CELEX: C1997/181/17
Language: en
Date: 1997-06-14 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Helsingborgs Tingsrätt by order of that court of 28 April 1997 in the case of Public Prosecutor v. Gunnar Nilsson, Per Olov Hagelgren and Solweig Arrborn (Case C-162/97)

14 . 6 . 97               EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 181 /9
       Spain during the calculation period preceding                       reasoned opinion, the Commission has decided to bring
       materialization of the risk provided for on a general               the matter before the Court .
       basis by Spanish legislation ?
                                                                           (') OJ No L 216 , 12 . 9 . 1995 , p . 8 .
H OJ No L 149 , 5 . 7. 1971 , p . 2 .
( 2 ) OJ No L 136 , 19 . 5 . 1992 , p. 7.
                                                                           Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Helsingborgs
                                                                           Tingsratt by order of that court of 28 April 1997 in the
Action brought on 23 April 1997 by the Commission of                       case of Public Prosecutor v. Gunnar Nilsson, Per Olov
the European Communities against the Kingdom of                                              Hagelgren and Solweig Arrborn
                                 Belgium                                                             ( Case C-162/97 )
                             Case C-155/97 )
                                                                                                       ( 97/C 181 / 17 )
                             ( 97/C 181 / 16 )
                                                                           Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
An action against the Kingdom of Belgium was brought                       European Communities by an order of the Helsingborgs
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities                    Tingsratt ( District Court, Helsingborg ) of 28 April 1997,
on 23 April 1997 by the Commission of the European                         which was received at the Court Registry on 30 April
Communities, represented by Wouter Wils, of its Legal                      1997, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Public
Service, acting as Agent, with an address for service in                   Prosecutor v. Gunnar Nilsson, Per Olov Hagelgren and
Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gomez de la Cruz,                       Solweig Arrborn on the following questions :
Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
                                                                           1 . Do Article 30 of the EC Treaty and Directive 87/328/
The Commission of the European Communities claims                               EEC (') allow a national authority to scrutinize, for
that the Court should :
                                                                                authorization purposes, insemination operations using
                                                                                cattle sperm, that is to say the gathering of sperm,
— declare that,                                                                 handling and distribution of sperm and insemination ,
                                                                                in the way indicated above ?
      — by failing to bring to an end the infringement
           described    in Article      1  of the  abovementioned          2 . Do Article 30 of the Treaty of Rome and Directive 87/
           decision within the prescribed period, and                           328/EEC allow a Member State to prohibit, or lay
                                                                                down conditions for, insemination and breeding of
                                                                                cattle :
      — in the alternative, in any event, by failing to
           inform the Commission within the prescribed
           period of the measures adopted to that end,                          ( a ) for a purpose which, according to a national
                                                                                      authority, can entail suffering for animals or affect
                                                                                      their natural behaviour ?
      the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its
       obligations under Article 2 of the Commission's
       decision of 28 June 1995 (') relating to a proceeding                    ( b ) using a certain breed which is regarded by a
       pursuant to Article 90 ( 3 ) of the EC Treaty;                                 national authority as having genetic defects ?
— order the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs .                          3 . ( a ) Does interpretation of the preamble to Directive
                                                                                      87/328/EEC allow national exceptions from
                                                                                      approval for artificial insemination in its territory
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                                   as far as concerns animals with an undesirable
                                                                                      pedigree — even where those exceptions entail a
                                                                                      prohibition in relation to animals which fulfil the
The Commission's decision of 28 June 1995 referred to in                              requirements laid down in Article 2 of the
the applicant's submissions requires the Kingdom of                                   Directive ?
Belgium to take the measures necessary to bring to an end
the system of discounts on landing fees at Brussels
National Airport ( Zaventem ) which infringes Article 90                        ( b ) If so, can the individual Member State be left to
( 1 ) of the Treaty, read in conjunction with Article 86                              define 'impairment of the pedigree' and 'hereditary
thereof.                                                                              defects '?
                                                                           (') OJ No L 167, 26 . 6 . 1987, p . 54 .
Since it has received no information from the Belgian
Government regarding the adoption of measures bringing
the infringement to an end within the time-limit set by the