larimo/cjeu-paragraph-retrieval huggingface dataset:
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd v Council of the European Communities.
Date: 1993-10-13
9 The Court has consistently held that the division of production and sales activities within a group made up of legally distinct companies can in no way alter the fact that the group is a single economic entity which organizes in that way activities that in other cases are carried on by what is, also from a legal point of view, a single entity (Case 250/85 Brother v Council [1988] ECR 5683, paragraph 16; and in Case C-175/87 Matsushita v Council [1992] ECR I-1409, paragraph 12).
19 In that connection, it should be recalled that, as the Court has consistently held, the statement of reasons required by Article 190 of the Treaty must disclose in a clear and unequivocal fashion the reasoning followed by the Community authority which adopted the measure in question in such a way as to make the persons concerned aware of the reasons for the measure and thus enable them to defend their rights, and to enable the Court to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction (Case 203/85 Nicolet Instrument v Hauptzollamt Frankfurt am Main [1986] ECR 2049, paragraph 10; and Case 255/84 Nachi Fujikoshi v Council [1987] ECR 1861, paragraph 39).
CMC Motorradcenter GmbH v Pelin Baskiciogullari.
Date: 1993-10-13
10 In this case, the first point to note is that the obligation to provide information prior to contract, imposed by the German law of contract, applies without distinction, at least as regards products coming from the Community, to all contractual relationships covered by that law and that its purpose is not to regulate trade.
11 As regards the question whether there is a risk of obstructing the free movement of goods, it is in any event not the obligation to provide information which would cause such a risk, but the fact that certain authorized dealers of the brand in question refuse to perform services under the guarantee on motorcycles which have been the subject of parallel imports.
12 It follows that the restrictive effects which the said obligation to provide information might have on the free movement of goods are too uncertain and too indirect to warrant the conclusion that it is liable to hinder trade between Member States (see the judgment in Case C-69/88 Krantz [1990] ECR I-583).
Staatssecretaris van Financiën v A. Zinnecker.
Date: 1993-10-13
15 Consequently, the answer to the first and second questions must be that Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 is to be interpreted as meaning that a German national who is resident in Germany and who pursues an activity as a self-employed person as to approximately one half in that Member State and one half in the Netherlands, is to be deemed to fall within the scope ratione personae of the Regulation.
The third question
16 By the third question the national court essentially seeks to determine which national legislation applies to a person in the abovementioned situation.
17 It should be pointed out in that regard that Article 14a of the Regulation, which lays down special rules applicable to persons, other than mariners, who are self-employed, provides, by way of exception to Article 13(2) of the Regulation, that "a person normally self-employed in the territory of two or more Member States shall be subject to the legislation of the Member State in whose territory he resides if he pursues any part of his activity in the territory of that Member State".
18 Consequently, the answer to the third question must be that, in circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, the legislation applicable is that of the Member State in which the self-employed person is resident.
An Bord Bainne Co-operative Ltd and Compagnie Interagra SA v Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce.
Date: 1993-10-13
10 In replying to Question 1, it must first be borne in mind that the Court has consistently held that, since the concept of force majeure does not have the same scope in the various spheres of application of Community law, its meaning must be determined by reference to the legal context in which it is to operate.
11 The concept of force majeure adopted by the agricultural regulations takes into account the particular nature of the public-law relationships between traders and the national administration, as well as the objectives of those regulations. It follows from those objectives as well as from the concrete provisions of the regulations in question that the concept of force majeure is not limited to absolute impossibility but must be understood in the sense of abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances, outside the control of the trader concerned, the consequences of which, in spite of the exercise of all due care, could not have been avoided except at the cost of excessive sacrifice (see inter alia judgment in Case 11/70 Internationale Handelsgesellschaft v Einfuhr- und Vorratsstelle Getreide [1970] ECR 1125).
Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain.
Date: 1993-10-13
6 Since the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its specific obligations under the directive, no purpose is served by considering the question whether it has thereby also failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 5 of the Treaty (Case C-374/89 Commission v Belgium [1991] ECR I-367, paragraph 13).
Maurizio Balocchi v Ministero delle Finanze dello Stato.
Date: 1993-10-20
13 According to the case-law of the Court, it may indeed be in the interests of the proper administration of justice that a question should be referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling only after both sides have been heard.
16 That argument is a matter of national law and therefore cannot be accepted. The Court laid down the principle in Case 65/81 Reina v Landeskreditbank [1982] ECR 33, paragraph 7, that 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 The Court must therefore abide by the decision from a court of a Member State requesting a preliminary ruling in so far as it has not been overturned in any appeal procedures provided for by national law.
