CELEX: C1999/299/11
Language: en
Date: 1999-10-16 00:00:00
Title: Case C-295/99: Action brought on 5 August 1999 by the Kingdom of Belgium against the Commission of the European Communities

16.10.1999              EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                        C 299/11
Action brought on 5 August 1999 by the Kingdom                                in meat products obtained from bovine animals and pigs
of Belgium against the Commission of the European                             having such a low fat content;
                           Communities
                                                                          (4) order the Commission to pay the costs.
                         (Case C-295/99)
                                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments
                         (1999/C 299/11)
                                                                          (Decision 1999/368)
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Communities on 5 August 1999 by the Kingdom of Belgium,
represented by Anni Snoecx, Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign            — lack of competence: Article 9(3) of Directive 89/662/EEC
Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Aid, and, in her                       and Article 10(3) of Directive 90/425/EEC allow isolated
absence, by Raymonde Foucart, Director-General in the same                    interim protective measures to be taken with regard,
Ministry, assisted by Hans Gilliams and Jan Meyers, of the                    respectively, to products and animals and products from a
Brussels Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the                ‘region affected by the epizootic disease’ or from a ‘given’
Belgian Embassy, 4 Rue des Girondins.                                         establishment. An unusually high intake of dioxins, or
                                                                              even symptoms of disease resulting therefrom, does not
                                                                              amount to an ‘epizootic disease’. Nor are the measures
                                                                              contained in Decision 1999/368 limited to one or more
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                   ‘given’ establishments. Moreover, the aforementioned
                                                                              articles were only capable of being used by the Commission
                                                                              as a legal basis if it was not informed of the measures taken
(1) annul Commission Decision 1999/368/EC of 4 June 1999                      by the Member State concerned or if it considered those
     on protective measures with regard to contamination                      measures to be inadequate, and only if the measures
     by dioxins of products intended for human or animal                      adopted were measures which, having regard to the
     consumption derived from bovine animals and pigs,                        seriousness of the risk to human or animal health and any
                                                                              protective measures already taken by the Member State
                                                                              concerned, were so urgent that the Standing Veterinary
     or at least, in the alternative, Article 1(1) of that decision           Committee could not be expected, even as a master of
     in so far as it imposes a prohibition on trace (i) for an                urgency, to give its advice. That was not the position on
     unlimited period as regards suspected potential contami-                 4 June 1999 as regards the very far-reaching measures
     nation, in particular without limiting that prohibition to               taken by the Commission in Decision 1999/368 in relation
     bovine animals and pigs reared between 15 January and                    to Belgian bovine animals and pigs and meat and other
     3 June 1999 and to products obtained from such animals;                  products derived therefrom. Indeed, taking into account
     (ii) in respect of meat and meat products having a low fat               (i) the intrinsically far smaller risk which the contamination
     content (in particular, less than 20 %); and (iii) in respect            in question by dioxins of compound feedingstuffs for
     of raw milk, heat-treated milk and milk-based products, as               bovine animals and pigs represented for products derived
     defined by Council Directive 92/46/EEC;                                  from those animals, particularly long-fat products, (ii) the
                                                                              limited risks to public health arising from the short-term
                                                                              peak intake of dioxins, and (iii) the protective measures
(2) annul Article 1(1) of Commission Decision 1999/389/EC                     which had already been taken at that time by the Belgian
     of 11 June 1999 on protective measures with regard to                    authorities, it is hard to see why the situation on 4 June
     contamination by dioxins of products intended for human                  1999 was so urgent as to preclude any possibility of
     consumption derived from bovine animals and pigs and                     seeking the urgent advice of the Standing Veterinary
     revoking Decision 1999/368/EC, in so far as it imposes a                 Committee. The existence of any such urgency was further
     prohibition on trade (i) for an unlimited period as regards              contradicted by the fact (i) that the Commission had
     suspected potential contamination, in particular without                 already been informed on 27 May 1999 about the
     limiting that prohibition to bovine animals and pigs reared              contamination by dioxins of compound feedingstuffs
     between 15 January and 3 June 1999 and to products                       which had been established in Belgium, (ii) that this was
     obtained from such animals; (ii) in respect of meat and                  discussed at the meeting of the Standing Veterinary
     meat products having a low fat content (in particular, less              Committee on 1-2 June 1999 and (iii) that on 3 June the
     than 20 %); and (iii) in respect of raw milk, heat-treated               Commission laid down protective measures, by means of
     milk and milk-based products, as defined by Council                      Decision 1999/363/EC, in relation to the intrinsically more
     Directive 92/46/EEC;                                                     vulnerable domestic fowl and domestic fowl products
                                                                              sector, having obtained the advice of the Standing Vet-
                                                                              erinary Committee in that regard.
