larimo/cjeu-paragraph-retrieval huggingface dataset:
Diego Calì & Figli Srl v Servizi ecologici porto di Genova SpA (SEPG).
Date: 1997-03-18
16 As regards the possible application of the competition rules of the Treaty, a distinction must be drawn between a situation where the State acts in the exercise of official authority and that where it carries on economic activities of an industrial or commercial nature by offering goods or services on the market (Case 118/85 Commission v Italy [1987] ECR 2599, paragraph 7).
17 In that connection, it is of no importance that the State is acting directly through a body forming part of the State administration or by way of a body on which it has conferred special or exclusive rights (Case 118/85 Commission v Italy, cited above, paragraph 8).
18 In order to make the distinction between the two situations referred to in paragraph 16 above, it is necessary to consider the nature of the activities carried on by the public undertaking or body on which the State has conferred special or exclusive rights (Case 118/85 Commission v Italy, cited above, paragraph 7).
22 The anti-pollution surveillance for which SEPG was responsible in the oil port of Genoa is a task in the public interest which forms part of the essential functions of the State as regards protection of the environment in maritime areas.
23 Such surveillance is connected by its nature, its aim and the rules to which it is subject with the exercise of powers relating to the protection of the environment which are typically those of a public authority.  It is not of an economic nature justifying the application of the Treaty rules on competition (Case C-364/92 SAT Fluggesellschaft v Eurocontrol [1994] ECR I-43, paragraph 30).
24 The levying of a charge by SEPG for preventive anti-pollution surveillance is an integral part of its surveillance activity in the maritime area of the port and cannot affect the legal status of that activity (Case C-364/92 SAT Fluggesellschaft v Eurocontrol, cited above, paragraph 28).  Moreover, as stated in paragraph 8 of this judgment, the tariffs applied by SEPG have been approved by the public authorities.
25 In the light of the foregoing considerations, the answer to Question 1 must be that Article 86 of the EC Treaty is to be interpreted as not being applicable to anti-pollution surveillance with which a body governed by private law has been entrusted by the public authorities in an oil port of a Member State, even where port users must pay dues to finance that activity.
French Republic v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1997-03-20
7 The Court has consistently held that an action for annulment is available in the case of all measures adopted by the institutions, whatever their nature or form, which are intended to have legal effects (see Case 22/70 Commission v  Council [1971] ECR 263, paragraph 42, and Case C-325/91 France v Commission [1993] ECR I-3283, paragraph 9).
9 In order to determine whether the Communication is designed to have new legal effects by comparison with those entailed by the application of the fundamental principles of the Treaty, its content must be considered.
10 Accordingly, the question whether the objection of inadmissibility is well founded must be determined together with the substantive issues raised by the dispute.
Substance
20 In that regard, it should be noted that, whilst those provisions, which have direct effect, prohibit imposing unjustified restrictions on the freedoms concerned, they are not sufficient in themselves to ensure elimination of all obstacles to free movement of persons, services and capital, and that the directives provided for by the Treaty in this matter preserve an important scope in the field of measures intended to make easier the effective exercise of the rights arising out of those provisions (see, as far as freedom of establishment is concerned, Case 2/74 Reyners [1974] ECR 631, paragraphs 29, 30 and 31).
22 As to the Commission's argument that the Communication was not notified to the Member States, suffice it to say that that fact cannot alter the binding nature of the Communication.
Jackie Farrell v James Long.
Date: 1997-03-20
11 In the light of the division of responsibilities in the preliminary ruling procedure laid down by the Protocol of 3 June 1971 on the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the Convention, it is for the national court alone to define the questions which it proposes to refer to the Court.  According to settled law, it is solely for the national court before which the dispute has been brought, and which must assume the responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the particular circumstances of each case both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court (Case C-127/92 Enderby [1993] ECR I-5535, paragraph 10).
