CELEX: C1997/357/25
Language: en
Date: 1997-11-22 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht by order of that court of 15 July 1997 in the case of Sezgin Ergat v. Stadt Ulm (Case C-329/97)

C 357/ 14               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                   22 . 11 . 97
     'Taxofit Vitamin C + Ca effervescent pills' and                      the European Communities on 23 September 1997 by the
     'Taxofit Vitamin C chewable pills' are to be assigned                Portuguese Republic, represented by Joao Mota de
     to heading 3004 ('medicaments . . . consisting of                    Campos, Dr Luis Fernandes and Dr Maria Luisa Duarte,
     mixed or unmixed products for therapeutic or                         acting as Agents, with an adress for service in
      prophylactic uses, put up in . . . forms or packings for            Luxembourg at the Portuguese Embassy 33 Allee Scheffer.
      retail sale'), when they contain 1 000 mg and 500 mg
      of Vitamin C ( ascorbic acid ) per pill respectively, are
      imported in packings for retail sale, are to be used —
      according to the information on use which is                        The applicant claims that the Court should:
      contained in the leaflets enclosed with the packs and
      indicates a specific dose — inter alia 'to build up
      resistance: for colds and influenza infections, . . . and           — annul Commission Decision C(97) 2130 Final of 9 July
      allergic processes' and ' as a prophylactic at times of                 1997 on the measures taken by Portugal for the
      increased risk of infection' respectively, and are                      benefit of EPAC — Empresa Para a Agroalimenta^ao e
      authorized as medicinal products in the Federal                         Cereais SA,
      Republic of Germany ?
                                                                          — order the Commission to pay the costs.
Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesverwal­                 Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
tungsgericht by order of that court of 15 July 1997 in the
                 case of Sezgin Ergat v. Stadt Ulm
                          ( Case C-329/97 )
                                                                          — Infringement of Article 190 of the EC Treaty
                             ( 97/C 357/25 )                                   ( contradictory and inadequate statement of reasons for
                                                                              the decision ).
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by an order of the Bundesverwal­
tungsgericht ( Federal Administrative Court ) of 15 July                  — Infringement of Article 92 ( 1 ) of the EC Treaty: the
1997, which was received at the Court Registry on                             guarantee granted by the Portuguese Government for
22 September 1997, for a preliminary ruling in the case of                     financing by the banks of Esc 30 billion intended to
Sezgin Ergat v. Stadt Ulm on the following question:                          convert EPAC's short-term debts into medium-term
                                                                               liabilities does not constitute State aid to EPAC . The
                                                                              granting of a guarantee to what is no more than an
Does a Turkish national who has entered the country as a
                                                                               operation for the restructuring of the debts of a public
member of the family of a Turkish worker duly registered
                                                                               undertaking does not involve any transfer of resources
as belonging to the labour force, without requiring a                          from the State to that undertaking. The rate of interest
residence permit in accordance with the national law on                        on the loans negotiated between EPAC and the
foreigners in force at the date of entry, and has
                                                                               international consortium of banks reflects only the
subsequently been in possession of residence permits with                      desire on the part of the credit institutions involved to
interruptions, but who has applied for extension of his last                   make viable a financing operation whose objective was
residence permit 26 days after its expiry, satisfy the
                                                                               the restructuring of debts which had previously been
conditions in the first paragraph of Article 7 of Decision
                                                                               short-term, posing a threat to EPAC's solvency and
No 1/80 of the EEC-Turkey Association Council that he
                                                                               thus to the repayment of those banks ' credits, into
has been ' legally resident' there 'for at least three years'                  long-term liabilities.
( first indent) or 'for at least five years' ( second indent ), if
the     national    authorities     have  refused   to   extend  the
residence permit ?
                                                                               EPAC is an exclusively public capital undertaking. It is
                                                                               for the State, as the owner of the whole of the capital,
                                                                               therefore, to ensure it can continue to attain the
                                                                               general interest objectives it was created to achieve, in
                                                                               particular, the purpose of guaranteeing the purchase of
Action brought on 23 September 1997 by the Portuguese                          cereals from Portuguese farmers and the country's
       Republic against the Commission of the European                         supply of an essential basic good. The Portuguese
                               Communities                                      State, both in its capacity as sole shareholder and as
                                                                               administrator of the public interest, has both the right
                           ( Case C-330/97 )                                    and the exclusive obligation to support EPAC. By
                              ( 97/C 357/26 )                                   offering concrete support by granting the guarantee,
                                                                                the State did not place EPAC at an economic or
                                                                                financial advantage which it might not have obtained
 An action against the Commission of the European                               under the basic rule of the private investor operating
 Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of                         in a market economy.