larimo/cjeu-paragraph-retrieval huggingface dataset:
Mario P. A. Reichert and others v Dresdner Bank.
Date: 1990-01-10
8 First of all, it is evident that in order to ensure that the rights and obligations arising out of the Convention for the Contracting States and for individuals concerned are as equal and as uniform as possible, an independent definition must be given in Community law to the phrase "in proceedings which have as their object rights in rem in immovable property", as has been done by the Court, with regard to other grounds of exclusive jurisdiction laid down in Article 16, in its judgment of 14 December 1977 in Case 73/77 Sanders v Van der Putte (( 1977 )) ECR 2383 - concept of "tenancies of immovable property", Article 16(1 ) - and in its judgment of 15 November 1983 in Case 288/82 Duijnstee v Goderbauer (( 1983 )) ECR 3663 - concept of "proceedings concerned with the registration or validity of patents", Article 16(4 ).
9 Secondly, as the Court has already held, Article 16 must not be given a wider interpretation than is required by its objective, since it results in depriving the parties of the choice of forum which would otherwise be theirs and, in certain cases, results in their being brought before a court which is not that of any of them ( judgment of 14 December 1977 in Sanders v Van der Putte, cited above ).
10 In that regard, it is necessary to take into consideration the fact that the essential reason for conferring exclusive jurisdiction on the courts of the Contracting State in which the property is situated is that the courts of the locus rei sitae are the best placed, for reasons of proximity, to ascertain the facts satisfactorily and to apply the rules and practices which are generally those of the State in which the property is situated ( judgments of 14 December 1977 in Sanders v Van der Putte, cited above, and of 15 January 1985 in Case 241/83 Roesler v Rottwinkel (( 1985 )) ECR 99 ).
11 In those circumstances, Article 16(1 ) must be interpreted as meaning that the exclusive jurisdiction of the Contracting State in which the property is situated does not encompass all actions concerning rights in rem in immovable property but only those which both come within the scope of the Brussels Convention and are actions which seek to determine the extent, content, ownership or possession of immovable property or the existence of other rights in rem therein and to provide the holders of those rights with the protection of the powers which attach to their interest .
12 The action paulienne, however, is based on the creditor' s personal claim against the debtor and seeks to protect whatever security he may have over the debtor' s estate . If successful, its effect is to render the transaction whereby the debtor has effected a disposition in fraud of the creditor' s rights ineffective as against the creditor alone . The hearing of such an action, moreover, does not involve the assessment of facts or the application of rules and practices of the locus rei sitae in such a way as to justify conferring jurisdiction on a court of the State in which the property is situated .
Ministère public v Guy Blanguernon.
Date: 1990-01-11
7 It must first of all be pointed out that, as the Court has consistently held, a Member State may not rely on the fact that other Member States have also failed to perform their obligations in order to justify its own failure to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty ( see, in particular, the judgment of 26 February 1976 in Case 52/75 Commission v Italy (( 1976 )) ECR 277 ). In the legal order established by the Treaty, the implementation of Community law by the Member States cannot be made subject to a condition of reciprocity . Articles 169 and 170 of the Treaty provide the appropriate remedies in cases where Member States fail to fulfil their obligations under the Treaty .
SA Nicolas Corman & Fils v Belgian State and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
Date: 1990-01-18
30 However, as was held in the judgment of 4 July 1978 in Milchfutter ( paragraph 11 ), the purpose of that reference was merely to link the payment of monetary compensatory amounts to the other operations carried out in trade with non-member countries at the frontier pursuant to the customs tariff and the agricultural rules .
Annibale Culin v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1990-02-07
15 The corrective statement of reasons in the addendum cannot be taken into account, since it was submitted after the commencement of these proceedings .
19 The Court has consistently held that although the appointing authority has wide discretion in comparing the candidates' merits and reports, especially with a view to the post to be filled, it must exercise it within the self-imposed limits contained in the notice of vacancy ( see the judgment of 30 October 1974 Grassi, cited above ).
26 As the Court has held, the annulment of an administrative act challenged by an official constitutes appropriate reparation for any non-material harm which he may have suffered, and the claim for damages serves no purpose ( see judgments of 7 October 1985 in Case 128/84 Van der Stijl v Commission (( 1985 )) ECR 3281 and of 9 July 1987 in Joined Cases 44, 77, 294 and 295/85 Hochbaum and Rawes v Commission (( 1987 )) ECR 3259 ).
27 However, in this case the reasons set out in the Commission' s reply to Mr Culin' s complaint included an unfavourable assessment of his managerial abilities which proved to be incorrect . Since that assessment was offensive in itself and was widely disseminated within the Commission, it caused the applicant clear non-material harm, independently of the decision rejecting his candidature .
