CELEX: C1997/074/33
Language: en
Date: 1997-03-08 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 17 January 1997 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Federal Republic of Germany (Case C-24/97)

No C 74/ 16              EN 1                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                        8 . 3 . 97
 2. Is it contrary, with respect in particular to a farmer                      a uniform and binding manner by the member banks
       who lives for most of the year in another Member                         — are, taken as a whole, compatible with Article 85
       State of the EU together with his or her spouse who is                   of the Treaty, in relation to the individual clauses
       the other owner of the said farm and works as                            discussed in the grounds of this order, in that they are
       a diplomatic representative of the Finnish State, to                     liable adversely to affect trade between the Member
       the prohibition of discrimination, the principle of                      States and have as their object and effect the
       proportionality or other principles to be observed in                    prevention, restriction or distortion of competition
       Community law to exclude him or her from the                             within the common market;
       compensation in question ?
                                                                           4 . what effects any finding of incompatibility in
 (') OJ No L 218 , 6 . 8 . 1991 , p . 1 .                                       accordance with question 3 may have on the
 (2 ) OJ No L 128 , 19 . 5 . 1975 , p. 1 .                                      corresponding clauses of the 'all-embracing' guarantee
                                                                                agreements and on the agreements themselves
                                                                                concluded 'downstream' by individual banks, since, as
                                                                                a group, the banks belonging to the ABI may be
                                                                                regarded, within the meaning and for the purposes of
                                                                                Article 86 of the Treaty, as holding a joint dominant
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale di                          position in the national credit market, whose specific
Genova — Sezione Sesta Civile by order of that court of                         application of the rules in question is regarded as an
 18 December 1996 in the case of Palmira Ieropoli and                           abuse .
        Giovanni Sgambellone against Banca Carige SpA
                             ( Case C-23/97 )
                               ( 97/C 74/32 )
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                     Action brought on 17 January 1997 by the Commission of
European Communities by order of the Tribunale di Geno­                    the European Communities against the Federal Republic
va — Sezione Sesta Civile ( Genoa District Court, Sixth                                                 of Germany
Civil Chamber ) of 18 December 1996, which was received                                              ( Case C-24/97)
at the Court Registry on 17 January 1997, for a                                                        ( 97/C 74/33 )
preliminary ruling in the case of Palmira Ieropoli and
Giovanni Sgambellone against Banca Carige SpA on the
                                                                          An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was
following questions :
                                                                           brought before the Court of Justice of the European
                                                                           Communities on 17 January 1997 by the Commission of
1 . whether the Norma Bancarie Uniforme (Uniform Bank                     the European Communities, represented by Peter
      Rules ) laid down by the ABI ( Associazione Bancaria                Hillenkamp and Peter Jan Kuijper, of its Legal Service,
      Italiana ) for its members in relation to contracts for             acting as Agents, with an address for service in
      the opening of current account credit facilities — since            Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gomez de la Cruz, of
      they are laid down and applied in a uniform and                     its Legal Service, Wagner Centre C 254, Kirchberg,
      binding manner by the banks belonging to the ABI —                  Luxembourg.
      are compatible with Article 85 of the Treaty, where
      they make the credit facility subject to conditions for             The applicant claims that the Court should:
      determination      of      an  interest rate  which    is  not
      previously determined and is not determinable by the                — declare that the Federal Republic of Germany has
      customer, and they are liable adversely to affect trade                  failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 48 , 52 and
      between the Member States and have as their object                       59 of the EC Treaty and under Article 4 ( 1 ) of Council
      and effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of                  Directive 68/360/EEC of 15 October 1968 on the
      competition within the common market;                                    abolition of restrictions on movement and residence
                                                                               within the Community for workers of Member States
2 . what effects any finding of incompatibility in                             and their families (') and under Article 4 ( 1 ) of
      accordance with question 1 may have on the                               Council Directive 73/ 148/EEC on the abolition of
      corresponding clauses of the contracts for the opening                   restrictions on movement and residence within the
      of a current account credit facility, concluded                          Community for nationals of Member States with
      'downstream' by member banks with individual                             regard to establishment and the provision of
      customers, since, as a group, the banks belonging to                     services ( 2 ) in so far as under paragraph 12 a ( 2 ) and
      the ABI may be regarded, within the meaning and for                      ( 3 ) of the AufenthG/EWG ( Law on residence of EC
      the purposes of Article 86 of the Treaty, as holding a                   Community nationals ) non-German Community
      joint dominant position in the national credit market,                   nationals in the Federal Republic of Germany are
      whose specific application of the rules in question (in                  treated, as regards the degree of fault and scale of
      connection with determination of the interest payable                    fines, disproportionately differently from German
      on the loan ) is regarded as an abuse;                                   nationals who commit a comparable infringement of
                                                                               the obligation to prove their identity ( paragraph 5 ( 1 )
3 . whether the NBU laid down by the ABI for its                               and (2 ) of the PersonalausweisG ( Law on identity
      members in relation to the 'all-embracing' guarantee                     cards ) in conjunction with paragraph 17 ( 1 ) of the
      covering the credit facility — since they are applied in                 OWiG ( Law on administrative offences )),
 ---pagebreak--- 8 . 3 . 97               EN |                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 74/ 17
— order the Federal Republic of Germany to bear the                             under Community law, a time-limit which starts to run
       costs of the proceedings.                                                before the correct and complete transposition into
                                                                                national law of the Directive conferring that right
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                             compatible with Community law ?
