Erich Stamm and Anneliese Hauser.
Date: 2008-12-22
25. It is settled case-law that questions on the interpretation of Community law referred by a national court in the factual and legislative context which that court is responsible for defining and the accuracy of which is not a matter for the Court to determine enjoy a presumption of relevance (Case C‑300/01 Salzmann  [2003] ECR I‑4899, paragraphs 29 and 31, and Joined Cases C‑222/05 to C‑225/05 van der Weerd and Others  [2007] ECR I‑4233, paragraph 22). The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law that is sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it (Joined Cases C‑94/04 and C‑202/04 Cipolla and Others  [2006] ECR I‑11421, paragraph 25, and van der Weerd and Others , paragraph 22).
39. In that regard, it is necessary to add, like the Commission, that the Agreement distinguishes self‑employed frontier workers in only one of its articles and for a specific purpose, namely in order to fix more favourable rules in their respect concerning the right of residence. Unlike other self‑employed persons referred to in Article 12 of Annex I to the Agreement, self‑employed frontier workers do not require a residence permit. It is clear that the parties to the Agreement, who conferred advantages on frontier workers, could not have intended to disadvantage them with regard to the applicability of the principle of equal treatment.
44. Second, with regard to the purpose of the Agreement, it should be pointed out that, according to Article 1(a) and (d) of the Agreement, it has inter alia the objective of according to nationals of the Member States of the European Community and the Swiss Confederation a right of establishment on a self‑employed basis as well as the same living, employment and working conditions as those accorded to nationals. As the Commission contends, that objective would be only partially attained if self‑employed frontier workers, in the exercise of their activities, could be subject to specific restrictions which do not apply to other self‑employed persons.
47. Third, concerning Chapter VI of Annex I to the Agreement, headed ‘Purchase of immovable property’, it should be pointed out that the single article in that chapter, namely Article 25, provides, in Article 25(3), that a frontier worker shall enjoy the same rights as a national as regards the purchase of immovable property for his economic activity.
48. Even though the article cited in the paragraph above does not cover agricultural leases, the contracting parties could not have intended to treat those contracts less favourably than the purchase of immovable property, which normally ensures greater enjoyment of the rights in rem  concerned.
49. In the light of all of the foregoing, the answer to the question referred must be that, pursuant to Article 15(1) of Annex I to the Agreement, a contracting party must accord to the ‘self‑employed frontier workers’, within the meaning of Article 13 of that annex, of the other contracting party no less favourable treatment as regards access to self‑employed activity and the pursuit thereof in the host State than that which is accorded by that State to its own nationals.
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