Substance
The conditions under which a system of interim payments may be lawful
25 However, in view of the fact that, in the field of VAT, taxable persons act as tax collectors for the State and in order to avoid large sums of public money accumulating in their hands during a tax period, Article 22(5) of the Sixth Directive authorizes the States to derogate from the rule that payment must be made when the return is submitted and to demand interim payment.
34 It appears from this case-law that, despite the Member States' relatively large latitude in implementing certain provisions of the Sixth Directive, individuals may effectively assert in national courts provisions of the directive which are sufficiently clear, precise and unconditional.
35 The provisions of Article 10 and Article 22(4) and (5) satisfy those criteria. As a result, they confer on individuals rights on which they may rely in national courts in order to oppose national rules which are incompatible with those provisions.
Maria Chiara Spotti v Freistaat Bayern.
Date: 1993-10-20
14 The Court has held in Case 33/88 Allué and Another v Università degli Studi di Venezia [1989] ECR 1591 that Article 48(2) of the EEC Treaty precludes the application of a provision of national law imposing a limit on the duration of the employment relationship between universities and foreign-language assistants where there is, in principle, no such limit with regard to other workers.
16 It should be pointed out, in that regard, that the conclusion of a fixed-term contract of employment with the other categories of staff referred to by the German Government, namely scientific assistants, staff with medical duties, other teaching staff performing special duties and auxiliary scientific staff, is permitted only if it can be justified on an objective ground. According to the national court, where the legal provisions fail to specify any such objective grounds, the validity of the contract of employment is dependent, in principle, upon an examination of the individual characteristics of each employment relationship to determine whether or not the time-limit is justified in the light of the principles developed by the case-law.
17 For foreign-language assistants, however, Paragraph 57b(3) of the HRG provides for the possibility that the duration of the contract of employment may be limited solely on the ground of the nature of their activity and Paragraph 27(3) of the BayHSchLG lays down that employment contracts for foreign-language assistants are always to be for a fixed period.
18 Since the great majority of foreign-language assistants are foreign nationals, this difference of treatment is such as to place them at a disadvantage by comparison with German nationals and consequently constitutes indirect discrimination, prohibited by Article 48(2) of the EEC Treaty, unless it is justified for objective reasons.
20 As the Court decided in Allué, paragraph 14, the need to ensure up-to-date instruction cannot justify the imposition of a time-limit on the employment contracts of foreign-language assistants. The danger of such assistants' losing contact with their mother tongue is slight in the light of the increase in cultural exchanges and improved communications, and in addition it is open to the universities in any event to check the level of the assistants' knowledge.
Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale v Corradina Baglieri.
Date: 1993-10-20
11 It should be observed that, as the Court has consistently held (see Case 368/87 Hartmann Troiani v Landesversicherungsanstalt Rheinprovinz [1989] ECR 1333, paragraph 15), the object of Article 9(2) of Regulation No 1408/71 is to guarantee that periods of insurance completed in different Member States are treated as equivalent so that the persons concerned can satisfy the condition of a minimum length of insurance periods where national legislation makes admission to a voluntary or optional continued insurance scheme subject to such a condition.
12 On the other hand, it is clear from the wording of Article 9(2) that it does not govern the other conditions to which the legislation of any Member State may make subject the acquisition of a right, such as the right to contribute to a national scheme of voluntary or optional continued insurance (see Hartmann Troiani, paragraph 16).
13 Accordingly, it is for the legislation of each Member State to lay down the conditions creating the right or the obligation to become affiliated to a social security scheme or to a particular branch under such a scheme, provided always that in this connection there is no discrimination between nationals of the host State and nationals of other Member States (see, in particular, Hartmann Troiani, paragraph 21).
16 That article cannot be interpreted as meaning that, in the absence of measures adopted by the Council by 31 December 1992 requiring the Member States to admit persons who have been subject to compulsory insurance in another Member State to voluntary affiliation to their social security schemes, an obligation to that effect arises automatically by reason of the expiry of that deadline.
17 Indeed, as the Advocate General points out in section 14 of his Opinion, such an obligation presupposes the harmonization of the social security legislation of the Member States and no such harmonization has been carried out as Community law stands at present.
18 Turning, lastly, to the argument concerning the allegedly more favourable treatment under Italian legislation of Italian workers who have worked in a non-member country, suffice it to observe that this is incapable of having any bearing on the interpretation of Article 9(2) of Regulation No 1408/71 and that, in any case, as Community law stands at present, there is no rule prohibiting a Member State from granting nationals who have worked in a non-member country and then returned to their country of origin, where they no longer work, more favourable treatment than nationals who have worked in another Member State and subsequently find themselves in the same situation.
Criminal proceedings against Francine Gillon, née Decoster.