Infringement of the obligations under Articles 48 , 52 and                 2. Is it compatible with Community law to provide a
59 of the EC Treaty and under Article 4 of Council                              party whose rights are recognized as having been
Directive 68/360/EEC and Article 4 of Council Directive                         infringed, and to whom repayment of the sums
73/148/EEC : the starting point is the freedom of                               claimed is granted, with a remedial procedure under
movement of persons enshrined in Community law and                              which the rules as to quantum differ from, and
the principle of 'national treatment'. Infringements by                         compare unfavourably with, those laid down in
German nationals of paragraph 5 ( 1 ) No 1 and 2 of the                         respect of actions for repayment between private
PersonalausweisG are comparable to infringements by                             individuals, and are substantially determined by a
non-German Community nationals of paragraph 12a ( 1 )                           measure enacted by the same State as that which
No 2 of the AufenthG/EWG. This comparableness is                                infringed the injured party's rights by failing to fulfil
substantiated not only by the fact that Article 9 ( 1 ) of                      its obligations ?
Directive 68/360/EEC and Article 7 of Directive 73/ 148/EEC
expressly refer to identity cards for nationals . Since the lack
of a valid identity card, passport or other papers listed in
paragraph 12a ( 2 ) of the AufenthG/EWG does not remove
the right of residence resulting from Community law, in each
case, both that of a non-German Community national and                     Action brought on 31 January 1997 by the European
that of a German national, the obligation to prove one's                      Parliament against the Council of the European Union
identity also concerns an, in principle, equivalent
administrative rule with — in the case of a non-German                                            ( Case C-42/97)
Community national — purely declaratory effect in regard to                                         ( 97/C 74/35 )
the Community-law residence permit.
Consequently, neither a different standard of fault nor a                  An action against the Council of the European Union was
different scale of fines is permissible .                                  brought before the Court of Justice of the European
                                                                           Communities on 31 January 1997 by the European
                                                                           Parliament, represented by Johann Schoo and Norbert
( : ) OJ English Special Edition 1968 (II), p. 485 .                       Lorenz, acting as Agents, with an address for service in
( 2 ) OJ No L 172 , 28 . 6 . 1973 , p. 14.
                                                                           Luxembourg at the Registry of the General Secretariat of
                                                                           the European Parliament, Tower Building.
                                                                           The European Parliament claims that the Court should:
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale Civile                 — annul, pursuant to Article 173 of the EC Treaty, the
di Genova by orders of that court of 19, 21 and 23                              Council 's decision of 21 November 1996 on the
November 1996 in the cases before it between 1 . Fiducia­                       adoption of a multiannual programme to promote the
ria Internazionale Srl; 2 . Giolfo e C. Srl; 3 . Ligure Piemon­                 linguistic diversity of the Community in the
tese Società d'Intermediazione Mobiliare SpA; 4. So.Me.Fi.                      information society ( MLIS ),
Srl; 5 . Saia Srl; 6. Svin Servizi Spa and Amministrazione
                      delle Finanze dello Stato
                                                                           — order the defendant to pay the costs.
                   ( Cases C-25/97 and C-30/97 )
                              ( 97/C 74/34 )                               Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                     The aim of the contested act, and the principal and
European Communities by orders of the Tribunale di Ge­                     definitive subject of its contents, is the promotion of
nova ( Genoa District Court) Sezione Prima Civile ( First                  linguistic diversity. The Community languages represent,
Civil Division ) of 19, 21 and 23 November 1996 , which                    in their diversity and richness, a cultural asset of the
were received at the Court Registry on 22 January 1997,                    greatest value . By means of the MLIS programme, the
for a preliminary ruling in the cases before it between 1 .                citizens of the Community will be able to improve their
Fiduciaria Internazionale Sri; 2. Giolfo e C. Sri; 3 . Ligure              knowledge of the cultures of the other Member States,
Piemontese Societa d'lntermediazione Mobiliare SpA; 4 .                    which is an objective expressly envisaged by the first
So.Me.Fi . Sri; 5 . Saia Sri; 6 . Svin Servizi SpA and Ammini­             indent of Article 128 ( 2 ) of the EC Treaty. The contested
strazione delle Finanze dello Stato on the following                       act cannot therefore be adopted solely on the basis of
questions:                                                                 Article 130 of the Treaty, without also being based on
                                                                           Article 128 .
1 . Is national legislation which sets, in respect of the
       initiation of proceedings to safeguard a right arising