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27. According to recital 7 in the preamble to Directive 95/46, the establishment and functioning of the internal market are liable to be seriously affected by differences in national rules applicable to the processing of personal data (Case C‑101/01 Lindqvist [2003] ECR I‑12971, paragraph 79).

Or, cette appréciation du Tribunal n’est entachée d’aucune erreur, puisqu’elle est fondée sur la notion de cessation d’une activité, qui implique, par elle-même, que cette activité ait été exercée antérieurement. Elle est également renforcée par l’analyse des objectifs poursuivis par le législateur de l’Union lorsqu’il a adopté le règlement n° 1698/2005 prévoyant l’aide à la retraite anticipée. Par cette mesure, comme le Tribunal l’a relevé aux points 45 à 47, 61 et 62 de l’arrêt attaqué, le législateur de l’Union a souhaité encourager la retraite anticipée en agriculture dans le but d’améliorer la viabilité des exploitations agricoles et fournir une incitation économique aux agriculteurs âgés pour qu’ils cessent leurs activités de manière anticipée et dans des circonstances où ils ne le feraient normalement pas (voir conclusions de l’avocat général Jääskinen dans l’affaire Soukupová, C‑401/11, EU:C:2012:658, points 32 et 33), le complément à la pension de retraite ou le revenu additionnel n’étant que des conséquences de l’application du règlement n° 1698/2005, comme le Tribunal l’a relevé au point 47 lu en combinaison avec le point 59 de l’arrêt attaqué.

35. It follows that Article 4(1)(c) of Directive 69/335 does not preclude a Member State from identifying the registration of an instrument recording an increase in the capital of a company as the point at which the chargeable event for capital duty occurs, provided that there remains a connection between the levying of the duty and the actual contribution of assets to the company receiving them (see, to that effect, ESTAG , paragraphs 49 and 50).

43. Accordingly, the Austrian legislation must be regarded as having existed on 31 December 1993 for the purposes of Article 57(1) EC.

32. However, the Court has held that the rights thus protected may be infringed where, even before their arrival in the territory covered by that protection, goods coming from non-member States are the subject of a commercial act directed at consumers in that territory, such as a sale, offer for sale or advertising (see, to that effect, Philips , paragraph 57 and the case-law cited).

30. La Cour a, en particulier, considéré que l’objet du litige peut s’étendre à des faits postérieurs à l’avis motivé pour autant qu’ils sont de même nature et constitutifs d’un même comportement que les faits visés par ledit avis (arrêt du 9 novembre 2006, Commission/Royaume-Uni, C‑236/05, Rec. p. I‑10819, point 12 et jurisprudence citée).

33 As the Court acknowledged in paragraph 58 of the Schindler judgment, those considerations must be taken together. They concern the protection of the recipients of the service and, more generally, of consumers, as well as the maintenance of order in society. The Court has already held that those objectives are amongst those which may be regarded as overriding reasons relating to the public interest (see Joined Cases 110/78 and 111/78 Ministère Public v Van Wesemael [1979] ECR 35, paragraph 28; Case 220/83 Commission v France [1986] ECR 3663, paragraph 20; and Case 15/78 Société Générale Alsacienne de Banque v Koestler [1978] ECR 1971, paragraph 5). However, it is still necessary, as stated in paragraph 31 of this judgment, that measures based on such grounds guarantee the achievement of the intended aims and do not go beyond that which is necessary in order to achieve them.

43. Accordingly, the Austrian legislation must be regarded as having existed on 31 December 1993 for the purposes of Article 57(1) EC.

43. It follows that, in accordance with settled case-law, the specific rules of jurisdiction provided for in Articles 13 to 15 of the Brussels Convention must give rise to a strict interpretation which cannot go beyond the cases envisaged by the Convention (see, in particular, the judgments in Bertrand , paragraph 17; Shearson Lehman Hutton , paragraphs 14 to 16; Benincasa , paragraph 13; and Mietz , paragraph 27).

82. In any event, it is clear from the order for reference that the VAT and Duties Tribunal considers that the sole purpose of the transactions at issue in the main proceedings was to obtain a tax advantage.