The question referred
12 For the purpose of answering the question referred, it must be noted that, according to settled law (see, in particular, Case C-125/92 Mulox IBC v Geels [1993] ECR I-4075, paragraph 10, and Case C-383/95 Rutten v Cross Medical [1997] ECR I-0000, paragraph 12), the Court will, in principle, interpret the terms of the Convention autonomously so as to ensure that it is fully effective having regard to the objectives of Article 220 of the EEC Treaty, for the implementation of which it was adopted.
13 Such autonomous interpretation is alone capable of ensuring uniform application of the Convention, the objectives of which include unification of the rules on jurisdiction of the Contracting States, so as to avoid as far as possible multiplication of the bases of jurisdiction in relation to one and the same legal relationship and to reinforce the legal protection available to persons established in the Community by, at the same time, allowing the plaintiff easily to identify the court before which he may bring an action and the defendant reasonably to foresee the court before which he may be sued (Mulox IBC, paragraph 11, and Rutten, paragraph 13).
19 In particular, the derogation provided for in Article 5(2) is intended to offer the maintenance applicant, who is regarded as the weaker party in such proceedings, an alternative basis of jurisdiction.  In adopting that approach, the drafters of the Convention considered that that specific objective had to prevail over the objective of the rule contained in the first paragraph of Article 2, which is to protect the defendant as the party who, being the person sued, is generally in a weaker position.
Bic Benelux SA v Belgian State.
Date: 1997-03-20
19 Those arguments cannot be accepted.  There is no basis in Directive 83/189 for an interpretation limiting its application to national measures capable of harmonization only on the basis of Article 100a of the Treaty.  The aim of that Directive is, by preventive monitoring, to protect the free movement of goods, which is one of the foundations of the Community.  Such monitoring is necessary since technical regulations covered by the Directive are capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade in goods.  Such hindrances may arise from the adoption of national technical regulations even if those regulations do not duplicate markings affixed in the Member State of origin and irrespective of the grounds on which they were adopted.
23 As to that, first, the marking requirement in issue in the main proceedings constitutes, according to the definition given in Article 1(5) of Directive 83/189, a de jure technical regulation in that its `observance ... is compulsory ... in the case of marketing' of the product concerned and in that it is, according to the definition given in Article 1(1), a technical specification, since the enactment defines `the characteristics required of a product such as ... the requirements applicable to the product as regards ... marking or labelling'.
Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung v Deutsches Milch-Kontor GmbH.
Date: 1997-04-15
24 The Court has consistently held that those prohibitions extend to cover all trading rules of the Member States which are likely to impede, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade (see, in particular, Case 8/74 Dassonville [1974] ECR 837, paragraph 5; Case 29/87 Dansk Denkavit [1988] ECR 2965, paragraph 22, and Case C-69/88 Krantz [1990] ECR I-583, paragraph 9).
25 So far as health inspections carried out at frontiers are concerned, the Court has held that, as a result of the delays inherent in the inspections and the additional transport costs which the trader may incur thereby, the inspections in question are likely to make imports or exports more difficult or more costly (Case 35/76 Simmenthal v Italian Minister for Finance [1976] ECR 1871, paragraph 7).
26 The Court has also held that principle to be applicable to other types of frontier inspections, in particular national rules which provide  for systematic inspections of goods when they cross a frontier (see Case 190/87 Moormann [1988] ECR 4689, paragraph 8).
34 In that connection it should be pointed out that, in Deutsches Milch-Kontor I, the Court began by recalling that it had consistently held that any pecuniary charge, whatever its designation or mode of application, which is imposed unilaterally on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier, and which is not a customs duty in the strict sense, constituted a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty within the meaning of Articles 9, 12, 13 and 16 of the Treaty, even if it is not imposed on behalf of the State (see, in particular, Case 158/82 Commission v Denmark [1983] ECR 3573, paragraph 18).