Gijs van de Kolk-Douane Expéditeur BV v Inspecteur der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen.
Date: 1990-02-08
9 As the Court pointed out in its judgment of 19 November 1975 in Case 38/75 Nederlandse Spoorwegen v Inspecteur der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen (( 1975 )) ECR 1439, paragraph 25 ), the Customs Cooperation Council' s interpretation of the Nomenclature is binding on the Community when it reflects the general practice followed by the Member States, unless it is incompatible with the wording of the heading concerned or goes manifestly beyond the discretion conferred on the Customs Cooperation Council .
10 When the Customs Cooperation Council' s interpretation of the Nomenclature is not binding on the Community, or if it has not given an interpretation, the Community legislature has the power to interpret, by means of regulations and subject to review by the Court of Justice, the Nomenclature as it is to be applied by the Community .
12 Those classification criteria comply with the case-law of the Court of Justice according to which, in the interests of legal certainty and ease of verification, goods must be classified on the basis of the objective characteristics and properties of products which can be ascertained when customs clearance is obtained ( see, inter alia, the judgment of 16 December 1976 in Case 38/76 Luma v Hauptzollamt Duisburg (( 1976 )) ECR 2027, paragraph 7 ).
13 In order to apply criteria such as those set out in the note at issue, there are objective techniques of sensory analysis which have recently been developed and for which national and international standards have been laid down, for example, Standard DIN 10954 in the Federal Republic of Germany and Standard ISO 4120, which the International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, submitted to its member committees in 1982 . As the Commission has pointed out, those methods of analysis allow, in particular, the goods as presented for customs clearance to be accurately assessed for the four basic flavours - sweet, acid, salt and bitter - which can be detected, even at very low levels, by a statistically significant population .
14 It is true that in its judgment of 17 March 1983 in Case 175/82, cited above, the Court took the view that a criterion as subjective as taste may not be used to assess the seasoning of meat and that Heading 16.02 of the Common Customs Tariff must be interpreted as meaning that it also includes poultry meat to which salt and pepper have been added even if the pepper can be detected only microscopically .
15 However, it must be pointed out that that judgment was delivered in different circumstances from those in the present case; there was no provision in a regulation on the interpretation of the Common Customs Tariff and at the time of the national authorities' inspection of the goods Standard ISO 4120 had not yet been devised .
Staatssecretaris van Financiën v Shipping and Forwarding Enterprise Safe BV.
Date: 1990-02-08
7 It is clear from the wording of this provision that "supply of goods" does not refer to the transfer of ownership in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the applicable national law but covers any transfer of tangible property by one party which empowers the other party actually to dispose of it as if he were the owner of the property .
8 This view is in accordance with the purpose of the directive, which is designed inter alia to base the common system of VAT on a uniform definition of taxable transactions . This objective might be jeopardized if the preconditions for a supply of goods - which is one of the three taxable transactions - varied from one Member State to another, as do the conditions governing the transfer of ownership under civil law .
11 By referring in the second question to the four elements thus defined, the national court is in reality asking the Court to apply Article 5(1 ) of the Sixth Directive to the contract at issue in the main proceedings . Under the division of functions provided for by Article 177 of the Treaty, however, it is for the national court to apply the rules of Community law, as interpreted by the Court, to an individual case . No such application is possible without a comprehensive appraisal of the facts of the case .
13 The answer to the second question must therefore be that it is for the national court to determine in each individual case, on the basis of the facts of the case, whether there is a transfer of the right to dispose of the property as owner within the meaning of Article 5(1 ) of the Sixth Directive .
Marijke Schneemann and others v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1990-02-14
10 As regards the Commission' s contention that it has discharged its duty under Article 155 of the EEC Treaty by bringing actions based on Articles 169 and 171 of the Treaty against the Kingdom of Belgium, it must be emphasized that, in proceedings brought by officials under Article 179 of the EEC Treaty, it is not for the Court to decide whether the Commission has properly fulfilled its duty of supervision under, inter alia, Article 155 of the EEC Treaty ( see the judgment of 15 March 1984 in Case 28/83 Forcheri v Commission (( 1984 )) ECR 1425, paragraph 12 ).
Gustave Wuidart and others v Laiterie coopérative eupenoise société coopérative and others.
