Deutsches Weintor eG v Land Rheinland-Pfalz.
Date: 2012-09-06
34. In that regard it is apparent from the wording of Article 2(2)(5) of Regulation No 1924/2006 that the starting-point for the definition of a ‘health claim’ within the meaning of that regulation is the relationship that must exist between a food or one of its constituents and health. That being the case, it must be noted that that definition provides no information as to whether that relationship must be direct or indirect, or as to its intensity or duration. In those circumstances, the term ‘relationship’ must be understood in a broad sense.
45. However, it is important also to take into account the second sentence of Article 35 of the Charter, which requires that a high level of human health protection be ensured in the definition and implementation of all the European Union’s policies and activities. As is apparent from recitals 1 and 18 in the preamble to Regulation No 1924/2006, health protection is among the principal aims of that regulation.
47. It follows from this that such an assessment must be carried out in accordance with the need to reconcile the requirements of the protection of those various fundamental rights protected by the Union legal order, and striking a fair balance between them (see, to that effect, Case C-275/06 Promusicae [2008] ECR I-271, paragraphs 65 and 66).
49. In that regard, the Court has already recognised on several occasions that measures restricting the advertising of alcoholic beverages in order to combat alcohol abuse reflect public health concerns and that the protection of public health constitutes, as follows also from Article 9 TFEU, an objective of general interest justifying, where appropriate, a restriction of a fundamental freedom (see, to that effect, Case 152/78 Commission  v France [1980] ECR 2299, paragraph 17; Joined Cases C-1/90 and C-176/90 Aragonesa de Publicidad Exterior and Publivía [1991] ECR I-4151, paragraph 15; Case C-262/02 Commission  v France  [2004] ECR I-6569, paragraph 30; and Case C-429/02 Bacardi France [2004] ECR I-6613, paragraph 37).
51. However, in a case such as that in the main proceedings, even if the claim at issue can be regarded as being substantively inherently correct in that it indicates reduced acidity levels, the fact remains that it is incomplete. The claim highlights a certain quality that facilitates digestion, but is silent as to the fact that, regardless of a sound digestion, the dangers inherent in the consumption of alcoholic beverages are not in any way removed, or even limited.
54. As regards, secondly, the freedom to choose an occupation and the freedom to conduct a business, it must be borne in mind that, according to the case-law of the Court, the freedom to pursue a trade or profession, like the right to property, is not an absolute right but must be considered in relation to its social function (see, to that effect, Case C-210/03 Swedish Match  [2004] ECR I-11893, paragraph 72). Consequently, restrictions may be imposed on the exercise of those freedoms, provided that those restrictions in fact correspond to objectives of general interest pursued by the European Union and do not constitute, with regard to the aim pursued, a disproportionate and intolerable interference, impairing the very substance of those rights (Case C-22/94 Irish Farmers Association and Others  [1997] ECR I-1809, paragraph 27, and Joined Cases C-20/00 and C-64/00 Booker Aquaculture and Hydro Seafood  [2003] ECR I-7411, paragraph 68).
57. Far from prohibiting the production and marketing of alcoholic beverages, the legislation at issue merely controls, in a very clearly defined area, the associated labelling and advertising.
58. Thus, in a case such as that in the main proceedings, the prohibition at issue does not in any way affect the actual substance of the freedom to choose an occupation or of the freedom to conduct a business.