17 The Court has repeatedly held that the distinction between benefits excluded from the scope of Regulation No 1408/71 and those which fall within its scope is based essentially on the constituent elements of each particular benefit, in particular its purposes and the conditions on which it is granted, and not on whether a benefit is classified as a social security benefit by national legislation (see, in particular, the judgment in Case C-78/91 Hughes [1992] ECR I-4839, paragraph 14).

11 AS STATED ABOVE , THE APPLICANTS FURTHER REQUESTED THAT THE COMMUNITY BE ORDERED TO PAY INTEREST AT THE RATE OF 6% ON THE ARREARS , TO RUN FROM THE DATE ON WHICH EACH AMOUNT OF ARREARS FELL DUE TO THE DATE OF ACTUAL PAYMENT . DEFAULT INTEREST

48. Again relying on the established case-law of the Court of Justice, the General Court noted, in paragraph 47 of the order under appeal, that where the liability of the Community has its origin in a legislative measure, the limitation period does not begin until the damaging effects of that measure have arisen (see Birra Wührer and Others v Council and Commission , paragraph 10; Case C-282/05 P Holcim (Deutschland) v Commission , paragraph 29) and that, similarly, in disputes arising from individual measures, the limitation period does not begin until the damage has actually materialised (Case C-282/05 P Holcim (Deutschland) v Commission , paragraph 30; Transports Schiocchet – Excursions v Commission , paragraph 33; and Evropaïki Dynamiki v Commission , paragraph 38).

47 It must be noted, at the outset, that the Member States are obliged, under, inter alia, the principle of sincere cooperation, laid down in the first subparagraph of Article 4(3) TEU, to ensure, in their respective territory, the application of and compliance with EU law and that, under the second subparagraph of Article 4(3) TEU, the Member States are to take any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union. Moreover, under the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU, Member States are to provide remedies sufficient to ensure effective legal protection in the fields covered by EU law.

182. In so far as the question concerns successive fixed-term employment contracts, it must be pointed out that that question is the same as a question on which the Court has already given a ruling in Adeneler and Others (paragraphs 91 to 105) and that other relevant information enabling an answer to be given to that question appears in the judgments in Marrosu and Sardino (paragraphs 44 to 57) as well as Vassallo (paragraphs 33 to 42) and the order in Vassilakis and Others (paragraphs 120 to 137).

40. The TRIPS Agreement and the WPPT are such agreements.

61 Consequently, a party’s disagreement with the Opinion of the Advocate General, irrespective of the questions examined in that Opinion, cannot in itself constitute grounds justifying the reopening of the oral procedure (see judgments of 22 November 2012, E.ON Energie v Commission, C‑89/11 P, EU:C:2012:738, paragraph 62, and of 17 September 2015, Mory and Others v Commission, C‑33/14 P, EU:C:2015:609, paragraph 26).

45. Such a decision must, however, observe the principle of neutrality reiterated in paragraphs 32 to 34 above.

86. Such a condition is fulfilled where the provision relied on contains a clear and precise obligation which is not subject, in its implementation or effects, to the adoption of any subsequent measure (see Case 12/86 Demirel [1987] ECR 3719, paragraph 14; Case C‑213/03 Pêcheurs de l’étang de Berre [2004] ECR I‑7357, paragraph 39; and Air Transport Association of America and Others , paragraph 55).

55. Such a condition if fulfilled where the provision relied upon contains a clear and precise obligation which is not subject, in its implementation or effects, to the adoption of any subsequent measure (see Case 12/86 Demirel [1987] ECR 3719, paragraph 14; Case C‑213/03 Pêcheurs de l’étang de Berre [2004] ECR I‑7357, paragraph 39; and Case C‑240/09 Lesoochranárske zoskupenie [2011] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 44 and the case-law cited).

