larimo/cjeu-paragraph-retrieval huggingface dataset:
Société d'Informatique Service Réalisation Organisation v Ampersand Software BV.
Date: 1995-08-11
30 In Case 258/83 Brennero v Wendel [1984] ECR 3971, paragraph 15, it held that under the general scheme of the Convention and in the light of one of its principal objectives, namely to simplify procedures in the State in which enforcement is sought, that provision cannot be extended so as to enable an appeal in cassation to be lodged against a judgment other than that given on the appeal, such as a preliminary or interlocutory order requiring preliminary inquiries to be made.
31 Similarly, in Case C-183/90 van Dalfsen v van Loon [1991] ECR I-4743, paragraph 21, the Court held that since the object of the Convention is to facilitate the free movement of judgments by establishing a simple and rapid procedure in the Contracting State in which the enforcement of a foreign judgment is sought, the expression "judgment given on the appeal" in Article 37(2) of the Convention is to be understood as denoting only judgments deciding on the substance of the appeal lodged against an order for the enforcement of a judgment given in another Contracting State, to the exclusion of judgments given under Article 38.
35 Furthermore, since the effect of procedural issues is to delay the enforcement in one Contracting State of a judgment given in another Contracting State, they represent a derogation from the Convention' s object of establishing a simple and rapid machinery for the enforcement of judgments which are enforceable in the State of origin, and hence the rules relating to them must be interpreted strictly.
39 As the Advocate General has explained in point 37 of his Opinion, it follows from the case-law (see Joined Cases 9/77 and 10/77 Bavaria Fluggesellschaft and Germanair v Eurocontrol [1977] ECR 1517, paragraph 4, and Case 148/84 Deutsche Genossenschaftsbank v Brasserie du Pêcheur [1985] ECR 1981, paragraph 17), firstly, that the Convention established an enforcement procedure which constitutes an autonomous and complete system independent of the legal systems of the Contracting States and, secondly, that the principle of legal certainty in the Community legal system and the objectives of the Convention in accordance with Article 220 of the EEC Treaty, which is at its origin, require a uniform application in all Contracting States of the Convention rules and the relevant case-law of the Court.
Commission of the European Communities v Muireann Noonan.
Date: 1995-08-11
17 According to the case-law of the Court of Justice, in the context of a recruitment procedure an applicant may, in an action challenging steps in such procedure, contest the legality of earlier steps which are closely linked to them (see in particular Ley v Commission, Joined Cases 12/64 and 29/64 [1965] ECR 107, and Sergio and Others, cited above, paragraph 15). As the Court of Justice stated, in such a procedure applicants cannot be expected to bring as many actions as the number of acts which may have affected them adversely (see in particular Ley, cited above).
W. Bulthuis-Griffioen v Inspecteur der Omzetbelasting.
Date: 1995-08-11
18 It is settled case-law that the exemptions provided for in Article 13 of the Sixth Directive have their own independent meaning in Community law (see the judgment in Case 348/87 Stichting Uitvoering Financiële Acties [1989] ECR 1737, paragraph 11). That must also be true of the specific conditions laid down for those exemptions to apply and in particular of those concerning the status or identity of the economic agent performing the services covered by the exemption.
19 At paragraph 13 of the same judgment the Court held that the terms used to specify the exemptions provided for by Article 13 of the Sixth Directive are to be interpreted strictly since they constitute exceptions to the general principle that turnover tax is to be levied on all services supplied for consideration by a taxable person.
20 Certain of the exemptions mentioned in Article 13A(1) of the Sixth Directive, including the one provided for in paragraph (g) of that provision, expressly refer to the concept of "body" or "organization", whereas others do not. The position is, therefore, that in the former case the exemption may be claimed only by legal persons whereas in the latter case it may also be claimed by natural persons including traders.
Cavarzere Produzioni Industriali SpA and others v Ministero dell'Agricoltura e delle Foreste and others.
Date: 1995-08-11
21 As the GSV undertakings, ISI and the Commission observe, that follows in particular from the fact that the time-limit is intended to ensure that operators in the sugar sector will have a period of four months in which to plan their activity, since the marketing year starts on 1 July. They thus need to know, before 1 March, the production quotas they can count on, in order to conclude contracts for the purchase of beet in good time.
34 The answer to Questions 2 and 3 must therefore be that the power of manoeuvre conferred on Member States by Article 25 of Regulation No 1785/81 may be exercised at the same time as an adjustment of quotas pursuant to Article 2 of Regulation No 193/82 following a transfer of undertakings or factories, provided that the specific conditions governing the application of each of those provisions are complied with.
Question 4
Uelzena Milchwerke eG v Willi Antpöhler GmbH & Co. KG.
