CELEX: C2001/200/18
Language: en
Date: 2001-07-14 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 3 May 2001 in Case C-28/99 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg te Gent, Belgium): criminal proceedings against Jean Verdonck, Ronald Everaert and Edith de Baedts (Directive 89/592/EEC — National rules on insider dealing — Power of Member States to adopt more stringent provisions — Definition of national provisions applied generally)

C 200/10                EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                           14.7.2001
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                                        JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                          (Sixth Chamber)                                                             (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                                                        of 3 May 2001
                           of 3 May 2001
                                                                           in Case C-28/99 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
in Case C-481/98: Commission of the European Communi-                      the Rechtbank van Eerste Aanleg te Gent, Belgium):
                     ties v French Republic (1)                            criminal proceedings against Jean Verdonck, Ronald
                                                                                             Everaert and Edith de Baedts (1)
(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Sixth               (Directive 89/592/EEC — National rules on insider dealing
VAT Directive — Articles 12(3)(a) and 28(2)(a) — Reduced                   — Power of Member States to adopt more stringent pro-
                                rate)                                      visions — Definition of national provisions applied gener-
                                                                                                             ally)
                          (2001/C 200/17)
                                                                                                       (2001/C 200/18)
                    (Language of the case: French)
                                                                                                 (Language of the case: Dutch)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published     (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                   in the European Court Reports)                                               in the European Court Reports)
                                                                           In Case C-28/99: reference to the Court under Article 177 of
In Case C-481/98: Commission of the European Communities
                                                                           the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) from the Rechtbank van
(Agent: E. Traversa, acting as Agent, assisted by N. Coutrelis) v
                                                                           Eerste Aanleg te Gent, Belgium, for a preliminary ruling in the
French Republic (Agents: K. Rispal-Bellanger and S. Seam),
                                                                           criminal proceedings pending before that court between Jean
supported by Republic of Finland (Agents: H. Rotkirch and
                                                                           Verdonck, Ronald Everaert and Edith De Baedts — on the
T. Pynnä) — application for a declaration that, by introducing
                                                                           interpretation of Article 6 of Council Directive 89/592/EEC of
and maintaining in force legislation relating to value added tax
                                                                           13 November 1989 coordinating regulations on insider deal-
which provides for a rate of 2,1 % to be charged on medicinal
                                                                           ing (OJ 1989 L 334, p. 30) — the Court (Sixth Chamber),
products reimbursable under the social security system, where-
                                                                           composed of: C. Gulmann, President of the Chamber, V. Skour-
as other medicinal products are taxed at the reduced rate of
                                                                           is, J.-P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), R. Schintgen and F. Macken,
5,5 %, the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations
                                                                           Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General; H.A. Rühl, Principal
under Article 12 of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of
                                                                           Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member
                                                                           3 May 2000, in which it has ruled:
States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value
added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1)
— the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann,                      1.     Article 6 of Directive 89/592/EEC of 13 November 1989
President of the Chamber, V. Skouris, J.-P. Puissochet,                           coordinating regulations on insider dealing does not preclude
R. Schintgen and N. Colneric (Rapporteur), Judges; J. Mischo,                     the application of legislative provisions of a Member State
Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar,                   which, as regards the prohibition of use of inside information,
has given a judgment on 3 May 2001, in which it:                                  are more stringent than those laid down by the directive,
                                                                                  provided that the scope of the definition of inside information
                                                                                  used for applying that legislation is the same for all natural or
1.    Dismisses the action;                                                       legal persons subject to the legislation.
                                                                           2.     If provisions of national law run counter to Article 6 of
2.    Orders the Commission of the European Communities to pay
                                                                                  Directive 89/592, by reason of the fact that certain natural or
      the costs;
                                                                                  legal persons are specifically exempted from a more stringent
                                                                                  prohibition of use of inside information than that laid down by
3.    Orders the Republic of Finland to bear its own costs.                       the directive, the national court must disapply those more
                                                                                  stringent provisions with regard to all persons to whom they
                                                                                  might otherwise apply.
(1) OJ C 48 of 20.2.1999.
                                                                           (1) OJ C 121 of 1.5.1999.