70 Whilst it is true, as the Court has consistently held, that the statement of grounds required by Article 190 of the Treaty must disclose in a clear and unequivocal fashion the reasoning followed by the Community authority which adopted the measure in question in such a way as to make the persons concerned aware of the reasons for the measure and thus enable them to defend their rights and the Court to exercise its power of review, it is not necessary for details of all relevant factual and legal aspects to be given. The question whether the statement of the grounds for a decision meets the requirements of Article 190 must be assessed with regard not only to its wording but also to its context and to all the legal rules governing the matter in question. Moreover, the degree of precision of the statement of the reasons for a decision must be weighed against practical realities and the time and technical facilities available for making the decision (see, in particular, Case C-350/88 Delacre and Others v Commission [1990] ECR I-395, paragraphs 15 and 16).

39 It follows that, where information relating to the structure or organisation of a group of undertakings forms part of the information which is essential to the opening of negotiations for the setting-up of a European Works Council or for the transnational information and consultation of employees, an undertaking within the group is required to supply the information which it possesses or is able to obtain to the internal workers' representative bodies requesting it.

54. As the Court has already observed, preventing tax evasion, avoidance and abuse is an objective recognised and encouraged by the Sixth Directive (see Joined Cases C-487/01 and C-7/02 Gemeente Leusden and Holin Groep [2004] ECR I-5337, paragraph 76). Community law cannot be relied on for abusive or fraudulent ends (see, inter alia, Case C‑367/96 Kefalas and Others [1998] ECR I-2843, paragraph 20; Case C‑373/97 Diamantis [2000] ECR I-1705, paragraph 33; and Case C‑32/03 Fini H [2005] ECR I-1599, paragraph 32).

44. On the contrary, it follows from the observations made in paragraphs 36 to 41 above that the provision of a basic cable package falls within the definition of electronic communications service and, therefore, the substantive scope of the NRF, in so far as that service includes the conveyance of signals on the cable network.

46. Furthermore, the derogations provided for in Articles 296 EC and 297 EC must, in accordance with settled case-law in respect of derogations from fundamental freedoms (see, inter alia, Case C‑503/03 Commission v Spain [2006] ECR I‑1097, paragraph 45; Case C‑490/04 Commission v Germany [2007] ECR I‑6095, paragraph 86; and Case C‑141/07 Commission v Germany [2008] ECR I‑6935, paragraph 50), be interpreted strictly.

74. Il importe de rappeler, en réponse à l’argumentation développée par Comap, que, conformément à une jurisprudence constante, lorsqu’il est établi qu’une entreprise a participé à des réunions entre entreprises concurrentes ayant un caractère anticoncurrentiel, il incombe à cette entreprise d’avancer des indices de nature à établir que sa participation était dépourvue de tout esprit anticoncurrentiel, en démontrant qu’elle avait indiqué à ses concurrents qu’elle participait à ces réunions dans une optique différente de la leur (voir, en ce sens, arrêts Aalborg Portland e.a./Commission, précité, point 81; du 25 janvier 2007, Sumitomo Metal Industries et Nippon Steel/Commission, C‑403/04 P et C‑405/04 P, Rec. p. I‑729, point 47, ainsi que Archer Daniels Midland/Commission, précité, point 119).

38 Secondly, the Court has held that the fundamental principle of the neutrality of VAT requires deduction of input VAT to be allowed if the substantive requirements are satisfied, even if the taxable persons have failed to comply with some formal conditions (see, to that effect, judgments of 21 October 2010, Nidera Handelscompagnie, C‑385/09, EU:C:2010:627, paragraph 42 and the case-law cited, and of 1 March 2012, Kopalnia Odkrywkowa Polski Trawertyn P. Granatowicz, M. Wąsiewicz, C‑280/10, EU:C:2012:107, paragraph 43). As noted in paragraph 29 above, holding an invoice showing the details mentioned in Article 226 of Directive 2006/112 is a formal condition, not a substantive condition, of the right to deduct VAT.

24. Furthermore, it emerges from recital 23 in the preamble to Directive 2003/96 that Article 14(1)(b) is based on compliance with international obligations and the maintaining of the competitive position of Community companies.

