CELEX: C2002/156/20
Language: en
Date: 2002-06-29 00:00:00
Title: Case C-170/02 P: Appeal brought on 7 May 2002 by Schlüsselverlag J.S. Moser Gesellschaft m.b.H., J. Wimmer Medien GmbH & Co KG, Styria Medien AG, Zeitungs- und Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H., Eugen Ruß Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei Gesellschaft mbH, "Die Presse" Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. and "Salzburger Nachrichten" Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. & Co KG against the order made on 11 March 2002 by the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (Third Chamber) in Case T-3/02 between Schlüsselverlag J.S. Moser Gesellschaft m.b.H., J. Wimmer Medien GmbH & Co KG, Styria Medien AG, Zeitungs- und Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H., Eugen Ruß Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei Gesellschaft mbH, "Die Presse" Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. and "Salzburger Nachrichten" Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. & Co KG and Commission of the European Communities

29.6.2002               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                      C 156/11
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Østre Landsret                  Appeal brought on 7 May 2002 by Schlüsselverlag J.S.
by order of that Court of 1st May 2002 in the case of                     Moser Gesellschaft m.b.H., J. Wimmer Medien GmbH
     Dansk Postordreforening against Skatteministeriet                    & Co KG, Styria Medien AG, Zeitungs- und Verlags-
                                                                          Gesellschaft m.b.H., Eugen Ruß Vorarlberger Zeitungs-
                                                                          verlag und Druckerei Gesellschaft mbH, ‘Die Presse’
                                                                          Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. and ‘Salzburger Nachrichten’
                          (Case C-169/02)                                 Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. & Co KG against the order
                                                                          made on 11 March 2002 by the Court of First Instance of
                                                                          the European Communities (Third Chamber) in Case T-3/
                                                                          02 between Schlüsselverlag J.S. Moser Gesellschaft m.b.H.,
                         (2002/C 156/19)                                  J. Wimmer Medien GmbH & Co KG, Styria Medien AG,
                                                                          Zeitungs- und Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H., Eugen Ruß
                                                                          Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei Gesellschaft
                                                                          mbH, ‘Die Presse’ Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. and ‘Salz-
                                                                          burger Nachrichten’ Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. & Co KG
                                                                                and Commission of the European Communities
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                                           (Case C-170/02 P)
European Communities by order of the Østre Landsret (Eastern
Regional Court) of 1st May 2002, received at the Court                                            (2002/C 156/20)
Registry on 6 May 2002, for a preliminary ruling in the case
of Dansk Postordreforening against Skatteministeriet on the
following questions:
                                                                          An appeal against the order made on 11 March 2002 by the
                                                                          Court of First Instance of the European Communities (Third
1.    Is Article 13(A)(1)(a) of the Sixth VAT Directive (Council          Chamber) in Case T-3/02 between Schlüsselverlag J.S. Moser
      Directive 77/388/EEC) (1) to be interpreted as meaning:             Gesellschaft m.b.H., J. Wimmer Medien GmbH & Co KG, Styria
                                                                          Medien AG, Zeitungs- und Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H., Eugen
                                                                          Ruß Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei Gesellschaft
                                                                          mbH, ‘Die Presse’ Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. and ‘Salzburger
      (i)   that a Member State has the right to levy VAT on              Nachrichten’ Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. & Co KG and Com-
            the conveyance by the public postal services of COD           mission of the European Communities (1) was brought before
            letters and parcels to private persons where the              the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 7 May
            Member State has removed such items of mail from              2002 by Schlüsselverlag J.S. Moser Gesellschaft m.b.H., J.
            the exclusive right and obligation to convey mail             Wimmer Medien GmbH & Co KG, Styria Medien AG, Zeitungs-
            under the Member State’s national postal legislation,         und Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H., Eugen Ruß Vorarlberger
            or                                                            Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei Gesellschaft mbH, ‘Die Presse’
                                                                          Verlags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. and ‘Salzburger Nachrichten’ Ver-
                                                                          lags-Gesellschaft m.b.H. & Co KG, represented by Dr Michael
      (ii) is a Member State required not to levy VAT on such             Krüger, Rechtsanwalt, Linz.
            items of mail?
                                                                          The appellants claim that the Court should:
2.    If neither Question 1(i) or 1(ii) can be answered unequivo-         —     Set aside the contested order and give judgment in
      cally in the affirmative, what criteria should be used to                 accordance with the form of order sought in the appli-
      establish whether a Member State has a right, under the                   cation; in the alternative, set aside the contested order
      circumstances set out in Question 1(i), to levy VAT on                    and refer the case back to the Court of First Instance; in
      the conveyance of COD letters and parcels to private                      either case, order the defendant Commission to pay the
      individuals or is it required not to levy VAT on such                     costs.
      items of mail?
