CELEX: C2000/211/05
Language: en
Date: 2000-07-22 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 11 May 2000 in Case C-296/98: Commission of the European Communities v French Republic (Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Directives 92/49/EEC and 92/96/EEC — National legislation requiring notification to the competent minister of the conditions of a standard form contract of insurance when it is first marketed)

22.7.2000                EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                            C 211/3
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                                       JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                           (Fifth Chamber)
                                                                                                       (Fifth Chamber)
                           of 11 May 2000
in Case C-38/98 (reference for a preliminary ruling from                                                of 11 May 2000
the Corte d’Appello di Torino): Régie Nationale des Usines
     Renault SA v Maxicar SpA and Orazio Formento (1)
                                                                            in Case C-296/98: Commission of the European Communi-
(Brussels Convention — Enforcement of judgments —
                                                                                                  ties v French Republic (1)
Intellectual property rights relating to vehicle body parts —
                             Public policy)
                           (2000/C 211/04)                                  (Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations —
                                                                            Directives 92/49/EEC and 92/96/EEC — National legis-
                                                                            lation requiring notification to the competent minister of the
                     (Language of the case: Italian)                        conditions of a standard form contract of insurance when it
                                                                                                       is first marketed)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)
                                                                                                       (2000/C 211/05)
In Case C-38/98: Reference to the Court pursuant to the
Protocol of 3 June 1971 on the interpretation by the Court of
Justice of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdic-
tion and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commer-                                       (Language of the case: French)
cial Matters by the Corte d’Appello di Torino, Italy, for a
preliminary ruling in the proceedings before that court
between Régie Nationale des Usines Renault SA and Maxicar
SpA, Orazio Formento on the interpretation of Article 27,                   (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
point 1, of the abovementioned Convention of 27 September                                       in the European Court Reports)
1968 (OJ 1978 L 304, p. 36), as amended by the Convention
of 9 October 1978 on the Accession of the Kingdom of
Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain
                                                                            In Case C-296/98: Commission of the European Communities
and Northern Ireland (OJ 1978 L 304, p. 1 and — amended
                                                                            (Agents: C. Tufvesson and B. Mongin) v French Republic
version — p. 77) and by the Convention of 25 October 1982
                                                                            (Agents: K. Rispal-Bellanger and S. Seam) — application for a
on the Accession of the Hellenic Republic (OJ 1982 L 388,
                                                                            declaration that, by maintaining in force Article L. 310-8 of
p. 1), and of Articles 30 and 36 of the EC Treaty (now, after
                                                                            the Insurance Code, which provides that, when marketing a
amendment, Articles 28 EC and 30 EC) and Article 86 of the
                                                                            standard form contract of insurance for the first time in France,
EC Treaty (now Article 82 EC) — the Court (Fifth Chamber),
                                                                            insurance and capitalisation undertakings must notify it to the
composed of: D.A.O. Edward, President of the Chamber,
                                                                            Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs in accordance
L. Sevón, J.-P. Puissochet, P. Jann (Rapporteur) and M. Wathe-
                                                                            with the conditions laid down by order of that minister, and
let, Judges, S. Alber, Advocate General; Lynn Hewlett, Adminis-
                                                                            Article A. 310-1 of the same code, which provides that the
trator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 11 May
                                                                            information referred to in the first paragraph of Article L. 310-
2000, in which it has ruled:
                                                                            8 is to be provided in the form of a information sheet drawn
                                                                            up in French containing the information mentioned in the
Article 27, point 1, of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on
                                                                            annex to Article A. 310-1, the French Republic has failed to
Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commer-
                                                                            fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty and under Articles 6,
cial Matters, as amended by the Convention of 9 October 1978 on
                                                                            29 and 39 of Council Directive 92/49/EEC of 18 June 1992
the Accession of the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland and the United
                                                                            on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and by the
                                                                            provisions relating to direct insurance other than life assurance
Convention of 25 October 1982 on the Accession of the Hellenic
                                                                            and amending Directives 73/239/EEC and 88/357/EEC (third
Republic, must be interpreted as meaning that a judgment of a court
                                                                            non-life insurance directive) (OJ 1992 L 228, p. 1) and
or tribunal of a Contracting State recognising the existence of an
                                                                            Articles 5, 29 and 39 of Council Directive 92/96/EEC of
intellectual property right in body parts for cars, and conferring on
                                                                            10 November 1992 on the coordination of laws, regulations
the holder of that right protection by enabling him to prevent third
                                                                            and administrative provisions relating to direct assurance and
parties trading in another Contracting State from manufacturing,
                                                                            amending Directives 79/267/EEC and 90/619/EEC (third life
selling, transporting, importing or exporting in that Contracting
                                                                            assurance directive) (OJ 1992 L 360, p. 1) — the Court
State such body parts, cannot be considered to be contrary to public
                                                                            (Fifth Chamber), composed of: J.C. Moitinho de Almeida
policy.