Date: 1990-02-21
8 As the Court stated in its judgment of 28 April 1988 in Case 61/87 Thevenot (( 1988 )) ECR 2375, paragraphs 11 and 12, those rules provide in essence that, in the context of Formula A, the levy is payable by the milk producer on the quantities of milk or milk equivalent which he has delivered to a purchaser and which for the 12 months concerned exceed a reference quantity attributed to him . On the other hand, in the context of Formula B, producers may take advantage within the 12 months concerned of individual reference quantities not used by other producers affiliated to the same dairy subject to those quantities being transferred to the national reserve of the Member State concerned in the cases provided for under the rules . Consequently, in the context of Formula B, the levy is not due when the increase in the deliveries made by an affiliated producer to a dairy is compensated for by a corresponding decrease in the deliveries of other producers affiliated to the same dairy, so that the total quantity purchased by the dairy remains within the limits of its reference quantity .
13 As the Court has consistently held, the prohibition of discrimination laid down in Article 40(3 ) of the Treaty is merely a specific enunciation of the general principle of equality which is one of the fundamental principles of Community law . That principle precludes comparable situations from being treated in a different manner unless the difference in treatment is objectively justified ( see the judgments of 25 November 1986 in Joined Cases 201 and 202/85 Klensch (( 1986 )) ECR 3477, paragraph 9, and of 17 May 1988 in Case 84/87 Erpelding (( 1988 )) ECR 2647, paragraph 29 ).
14 However, with regard to judicial review of compliance with the conditions for implementing that prohibition, it must be stated that, in matters concerning the common agricultural policy, the Community legislature has a broad discretion which corresponds to the political responsibilities imposed upon it by Articles 40 and 43 of the Treaty ( see the judgment of 11 July 1989 in Case 265/87 Schraeder (( 1989 )) ECR 2237, paragraph 22 ). More specifically, where the Community legislature is obliged, in connection with the adoption of rules, to assess their future effects, which cannot be accurately foreseen, its assessment is open to criticism only if it appears manifestly incorrect in the light of the information available to it at the time of the adoption of the rules in question .
35 However, it should be pointed out that in appraising the criteria relating to a complex economic situation, the Member States enjoy a broad power of assessment whose limits may be held to have been exceeded only where their assessment is vitiated by a manifest error . Accordingly, even if geographical and economic conditions in the different parts of the national territory are not identical, the Member States may regard the whole of their territory as a single region, unless such a decision is manifestly unsuited to the structures of the Member State in question .
Giovanni Bronzino v Kindergeldkasse.
Date: 1990-02-22
12 The purpose of Article 73 is to prevent a Member State from being able to refuse to grant family benefits on account of the fact that a member of the worker' s family resides in a Member State other than that providing the benefits . Such a refusal could deter Community workers from exercising their right to freedom of movement and would therefore constitute an obstacle to that freedom . It follows that a condition of entitlement to certain family benefits whereby a worker' s child must be registered with the employment office of the Member State providing the benefits, a condition which can be fulfilled only if the child resides within the territory of that State, comes within the scope of Article 73 and must therefore be considered to be fulfilled where the child is registered with the employment office of the Member State in which he resides .
H. Krantz GmbH & Co. v Ontvanger der Directe Belastingen and Netherlands State.
Date: 1990-03-07
9 As the Court has consistently held, initially in the judgment of 11 July 1974 in Case 8/74 Procureur du Roi v Dassonville (( 1974 )) ECR 837, all measures capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade are to be regarded as measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions .
10 It must, however, be observed that the national provision referred to by the national court applies without distinction to both domestic and imported goods, and does not seek to control trade with other Member States .
11 Furthermore, the possibility that nationals of other Member States would hesitate to sell goods on instalment terms to purchasers in the Member State concerned because such goods would be liable to seizure by the collector of taxes if the purchasers failed to discharge their Netherlands tax debts is too uncertain and indirect to warrant the conclusion that a national provision authorizing such seizure is liable to hinder trade between Member States .
André Hecq v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1990-03-07
14 It follows from the foregoing that the decision at issue is merely a measure of internal organization which does not affect the official' s position under the Staff Regulations or infringe the principle that the post to which he is assigned should correspond to his grade . According to the case-law of the Court, the administration is not obliged to state the grounds on which such a decision is based ( judgment of 17 May 1984 in Case 338/82 Albertini and Montagnani v Commission (( 1984 )) ECR 2123 ) or to give the official concerned a hearing beforehand ( judgment of 14 December 1988 in Hecq II, cited above ).
26 A decision involving the transfer of an official against his will is a measure adversely affecting the official within the meaning of Article 25 of the Staff Regulations and must therefore state the grounds on which it is based . The Court has consistently held ( see in particular the judgment of 29 October 1981 in Case 125/80 Arning v Commission (( 1981 )) ECR 2539 ) a decision contains an adequate statement of grounds if the decision which is the subject-matter of the action was taken in circumstances known to the official concerned and enables him to be aware of the scope of the decision taken in his regard .
