CELEX: C2002/180/08
Language: en
Date: 2002-07-27 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 25 April 2002 in Case C-183/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de Primera Instancia e Instrucción no 5 de Oviedo): María Victoria González Sánchez v Medicina Asturiana SA (Approximation of laws — Directive 85/374/EEC — Product liability — Relationship with other systems of liability)

27.7.2002               EN                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                             C 180/5
2.   Article 10 of Directive 83/189, as amended by Directive 88/                               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
     182, is to be interpreted as meaning that, where a provision of
     national law such as the second paragraph of Article 4 of
     Decree No 92-377 must be understood as requiring a mark or                                         (Fifth Chamber)
     label to be applied, that provision is not exempted from the
     notification requirement under Article 8 of Directive 83/189.
                                                                                                       of 25 April 2002
3.   In the event that a national provision such as the second
     paragraph of Article 4 of Decree No 92-377 were to be                   in Case C-183/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
     interpreted as requiring a mark or label to be applied, an              the Juzgado de Primera Instancia e Instrucción no 5 de
     individual may invoke the failure to make notification of that          Oviedo): Marı́a Victoria González Sánchez v Medicina
     national provision in accordance with Article 8 of Directive                                       Asturiana SA (1)
     83/189. It is then for the national court to refuse to apply that
     provision, the question of the conclusions to be drawn from the
     inapplicability of that national provision as regards the severity
                                                                             (Approximation of laws — Directive 85/374/EEC — Product
     of the sanction under the applicable national law, such as
                                                                                liability — Relationship with other systems of liability)
     nullity or unenforceability of the contract, being a question
     governed by national law. That conclusion is, however, subject
     to the condition that the applicable rules of national law are
     not less favourable than those governing similar domestic                                          (2002/C 180/08)
     actions and are not framed in such a way as to render impossible
     in practice the exercise of rights conferred by Community law.
                                                                                                 (Language of the case: Spanish)
4.   If Directive 83/189 does not apply to the provisions of Decree
     No 92-377, the Member State concerned ought to have                     (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
     informed the Commission of the proposed national provisions                                 in the European Court Reports)
     in accordance with Article 3(2) of Council Directive 75/442/
     EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste, as amended by Council
     Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991.
                                                                             In Case C-183/00: reference to the Court under Article 234
5.   Article 3(2) of Directive 75/442, properly construed, does not          EC by the Juzgado de Primera Instancia e Instrucción no 5 de
     give individuals any right which they may enforce before                Oviedo (Spain), for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings
     national courts in order to obtain the annulment or suspension          pending before that court between Marı́a Victoria González
     of national rules falling within the scope of that provision on         Sánchez and Medicina Asturiana SA — on the interpretation
     the ground that the rules were adopted without having been              of Article 13 of Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July
     previously communicated to the Commission.                              1985 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and
                                                                             administrative provisions of the Member States concerning
                                                                             liability for defective products (OJ 1985 L 210, p. 29) — the
6.   If the national court were to interpret a provision such as the         Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of: P. Jann (Rapporteur),
     second paragraph of Article 4 of Decree No 92-377 as not                President of the Chamber, S. von Bahr and C. W. A. Timmer-
     requiring a mark or label to be applied but as imposing only a          mans, Judges; L. A. Geelhoed, Advocate General; H. von
     general obligation to identify the packaging collected for              Holstein, Deputy Registrar, has given a judgment on 25 April
     disposal by an approved undertaking, that provision may be              2002, in which it ruled:
     regarded as a selling arrangement. It is for the national court
     to verify whether the relevant conditions under the case-law of
     the Court for exempting such an obligation from the scope of            Article 13 of Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July 1985 on
     application of Article 30 of the EC Treaty (now, after                  the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative
     amendment, Article 28 EC) are met, namely that the provision            provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective
     at issue applies to all relevant traders operating within the           products must be interpreted as meaning that the rights conferred
     national territory and that it affects in the same manner, in law       under the legislation of a Member State on the victims of damage
     and in fact, the marketing of domestic products and of those            caused by a defective product under a general system of liability
     from other Member States.                                               having the same basis as that put in place by the Directive may be
                                                                             limited or restricted as a result of the Directive’s transposition into
                                                                             the domestic law of that State.
(1) OJ C 176 of 24.6.2000.
                                                                             (1) OJ C 192, 8.7.2000.