                                                                            (Rapporteur), President of the Sixth Chamber, acting as
                                                                            President of the Fifth Chamber, L. Sevón, C. Gulmann,
(1) OJ C 113 of 11.4.1998.                                                  J.-P. Puissochet and M. Wathelet, Judges; S. Alber, Advocate
                                                                            General; H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, for the Registrar,
                                                                            has given a judgment on 11 May 2000, in which it:
 ---pagebreak--- C 211/4                  EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                      22.7.2000
1. Declares that, by maintaining in force the combined provisions            declaration that by maintaining in force Real Decreto
     of Article L. 310-8 and Article A. 310-1 of the Insurance Code,         157/1988, por el que se establece la normativa a que deben
     which provide that insurance or capitalisation undertakings             ajustarse las denominaciones de origen y las denominaciones
     which market for the first time in France a standard form contract      de origen calificadas de vinos y sus respectivos Reglamentos
     of insurance must systematically send the Minister for Economic         (Royal Decree No 157/88 laying down the rules governing
     and Financial Affairs an information sheet containing infor-            designations of origin and controlled designations of origin
     mation on the general conditions of insurance policies, the French      for wines and regulations implementing it, BOE No 47 of
     Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 6, 29      24 February 1988, p. 5864)) and in particular Article 19(1)(b)
     and 39 of Council Directive 92/49/EEC of 18 June 1992 on the            thereof, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations
     coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions         under Article 34 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
     relating to direct insurance other than life assurance and              Article 29 EC), as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the
     amending Directives 73/239/EEC and 88/357/EEC (third non-               European Communities in its judgment of 9 June 1992 in
     life insurance directive) and Articles 5, 29 and 39 of Council          Case C-47/90 Delhaize v Promalvin [1992] ECR I-3669, and
     Directive 92/96/EEC of 10 November 1992 on the coordi-                  Article 5 of the EC Treaty (now Article 10 EC — the Court,
     nation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating      composed of G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias, President, J.C. Moitinho
     to direct life assurance and amending Directives 79/267/EEC             de Almeida, D.A.O. Edward, L. Sevón, R. Schintgen (Presidents
     and 90/619/EEC (third life assurance directive);                        of Chambers), C. Gulmann (Rapporteur), J.-P. Puissochet,
                                                                             G. Hirsch, P. Jann, H. Ragnemalm and M. Wathelet, Judges,
2. Orders the French Republic to pay the costs.                              Advocate General: A. Saggio, D. Louterman-Hubeau, Principal
                                                                             Administrator, for the Registrar, gave a judgment on 16 May
                                                                             2000, in which it:
(1) OJ C 299 of 26.9.1998.
                                                                             1. Dismisses the action;
                                                                             2. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium and the Kingdom of Spain to
                                                                                 bear their own costs;
                   JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                             3. Orders the Kingdom of Denmark, the Italian        Republic, the
                                                                                 Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Portuguese       Republic, the
                           of 12 May 2000
                                                                                 Republic of Finland, the United Kingdom of       Great Britain
                                                                                 and Northern Ireland and the Commission of       the European
in Case C-388/95: Kingdom of Belgium v Kingdom of                                Communities to bear their own costs.
                                Spain (1)
(Article 34 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
                                                                             (1) OJ C 46 of 14.2.1996.
Article 29 EC) — Regulation (EEC) No 823/87 — Quality
wines produced in a specified region — Designations of
origin — Obligation to bottle in the region of production —
Justification — Consequences of an earlier judgment giving
a preliminary ruling — Article 5 of the EC Treaty (now
                            Article 10 EC))
                           (2000/C 211/06)
                     (Language of the case: Spanish)                         Action brought on 21 February 2000 by the Commission
                                                                             of the European Communities against the Italian Republic
(Provisional translation: the definitive translation will be published
                in the Reports of Cases before the Court)                                               (Case C-54/00)
In Case C-388/95, Kingdom of Belgium (Agent: J. Devadder),
supported by Kingdom of Denmark (Agent: P. Biering), the                                               (2000/C 211/07)
Kingdom of the Netherlands (Agents: M. Fierstra and J. van
den Oosterkamp), the Republic of Finland (Agents: H. Rotkirch,
T. Pynna and K. Castrén) and by the United Kingdom of Great                  An action against the Italian Republic was brought before the
Britain and Northern Ireland (Agent: S. Ridley, assisted by                  Court of Justice of the European Communities on 21 February
E. Sharpston), v Kingdom of Spain (R. Silva de la Puerta),                   2000 by the Commission of the European Communities,
supported by the Italian Republic (Agent: Professor U. Leanza,               represented by Richard Wainwright, of its Legal Service, and
assisted by I. M. Braguglia), the Portuguese Republic (Agents:               Giacinto Bisogni, appeal court judge on secondment to the
L. Fernandes, Â. Cortesão Seiça Neves and L. Bigotte Chorão)              Legal Service, acting as Agents, with an address for service in
and the Commission of the European Communities (Agents:                      Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, Wagner
J.L. Iglesias Buhigues and H. van Lier) — application for a                  Centre, Kirchberg.