CELEX: C1999/100/03
Language: en
Date: 1999-04-10 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 21 January 1999 in Case C-207/97: Commission of the European Communities v. Kingdom of Belgium (Failure of a Member State to fulfill its obligation - Council Directive 76/464/EEC - Water pollution - Failure to transpose)

C 100/2                EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                    10.4.1999
Wales) (United Kingdom) for a preliminary ruling in the                   the marketing authorisation in question without
proceedings pending before that court between Upjohn                      awaiting the opinion of the Committee for Proprietary
Ltd and The Licensing Authority established by the                        Medicinal Products.
Medicines Act 1968 and Others Ð on the interpretation
of Council Directive 65/65/EEC of 26 January 1965 on
                                                                     (1) OJ C 142, 10.5.1997.
the approximation of provisions laid down by law,
regulation or administrative action relating to proprietary
medicinal products (OJ, English Special Edition 1965Ð
1966, p. 20) Ð the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of:
J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Chamber, J. C. Moitinho
de Almeida, C. Gulmann (Rapporteur), D. A. O. Edward
and M. Wathelet, Judges; P. LeÂger, Advocate-General; D.
Louterman-Hubeau, Principal Administrator, for the                                   JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
Registrar, has given a judgment on 21 January 1999, in
which it has ruled:                                                                          (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                                           of 21 January 1999
                                                                     in    Case    C-207/97: Commission of the European
                                                                                 Communities v. Kingdom of Belgium (1)
                                                                     (Failure of a Member State to fulfill its obligation Ð
1. Council Directive 65/65/EEC of 26 January 1965 on                 Council Directive 76/464/EEC Ð Water pollution Ð
     the approximation of provisions laid down by law,                                     Failure to transpose)
     regulation or administrative action relating to
     proprietary medicinal products and, more generally,                                     (1999/C 100/03)
     Community law do not require the Member States to
     establish a procedure for judicial review of national
     decisions     revoking    authorisations     to   market                         (Language of the case: French)
     proprietary medicinal products, empowering the
     competent national courts and tribunals to substitute
     their assessment of the facts and, in particular, of the          (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
     scientific evidence relied on in support of the                            published in the European Court Reports)
     revocation decision for the assessment made by the
     national authorities competent to revoke such
     authorisations.                                                 In Case C-207/97, Commission of the European
                                                                     Communities (Agents: initially Richard B. Wainwright and
                                                                     Jean-Francis Pasquier, and subsequently Richard B.
                                                                     Wainwright and Olivier Couvert-CasteÂra) v. Kingdom of
                                                                     Belgium (Agent: Jan Devadder) Ð application for a
                                                                     declaration that, by not adopting pollution reduction
2. Community law does not require a National Court or                programmes including quality objectives for water Ð at
     Tribunal which is seised of an application for                  least in respect of 99 substances listed in an annex to the
     annulment of a decision revoking a marketing                    application Ð or by not communicating to the
     authorisation for a particular proprietary medicinal            Commission summaries of such programmes and the
     product to take into account, when determining that             results of their implementation, in infringement of Article 7
     application, any relevant scientific material coming to         of Council Directive 76/464/EEC of 4 May 1976 on
     light after the adoption of that decision.                      pollution caused by certain dangerous substances
                                                                     discharged into the aquatic environment of the
                                                                     Community (OJ L 129, 18.5.1976, p. 23), the Kingdom of
                                                                     Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC
                                                                     Treaty Ð the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: P. J. G.
                                                                     Kapteyn, President of the Chamber, G. F. Mancini, H.
                                                                     Ragnemalm, R. Schintgen and K. M. Ioannou
3. Directive 65/65/EC and Second Council Directive 75/               (Rapporteur), Judges; Advocate-General: J. Mischo; L.
     319/EEC of 20 May 1975 on the approximation of                  Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a
     provisions laid down by law, regulation or                      judgment on 21 January 1999, in which it:
     administrative action relating to proprietary medicinal
     products, as amended by Directive 83/570/EEC are to
     be construed as meaning that, where the matter has              1. Declares that, by not adopting pollution reduction
     been referred by various Member States to the                        programmes including quality objectives for water in
     Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products                         respect of the 99 substances listed in the annex to the
     following the adoption by the competent national                     application, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to
     authority of a decision revoking a marketing                         fulfil its obligations under Article 7 of Council
     authorisation and the time-limit for the issue by that               Directive 76/464/EEC of 4 May 1976 on pollution
     Committee of its opinion has expired, those directives               caused by certain dangerous substances discharged
     do not preclude that authority from deciding to revoke               into the aquatic environment of the Community.
