Eurico Italia Srl, Viazzo Srl and F & P SpA v Ente Nazionale Risi.
Date: 1994-03-03
11 It is apparent from the decisions of the Court that it may well be in the interests of the proper administration of justice for a preliminary question not to be referred until after an inter partes hearing. Nevertheless, it must be recognized that the existence of an inter partes hearing does not appear among the conditions required to implement the procedure under Article 177 of the Treaty and that it is for the national court alone to assess the need to hear the defendant before making an order for reference (see the judgment in Case C-10/92 Balocchi [1993] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 13 and 14).
13 In that regard, it is necessary to recall, as the Court held in its judgment in Case 65/81 Reina v Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg [1982] ECR 33, paragraph 7, that in view of the distribution of functions between itself and the national courts, it is not for the Court to determine whether the decision whereby a matter is brought before it was taken in accordance with the rules of national law governing the organization of the courts and their procedure.
17 In that connection, the Court must reply that it has consistently held that it is solely for the national courts before which actions are brought, and which must bear the responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the special features of each case both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable them to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which they submit to the Court. Dismissal of a request from a national court is possible where it is plainly apparent that the interpretation of Community law or the consideration of the validity of a Community rule, requested by that court, has no bearing on the real situation or on the subject-matter of the case in the main proceedings (see in particular the judgment in Case C-67/91 Asociación Española de Banca Privada and Others [1992] ECR I-4785, paragraphs 25 and 26). Such is not, however, the case in the cases at issue in the main proceedings.
19 In that connection it must be recalled that the Court has consistently held that, in the context of the application of Article 177 of the Treaty, it has no jurisdiction to decide whether a national provision is compatible with Community law. The Court may, however, extract from the wording of the questions formulated by the national court, and having regard to the facts stated by the latter, those elements which concern the interpretation of Community law for the purpose of enabling that court to resolve the legal problems before it (see the judgment in Cases C-149/91 and C-150/91 Sanders Adour et Guyomarc' h Orthez Nutrition Animale [1992] ECR I-3899, paragraph 10).
Substance
Question 1, common to the three cases
22 As to Article 5 of the Treaty, it must be borne in mind that the wording of that provision is so general that it cannot be applied independently where the situation under consideration is governed by a specific provision of the Treaty, such as the second paragraph of Article 40(3), as it is in the case at issue in the main proceedings (see judgment in Joined Cases C-78/90 to 83/90 Compagnie Commerciale de l' Ouest and Others [1992] ECR I-1847, at paragraph 19). Consequently, it is not necessary to give a ruling on the first question, in so far as it refers to Article 5 of the Treaty.