Date: 1993-10-27
15 It is important to note that where, as in the main proceedings, the operation of the public network and the marketing of terminal equipment are entrusted to bodies forming part of the public administration, that cannot prevent those bodies from being classified as public undertakings. As the Court stated in connection with Commission Directive 80/723/EEC of 25 June 1980 on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings (OJ 1980 L 195, p. 35), a body carrying on economic activities of an industrial or a commercial nature does not need to have legal personality separate from that of the State in order to be regarded as a public undertaking. If it were otherwise, the effectiveness of the directive in question and its uniform application in all the Member States would be undermined (see the judgment in Case 118/85 Commission v Italy [1987] ECR 2599, paragraph 13).
17 Finally, the events material to this case took place between May and October 1989, that is to say during the period in which the time-limit set in Article 6 of Directive 88/301 expired. As regards the period prior to 1 July 1989, the question raised must be regarded as also referring to Articles 3(f), 86 and 90 of the Treaty (see the judgment in Case C-18/88 RTT v GB-Inno-BM [1991] ECR I-5941, paragraph 14).
19 In the "Terminals" judgment (Case C-202/88 France v Commission [1991] ECR I-1223, paragraph 51), the Court recognized that a system of undistorted competition, as laid down in the Treaty, can be guaranteed only if equality of opportunity is secured as between the various economic operators. The Court went on to conclude that, in order to maintain effective competition and to ensure transparency, responsibility for drawing up technical specifications, monitoring their application and granting type-approval should be entrusted to a body independent of public and private undertakings offering competing goods or services in the telecommunications sector.
20 In the GB-Inno-BM judgment (cited above, paragraph 28), the Court held that Articles 3(f), 90 and 86 of the Treaty preclude a Member State from granting to the undertaking which operates the public telecommunications network the power to lay down standards for telephone equipment and to check that economic operators meet those standards when it is itself competing with those operators on the market for that equipment.
21 In contrast to the situation in GB-Inno-BM, where those functions were carried out by the RTT, a Belgian body governed by public law, in the present case they were performed by the French Ministry for Posts and Telecommunications. As is clear from paragraphs 14 and 15 of this judgment, however, it makes no difference whether those combined functions are carried out by a body which is legally separate from the State or a Ministry.
Criminal proceedings against Annick Neny, née Taillandier.
Date: 1993-10-27
14 It is important to note that where, as in the main proceedings, the operation of the public network and the marketing of terminal equipment are entrusted to bodies forming part of the public administration, that cannot prevent those bodies from being classified as public undertakings. As the Court stated in connection with Commission Directive 80/723/EEC of 25 June 1980 on the transparency of financial relations between Member States and public undertakings (OJ 1980 L 195, p. 35), a body carrying on economic activities of an industrial or a commercial nature does not need to have legal personality separate from that of the State in order to be regarded as a public undertaking. If it were otherwise, the effectiveness of the directive in question and its uniform application in all the Member States would be undermined (see the judgment in Case 118/85 Commission v Italy [1987] ECR 2599, paragraph 13).
Muys' en De Winter's Bouw- en Aannemingsbedrijf BV v Staatssecretaris van Financiën.
Date: 1993-10-27
12 It should be held in limine that deferred payment of the purchase price of goods, in return for payment of interest, may in principle be regarded as a grant of credit which is exempt within the meaning of that provision.
13 Although the exemptions provided for in Article 13 are to be interpreted strictly (see Case 348/87 Stichting Uitvoering Financiële Acties v Staatssecretaris van Financiën [1989] ECR 1737), nevertheless, in the absence of any specification of the identity of the lender or the borrower, the expression "the granting and the negotiation of credit" is in principle sufficiently broad to include credit granted by a supplier of goods in the form of deferral of payment. Contrary to the Commission' s view, the wording of that provision in no way suggests that there is any limitation on the scope of Article 13(B)(d)(1) only to loans and credits granted by banking and financial institutions.
14 That interpretation is borne out by the objective of the common system introduced by the Sixth VAT Directive, which aims in particular to secure equal treatment for taxable persons. That principle would be disregarded if a purchaser were to be taxed on credit granted by his supplier, whereas a purchaser seeking credit from a bank or another lender received an exempted credit.
18 Under those provisions, where the supplier of goods agrees that the purchaser, in return for payment of interest, should defer payment of the price until delivery, the total value of the goods must be regarded as including that interest, even if the contract treats it as distinct from the price.
