CELEX: C2002/084/17
Language: en
Date: 2002-04-06 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court 22 January 2002 in Case C-390/99 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Supremo): Canal Satélite Digital SL and Administracíon General del Estado, intervener: Distribuidora de Televisión Digital SA (DTS), v Administración General del Estado (Articles 30 and 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Articles 28 EC and 49 EC) — Directive 5/47/EC — National legislation requiring operators of conditional-access television services to register in a national register created for that purpose, indicating the characteristics of the technical equipment they use, and subsequently to obtain administrative certification thereof — Directive 83/189/EEC — Meaning of "technical regulation")

C 84/10                   EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                             6.4.2002
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                          Therefore, in order to be justified with regard to those
                                                                                 fundamental freedoms, such legislation must pursue a public-
                                                                                 interest objective recognised by Community law and comply
                           22 January 2002                                       with the principle of proportionality; that is to say, it must be
                                                                                 appropriate to ensure achievement of the aim pursued and not
                                                                                 go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve it.
in Case C-390/99 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Tribunal Supremo): Canal Satélite Digital SL and
Administracı́on General del Estado, intervener: Distribui-
dora de Televisión Digital SA (DTS), v Administración                     2.   In determining whether national legislation such as that at
                        General del Estado (1)                                   issue in the main proceedings complies with the principle of
                                                                                 proportionality, the referring court must take into account the
                                                                                 following considerations in particular:
(Articles 30 and 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
Articles 28 EC and 49 EC) — Directive 5/47/EC —
National legislation requiring operators of conditional-access                   —      for a prior administrative authorisation scheme to be
television services to register in a national register created for                      justified even though it derogates from those fundamental
that purpose, indicating the characteristics of the technical                           freedoms, it must, in any event, be based on objective,
equipment they use, and subsequently to obtain administrat-                             non-discriminatory criteria which are known in advance,
ive certification thereof — Directive 83/189/EEC — Mean-                                in such a way as to circumscribe the exercise of the
                    ing of ‘technical regulation’)                                      national authorities’ discretion, so that it is not used
                                                                                        arbitrarily;
                            (2002/C 84/17)
                                                                                 —      a measure introduced by a Member State cannot be
                                                                                        regarded as necessary to achieve the aim pursued if it
                     (Language of the case: Spanish)                                    essentially duplicates controls which have already been
                                                                                        carried out in the context of other procedures, either in the
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published                  same State or in another Member State;
                     in the European Court Reports)
                                                                                 —      a prior authorisation procedure will be necessary only
                                                                                        where subsequent control must be regarded as being too
                                                                                        late to be genuinely effective and to enable it to achieve
In Case C-390/99: Reference to the Court under Article 234                              the aim pursued;
of the EC Treaty by the Tribunal Supremo (Spain) for a
preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
court between Canal Satélite Digital SL and Administracı́on                      —      a prior authorisation procedure does not comply with the
General del Estado, intervener: Distribuidora de Televisión                            fundamental principles of the free movement of goods and
Digital SA (DTS), and on the interpretation of Articles 30 and                          the freedom to provide services if, on account of its
59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Articles 28 EC                               duration and the disproportionate costs to which it gives
and 49 EC), read in conjunction with Articles 1 to 5 of                                 rise, it is such as to deter the operators concerned from
Directive 95/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the                                pursuing their business plan.
Council of 24 October 1995 on the use of standards for the
transmission of television signals (OJ 1995 L 281, p. 51) and
of Article 1, point 9, of Council Directive 83/189/EEC of                   3.   National legislation which requires operators of conditional-
28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provision of                       access services to enter the equipment, decoders or systems for
information in the field of technical standards and regulations                  the digital transmission and reception of television signals by
(OJ 1983 L 109, p. 8), as amended and updated by Directive                       satellite which they propose to market in a register and to
94/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of                        obtain prior certification for those products before being able to
23 March 1994 (OJ 1994 L 100, p. 30),the Court, composed                         market them constitutes a ‘technical regulation’ within the
of: G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias, President, F. Macken, and N. Col-                  meaning of Article 1, point 9, of Council Directive
neric (Presidents of Chambers), C. Gulmann, D.A.O. Edward                        83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for
(Rapporteur), A. La Pergola, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen and                  the provision of information in the field of technical standards
V. Skouris, Judges, Advocate General: C. Stix-Hackl, Registrar:                  and regulations, as amended and updated by Directive
H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, J. Svenningsen, acting as                     94/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
Agents, has given a judgment on 22 January 2002, in which it                     23 March 1994.
has ruled:
1.    National legislation which makes the marketing of apparatus,
      equipment, decoders or digital transmission and reception             (1) OJ C 6 of 8.1.2000.
      systems for television signals by satellite and the provision of
      related services by operators of conditional-access services subject
      to a prior authorisation procedure restricts both the free
      movement of goods and the freedom to provide services.