 ---pagebreak--- 10.4.1999             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                    C 100/3
2. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.                       15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for
                                                                         workers within the Community may be relied on by a
                                                                         worker against the Member State of which he is a
(1) OJ C 228, 26.7.1997.                                                 national where he has resided and been employed in
                                                                         another Member State.
                                                                     2. Article 48 of the Treaty precludes a Member State
                                                                         from levying, on a worker who has transferred his
                                                                         residence in the course of a year from one Member
               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                     State to another in order to take up employment there,
                                                                         greater social security contributions than those which
                     of 26 January 1999                                  would be payable, in similar circumstances, by a
                                                                         worker who has continued to reside throughout the
in Case C-18/95 (request for a preliminary ruling by the
                                                                         year in the Member State in question, where the first
Gerechtshof te 's-Hertogenbosch): F. C. Terhoeve v.
                                                                         worker is not also entitled to additional social
Inspecteur      van    de    Belastingdienst     Particulieren/
                                                                         benefits.
                Ondernemingen Buitenland (1)
(Freedom of movement for workers Ð Combined
assessment covering income tax and social security
contributions Ð Non-applicability to workers who                     3. A heavier contributions burden on a worker who
transfer their residence from one Member State to another                transfers his residence from one Member State to
of a social contributions ceiling applicable to workers who              another in order to take up employment there, which
have not exercised their right to freedom of movement Ð                  is in principle incompatible with Article 48 of the
Possible offsetting by income tax advantages Ð Possible                  Treaty, may not be justified either by the fact that it
   incompatibility with Community law Ð Consequences)                    stems from legislation whose objective is to simplify
                                                                         and coordinate the levying of income tax and social
                       (1999/C 100/04)                                   security contributions, or by difficulties of a technical
                                                                         nature preventing other methods of collection, or else
                                                                         by the fact that, in certain circumstances, other
                (Language of the case: Dutch)                            advantages relating to income tax may offset, or
                                                                         indeed outweigh, the disadvantage as to social
                                                                         contributions.
  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
          published in the European Court Reports)
                                                                     4. When assessing whether the burden of social security
                                                                         contributions borne by a worker who has transferred
                                                                         his residence from one Member State to another in
In Case C-18/95, reference to the Court under Article 177                order to take up employment there is heavier than that
of the EC Treaty by the Gerechtshof te 's-Hertogenbosch                  borne by a worker who has continued to reside in the
(Regional      Court     of    Appeal,       's-Hertogenbosch)           same Member State, all income relevant under
Netherlands, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings                 national law for determining the amount of
pending before that court between: F. C. Terhoeve and                    contributions, including, as the case may be, income
Inspecteur      van    de    Belastingdienst      Particulieren/         arising from real property, must be taken into account.
Ondernemingen Buitenland (Tax Inspector for Foreign
Individuals and Undertakings) Ð on the interpretation of
Articles 7 and 48 of the EEC Treaty and Article 7(2) of
Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of the Council of                        5. If the contested national legislation is incompatible
15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers                       with Article 48 of the Treaty, a worker who transfers
within the Community (OJ, English Special Edition 1968                   his residence from one Member State to another in
(II), p. 475) Ð the Court, composed of: P. J. G. Kapteyn,                order to take up employment there is entitled to have
President of the Fourth and Sixth Chambers, acting for the               his social security contributions set at the same level as
President, G. Hirsch and P. Jann, President of Chambers,                 that of the contributions which would be payable by a
G. F. Mancini (Rapporteur), J. C. Moitinho de Almeida,                   worker who has continued to reside in the same
C. Gulmann, J. L. Murray, L. Sevón, M. Wathelet, R.                      Member State.
Schintgen and K. M. Ioannou, Judges; Advocate-General:
D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer; D. Louterman-Hubeau, Principal
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
26 January 1999, in which it has ruled:                              (1) OJ C 74, 25.3.1995.
1. Article 48 of the EEC Treaty and Article 7 of
     Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of the Council of