35 The Court went on to recall that the abolition as between the Member States of customs duties and charges having equivalent effect constitutes a fundamental principle of the common market applicable to all products and goods with the result that any exception, which in any event must be strictly interpreted, must be clearly laid down (see Joined Cases 90/63 and 91/63 Commission v Luxembourg and Belgium [1964] ECR 625 and Joined Cases 80/77 and 81/77 Commissionnaires Réunis and Another v Receveur des Douanes [1978] ECR 927, paragraph 24).
Henri de Compte v European Parliament.
Date: 1997-04-17
35 It should be first noted that retroactive withdrawal of a favourable administrative act is generally subject to very strict conditions (see Case 54/77 Herpels v Commission [1978] ECR 585, paragraph 38).  According to settled case-law, while it must be acknowledged that any Community institution which finds that a measure which it has just adopted is tainted by illegality has the right to withdraw it within a reasonable period, with retroactive effect, that right may be restricted by the need to fulfil the legitimate expectations of a beneficiary of the measure, who has been led to rely on the lawfulness thereof (Case 14/81 Alpha Steel v Commission [1982] ECR 749, paragraphs 10 to 12; Case 15/85 Consorzio Cooperative d'Abruzzo v Commission [1987] ECR 1005, paragraphs 12 to 17; Case C-248/89 Cargill v Commission [1991] ECR I-2987, paragraph 20, and Case C-365/89 Cargill v Produktschap voor Margarine, Vetten en Oliën [1991] ECR I-3045, paragraph 18).
45 Since this is a dispute of a financial character in which the Community judicature has unlimited jurisdiction pursuant to the second sentence of Article 91(1) of the Staff Regulations, that head of claim must be accepted. The claim for default interest, which also falls within the unlimited jurisdiction of the Court (see, in particular, Case T-15/93 Vienne v Parliament [1993] ECR II-1327, paragraph 42), must be granted and the rate of annual interest set at 8% to run from 24 January 1991 until the date of actual payment.
Campo Ebro Industrial SA, Levantina Agrícola Industrial SA (LAISA) and Cerestar Ibérica SA v Council of the European Union.
Date: 1997-04-17
60 Under Article 51 of the EC Statute of the Court of Justice and Article 112(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure, however, an appeal must give a precise indication of the aspects of the judgment appealed against which are complained of, together with the legal arguments put forward in support of the claim that it should be set aside (order of 24 April 1996 in Case C-87/95 P CNPAAP v Council [1996] ECR I-2003, paragraph 29).
Ludwig Wünsche & Co. v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas.
Date: 1997-04-17
15 The Court has consistently held that, in the interests of legal certainty and ease of verification, the decisive criterion for the customs classification of goods must be their objective characteristics and properties, as defined by the wording of the headings of the Common Customs Tariff and the notes to the sections or chapters (see, in particular, Case 40/88 Weber [1989] ECR 1395, paragraph 13, and Case C-265/89 Vismans Nederland [1990] ECR I-3411, paragraph 14).
17 In that connection it should be recalled that in Emsland-Stärke the Court held, at paragraph 34, that the acetyl content of starch is an indicator of its degree of substitution: the higher the acetyl content, the more extensive the modification of the starch. Consequently, starch with a very low acetyl content may be close to native starch. The Court therefore accepted classification of a product with a low acetyl content under subheading 1108 13 00 of the CN.
25 In that connection it should be pointed out that the Court has already held in Emsland-Stärke, at paragraph 35, that a slightly higher acetyl content (0.65% or 0.67% by weight) than the 0.5% by weight mentioned in Regulation No 28/90 is not sufficient to prevent the product's being classified under subheading 1108 13 00.
Pedro Burdalo Trevejo and Others v Fondo Garantía Salarial.
Date: 1997-04-17
15 The date of 19 May 1978 precedes the accession of the Kingdom of Spain to the Communities, which produced legal effects only from 1 January 1986 (Article 2 of the Treaty concerning the accession of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic to the European Economic Community and to the European Atomic Energy Community, OJ 1985 L 302, p. 9).  As the Spanish Government has pointed out, that date even precedes the expiry of the two-year period laid down for implementation of the directive by the Member States (Article 8(1) of the directive).  Accordingly, the directive cannot in any event be relied on in relation to a transfer of an undertaking which took place on that date (see, for example, Joined Cases C-140/91, C-141/91, C-278/91 and C-279/91 Suffritti and Others v INPS [1992] ECR I-6337, paragraphs 11, 12 and 13, and Case C-316/93 Vaneetveld v Le Foyer [1994] ECR I-763, paragraph 16).