                                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments
(1) Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the              —     Incompleteness of findings of fact
    harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to
    turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform                  The Court of First Instance took the Commission’s
    basis of assessment (OJ L 145 of 13.6.1977, p. 1).                          statement that the letters of 12 July 2001 and 3 Septem-
                                                                                ber 2001 ‘give the opinion of the merger control
                                                                                directorate and are not binding on the European Com-
                                                                                mission’ as the basis for its legal assessment without
                                                                                including the content of that statement in its findings of
                                                                                fact.
 ---pagebreak--- C 156/12                EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                      29.6.2002
—     Incorrect legal assessment of the letter of the director of      the pension of 5 % for each year by which the pension is taken
      the merger control directorate of 7 November 2001                in advance?
      The interpretation of the Court of First Instance that the
      letter of 7 November 2001 is to be imputed to the                (1) Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the
      Commission as a contestable act, since in contrast to the            progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment
      two previous letters there is no mention in it of the                for men and women in matters of social security (OJ L 6 of
      Commission not being bound, appears arbitrary and                    10.1.1979, p. 24).
      contrary to the principle of good faith and hence in
      breach of general principles of Community law.
      With a correct legal assessment, the Court of First Instance
      should have concluded that the letter of the merger              Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Corte Suprema
      control directorate of 7 November 2001 was not imput-            di Cassazione by order of that Court of 17 January 2002
      able to the Commission, so that there was a continuing           in the cases of 1) Agenzia per le erogazioni in agricoltura
      failure to act by the Commission.                                — AGEA against Azienda agricola Fava Alessandro &
                                                                       Delledonne Carla; 2) Agenzia per le erogazioni in agricol-
                                                                       tura — AGEA against Luigi Serpelloni; 3) Azienda agricola
                                                                       Coato Giovanni, Lorenzo & Vaccaro Ivana against Agen-
                                                                       zia per le erogazioni in agricoltura — AGEA; and 4) Agen-
(1) Not yet reported in the ECR.                                       zia per le erogazioni in agricoltura — AGEA against
                                                                                         Battista e Giacomo Malzani
                                                                             (Case C-177/02, C-178/02, C-179/02 e C-180/02)
                                                                                                (2002/C 156/22)
                                                                       Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                       European Communities by order of the la Corte Suprema di
                                                                       Cassazione (Supreme Court of Cassation) of 17 January 2002,
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Belgian Cour de              received at the Court Registry on 13 May 2002, for a
Cassation by judgment of that Court of 29 April 2002 in                preliminary ruling in the cases of 1) Agenzia per le erogazioni
the case of Robert Bourgard against Institut National                  in agricoltura — AGEA against Azienda agricola Fava Alessan-
   d’Assurances Sociales pour Travailleurs Indépendants                dro & Delledonne Carla; 2) Agenzia per le erogazioni in
                                                                       agricoltura — AGEA against Luigi Serpelloni; 3) Azienda
                                                                       agricola Coato Giovanni, Lorenzo & Vaccaro Ivana against
                          (Case C-172/02)                              Agenzia per le erogazioni in agricoltura — AGEA; and
                                                                       4) Agenzia per le erogazioni in agricoltura — AGEA against
                                                                       Battista e Giacomo Malzani on the following question:
                          (2002/C 156/21)
                                                                       Must Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 856/84 (1) of 31 March
                                                                       1984 and Articles 1 to 4 of Regulation No 3950/92 (2) of
                                                                       28 December 1992 be interpreted as meaning that the
                                                                       additional levy on milk and milk products is in the nature of
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                       an administrative penalty with the result that producers are
European Communities by judgment of the Belgian Cour de
                                                                       liable to pay it only where quantities allocated have been
Cassation (Third Chamber) of 29 April 2002, received at the
                                                                       exceeded by them intentionally or as a result of negligence?
Court Registry on 10 May 2002, for a preliminary ruling
in the case of Robert Bourgard against Institut National
d’Assurances Sociales pour Travailleurs Indépendants on the
following question:                                                    (1) OJ L 90 of 1.4.1984, p. 10.
                                                                       (2) OJ L 405 of 31.12.1992, p. 1.
Does Article 7(1)(a) of Directive 79/7/EEC (1) of the Council of
19 December 1978 authorise a Member State which has set
the pensionable age of male self-employed workers at 65 and
that of female self-employed workers at 60, with the result
that the old-age pension of male workers is calculated on the
basis of an insurance record expressed as a fraction with a
denominator of 45, whilst the denominator is 40 for female
workers, to impose on male workers, who alone have the right
to rquest early payment of the old-age pension in the five years
prior to normal retirement age, a reduction in the amount of