Trend-Moden Textilhandels GmbH v Hauptzollamt Emmerich.
Date: 1990-03-07
14 It follows from the above that Regulations Nos 222/77 and 223/77 lay down the rule that the Community status of goods may be proved only by means of document T2 or document T2L, subject to specified exceptions .
15 That interpretation is borne out by Article 9 of Regulation No 222/77 which provides that where, in the cases provided for in the regulation, "the provisions of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community which relate to free movement of goods are only applied on presentation of an internal Community transit document issued to establish the Community status of the goods, the party concerned may, for any valid reason, obtain that document subsequently from the competent authorities of the Member State of departure ". That provision incorporates the Community legislature' s intention to exclude other means of proof while at the same time facilitating the task of the party concerned . A similar provision contained in Article 71 of the implementing regulation, Regulation No 223/77, provides that the document T2L may be issued retroactively .
16 That interpretation is justified by the purpose of the rules in question, which is to facilitate the transport of goods within the Community by simplifying and standardizing the formalities to be carried out when internal frontiers are crossed .
The question referred for a preliminary ruling
19 It must be pointed out in that regard that Articles 9 and 10 of the Treaty are silent as to the means of proof and the burden of proof of the Community status of goods . They leave it to secondary Community legislation to settle those matters .
20 Next, it should be recalled that the rules set out above are justified by the need to facilitate the movement of goods across the Community' s internal frontiers, which is one of the basic principles of the common market . Providing those on whom the burden of proof normally falls with a standard and simple means of proving the Community status of goods, combined with the possibility of producing such proof even after the frontier has been crossed, is consistent with that purpose and cannot therefore be regarded as contrary to Articles 9 and 10 of the EEC Treaty .
Criminal proceedings against Gérard Fauque and Others
Date: 1990-03-07
10 It should be pointed out that the Court considers that the decisive criterion for the classification of goods for customs purposes is in general to be sought in their characteristics and objective properties as defined in the wording of the relevant heading of the Common Customs Tariff and of the notes to the sections or chapters ( see the judgments of 8 December 1977 in Case 62/77 Carlsen-Verlag GmbH v Oberfinanzdirektion Koeln (( 1977 )) ECR 2343 and of 23 March 1972 in Case 36/71 Henck v Hauptzollamt Emden (( 1972 )) ECR 187 ).
GB-INNO-BM v Confédération du commerce luxembourgeois.
Date: 1990-03-07
7 That argument cannot be accepted . The Court has already held, in its judgment of 15 December 1982 in Case 286/81 Oosthoek' s Uitgeversmaatschappij (( 1982 )) ECR 4575, that legislation which restricts or prohibits certain forms of advertising and certain means of sales promotion may, although it does not directly affect trade, be such as to restrict the volume of trade because it affects marketing opportunities .
10 The Court has consistently held that in the absence of common rules relating to marketing, obstacles to the free movement of goods within the Community resulting from disparities between national laws must be accepted in so far as such rules, applicable to domestic and imported products without distinction, may be justified as being necessary in order to satisfy mandatory requirements relating inter alia to consumer protection or the fairness of commercial transactions ( see, in particular, the judgments of 20 February 1979 in Case 120/78 Rewe (( 1979 )) ECR 649, and of 26 June 1980 in Case 788/79 Gilli and Andres (( 1980 )) ECR 2071 ).
17 As the Court has held, a prohibition against importing certain products into a Member State is contrary to Article 30 where the aim of such a prohibition may be attained by appropriate labelling of the products concerned which would provide the consumer with the information he needs and enable him to make his choice in full knowledge of the facts ( judgments of 9 December 1981 in Case 193/80 Commission v Italy (( 1981 )) ECR 3019, and of 12 March 1987 in Case 178/84 Commission v Germany (( 1987 )) ECR 1227 ).
18 It follows from the foregoing that under Community law concerning consumer protection the provision of information to the consumer is considered one of the principal requirements . Thus Article 30 cannot be interpreted as meaning that national legislation which denies the consumer access to certain kinds of information may be justified by mandatory requirements concerning consumer protection .
19 In consequence, obstacles to intra-Community trade resulting from national rules of the type at issue in the main proceedings may not be justified by reasons relating to consumer protection . They thus fall under the prohibition laid down in Article 30 of the Treaty . The exceptions to the application of that provision contained in Article 36 are not applicable; indeed, no reliance was placed on them during the proceedings before the Court .