Criminal proceedings against Jean Claude Becu, Annie Verweire, Smeg NV and Adia Interim NV.
Date: 1999-09-16
21 In this regard, it must first be pointed out that it follows from the case-law of the Court that the provisions of the Treaty which, like the first paragraph of Article 6 and Articles 85 and 86, have direct effect remain directly effective and give rise for individuals to rights which the national courts must protect even in the context of Article 90 (see in particular the Merci judgment, paragraph 23, and Case C-242/95 GT-Link v DSB [1997] ECR I-4449, paragraph 57).
26 It must therefore be concluded that the employment relationship which recognised dockers have with the undertakings for which they perform dock work is characterised by the fact that they perform the work in question for and under the direction of each of those undertakings, so that they must be regarded as `workers' within the meaning of Article 48 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 39 EC), as interpreted by the case-law of the Court (see, as regards the definition of `worker', the Merci judgment, paragraph 13). Since they are, for the duration of that relationship, incorporated into the undertakings concerned and thus form an economic unit with each of them, dockers do not therefore in themselves constitute `undertakings' within the meaning of Community competition law.
27 It should be added that, even taken collectively, the recognised dockers in a port area cannot be regarded as constituting an undertaking.
28 On the one hand, it follows from the case-law of the Court that a person's status as a worker is not affected by the fact that that person, whilst being linked to an undertaking by a relationship of employment, is linked to the other workers of that undertaking by a relationship of association (see, to this effect, the Merci judgment, paragraph 13).
30 It follows from the foregoing considerations that legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings cannot fall under the prohibition laid down in Article 90(1) of the Treaty, which is applicable only to undertakings, read in conjunction with any other provision of the Treaty.
31 Nor is such legislation capable of falling under the prohibitions laid down in Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty, taken separately, which are, in themselves, concerned solely with the conduct of undertakings and not with laws or regulations adopted by Member States (see, inter alia, C-266/96 Corsica Ferries France v Gruppo Antichi Ormeggiatori del Porti di Genova and Others [1998] ECR I-3949, paragraph 35).
32 As for the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty, which lays down the general principle of the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality, it is settled case-law that it applies independently only to situations governed by Community law in respect of which the Treaty lays down no specific rule against discrimination (see, to this effect, Case C-18/93 Corsica Ferries [1994] ECR I-1783, paragraph 19, and Case C-336/96 Gilly v Directeur des Services Fiscaux du Bas-Rhin [1998] ECR I-2793, paragraph 37). That principle has been specifically applied, as regards employed persons, by Article 48 of the Treaty and, as regards the freedom to provide services, by Article 59 of the Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49 EC).