Verband deutscher Daihatsu-Händler eV v Daihatsu Deutschland GmbH.
Date: 1997-12-04
14 In that connection, it is sufficient to note that the legislative lacuna left by the First Directive was filled by the Fourth Council Directive 78/660/EEC of 25 July 1978 based on Article 54(3)(g) of the Treaty on the annual accounts of certain types of companies (OJ 1978 L 222, p. 11, hereinafter `the Fourth Directive').
15 The Fourth Directive, the second recital in the preamble to which expressly refers to Article 2(1)(f) of the First Directive, coordinated the national provisions concerning the presentation and content of annual accounts and annual reports, the valuation methods used therein and their publication in respect of joint-stock companies, including inter alia German limited liability companies (see the first recital in the preamble to the Fourth Directive).
19 Furthermore, the very wording of Article 54(3)(g) of the Treaty refers to the need to protect the interests of `others' generally, without distinguishing or excluding any categories falling within the ambit of that term.
20 Consequently, the term `others', as contemplated in Article 54(3)(g) of the Treaty, cannot be limited merely to creditors of the company.
22 As regards Article 6 of the First Directive, the fourth recital in the preamble shows that disclosure of annual accounts is primarily designed to provide information for third parties who do not know or cannot obtain sufficient knowledge of the company's accounting and financial situation.  Article 3 of the First Directive, which provides for the maintenance of a public register in which all documents and particulars to be disclosed must be entered, and pursuant to which copies of the annual accounts must be obtainable by any person upon application, confirms the concern to enable any interested persons to inform themselves of these matters.  That concern also finds expression in the recitals in the preamble to the Fourth Directive, which refer to the need to establish in the Community minimum equivalent legal requirements as regards the extent of the financial information that should be made available to the public by companies that are in competition with one another (see, in particular, the third recital).
24 As the Court has consistently held, a directive may not of itself impose obligations on an individual and may therefore not be relied upon as such against such a person (see, in particular, Case 152/84 Marshall I [1986] ECR 723, paragraph 48, Case C-91/92 Faccini Dori v Recreb [1994] ECR I-3325, paragraph 20, and Case C-192/94 El Corte Inglés v Blázquez Rivero [1996] ECR I-1281, paragraph 15). Consequently, there is no need to examine whether Article 6 of the First Directive is capable of having direct effect in the domestic legal order of a Member State.
25 This finding is without prejudice to the possible applicability of the principle that Community law requires Member States to make good loss and damage caused to individuals by reason of their failure to transpose a directive or their failure to do so correctly (Joined Cases C-46/93 and C-48/93 Brasserie du Pêcheur and Factortame [1996] ECR I-1029, paragraph 51, and Case C-392/93 The Queen v H.M. Treasury, ex parte British Telecommunications [1996] ECR I-1631, paragraph 39).
26 In view of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the national court's question must be that, since a directive cannot of itself impose obligations on an individual, and cannot therefore be relied upon as such against such a person, there is no need to examine whether Article 6 of the First Directive has direct effect.