120. According to case-law, where a number of legal persons may be held personally liable for participation in an infringement of the European Union’s competition rules because they form part of a single undertaking responsible for the infringement, the Commission has the power, under Article 23(2) of Regulation No 1/2003 to impose a fine for which those persons are jointly and severally liable (see, to that effect, Commission v Siemens Österreich and Others and Siemens Transmission & Distribution and Others v Commission , paragraphs 39 to 51).

35 Consequently, it must be held that, by precluding by regulation or administrative practice on the grounds of their nationality employed or self-employed workers from other Member States and the members of their families from being attributed large-family status for the purpose of the award of special benefits for such families and from being awarded family allowances, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 48 and 52 of the EC Treaty, Article 7 of Regulation No 1612/68, Article 7 of Regulation No 1251/70, Article 7 of Directive 75/34 and Article 3 of Regulation No 1408/71.

57. However, it should be pointed out that where the grounds of a judgment of the Court of First Instance disclose an infringement of Community law but the operative part of the judgment is shown to be well founded for other legal reasons, the appeal must be dismissed (see Case C-30/91 P Lestelle v Commission [1992] ECR I-3755, paragraph 28, and Case C-210/98 P Salzgitter v Commission [2000] ECR I-5843, paragraph 58).

96. That applies all the more so in a context involving an aid scheme and a charge such as those at issue in the main proceedings, since that scheme concerns aid whose recipients operate in a market which cannot be regarded as being clearly distinct from that in which the persons liable to pay the charge also operate.

26 It is also clear from the case-law of the Court that Article 119 of the Treaty precludes the application of provisions which maintain differences of treatment between male and female workers as a result of the application of criteria not based on sex where those differences of treatment are not attributable to objective factors unrelated to sex discrimination (see, in particular, the judgment in Case C-167/97 Seymour-Smith and Perez [1999] ECR I-623, paragraph 52).

77. En conséquence, ne sont pas davantage respectées les exigences d’enquête et d’autorisation préalables définies à l’article 5 de la directive 80/68 qui, ainsi que cela a été indiqué au point 75 du présent arrêt, ne visent qu’à satisfaire à l’obligation mentionnée à l’article 3, sous b), de cette directive (arrêt du 25 octobre 2007, Commission/Irlande, C‑248/05, Rec. p. I‑9261, point 44).

26. Finally, it should be recalled that the Court, in assessing the legal status of the national bodies mentioned in Article 2(9) of Directive 89/665, which are responsible for reviewing the award of public contracts, has already confirmed the status as a ‘court or tribunal’ of a number of other national bodies that are in essence comparable to the referring body in the present case (see, inter alia, Dorsch Consult , C‑54/96, EU:C:1997:413, paragraphs 22 to 38; Köllensperger and Atzwanger , C‑103/97, EU:C:1999:52, paragraphs 16 to 25; and Bundesdruckerei , C‑549/13, EU:C:2014:2235, paragraph 22 and the case-law cited).

29 Secondly, under Paragraph 57c(5) of the HGrG, when the supervisory board finds that determinations made by a review body are unlawful, it directs that body to make a fresh determination, in conformity with the supervisory board's findings on points of law. It follows that determinations of the supervisory board are binding.

76. In this respect, the Court has had occasion to rule that the exception in the first paragraph of Article 45 EC does not extend to certain activities that are auxiliary or preparatory to the exercise of official authority (see, to that effect, Thijssen , paragraph 22; Commission v Spain , paragraph 38; Servizi Ausiliari Dottori Commercialisti , paragraph 47; Commission v Germany , paragraph 38, and Commission v Portugal , paragraph 36), or to certain activities whose exercise, although involving contacts, even regular and organic, with the administrative or judicial authorities, or indeed cooperation, even compulsory, in their functioning, leaves their discretionary and decision-making powers intact (see, to that effect, Reyners , paragraphs 51 and 53), or to certain activities which do not involve the exercise of decision-making powers (see, to that effect, Thijssen , paragraphs 21 and 22; Case C‑393/05 Commission v Austria , paragraphs 36 and 42; Commission v Germany , paragraphs 38 and 44; and Commission v Portugal , paragraphs 36 and 41), powers of constraint (see, to that effect, inter alia, Commission v Spain , paragraph 37) or powers of coercion (see, to that effect, Case C‑47/02 Anker and Others [2003] ECR I‑10447, paragraph 61, and Commission v Portugal , paragraph 44).