Road Air BV v Inspecteur der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen.
Date: 1997-04-22
36 Contrary to Road Air's assertion, that interpretation does not render Article 134 of the Treaty meaningless. It is sufficient, on that point, to note that, between the entry into force of the Treaty and creation of the common customs area, certain products originating in non-member countries could be granted a reduction of customs duties or be exempted from duties in an OCT, and thereafter in the Member State with which that OCT maintained special relations.  That situation was capable of giving rise to deflections of trade to the detriment of a Member State and the latter would therefore have been entitled to make a request to the Commission under Article 134.
The interpretation of Article 136 of the Treaty
40 Association of the OCT with the Community is to be achieved by a dynamic and progressive process which may necessitate the adoption of a number of measures  in order to attain all the objectives mentioned in Article 132 of the Treaty, having regard to the experience acquired through the Council's previous decisions.
Geotronics SA v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1997-04-22
10 It was in those circumstances that the applicant brought this action, by application lodged at the Registry of the Court of First Instance on 29 April 1994.
12 On 17 May 1994 PMU-Bucharest informed the Commission that the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, the contracting authority, had awarded the contract to the German firm by decision of 15 April 1994.
14 It is clear from paragraph 8 of the contested judgment that by its letter of 10 March 1994 the Commission informed Geotronics that it rejected its tender on the ground that the equipment on offer did not originate in a Member State of the Community or a beneficiary country under the PHARE Programme.  Accordingly, the contested decision, which was formally addressed to Geotronics, was taken by the Commission after it had ascertained whether or not that company's tender satisfied the conditions for obtaining Community funding set out in the invitation to tender. Even though that decision formed part of a contractual procedure which was to lead to the conclusion of a national contract, it could be severed from that context inasmuch as, first, it was adopted by the Commission in the exercise of its own powers and, secondly, it was specifically directed at an individual undertaking, which lost any chance of actually being awarded the contract simply because that act was adopted.
15 In those circumstances, the Commission's decision to refuse Geotronics the benefit of Community funding in itself had binding legal effects as regards the appellant and could therefore be the subject of an action for annulment.
23 In those circumstances, it is of no importance that the Court of First Instance further held in paragraph 55 of its judgment that the EEA Agreement could not apply to contracts governed by legal relations to which a State not a signatory of that agreement was a party.  Since that consideration is supererogatory, the criticisms levelled at it cannot result in the judgment of the Court of First Instance being set aside, and are hence ineffectual (Case C-244/91 Pincherle v Commission [1993] ECR I-6965, paragraph 25).
Koninklijke Vereeniging ter Bevordering van de Belangen des Boekhandels v Free Record Shop BV and Free Record Shop Holding NV.
Date: 1997-04-24
9 According to the case-law of the Court, old agreements duly notified to the Commission before 1 November 1962 enjoy provisional validity as long as the Commission has not given a decision on them (see, to this effect, the judgment in Case C-234/89 Delimitis [1991] ECR I-935, paragraph 48).
14 It is settled case-law that agreements concluded after entry into force of Regulation No 17 that are merely a replica of a standard contract concluded previously and duly notified benefit from the same system of provisional validity as the latter contract (judgment in Case 1/70 Rochas [1970] ECR 515).  The Court has also held that, where the restrictive effect of agreements is mitigated by amendments, refusal to recognize provisional validity would be tantamount to penalizing the parties to the agreement when they have voluntarily limited its scope, which would be contrary to the spirit of competition law and would discourage parties to agreements from rendering them less restrictive (see, to this effect, the judgment in Case 106/79 Eldi Records [1980] ECR 1137, paragraph 16).