Date: 1995-08-11
10 The Court has consistently held that the Common Customs Tariff prefers to use criteria for classification based on the objective characteristics of products, as defined in the headings of the Common Customs Tariff and in the notes to the sections or chapters (see the judgment in Case C-35/93 Develop Dr Eisbein [1994] ECR I-2655, at paragraph 18).
12 According to the information provided by the national court, they are intended to be baked only when they reach the end-user. It follows that the dough of which they are made up is neither cooked nor pre-cooked. However, classification of a product under heading 1905 "Bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits and other bakers' wares (...)" and under subheading 1905 30 "Sweet biscuits; waffles and wafers" presupposes that the product has been cooked at least once. The short-pastry sticks in question do not therefore fall under heading 1905 30 of the combined nomenclature.
Édouard Dubois & Fils SA and Général Cargo Services SA v Garonor Exploitation SA.
Date: 1995-08-11
14 Articles 9 and 12 of the Treaty require the Member States to bear the costs of the controls and formalities carried out in connection with the movement of goods across frontiers. Thus, the Court has held that the costs occasioned by health inspections must be met by the general public which, as a whole, benefits from the free movement of Community goods (Case 87/75 Bresciani v Amministrazione delle Finanze [1976] ECR 129, paragraph 10).
15 It is, admittedly, settled law that Articles 9 and 12 of the Treaty do not apply to a charge imposed on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier if that charge constitutes consideration for a specific service actually rendered to an economic agent individually and represents a proportional payment for that service (Case 63/74 Cadsky v Istituto Nazionale per il Commercio Estero [1975] ECR 281, point 10).
17 First, it applies generally to all vehicles in international transit whose load is cleared through customs within the confines of the road station.
18 Secondly, even though completion of the customs procedures in the economic agent' s own country confers certain advantages, they are linked with the customs formalities which, regardless of where they are completed, are obligatory in all cases. Moreover, those advantages derive from the Community transit procedure which was established by Regulation (EEC) No 542/69 of the Council of 18 March 1969 (OJ, English Special Edition 1969 (I), p. 125) and Council Regulation (EEC) No 222/77 of 13 December 1976 (OJ 1976 L 38, p. 1) in order to make goods flow more freely and facilitate transport within the Community. There can therefore be no question of levying any charges for customs clearance facilities accorded in the interests of the common market (Case 132/82 Commission v Belgium [1983] ECR 1649, paragraph 13, and Case 133/82 Commission v Luxembourg [1983] ECR 1669, paragraph 14).
Groupement National des Négociants en Pommes de Terre de Belgique v ITM Belgium SA and Vocarex SA.
Date: 1995-08-11
7 In view of the wording of the preliminary question it is necessary to recall that the Court has consistently held that it does not have jurisdiction to rule on the compatibility of a national measure with Community law. However, the Court is competent to provide the national court with all criteria for the interpretation of Community law which may enable it to determine the issue of compatibility for the purposes of the decision in the case before it (see, most recently, the judgment in Case C-438/92 Rustica Semences v Finanzamt [1994] ECR I-3519, paragraph 10).
9 It is settled case-law that any measure likely to impede, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, trade between Member States constitutes a measure having an effect equivalent to a quantitative restriction on imports (judgment in Case 8/74 Dassonville [1974] ECR 837, paragraph 5).
12 It should be recalled here that trade between Member States is not likely to be impeded, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, within the meaning of the Dassonville judgment, cited above, by the application to products from other Member States of national provisions restricting or prohibiting certain selling arrangements, so long as those provisions apply to all relevant traders operating within the national territory and so long as they affect in the same manner, in law and in fact, the marketing of domestic products and of those from other Member States. Where those conditions are satisfied, the application of such rules to the sale of products from another Member State meeting the rules laid down by that State is not by nature such as to prevent their access to the market or to impede access any more than it impedes the access of domestic products. Such rules therefore fall outside the scope of Article 30 of the Treaty (see the judgments in Joined Cases C-267/91 and C-268/91 Keck and Mithouard [1993] ECR I-6097, paragraphs 16 and 17, in Case C-292/92 Huenermund and Others [1993] ECR I-6787, paragraph 21, and in Case C-412/93 Leclerc [1995] ECR I-719, paragraph 21).
G. H. E. J. Wielockx v Inspecteur der Directe Belastingen.
Date: 1995-08-11
16 Although direct taxation falls within the competence of the Member States, the latter must none the less exercise that competence consistently with Community law and therefore avoid any overt or covert discrimination by reason of nationality (Case C-279/93 Finanzamt Koeln-Altstadt v Schumacker [1995] ECR I-225, paragraphs 21 and 26).
