Vaselife International BV and Chrysal International BV v College voor de toelating van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen en biociden.
Date: 2019-11-14
39


Since the procedure whereby a new parallel trade permit may be obtained is not governed by Regulation No 1107/2009 and since whether it is initiated by the authorities of their own motion or on the initiative of the person concerned is, in essence, neutral in the light of the objectives of that regulation, as set out, inter alia, in recitals 8 and 9 thereof, it is for the Member States to organise that procedure in accordance with the principle of procedural autonomy, on condition, however, that that procedure is not less favourable than that governing similar domestic situations (principle of equivalence) and that it does not make it excessively difficult or impossible in practice to exercise the rights conferred by the EU legal order (principle of effectiveness) (see, to that effect, judgment of 15 March 2017, Aquino, C‑3/16, EU:C:2017:209, paragraph 48).
48


According to that case-law, where the competent authority of a Member State finds that a plant protection product imported from a Member State in which it is already covered by a marketing authorisation granted in accordance with Directive 91/414, if not identical in all respects to a product already authorised within the Member State of importation, at least,





–


shares a common origin with that product in that it has been manufactured by the same company or by an associated undertaking or under licence according to the same formulation,








–


was manufactured using the same active ingredient, and








–


also has the same effect with due regard to differences which may exist in conditions relating to agriculture, plant health and the environment, in particular climatic conditions, relevant to the use of the product,



that product must be able to benefit from the marketing authorisation already granted in the Member State of importation, unless this is precluded by considerations concerning the protection of human and animal health and of the environment (see, to that effect, judgments of 11 March 1999, British Agrochemicals, C‑100/96, EU:C:1999:129, paragraph 40, and of 21 February 2008, Commission v France, C‑201/06, EU:C:2008:104, paragraph 39).
49


It is on that basis that the Court found that, by requiring, for the purpose of granting an authorisation for the parallel import of a plant protection product that the imported product and the product already authorised in France must have a common origin, in the sense that they have been manufactured according to the same formulation by the same company or by an associated undertaking or under licence, the French Republic had not failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 28 EC (judgment of 21 February 2008, Commission v France, C‑201/06, EU:C:2008:104, paragraphs 30 and 45).
50


Thus, under Directive 91/414, plant protection products were regarded as identical if, at least, they shared a common origin in that they had been manufactured by the same company or by an associated undertaking or under licence according to the same formulation, were manufactured using the same active ingredient, and also had the same effect with due regard to differences which might exist in conditions relating to agriculture, plant health and the environment, in particular climatic conditions, relevant to the use of the product (judgment of 6 November 2014, Mac, C‑108/13, EU:C:2014:2346, paragraph 24).