A. Moksel AG v Hauptzollamt Hamburg-Jonas.
Date: 1997-05-07
20 However, it is settled case-law that, under Article 177 of the Treaty, which is based on a clear separation of functions between the national courts and the Court of Justice, the latter is empowered only to give rulings on the interpretation or the validity of a Community provision on the basis of the facts which the national court places before it (see, in particular, Case 104/77 Oehlschläger [1978] ECR 791, paragraph 4).  In this case, as stated in paragraph 12 of this judgment, the national court has pointed out in the order for reference that the formalities for the export of the goods from the former GDR were completed, as were the formalities upon importation into the Federal Republic of Germany, under the transit procedure with the goods being placed under customs supervision (customs warehousing procedure).
22 As the Advocate General has pointed out in point 40 of his Opinion, Article 10 of the Treaty of reunification had the effect of extending the application of Community law to the territory of the former GDR as from that country's accession to the Federal Republic of Germany, that is to say on 3 October 1990.  Therefore it is only as from that date and for the future that goods in free circulation in the territory of the former GDR acquired a Community origin, since goods which left that territory before that date could not acquire such origin retroactively.
Textilwerke Deggendorf GmbH (TWD) v Commission of the European Communities and Federal Republic of Germany.
Date: 1997-05-15
21 In that regard, it should be stated that the operative part of an act is indissociably linked to the statement of reasons for it, so that, when it has to be interpreted, account must be taken of the reasons which led to its adoption.
26 The first subparagraph of Article 93(2) of the Treaty makes the Commission responsible for implementing, subject to review by the Court, a special procedure involving the constant review and monitoring of aid which Member States intend to introduce (Case C-301/87 France v Commission [1990] ECR I-307 and Case C-294/90 British Aerospace and Rover v Commission [1992] ECR I-493, paragraph 10).  In particular, under Article 92(3) of the Treaty, which applies to the contested decisions, the Commission enjoys a wide discretion, and the exercise of that discretion involves assessments of an economic and social nature which must be made within a Community context (France v Commission, paragraph 49).  When the Commission examines the compatibility of a State aid with the common market it must take all the relevant factors into account, including, where appropriate, the circumstances already considered in a prior decision and the obligations which that decision may have imposed on a Member State (Case C-261/89 Italy v Commission [1991] ECR I-4437, paragraph 20).
32 It should be borne in mind that, under Article 51 of the EC Statute of the Court of Justice and Article 112(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure, an appeal must give a precise indication of the aspects of the judgment appealed against which are complained of, together with the legal arguments put forward in support of the claim that it should be set aside (see the order of 24 April 1996 in Case C-87/95 P CNPAAP v Council [1996] ECR I-2003, paragraph 29, and the judgment in Case C-138/95 P Campo Ebro and Others v Council [1997] ECR I-0000, paragraph 60).
Bioforce GmbH v Oberfinanzdirektion München.
Date: 1997-05-15
9 There are also explanatory notes drawn up by the Customs Cooperation Council and by the Harmonized System Committee which, as the Court has already stated, may be an important aid to the interpretation of the scope of the various tariff headings but do not have legally binding force (see Case 200/84 Daiber [1985] ECR 3363, paragraph 14, and Joined Cases C-106/94 and C-139/94 Colin and Dupré [1995] ECR I-4759, paragraph 21).
12 It should next be recalled that it is settled case-law that, in the interests of legal certainty and ease of verification, the decisive criterion for the classification of goods is in general to be sought in their objective characteristics and properties as defined in the wording of the relevant heading of the CCT and of the notes to the sections or chapters (see, in particular, Colin and Dupré, cited above, paragraph 22).
13 It should therefore be considered whether the products in question have the objective characteristics and properties defined in heading 3004 of the CCT which, as the Court held in Case C-177/91 Bioforce [1993] ECR I-45, paragraph 9, must be interpreted in the light of medical developments.