Criminal proceedings against Giuseppe Francesco Gasparini and Others.
Date: 2006-09-28
24. The main clause of the single sentence comprising Article 54 of the CISA makes no reference to the content of the judgment that has become final. It is not applicable solely to judgments convicting the accused (see, to this effect, the judgment delivered today in Case C-150/05 Van Straaten  [2006] ECR I-0000, paragraph 56).
25. Thus, the ne bis in idem  principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, falls to be applied in respect of a decision of the judicial authorities of a Contracting State by which the accused is acquitted finally for lack of evidence ( Van Straaten , paragraph 61).
27. It is settled case-law that Article 54 of the CISA has the objective of ensuring that no one is prosecuted for the same acts in several Contracting States on account of the fact that he exercises his right to freedom of movement (see Joined Cases C‑187/01 and C-385/01 Gözütok and Brügge  [2003] ECR I-1345, paragraph 38, and Van Straaten , paragraph 57). It ensures that persons who, when prosecuted, have their cases finally disposed of are left undisturbed. They must be able to move freely without having to fear a fresh prosecution for the same acts in another Contracting State.
29. It is true that the laws of the Contracting States on limitation periods have not been harmonised. However, nowhere in Title VI of the EU Treaty, relating to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (Articles 34 and 31 of which were selected as the legal basis for Articles 54 to 58 of the CISA), or in the Schengen Agreement or the CISA itself is the application of Article 54 of the CISA made conditional upon harmonisation or approximation of the criminal laws of the Member States relating to procedures whereby further prosecution is barred ( Gözütok and Brügge , paragraph 32) or, more generally, upon harmonisation or approximation of their criminal laws (see Case C-436/04 Van Esbroeck  [2006] ECR I-2333, paragraph 29).
30. It should be added that there is a necessary implication in the ne bis in idem  principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, that the Contracting States have mutual trust in their criminal justice systems and that each of them recognises the criminal law in force in the other Contracting States even when the outcome would be different if its own national law were applied ( Van Esbroeck , paragraph 30).
37. Consequently, the answer to the second question must be that the ne bis in idem  principle, enshrined in Article 54 of the CISA, does not apply to persons other than those whose trial has been finally disposed of in a Contracting State.
Question 3
41. It is to be recalled that the system under Article 234 EC is capable of being applied to references for a preliminary ruling pursuant to Article 35 EU, subject to the conditions laid down in the latter article (see Case C-105/03 Pupino  [2005] ECR I-5285, paragraph 28). Under the procedure envisaged in Article 234 EC, which is based on a clear separation of functions between the national courts and the Court of Justice, any assessment of the facts in the case is a matter for the national court. The Court of Justice is thus empowered to rule on the interpretation or validity of Community provisions only on the basis of the facts which the national court puts before it (see Case C-235/95 Dumon and Froment  [1998] ECR I‑4531, paragraph 25, and Case C-421/01 Traunfellner  [2003] ECR I‑11941, paragraph 21).
44. According to the Court’s settled case-law, while the Court is in principle bound to give a ruling where the questions submitted concern the interpretation of Community law, it can in exceptional circumstances examine the conditions in which the case was referred to it by the national court, in order to confirm its own jurisdiction. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred for a preliminary ruling by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law that is sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it (see, inter alia, Case C-13/05 Chacón Navas  [2006] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 32 and 33, and the case-law cited).
54. The only relevant criterion for applying the concept of ‘the same acts’ within the meaning of Article 54 of the CISA is identity of the material acts, understood as the existence of a set of concrete circumstances which are inextricably linked together (see Van Esbroeck , paragraph 36).
56. However, the definitive assessment in this regard is a matter for the competent national courts which are charged with the task of determining whether the material acts at issue constitute a set of facts which are inextricably linked together in time, in space and by their subject-matter (see Van Esbroeck , paragraph 38).
57. It follows from the foregoing that the marketing of goods in another Member State, after their importation into the Member State where the accused was acquitted, constitutes conduct which may form part of the ‘same acts’ within the meaning of Article 54 of the CISA.
Costs