28. It is also apparent from case‑law that measures to prevent tax evasion or avoidance may not, in principle, derogate from the basis for charging VAT except within the limits strictly necessary for achieving that specific aim. They must have as little effect as possible on the objectives and principles of the VAT Directive and may not therefore be used in such a way that they would have the effect of undermining VAT neutrality, which is a fundamental principle of the common system of VAT established by the relevant European Union legislation (see, to that effect, Goldsmiths , paragraph 21; Case C‑566/07 Stadeco [2009] ECR I‑5295, paragraph 39 and the case-law cited: and Case C‑489/09 Vandoorne [2011] ECR I‑225, paragraph 27).

90. The definition of aid is thus more general than that of a subsidy because it includes not only positive benefits, such as subsidies themselves, but also measures which, in various forms, mitigate the charges which are normally included in the budget of an undertaking and which thus, without being subsidies in the strict sense of the word, are similar in character and have the same effect ( Steenkolenmijnen v High Authority , p. 19; Case C-387/92 Banco Exterior de España [1994] ECR I-877, paragraph 13; Ecotrade , paragraph 34; Case C-143/99 Adria-Wien Pipeline and Wietersdorfer & Peggauer Zementwerke [2001] ECR I‑8365, paragraph 38; and Case C-5/01 Belgium v Commission , paragraph 32).

60. One of the preconditions of the right to reparation is, as has been recalled in paragraph 49 above, that there must be a sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law conferring rights on individuals. Thus, with regard to the non‑contractual liability of the Community, it is necessary to assess the conduct causing the damage in order to establish the liability of a Community institution or body.

52. Here it is to be noted that Article 34 EU provides that the Council may adopt acts varying in nature and scope. Under Article 34(2)(a) EU the Council may ‘adopt common positions defining the approach of the Union to a particular matter’. A common position requires the compliance of the Member States by virtue of the principle of the duty to cooperate in good faith, which means in particular that Member States are to take all appropriate measures, whether general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of their obligations under European Union law (see Pupino , paragraph 42). Article 37 EU thus provides that the Member States are to defend the common positions ‘[w]ithin international organisations and at international conferences in which they take part’. However, a common position is not supposed to produce of itself legal effects in relation to third parties. That is why, in the system established by Title VI of the EU Treaty, only framework decisions and decisions may be the subject of an action for annulment before the Court of Justice. The Court’s jurisdiction, as defined by Article 35(1) EU, to give preliminary rulings also does not extend to common positions but is limited to rulings on the validity and interpretation of framework decisions and decisions, on the interpretation of conventions established under Title VI and on the validity and interpretation of the measures implementing them.

22 CONSEQUENTLY , THE REPLY TO THE FIRST PART OF THE QUESTION MUST BE THAT A TRAINEE TEACHER WHO , UNDER THE DIRECTION AND SUPERVISION OF THE SCHOOL AUTHORITIES , IS UNDERGOING A PERIOD OF SERVICE IN PREPARATION FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSION DURING WHICH HE PROVIDES SERVICES BY GIVING LESSONS AND RECEIVES REMUNERATION MUST BE REGARDED AS A WORKER WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 48 ( 1 ) OF THE EEC TREATY , IRRESPECTIVE OF THE LEGAL NATURE OF THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP . ON THE MEANING OF ' EMPLOYMENT IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE ' IN ARTICLE 48 ( 4 )

36. The Council emphasises that the Belarussian electoral system is able to function only as a result of sincere cooperation between high-level national officials such as Mr Ipatau. It is of the view that, as a high-level government official, Mr Ipatau was associated, within the meaning accepted by the Court in its judgment in Tay Za v Council (C‑376/10 P, EU:C:2012:138), with the Belarussian government. It follows that the Council was entitled to confine itself to mentioning that link between Mr Ipatau and the government in its statement of reasons for the decisions which it adopted. Findings of the Court

40 The same is also true of a legislative measure which could allow, without even requiring a later assessment and even where there are no specific exceptional circumstances, a project which ought to have been subject to an environmental impact assessment, by virtue of Article 2(1) of Directive 85/337, to be deemed to have been subject to such an assessment, even if such a measure were applicable only to projects in respect of which consent was no longer subject to a possibility of being directly challenged before the courts because of the expiry of the time limit for bringing proceedings laid down in national legislation (see, to that effect, judgment of 17 November 2016, Stadt Wiener Neustadt, C‑348/15, EU:C:2016:882, paragraphs 38 and 43).

