst Wegverkeer on the following questions:                            the answer to that question affected by the fact that a
                                                                         parallel importer may agree with his supplier in
                                                                         another Member State that, following the issue of the
1. For the purposes of applying Council Directive 83/                    foreign certificate of registration, the supplier is to
    189/EEC (1), as amended by Directive 88/182/EEC (2),                 seek suspension of the authorisation thus granted and
    to national rules adopted on 9 December 1994, is it                  is to have that suspension lifted when the parallel
    necessary also to take into consideration the                        importer applies for registration in the country of
    amendments introduced after that date by European                    import?
    Parliament and Council Directive 94/10/EC (3), having
    regard to, inter alia, the wording used in the preamble
                                                                    (1) OJ L 109, 26.4.1983, p. 8.
    to the latter directive?
                                                                    (2) OJ L 81, 26.3.1988, p. 75.
                                                                    (3) OJ L 100, 19.4.1994, p. 30.
                                                                    (4) Regeling houdende vaststelling van regels omtrent de wijze
2. If Question 1 is answered in the affirmative: does a                 waarop de datum van eerste toelating tot de openbare weg op
    regulation such as the 1995 Regulation (4) fall within              het kentekenbewijs, dan wel het registratiebewijs van een voer-
    the scope of Directive 83/189/EEC, as amended by                    tuig wordt bepaald (Regulation laying down rules concerning
                                                                        the way in which the date of first authorisation of a vehicle
    Directive 88/182/EEC and Directive 94/10/EEC?
                                                                        for use on the public highway is to be determined for the
                                                                        purposes of entry in its registration certificate) (Staatscourant
                                                                        1994, 241).
3. If Question 1 is answered in the negative:
    (a) Must the term technical specification' appearing
        in Article 1(1) of Directive 83/189/EEC, as amended
        by Directive 88/182/EEC, be interpreted as meaning
        that it also covers a regulation such as the 1995
        Regulation?                                                 Action brought on 12 August 1998 by the Commission of
                                                                       the European Communities against the Italian Republic
    (b) If not, does such a regulation fall within the scope                                (Case C-315/98)
        of Article 1(5) of the directive as thus amended
        (which defines the term technical regulation')?                                     (98/C 327/13)
4. Where national rules concerning the issue of blank
    registration certificates do not formally differentiate         An action against the Italian Republic was brought before
    between official importers and parallel importers but           the Court of Justice on 12 August 1998 by the
    in fact make it more difficult for parallel importers to        Commission of the European Communities, represented
    supply vehicles with a blank registration certificate,          by Bernard Mongin and Laura Pignataro, of its Legal
    because they can obtain from abroad only vehicles               Service, acting as Agents, with an address for service in
    which are already registered, and those rules make the          Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz,
    issue of a blank registration certificate conditional on,       Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
    inter alia, the relevant vehicle imported from another
    Member State having been registered in that other
    Member State for a period not exceeding two days, do
    those rules constitute a measure having an effect               The applicant claims that the Court should:
    equivalent to a quantitative restriction on imports
    which is prohibited by Article 30 of the EC Treaty?
                                                                    Ð Declare that, by not adopting the laws, regulations
                                                                         and administrative provisions needed to implement
5. If Question 4 must be answered in the affirmative, are                Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19 June 1995
    rules such as those contained in the 1995 Regulation                 concerning the enforcement, in respect of shipping
    justified by considerations relating to road safety and/             using Community ports and sailing in the waters
    or protection of the environment, particularly on                    under the jurisdiction of the Member States, of
    account of their link with the requirements applicable               international standards for ship safety, pollution
    to vehicles and with the determination of the date                   prevention and shipboard living and working
    from which vehicles become subject to a general                      conditions (1), the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil
    obligation to undergo periodic tests?
                                                                         its obligations under that directive and the EC Treaty;
6. If Question 5 is answered in the affirmative, must such
    an obstacle to trade be regarded as proportional to the         Ð Order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.
