Criminal proceedings against Sofia Skanavi and Konstantin Chryssanthakopoulos.
Date: 1996-02-29
18 It is therefore necessary to answer the question submitted since it is for the national court to determine both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to give judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court (see, in particular, Joined Cases C-358/93 and C-416/93 Bordessa and Others [1995] ECR I-361, paragraph 10).
The obligation to exchange a licence issued by another Member State
20 The Court has consistently held that Article 6 of the Treaty, which lays down the general principle of the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality, applies independently only to situations governed by Community law in respect of which the Treaty lays down no specific prohibition of discrimination (see, in particular, Case C-18/93 Corsica Ferries Italia v Corpo dei Piloti del Porto di Genova [1994] ECR I-1783, paragraph 19).
21 The principle of non-discrimination was implemented and specifically laid down, in relation to the right of establishment, by Article 52 of the Treaty.
22 Article 8a of the Treaty, which sets out generally the right of every citizen of the Union to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, finds specific expression in Article 52 of the Treaty. Since the facts with which the main proceedings are concerned fall within the scope of the latter provision, it is not necessary to rule on the interpretation of Article 8a.
23 So far as Article 52 is concerned, the Court has already held, at point 4 of its judgment in Case 16/78 Choquet [1978] ECR 2293, that national rules relating to the issue and mutual recognition of driving licences by the Member States exert an influence, both direct and indirect, on the exercise of the rights guaranteed by the provisions of the Treaty relating to freedom of movement for workers, to freedom of establishment and to the freedom to provide services. In view of the importance of individual means of transport, possession of a driving licence duly recognized by the host State may affect the actual pursuit by persons subject to Community law of a large number of occupations for employed or self-employed persons and, more generally, freedom of movement.
24 At point 7 of the same judgment, however, the Court also stated that, in view of the requirements of road safety, mere recognition of driving licences for the benefit of persons who elected to reside permanently within the territory of a Member State other than the State which issued a driving licence to them could not be contemplated unless the requirements for the issue of those driving licences were harmonized to a sufficient extent.
26 Those obstacles will be totally removed only upon the application, as from 1 July 1996, of Directive 91/439, Article 1(2) of which provides for mutual recognition, without any formality, of driving licences issued by Member States. Furthermore, the obligation imposed on persons taking up residence in a Member State to exchange the licence issued by another Member State for a licence of the host State constitutes in itself an obstacle to the free movement of persons, as the Council points out in the preamble to Directive 91/439.
27 However, in view of the complexity of the matter and the differences between the legislation of the Member States, the Council was empowered to achieve the necessary harmonization progressively. It was therefore quite open to the Council to allow Member States temporarily to impose an obligation to exchange licences.
34 It follows that the issue of a driving licence by a Member State in exchange for a licence issued by another Member State does not constitute the basis of the right to drive a motor vehicle in the territory of the host State, which is directly conferred by Community law, but evidence of the existence of such a right.
35 In those circumstances, the obligation to exchange driving licences which Member States may impose under the Directive is essentially a way of meeting administrative requirements.
36 In the absence of Community rules governing the matter, the Member States remain competent to impose penalties for breach of such an obligation. However, it follows from settled case-law concerning non-compliance with formalities for establishing the right of residence of an individual enjoying the protection of Community law that Member States may not impose a penalty so disproportionate to the gravity of the infringement that this becomes an obstacle to the free movement of persons; this would be especially so if the penalty consisted of imprisonment (see, in particular, Case C-265/88 Messner [1989] ECR 4209, paragraph 14). In view of the effect which the right to drive a motor vehicle has on the actual exercise of the rights relating to the free movement of persons, the same considerations must apply with regard to breach of the obligation to exchange driving licences.
37 Treating a person who has failed to have a licence exchanged as if he were a person driving without a licence, thereby causing criminal penalties, even if only financial in nature, such as those provided for in the national legislation in question in this case, to be applied, would also be disproportionate to the gravity of that infringement in view of the ensuing consequences.
38 As the national court has pointed out, a criminal conviction may have consequences for the exercise of a trade or profession by an employed or self-employed person, particularly with regard to access to certain activities or certain offices, which would constitute a further, lasting restriction on freedom of movement.
39 The answer to the second part of the question submitted by the national court must therefore be that, in view of the resultant consequences, such as may arise under the national legal system in question, Article 52 of the Treaty precludes the driving of a motor vehicle by a person who could have obtained a licence from the host State in exchange for the licence issued by another Member State but who did not make that exchange within the prescribed period from being treated as driving without a licence and thus rendered punishable by imprisonment or a fine.