CELEX: C2003/135/16
Language: en
Date: 2003-06-07 00:00:00
Title: Case C-132/03: Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Consiglio di Stato, Sezione Quarta by decision and order of that Court of 28 January 2003 in the case of Ministry of Health against Codacons and Federconsumatori, and concerning Lega delle Cooperative

C 135/12                EN                           Official Journal of the European Union                                         7.6.2003
       Spanish authorities to the Commission, it is clear that               Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale
       various municipalities in the Baix Ter area have exceeded             Ordinario di Torino — Sezione del giudice per le indagini
       on several occasions the maximum nitrate parameters                   preliminari by order of that Court of 25 February 2003 in
       laid down in Directive 80/778/EEC, in some cases                      the criminal proceedings against Alessandro Nizza and
       reaching extremely elevated concentrations.                                                    Giacomo Pizzi
( 1) Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste (OJ 1975
                                                                                                     (Case C-133/03)
     L 194, p. 39).
( 2) Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991 amending
     Directive 75/442/EEC on waste (OJ 1991 L 78, p. 32).
( 3) Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment                                  (2003/C 135/17)
     of the effects of certain public and private projects on the
     environment (OJ 1985 L 175, p. 40).
( 4) Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/
     EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private
     projects on the environment (OJ 1997 L 73, p. 5).
( 5) Council Directive 80/68/EEC of 17 December 1979 on the                  Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
     protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain           European Communities by order of the Tribunale Ordinario di
     dangerous substances (OJ 1980 L 20, p. 43).
                                                                             Torino — Sezione del giudice per le indagini preliminari
( 6) Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 relating to the
     quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ 1980                (Turin District Court, Chamber of the Investigating Judge) of
     L 229, p. 11).                                                          25 February 2003, received at the Court Registry on 25 March
                                                                             2003, for a preliminary ruling in the criminal proceedings
                                                                             against Alessandro Nizza and Giacomo Pizzi on the following
                                                                             questions:
                                                                             1.   May Article 6 of Directive 68/151/EEC (1) be interpreted
                                                                                  as imposing an obligation upon the Member States to
                                                                                  establish appropriate penalties not only for failure on the
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Consiglio di                            part of commercial companies to publish their balance
Stato, Sezione Quarta by decision and order of that Court                         sheet and profit and loss statement but also for publishing
of 28 January 2003 in the case of Ministry of Health                              inaccurate versions of those statements or of other
against Codacons and Federconsumatori, and concerning                             company information addressed to shareholders or the
                      Lega delle Cooperative                                      public or of any other information concerning their
                                                                                  economic, asset or financial position which they are
                                                                                  required to provide and which concern the company
                           (Case C-132/03)
                                                                                  itself or the group of companies to which it belongs?
                           (2003/C 135/16)
                                                                             2.   With reference to the obligation upon each Member State
                                                                                  to adopt ‘appropriate penalties’ for the infringements
                                                                                  provided for in the First Directive 68/151/EEC and the
                                                                                  Fourth Directive 78/660/EEC ( 2), must those directives
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                            and, in particular, the combined provisions of
European Communities by decision and order of the Consiglio                       Article 44(2)(g) of the Treaty Establishing the European
di Stato, Sezione Quarta (Council of State, Fourth Chamber) of                    Community, Article 2(1)(f) and Article 6 of the First
28 January 2003, received at the Court Registry on 25 March                       Directive and Article 2(2), (3) and (4) of the Fourth
2003, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Ministry of Health                  Directive, as amended by Directive 83/349/EEC ( 3) and
against Codacons and Federconsumatori, and concerning Lega                        Directive 90/605/EEC ( 4), be interpreted as precluding the
delle Cooperative on the following question:                                      legislation of a Member State under which no penalty
                                                                                  may be imposed for breach of the duty to publish true
Must Article 2(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1139/98 ( 1), as                       and fair company documents and which lays down a
amended by Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 49/2000 ( 2), apply                    system of penalties which are not responsive to the
also to baby foods for infants and for young children of up to                    criteria of effectiveness, proportionality and deterrent
three years of age, and, more specifically, in relation to such                   effect?
products, must the adventitious contamination by material
derived from genetically modified organisms in a proportion
                                                                             3.   Must the directives mentioned, and in particular the
of no more than 1 % be indicated on the labelling?                                provisions of Article 44(2)(g) of the Treaty Establishing
                                                                                  the European Community, Article 2(1)(f) and Article 6 of
                                                                                  the First Directive and Article 2 (2), (3) and (4) of the
( 1) OJ L 159 of 03.06.1998, p. 4.
                                                                                  Fourth Directive, as amended by Directive 83/349/EEC
( 2) OJ L 6 of 11.01.2000, p. 13.
                                                                                  and Directive 90/605/EEC, be interpreted as precluding
                                                                                  the legislation of a Member State under which, in the case
                                                                                  of breach of the duty to publish true and fair company