42 Thus the Court has held that, with regard to decisions adopted for the purpose of ensuring observance of the competition rules, in which the Commission finds that there has been an infringement of those rules, issues directions to undertakings and imposes pecuniary penalties upon them, that the undertakings or associations of undertakings addressed by such decisions must be assured that the operative part and the statement of reasons were actually adopted by the college of Commissioners (see, to that effect, Commission v BASF and Others, cited above, paragraphs 65 to 67).

22 As the Court pointed out in its judgment in Case 84/82 (Germany v Commission [1984] ECR 1451, at paragraphs 11 and 13), the preliminary stage of the procedure for reviewing aids under Article 93(3) of the Treaty, which is intended merely to allow the Commission to form a prima facie opinion on the partial or complete conformity of the aid in question, must be distinguished from the examination under Article 93(2) of the Treaty. It is only in connection with the latter examination, which is designed to enable the Commission to be fully informed of all the facts of the case, that the Treaty imposes an obligation on the Commission to give the parties concerned notice to submit their comments.

20 As regards the first part of the question, it should be emphasized that there is no hierarchy between the provisions of Regulation No 1408/71 (as amended) on the one hand, and those of Annex VI on the other. All those provisions were adopted pursuant to Article 51 of the Treaty and must therefore be interpreted together in the light of the purpose of that article, which is to facilitate the establishment of the greatest possible freedom of movement for migrant workers, a principle which is one of the foundations of the Community (see Case 293/88 Winter-Lutzins [1990] ECR I-1623, paragraph 13, and C-282/91 De Wit [1993] ECR I-1221, paragraph 16).

39 It follows that neither the contribution of a holding to a private company in which the producer to whom the special reference quantity was granted has a share nor the fact that, under German law, the latter' s share in the company accrues to the other members following his death or withdrawal from the company nor the leasing of the holding to the potential beneficiary of the estate of the producer to whom the special reference quantity was granted can be excluded from the definition of "any similar transaction", provided that the conditions of the contract embodying the transaction in question are such that they place the potential beneficiary in a privileged position compared with that of an operator taking over a comparable holding on an arm' s length basis.

63. It must be noted in that regard that while it is true that, as regards the scope of the judicial review of the legality of a decision of an institution refusing public access to a document on the basis of one of the exceptions relating to the public interest provided for in Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001, that institution must be recognised as enjoying a wide discretion for the purpose of determining whether the disclosure of documents relating to the fields covered by those exceptions could undermine the public interest. The review by the Courts of the European Union of the legality of such a decision must therefore be limited to verifying whether the procedural rules and the duty to state reasons have been complied with, whether the facts have been accurately stated, and whether there has been a manifest error of assessment or a misuse of powers ( Sison v Council , C‑266/05 P, EU:C:2007:75, paragraph 34).

34. Contrary to the appellant’s submission, the Court of First Instance, in line with that case-law, correctly held, in paragraph 46 of the judgment under appeal, as regards the scope of the judicial review of the legality of a decision of the Council refusing public access to a document on the basis of one of the exceptions relating to the public interest provided for in Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001, that the Council must be recognised as enjoying a wide discretion for the purpose of determining whether the disclosure of documents relating to the fields covered by those exceptions could undermine the public interest. The Court of First Instance also correctly held, in paragraph 47 of the judgment under appeal, that the Community Court’s review of the legality of such a decision must therefore be limited to verifying whether the procedural rules and the duty to state reasons have been complied with, whether the facts have been accurately stated, and whether there has been a manifest error of assessment or a misuse of powers.

