CELEX: C2003/184/02
Language: en
Date: 2003-08-02 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 12 June 2003 in Case C-229/00: Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Finland (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive 89/105/EEC — Failure to apply the procedure prescribed in Article 6 of that directive to decisions determining the categories of medicinal products qualifying for higher-rate cover — Failure to provide objective and verifiable grounds for negative decisions)

2.8.2003                EN                              Official Journal of the European Union                                                  C 184/1
                                                                             I
                                                                       (Information)
                                                          COURT OF JUSTICE
                                                                   COURT OF JUSTICE
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                          The fact that the authorities of a Member State did not ban a
                                                                                 demonstration in circumstances such as those of the main case is not
                                                                                 incompatible with Articles 30 and 34 of the EC Treaty (now, after
                           of 12 June 2003                                       amendment, Articles 28 EC and 29 EC), read together with Article 5
                                                                                 of the EC Treaty (now Article 10 EC).
in Case C-112/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
                                                                                 (1) OJ C 163, 10.6.2000.
the Oberlandesgericht Innsbruck): Eugen Schmidberger,
Internationale Transporte und Planzüge v Republic of
                              Austria (1)
(Free movement of goods — Restriction resulting from
actions of individuals — Obligations of the Member States
— Decision not to prohibit a demonstration by environ-
mental protesters which resulted in the complete closure of
                                                                                                   JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
the Brenner motorway for almost 30 hours — Justification
— Fundamental rights — Freedom of expression and
      freedom of assembly — Principle of proportionality)                                                   (Sixth Chamber)
                           (2003/C 184/01)                                                                  of 12 June 2003
                                                                                 in Case C-229/00: Commission of the European Commu-
                    (Language of the case: German)
                                                                                                  nities v Republic of Finland (1)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in        (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
                      the European Court Reports)                                89/105/EEC — Failure to apply the procedure prescribed in
                                                                                 Article 6 of that directive to decisions determining the
                                                                                 categories of medicinal products qualifying for higher-rate
                                                                                 cover — Failure to provide objective and verifiable grounds
In Case C-112/00: Reference to the Court under Article 234                                               for negative decisions)
EC by the Oberlandesgericht Innsbruck (Austria) for a preli-
minary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court
between Eugen Schmidberger, Internationale Transporte und                                                   (2003/C 184/02)
Planzüge and Republic of Austria, on the interpretation of
Articles 30, 34 and 36 of the EC Treaty (now, after amend-                                           (Language of the case: Finnish)
ment, Articles 28 EC, 29 EC and 30 EC) read together with
Article 5 of the EC Treaty (now Article 10 EC), and on the
conditions for liability of a Member State for damage caused to                  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in
individuals by a breach of Community law, the Court,                                                   the European Court Reports)
composed        of:     G.C.     Rodríguez         Iglesias,    President,
J.-P. Puissochet, M. Wathelet and R. Schintgen (Rapporteur)
(Presidents of Chambers), C. Gulmann, D.A.O. Edward,
P. Jann, V. Skouris, F. Macken, N. Colneric, S. von Bahr, J.                     In Case C-229/00, Commission of the European Communities
N. Cunha Rodrigues and A. Rosas, Judges; F.G. Jacobs, Advo-                      (Agents: I. Koskinen et H. Støvlbæk) v Republic of Finland
cate General; H.A. Rühl (Principal Administrator), Registrar, has                (Agents: T. Pynnä and E. Bygglin): Application for a declaration
given a judgment on 12 June 2003, in which it has ruled:                         that, by not adopting the laws, regulations and administrative
 ---pagebreak--- C 184/2                 EN                            Official Journal of the European Union                                                  2.8.2003
provisions necessary to comply with Council Directive 89/105/                 (Agents: initially J.-F. Dobelle and D. Colas, and, subsequently,
EEC of 21 December 1988 relating to the transparency of                       the latter and G. de Bergues): Application for a declaration
measures regulating the prices of medicinal products for human                that, by failing correctly to transpose Articles 2(a) and 3(2), (3)
use and their inclusion in the scope of national health insurance             and (4) of Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on
systems (OJ 1989 L 40, p. 8), in particular by not applying the               the freedom of access to information on the environment (OJ
prescribed procedure to decisions determining a category of                   1990 L 158, p. 56), the French Republic has failed to fulfil its
special cover and, with regard to the prescribed obligations, by              obligations under that directive and under the third paragraph
not providing the applicant with a sufficient statement of                    of Article 189 of the EC Treaty (now the third paragraph of
reasons based on objective and verifiable criteria in the case of             Article 249 EC), the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of:
negative decisions, the Republic of Finland has failed to fulfil its          J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Chamber, R. Schintgen
obligations under that directive and in particular Article 6                  (Rapporteur), V. Skouris, F. Macken and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues,
thereof, the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of:                              Judges; C. Stix-Hackl, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal
J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann,                       Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
V. Skouris, F. Macken (Rapporteur) and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues,                  26 June 2003, in which it:
Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate General; H. von Holstein, Deputy
Registrar, has given a judgment on 12 June 2003, in which it:
1.    Declares that, by not adopting the laws, regulations and                1.    Declares that:
      administrative provisions necessary to comply with Council
      Directive 89/105/EEC of 21 December 1988 relating to the
      transparency of measures regulating the prices of medicinal
      products for human use and their inclusion in the scope of
      national health insurance systems as regards the decisions                    by restricting the obligation to supply information relating to
      establishing the categories of medicinal products subject to a                the environment to ‘administrative documents’ within the
      higher rate of health insurance cover, the Republic of Finland                meaning of Law No 78-753 of 17 July 1978 establishing
      has failed to fulfil its obligations under the first and second               various measures to improve relations between the administrative
      subparagraphs of Article 6 of that directive;                                 authorities and the public and various administrative, social and
                                                                                    fiscal provisions;
2.    Dismisses the remainder of the action;
3.    Orders each party to bear its own costs.                                      by providing, as one of the grounds for refusing to supply such
                                                                                    information, that the consultation or provision of the document
(1) OJ C 247, 26.8.2000.                                                            would prejudice, ‘generally, secrets protected by legislation’;
                                                                                    by failing to include in the national legislation a provision
                                                                                    under which information relating to the environment is to be
                                                                                    supplied in part where it is possible to separate out information
                                                                                    on items concerning the interests referred to in Article 3(2) of
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                             Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom
                                                                                    of access to information on the environment, which may
                           (Sixth Chamber)                                          accordingly justify a refusal, and
                           of 26 June 2003
                                                                                    by failing to provide, in the case of an implied refusal of a
in Case C-233/00: Commission of the European Commu-                                 request for information relating to the environment, that the
                    nities v French Republic (1)                                    public authorities are required to provide the reasons for that
                                                                                    refusal automatically and at the latest within two months of the
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive                        submission of the initial request, the French Republic has failed
90/313/EEC — Freedom of access to information on the                                to fulfil its obligations under Articles 2(a) and 3(1), (2) and
     environment — Incomplete or incorrect transposition)                           (4) of that directive;
                           (2003/C 184/03)
                                                                              2.    Dismisses the remainder of the application;
                     (Language of the case: French)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in
                      the European Court Reports)                             3.    Orders the French Republic to pay the costs.
                                                                              (1) OJ C 233, 12.8.2000.
In Case C-233/00, Commission of the European Communities
(Agents: G. zur Hausen and J.-F. Pasquier) v French Republic