Gottfried Heinrich.
Date: 2009-03-10
30. It must first be recalled that, according to settled case-law, the need to provide an interpretation of Community law which will be of use to the national court makes it necessary that the national court should define the factual and legislative context of the questions it is asking or, at the very least, explain the factual circumstances on which those questions are based (see, inter alia, Case C-237/04 Enirisorse  [2006] ECR I-2843, paragraph 17 and the case-law cited).
31. The information provided in the order for reference must not only enable the Court to reply usefully but must also give the governments of the Member States and the other interested parties the opportunity to submit observations pursuant to Article 23 of the Statute of the Court of Justice. It is the Court’s duty to ensure that that opportunity is safeguarded, bearing in mind that under that provision only the orders for reference are notified to the interested parties (see, inter alia, Enirisorse , paragraph 18 and the case-law cited).
36. As regards the relevance of the questions referred, it is settled case-law that, in proceedings under Article 234 EC, it is solely for the national court before which the dispute has been brought, and which must assume responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the particular circumstances of the 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 (see, inter alia, Case C-162/06 International Mail Spain  [2007] ECR I-9911, paragraph 23 and the case‑law cited).
37. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred 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, or where the problem is hypothetical (see, inter alia, Case C-379/05 Amurta  [2007] ECR I-9569, paragraph 64 and the case-law cited).
42. It must be noted at the outset that, under Article 254(2) EC, regulations of the Council and of the Commission are published in the Official Journal of the European Union and enter into force on the date specified in them or, in the absence thereof, on the twentieth day following that of their publication. It is evident from the very wording of the provisions of that article that a Community regulation cannot take effect in law unless it has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (see Case C-161/06 Skoma-Lux [2007] ECR I‑10841, paragraph 33).
43. Moreover, an act adopted by a Community institution cannot be enforced against natural and legal persons in a Member State before they have the opportunity to make themselves acquainted with it by its proper publication in the Official Journal of the European Union  ( Skoma-Lux , paragraph 37).
44. In particular, the principle of legal certainly requires that Community rules enable those concerned to know precisely the extent of the obligations which are imposed on them. Individuals must be able to ascertain unequivocally what their rights and obligations are and take steps accordingly (see Case C-158/06 ROM-projecten  [2007] ECR I‑5103, paragraph 25 and the case-law cited).
45. Those principles must also be observed, and have the same consequences, where Community legislation obliges Member States, in order to implement it, to adopt measures imposing obligations on individuals. The measures adopted by the Member States to implement Community law must comply with the general principles of that law (see, to that effect, Case C-313/99 Mulligan and Others [2002] ECR I-5719, paragraphs 35 and 36, and Case C‑384/05 Piek  [2007] ECR I-289, paragraph 34). Therefore, national measures which, to implement Community legislation, impose obligations on individuals, must be published in order for the individuals to be able to ascertain those obligations (see, to that effect, Mulligan and Others , paragraphs 51 and 52).
46. Moreover, in such a situation the individuals must also have the possibility of determining the source of the national measures imposing obligations upon them, since it is in order to implement an obligation imposed by Community law that the Member States have adopted such measures.
47. That is all the more vital in the case of Community regulations since individuals must be able, if necessary, to request a national court to ascertain whether national implementing measures comply with a Community regulation (see, to that effect, Case 230/78 Eridania‑Zuccherifici nazionali and Società italiana per l’industria degli zuccheri  [1979] ECR 2749, paragraph 34). In such a situation, not only the national legislation at issue must be published but also the Community regulation which forces the Member States to take the measures imposing obligations on individuals.