A. M. van Gemert-Derks v Nieuwe Industriële Bedrijfsvereniging.
Date: 1993-10-27
18 It is not for the Court, in the context of Article 177 of the EEC Treaty, to rule on the compatibility of a national law or national case-law with Community law. However, it does have jurisdiction to provide the national court with the guidance as to the interpretation of Community law necessary to enable it to assess that compatibility for the purpose of deciding the case before it (see, inter alia, Case C-369/89 Piageme [1991] ECR I-2971, paragraph 7).
31 The Court has held on many occasions (see, inter alia, Case C-102/88 Ruzius-Wilbrink [1989] ECR 4311, paragraph 19) that Article 4(1), considered above and in the light of the purpose and content of that directive, is sufficiently precise to be relied upon by an individual before a national court in order to have any national provision not in conformity with that article disapplied.
33 Although Article 4(1) of Directive 79/7 has the recognized effect of excluding the application of an incompatible national provision, it does not restrict the power of national courts to apply such procedures of domestic law as will safeguard the individual rights conferred by Community law.
Birds Eye Walls Ltd. v Friedel M. Roberts.
Date: 1993-11-09
12 It is common ground that the bridging pension falls within the concept of pay within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 119 of the Treaty, as defined by the Court, which comprises any other consideration, whether in cash or in kind, whether immediate or future, provided that the worker receives it, albeit indirectly, in respect of his employment from his employer (see, in particular, the judgment in Case C-262/88 Barber v Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance Group [1990] ECR 1889, paragraph 12).
17 It should be noted that the principle of equal treatment laid down by Article 119 of the Treaty, like the general principle of non-discrimination which it embodies in a specific form, presupposes that the men and women to whom it applies are in identical situations.
20 Accordingly, although until the age of 60 the financial position of a woman taking early retirement on grounds of ill health is comparable to that of a man in the same situation, neither of them as yet entitled to payment of the State pension, that is no longer the case between the ages of 60 and 65 since that is when women, unlike men, start drawing that pension. That difference as regards the objective premise, which necessarily entails that the amount of the bridging pension is not the same for men and women, cannot be considered discriminatory.
Otto BV v Postbank NV.
Date: 1993-11-10
14 The application of Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty by the national authorities is, in principle, governed by national procedural rules. Subject to the observance of Community law, and in particular its fundamental principles, it is therefore a matter for national law to define the appropriate procedural rules in order to guarantee the rights of the defence of the persons concerned. Such guarantees may differ from those which apply in Community proceedings.
Criminal proceedings against Wolf W. Meng.
Date: 1993-11-17
14 In interpreting Article 3(f), the second paragraph of Article 5 and Article 85 of the Treaty it should be noted that Article 85, read in isolation, relates only to the conduct of undertakings and does not cover measures adopted by Member States by legislation or regulations. However, the Court has consistently held that Article 85, read in conjunction with Article 5 of the Treaty, requires the Member States not to introduce or maintain in force measures, even of a legislative or regulatory nature, which may render ineffective the competition rules applicable to undertakings. By virtue of the same case-law, such is the case where a Member State requires or favours the adoption of agreements, decisions or concerted practices contrary to Article 85 or reinforces their effects or deprives its own legislation of its official character by delegating to private traders responsibility for taking economic decisions affecting the economic sphere (see Case 267/86 Van Eycke v ASPA [1988] ECR 4769, paragraph 16).
15 It must first be observed in that regard that the German rules on insurance neither require nor favour the conclusion of any unlawful agreement, decision or concerted practice by insurance intermediaries, since the prohibition which they lay down is a self-contained one.
19 That view cannot be upheld. Rules applicable to a particular branch of insurance cannot be regarded as reinforcing the effects of a pre-existing agreement, decision or concerted practice unless they simply reproduce the elements of an agreement, decision or concerted practice between economic agents in that sector.
Criminal proceedings against Ohra Schadeverzekeringen NV.
Date: 1993-11-17
10 It must be noted at the outset that Article 85 of the Treaty, read in isolation, relates only to the conduct of undertakings and does not cover legislative measures or regulations adopted by Member States. The Court has also consistently held that Article 85, read in conjunction with Article 5 of the Treaty, requires the Member States not to introduce or maintain in force measures, even of a legislative or regulatory nature, which may render ineffective the competition rules applicable to undertakings. By virtue of the same case-law, such is the case where a Member State requires or favours the adoption of agreements, decisions or concerted practices contrary to Article 85 or reinforces their effects or deprives its own legislation of its official character by delegating to private traders responsibility for taking economic decisions affecting the economic sphere (see Case 267/86 Van Eycke v ASPA [1988] ECR 4769, paragraph 16).
11 It must first be observed in that regard that the Netherlands rules on insurance agencies neither require nor favour the conclusion of any unlawful agreement, decision or concerted practice by insurance intermediaries, since the prohibition which they lay down is self-sufficient.