CELEX: C2003/146/08
Language: en
Date: 2003-06-21 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 8 May 2003 in Case C-15/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Regeringsrätten ): Paranova Läkemedel AB and Others v Läkemedelsverket (Interpretation of Article 28 EC and Article 30 EC — Medicinal products — Withdrawal of parallel import licence in consequence of waiver of the marketing authorisation for the medicinal product of reference by the holder of that authorisation)

21.6.2003                EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                               C 146/5
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                                       JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                           (Fifth Chamber)
                                                                                                       (Sixth Chamber)
                            of 8 May 2003
                                                                                                         of 8 May 2003
in Case C-438/00 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Oberlandesgericht Hamm): Deutscher Handballbund
                       eV v Maros Kolpak ( 1)                                in Case C-15/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
                                                                             the Regeringsrätten ): Paranova Läkemedel AB and Others
(External relations — Association Agreement between the                                            v Läkemedelsverket (1)
Communities and Slovakia — Article 38(1) — Free move-
ment of workers — Principle of non-discrimination —
Handball — Limitation on the number of professional                          (Interpretation of Article 28 EC and Article 30 EC —
players having the nationality of non-member countries who                   Medicinal products — Withdrawal of parallel import licence
    may play on a team in the league of a sports federation)                 in consequence of waiver of the marketing authorisation for
                                                                             the medicinal product of reference by the holder of that
                           (2003/C 146/07)                                                               authorisation)
                    (Language of the case: German)
                                                                                                        (2003/C 146/08)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)                                               (Language of the case: Swedish)
In Case C-438/00: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC                (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
by the Oberlandesgericht Hamm (Germany) for a preliminary                                        in the European Court Reports)
ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
Deutscher Handballbund eV and Maros Kolpak, on the
interpretation of Article 38(1) of the Europe Agreement
establishing an association between the European Communi-
ties and their Member States, of the one part, and the Slovak                In Case C-15/01: Reference to the Court under Article 234 EC
Republic, of the other part, approved on behalf of the                       by the Regeringsträtten (Sweden) for a preliminary ruling in
Communities by Decision 94/909/ECSC, EEC, Euratom of the                     the proceedings pending before that court between Paranova
Council and the Commission of 19 December 1994 (OJ 1994                      Läkemedel AB, Farmagon A/S, Medartuum AB, Net Pharma
L 359, p. 1), the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of:                        KG AB, Orifarm AB, Trans Euro Medical AB, Cross Pharma
D. A. O. Edward, acting for the President of the Chamber,                    AB, MedImport Scandinavia AB and Läkemedelsverket on the
A. La Pergola (Rapporteur), P. Jann, S. von Bahr and A. Rosas,               interpretation of Article 28 EC and Article 30 EC, the Court
Judges; C. Stix-Hackl, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal               (Sixth Chamber), composed of: J.-P. Puissochet, President of
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on                    the Chamber, C. Gulmann (Rapporteur), F. Macken, N. Colneric
8 May 2003, in which it has ruled:                                           and J. N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; F. G. Jacobs, Advocate
                                                                             General; H. A. Rühl, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar,
The first indent of Article 38(1) of the Europe Agreement establishing       has given a judgment on 8 May 2003, in which it has ruled:
an association between the European Communities and their Member
States, of the one part, and the Slovak Republic, of the other part,
signed in Luxembourg on 4 October 1993 and approved on behalf                Article 28 EC and Article 30 EC preclude national legislation under
of the Communities by Decision 94/909/ECSC, EEC, Euratom of                  which the withdrawal, at the request of its holder, of the marketing
the Council and the Commission of 19 December 1994, must be                  authorisation of reference of itself entails the withdrawal of the
construed as precluding the application to a professional sportsman          parallel import licence granted for the medicinal product in question.
of Slovak nationality, who is lawfully employed by a club established        However, those provisions do not preclude restrictions on parallel
in a Member State, of a rule drawn up by a sports federation in that         imports of the medicinal product in question if there is in fact a risk
State under which clubs are authorised to field, during league or cup        to the health of humans as a result of the continued existence of that
matches, only a limited number of players from non-member                    medicinal product on the market of the importing Member State.
countries that are not parties to the Agreement on the European
Economic Area.
                                                                             (1 ) OJ C 79 of 10.3.2001.
( 1) OJ C 61 of 24.2.2001.