(3) annul Article 1(1) of Commission Decision 1999/449/EC
     of 9 July 1999 on protective measures with regard to                 — Infringement of essential procedural requirements:
     contamination by dioxins of certain products of animal                   Decision 1999/368 was not, as prescribed by Article 9(3)
     origin intended for human or animal consumption, in so                   of Directive 89/662/EEC and Article 10(3) of Directive
     far as it imposes a prohibition on trade in beef and pigmeat             90/425/EEC, adopted ‘in collaboration with’ Belgium as
     having a low fat content (in particular, less than 20 %) and             the Member State concerned.
 ---pagebreak--- C 299/12               EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                    16.10.1999
(Decision 1999/368 — alternatively Decisions 1999/389 and                          in architecture, including measures to facilitate the
1999/449)                                                                          effective exercise of the right of establishment and
                                                                                   freedom to provide services, as amended;
— Breach of the general principle of care: Decision 1999/368                  (2) by adopting Article 4.2.(a) of legislative decree No 129
    was adopted with excessive haste, without any meeting of                       of 27 January 1992 and Article 4.1.(a) of decree
    the Standing Veterinary Committee taking place (even as a                      No 776 of the Ministry for Universities and Scientific
    matter of urgency) and without any actual consultation                         and Technological Research of 10 June 1994 which
    with the competent Belgian authorities. Consequently, the                      lay down a general requirement for the production of
    contested provisions manifestly disregard various scientific                   the original diploma or a certified true copy thereof;
    and factual data which substantially affect the actual health
    risk. The measures taken by the Commission must correctly
    reflect the real level of risk to public health. In that respect,              by adopting Article 4.2.(c) of decree No 129/92 and
    there are two important elements to be borne in mind,                          Article 4.1.(c) of decree No 776/94 which lay down a
    namely (i) the fact that scientific investigation has not                      general requirement for a certificate of nationality;
    conclusively shown that the short-term peak intake of
    dioxins causes significant damage to human health in the                       by adopting Article 4.3 of decree No 129/92 and
    long term, and (ii) the fact that the contamination by                         article 10 of decree No 746/94 which routinely require
    dioxins of compound feedingstuffs for bovine animals and                       an official translation of documents;
    pigs represents a relatively low risk in respect of products
    obtained from those animals, particularly long-fat prod-
    ucts. In particular, in recital (10) in the preamble to                        by adopting Article 11(1)(c) and (d) of decree No
    Decision 1999/449, the Commission overlooks the fact                           129/92, which extends the validity of certificates after
    that the tolerable daily intake recommended by the World                       5.8.1987;
    Health Organisation relates to a norm for a recurring
    intake over the long term which is, as such, of little
    relevance to incidental, short term exposure.                             (3) by prohibiting architects providing services in Italy
                                                                                   from having an infrastructure in Italy (Article 9.1 of
— Breach of the general principle of proportionality: the                          decree No 129/92);
    objective pursued could have been attained by more
    specific and less burdensome measures. In any event,                      (4) by requiring an architect providing services to register
    having regard to the other significant concerns in the                         with the regional professional body for architects
    matters, the contested provisions are excessively stringent.                   (Article 9.3 of decree No 129/92 and Article 7 and 8
                                                                                   of decree No 776/94), contrary to the provisions of
                                                                                   Article 22 of the directive; and
                                                                              (5) by applying Article 4(6) to 4(8) of decree No 129/92
                                                                                   in a manner contrary to Article 20(1) of the directive,
                                                                                   has breached the requirements imposed on it by
Action brought on 9 August 1999 by the Commission of                               Articles 12, 20, 22, 27 and 31 of Directive
  the European Communities against the Italian Republic                            85/384/EEC, and, in respect of point 3 above, by
                                                                                   Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
                                                                                   Article 49 EC);
                         (Case C-298/99)
                                                                          II. order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.
                         (1999/C 299/12)
An action against the Italian Republic was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 9 August                  Pleas in law and main arguments
1999 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Enrico Traversa, Legal Adviser, and Elisabetta
Montaguti, of its Legal Service, with an address for service in
Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of                  Breaches relating to failure to transpose or
its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Rue Alcide de Gasperi,                  transpose fully the directive
Kirchberg.
                                                                          — Article 4(1) of the directive was transposed by Article 2.1
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                              of legislative decree No 129/92 which regulates the
                                                                              minimum length of training. However, that decree does
I.  Declare that the Italian Republic                                         not take account of the three year training in the ‘Fach-
                                                                              hochschulen’ of the Federal Republic of Germany.
    (1) by failing to take all the measures necessary to
         implement Articles 4(1), second part, 4(2), 7, 11 and
         14 of Council Directive 85/384/EEC (1) of 10 June                — Article 4(2) of the directive concerning recognition of
         1985 on the mutual recognition of diplomas, certifi-                 training in architecture pursued as part of a social better-
         cates and other evidence of formal qualifications                    ment scheme or a part-time course was not transposed.