 ---pagebreak--- C 327/10              EN               Official Journal of the European Communities                                     24.10.98
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                   waste in the production area which, under the
                                                                      national legislation in force, may extend for one year,
                                                                      constitute temporary storage under the Community
By virtue of Article 189 of the EC Treaty, pursuant                   directives?
to which a directive is binding, as to the result to be
achieved, upon each Member State to which it is
addressed, the Member States are under an obligation to           (1) OJ L 78, 26.3.1991, p. 32.
comply with time-limits for transposition laid down
directives. In the case of the abovementioned directive, the
prescribed period expired on 30 June 1996 without the
Italian Republic having adopted the provisions needed to
comply with it.
(1) OJ L 157, 7.7.1995, p. 1.
                                                                  Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Pretura
                                                                  Circondariale di Udine, Sezione Distaccata di Cividale del
                                                                  Friuli, by order of that court of 16 July 1998 in criminal
                                                                       proceedings against Giancarlo Fornasar and others
Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Pretura                                       (Case C-318/98)
Circondariale, Udine (Sezione distaccata di Cividale del
Friuli), by order of that court of 21 July 1998 in the                                     (98/C 327/15)
criminal proceedings pending before it against Claudio
                Chiarotti and Antonio Chillemi
                       (Case C-317/98)
                        (98/C 327/14)                             Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of
                                                                  the European Communities by order of the Pretura
                                                                  Circondariale di Udine, Sezione Distaccata di Cividale
                                                                  del Friuli (Udine District Magistrate's Court, Separate
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                  Chamber for Cividale del Friuli) of 16 July 1998,
European Communities by an order of the Pretura
                                                                  received at the Court Registry on 18 August 1998, for
Circondariale (District Magistrates Court), Udine, by
                                                                  a preliminary ruling in criminal proceedings against
order of that court of 21 July 1998, which was received at
                                                                  Giancarlo Fornasar and others on the following questions:
the Court Registry on 18 August 1998, for a preliminary
ruling in the criminal proceedings pending before it
against Claudio Chiarotti and Antonio Chillemi on the
following questions:
                                                                  Ð For the purposes of classifying waste as hazardous
                                                                      within the meaning of Article 1(4) of Council
Ð What is the difference (if any) between temporary                   Directive 91/689/EEC (1) and Council Decision 904/94/
     storage and storage of waste pending further                     EC (2), is it necessary in each particular case to identify
     operations (or storage of materials) within the                  the origin of the waste, referred to for purposes of
     producer's premises, and what are the criteria for               classification by the list of hazardous waste adopted in
     determining in a given case which of those forms of              that decision, or is it sufficient for such purposes that,
     storage is involved?                                             by reason of its composition, the substance can only
                                                                      be used in theory in a given production process, or is
                                                                      derived as a final product from that process?
Ð Is temporary storage excluded from waste
     management' in the sense contemplated in Article 1(d)
     of Council Directive 91/156/EEC (1) and from all the
     obligations in relation thereto, including the
     notification of temporary storage to the supervisory         Ð Is the list adopted by Council Decision 904/94
     authorities?                                                     exhaustive, so that waste which is not referred to
                                                                      in the list, but which nevertheless displays the
                                                                      characteristics referred to in Annexes I, II and III to
Ð Is temporary storage subject to supervision and, if                 Directive 91/689/EEC, is excluded?
     so, to what type of measures; in that regard do
     the principles contained in the first and second
     subparagraphs of Article 4 of Directive 91/156/EEC
     apply and to what extent?
                                                                  Ð If the Court finds that the list of hazardous waste is
                                                                      not exhaustive, must automatic addition of hazardous
Ð Does the offence with which the defendants are                      waste to the list be deemed to operate on the basis of
     charged, namely the storage of 2 985 kg of dangerous             Annexes I, II and III to Directive 91/689/EEC?