17 It is settled law that discrimination arises through the application of different rules to comparable situations or the application of the same rule to different situations.
18 In relation to direct taxes, the situations of residents and of non-residents in a given State are not generally comparable, since there are objective differences between them from the point of view of the source of the income and the possibility of taking account of their ability to pay tax or their personal and family circumstances (Schumacker, paragraph 31 et seq.).
19 A difference in treatment between those two categories of taxpayers cannot therefore in itself be categorized as discrimination within the meaning of the Treaty.
20 However, a non-resident taxpayer, whether employed or self-employed, who receives all or almost all of his income in the State where he works is objectively in the same situation in so far as concerns income tax as a resident of that State who does the same work there. Both are taxed in that State alone and their taxable income is the same.
24 As the Advocate General observed in point 54 of his Opinion, the effect of double-taxation conventions which, like the one referred to above, follow the OECD model is that the State taxes all pensions received by residents in its territory, whatever the State in which the contributions were paid, but, conversely, waives the right to tax pensions received abroad even if they derive from contributions paid in its territory which it treated as deductible. Fiscal cohesion has not therefore been established in relation to one and the same person by a strict correlation between the deductibility of contributions and the taxation of pensions but is shifted to another level, that of the reciprocity of the rules applicable in the Contracting States.
25 Since fiscal cohesion is secured by a bilateral convention concluded with another Member State, that principle may not be invoked to justify the refusal of a deduction such as that in issue.
26 In any event, as the Commission points out in its written observations, the tax authorities may always collect all necessary information pursuant to Council Directive 77/799/EEC of 19 December 1977 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation (OJ 1977 L 336, p. 15).
Secretary of State for Social Security and Chief Adjudication Officer v Rose Graham, Mary Connell and Margaret Nicholas.
Date: 1995-08-11
11 In its judgment in Case C-328/91 Thomas and Others [1993] ECR I-1247, the Court ruled that where, pursuant to Article 7(1)(a) of Directive 79/7, a Member State prescribes different pensionable ages for men and women for the purposes of granting old-age and retirement pensions, the scope of the permitted derogation, defined by the words "possible consequences thereof for other benefits", contained in Article 7(1)(a), is limited to the forms of discrimination existing under the other benefit schemes which are necessarily and objectively linked to the difference in pensionable age.
12 That is the position where such forms of discrimination are objectively necessary in order to avoid disturbing the financial equilibrium of the social security system or to ensure coherence between the retirement pension scheme and other benefit schemes (paragraph 12 of the judgment in Thomas and Others, cited above).
Christel Schmidt v Rijksdienst voor Pensioenen.
Date: 1995-08-11
22 It should be borne in mind, as a preliminary point, that in proceedings brought under Article 177 of the Treaty the Court has no jurisdiction to apply the rules of Community law to a specific case or, consequently, to classify provisions of national law with respect to such a rule. It may, however, provide the national court with an interpretation of all relevant provisions of Community law which might be useful to it in assessing the effects of such provisions of national law (see, in particular, the judgment in Case 37/86 Van Gastel, née Coenen v Rijksdienst voor Werknemerspensioenen and Rijkskas voor Rust- en Overlevingspensioenen [1987] ECR 3589, paragraph 8).
24 The Court has consistently held that social security benefits must be regarded, irrespective of the characteristics peculiar to different national legal systems, as being of the same kind when their purpose and object as well as the basis on which they are calculated and the conditions for granting them are identical (see the judgment in Case 197/85 ONPTS v Stefanutti [1987] ECR 3855, paragraph 12). On the other hand, characteristics which are purely formal must not be considered relevant criteria for the classification of the benefits (judgment in Van Gastel, cited above, paragraph 10).
31 This conclusion cannot be invalidated by the fact that Belgian legislation notionally equates the pension granted to a divorcee with a retirement pension of an employed person by treating the years of marriage as years of insurance. According to the case-law cited above, the benefits in question must be considered independently of the characteristics peculiar to different national legal systems.
Helmut Henrichs v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1995-09-14
13 The Court considers that, as the Commission has rightly pointed out, the unilateral statement from the German delegation is not a measure within the meaning of Article 189 of the EEC Treaty or a measure producing binding legal effects (judgment in Case 60/81 IBM v Commission [1981] ECR 2639, paragraphs 9 and 10, and the order in Case 135/84 F.B. v Commission [1984] ECR 3577, paragraph 6). It is not therefore relevant to the present proceedings.
