Criminal proceedings against Sandro Gallotti, Roberto Censi, Giuseppe Salmaggi, Salvatore Pasquire, Massimo Zappone, Francesco Segna and others, Cesare Cervetti, Mario Gasbarri, Isidoro Narducci and Fulvio Smaldone.
Date: 1996-09-12
7 According to the case-law of the Court, the need to provide an interpretation of Community law which will be of use to the national court makes it necessary that the national court define the factual and legislative context of the questions it is asking or, at the very least, explain the factual circumstances on which those questions are based (see, in particular, Joined Cases C-320/90, C-321/90 and C-322/90 Telemarsicabruzzo and Others [1993] ECR I-393, paragraph 6, and the order of 20 March 1996 in Case C-2/96 Sunino and Data [1996] ECR I-0000, paragraph 4).
8 Moreover, the information provided in the orders for reference serves not only to enable the Court to give helpful answers but also to enable the Governments of the Member States and other interested parties to submit observations in accordance with Article 20 of the Statute of the Court. It is the Court' s duty to ensure that the opportunity to submit observations is safeguarded, in view of the fact that, by virtue of the abovementioned provision, only the orders for reference are notified to the interested parties (see, in particular, Joined Cases 141/81, 142/81 and 143/81 Holdijk and Others [1982] ECR 1299, paragraph 6, and Sunino and Data, cited above, paragraph 5).
14 Furthermore, Directive 91/156 does not impose any specific obligations on the Member States as regards systems of controls and penalties. That does not mean, however, that national provisions which impose criminal penalties for infringements of legislation implementing the directive are incompatible with the latter. The Member States are required, within the bounds of the freedom left to them by the third paragraph of Article 189 of the EC Treaty, to choose the most appropriate forms and methods to ensure the effectiveness of directives (Case 48/75 Royer [1976] ECR 497, paragraph 75). The Court has also held that where a directive does not specifically provide any penalty for an infringement or refers for that purpose to national laws, regulations and administrative provisions, Article 5 of the Treaty requires the Member States to take all measures necessary to guarantee the application and effectiveness of Community law. For that purpose, while the choice of penalties remains within their discretion, they must ensure in particular that infringements of Community law are penalized under conditions, both procedural and substantive, which are analogous to those applicable to infringements of national law of a similar nature and importance and which, in any event, make the penalty effective, proportionate and dissuasive (C-382/92 Commission v United Kingdom [1994] ECR I-2435, paragraph 55, and C-383/92 Commission v United Kingdom [1994] ECR I-2479, paragraph 40).
16 Finally, the Court has held that Directive 91/156 was validly adopted on the basis of Article 130s of the Treaty and not Article 100a, since the main object of the harmonization provided for in Article 1 of the directive was to ensure, with a view to protecting the environment, the effective management of waste in the Community, regardless of its origin, and it had only ancillary effects on the conditions of competition and trade (C-155/91 Commission v Council [1993] ECR I-939, paragraphs 20 and 21). It is therefore incorrect to consider the specific objectives of that directive to be the proper functioning of the internal market and the abolition of disparities in the treatment of economic operators.