47 In that connection, it need merely be pointed out that the contested decision is based on a comparison between the benefits guaranteed by the German scheme and those guaranteed by the ordinary social insurance scheme and that the appellant had no difficulty in verifying whether that comparison was sound. Accordingly, in accordance with settled case-law of the Court of Justice, the statement of reasons provided the appellant with the information necessary to determine whether or not the decision was well founded and to enable it to be reviewed by the Court (Case 69/83 Lux v Court of Auditors [1984] ECR 2447, paragraph 36, and Case 108/88 Jaenicke Cendoya v Commission [1989] ECR 2711, paragraph 10).
65 According to the second paragraph of Article 51 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, "No appeal shall lie regarding only the amount of the costs or the party ordered to pay them".
66 All the other pleas advanced by the appellant having been rejected, the plea concerning costs must, by virtue of that provision, be rejected as inadmissible.
Ireland v Commission of the European Communities.
Date: 1995-09-14
22 In view of the essential nature of the formalities which were not complied with and of the fact that it was not possible to check that the time-limit within which the products were to be exported was observed, and in view, therefore, of the probability of losses, or even fraud, to the detriment of the Community budget, the amount disallowed by the Commission, which was limited to 2% of the expenditure involved, cannot be regarded as excessive and disproportionate. This plea must therefore also be dismissed.
Ledernes Hovedorganisation, acting for Ole Rygaard v Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, acting for Strø Mølle Akustik A/S.
Date: 1995-09-19
15 According to the Court' s case-law, it is clear from the scheme of the Directive and from the terms of Article 1(1) thereof that the Directive is intended to ensure continuity of employment relationships existing within a business, irrespective of any change of ownership. It follows that the decisive criterion for establishing whether there is a transfer for the purposes of the Directive is whether the business in question retains its identity (see, in particular, the judgment in Case 24/85 Spijkers v Benedik [1986] ECR 1119, paragraph 11).
16 According to that same judgment, in order to ascertain whether that criterion is satisfied, it is necessary to consider whether the operation of the entity in question is actually continued or resumed by the new employer, with the same or similar economic activities (Spijkers v Benedik, paragraph 12).
17 It is then necessary to consider all the facts characterizing the transaction in question, including the type of undertaking or business concerned, whether or not tangible assets, such as buildings and movable property, are transferred, the value of the intangible assets at the time of the transfer, whether or not most of the personnel are taken over by the new employer, whether or not customers are transferred and the degree of similarity between the activities carried on before and after the transfer and the period of any suspension of those activities. All those circumstances are, however, only individual factors in the overall assessment to be made and they cannot therefore be considered in isolation (Spijkers v Benedik, paragraph 13).
20 The authorities cited above presuppose that the transfer relates to a stable economic entity whose activity is not limited to performing one specific works contract.
21 That is not the case of an undertaking which transfers to another undertaking one of its building works with a view to the completion of that work. Such a transfer could come within the terms of the directive only if it included the transfer of a body of assets enabling the activities or certain activities of the transferor undertaking to be carried on in a stable way.
22 That is not so where, as in the case now referred, the transferor undertaking merely makes available to the new contractor certain workers and material for carrying out the works in question.
José Imbernon Martínez v Bundesanstalt für Arbeit.
Date: 1995-10-05
21 It must be remembered that the purpose of that provision is to prevent Member States from making entitlement to and the amount of family benefits dependent on residence of the members of the worker' s family in the Member State providing the benefits, so that Community workers may not be deterred from exercising their right to freedom of movement (see paragraph 12 of the judgment in Case C-228/88 Bronzino [1990] ECR I-531).
29 In that regard it should be noted that, as the Court stated in Schumacker (Case C-279/93 [1995] ECR I-225, paragraph 45), Council Directive 77/799/EEC of 19 December 1977 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation (OJ 1977 L 336, p. 15) provides for ways of overcoming administrative difficulties in taking into account the personal and family circumstances of non-residents.
The Queen v Licensing Authority of the Department of Health and Norgine Ltd, ex parte Scotia Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Date: 1995-10-05
17 The abridged procedure in no way relaxes the requirements of safety and efficacy which must be met by medicinal products but is merely intended to shorten the period for preparing an application for authorization by freeing the applicant from the obligation to carry out the tests specified in point (8) of the second paragraph of Article 4. However, that obligation is replaced by the obligation to demonstrate by detailed references to published scientific literature that the tests listed in the Annex to Directive 75/318 were carried out previously and showed that the constituent or constituents of the medicinal product satisfied the criteria referred to in Article 4.
22 Secondly, as the parties to the main proceedings have noted, recourse to the abridged procedure is exceptional. The documents which have to be submitted in order to make use of that procedure are seldom likely to be found in scientific literature. None the less, that fact cannot justify the competent authorities having a discretion which makes it possible for them to relax the conditions for application of that procedure. Such an interpretation would run counter to the fundamental objective of Directive 65/65, which is to safeguard public health.