169 Furthermore, as is apparent from the case-law of the Court, a plea which may be regarded as amplifying a plea made previously, whether directly or by implication, in the original application must be considered admissible (Case 306/81 Verros v Parliament [1983] ECR 1755, paragraphs 9 and 10).

39. En particulier, s’agissant, en premier lieu, de la difficulté relative à l’identification des bénéficiaires des aides en cause, la Cour a déjà jugé que le fait que l’État membre en cause éprouve la nécessité de vérifier la situation individuelle de chaque entreprise concernée, en vue d’effectuer un examen préalable afin d’identifier les bénéficiaires des avantages visés par la décision de la Commission, n’est pas de nature à justifier la non-exécution de cette décision (arrêt du 5 mai 2011, Commission/Italie, C‑305/09, non encore publié au Recueil, point 37 et jurisprudence citée).

62. In the context of the procedure established by Article 234 EC providing for cooperation between national courts and the Court of Justice, and in order to provide the national court with an answer which will be of use to it and enable it to determine the case before it (C‑334/95 Krüger [1997] ECR I‑4517, paragraph 22; C‑88/99 Roquette Frères [2000] ECR I‑10465, paragraph 18, and Joined Cases C‑393/04 and C‑41/05 Air Liquide Industries Belgium [2006] ECR I‑5293, paragraph 23), it is appropriate to examine the possibilities available to the Member States for determining the terms and conditions of employment covering the matters referred to in Article 3(1), first subparagraph, (a) to (g), including minimum rates of pay, which undertakings are to guarantee workers they post in the framework of the transnational provision of services.

28 In that connection it should be stated that the applicant State has not been able to show that the Commission' s findings were inaccurate . Those findings are capable of giving rise to serious doubts as to the existence of an adequate and effective series of supervisory measures and inspection procedures as regards the conditions for the grant of premiums in the Land in question .

46. In that regard, the Court has already ruled on the meaning of ‘necessary adaptations’ in the context of acts of accession, holding that the adaptation measures provided for by such acts, as a general rule, authorise only adaptations intended to render earlier Community measures applicable in the new Member States, to the exclusion of all other amendments (see, to that effect, in relation to Article 169 of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded (OJ 1994 C 241, p. 21), Case C‑259/95 Parliament v Council [1997] ECR I‑5303, paragraphs 14 and 19; and, in respect of Article 57 of the Act of Accession, Case C‑413/04 Parliament v Council [2006] ECR I‑11221, paragraphs 31 to 38, and Case C‑414/04 Parliament v Council [2006] ECR I‑11279, paragraphs 29 to 36).

70. Moreover, as has already been stated by the Court, any assessment relating to the risk of the person concerned absconding must be based on an individual examination of that person’s case (see Sagor , C‑430/11, EU:C:2012:777, paragraph 41). Furthermore, as stated in recital 6 in the preamble to Directive 2008/115, decisions taken under the directive should be adopted on a case-by-case basis and based on objective criteria.

15. According to Article 11(A)(1)(a) of the Sixth Directive, the taxable amount within the interior of the country is, in respect of supplies of goods, everything which constitutes the consideration which has been or is to be obtained by the supplier from the purchaser. Article 11(A)(2) and (3) enumerate certain items which are to be included in the taxable amount and other items which are not to be included (Case C-126/88 Boots Company [1990] ECR I-1235, paragraph 15).

38. En ce qui concerne l’argument avancé par le Grand-Duché de Luxembourg selon lequel la pratique litigieuse vise à lutter contre les transactions frauduleuses de véhicules volés dans le cadre de la procédure d’immatriculation des véhicules, il convient de constater que cette justification a trait à la lutte contre la criminalité, laquelle peut constituer une raison impérieuse d’intérêt général susceptible de justifier une entrave à la libre circulation des marchandises (arrêt du 10 avril 2008, Commission/Portugal, C‑265/06, non encore publié au Recueil, point 38).

33. While it is true that considerations of an administrative nature cannot justify a derogation by a Member State from the rules of EU law (judgment in Terhoeve , C‑18/95, EU:C:1999:22, paragraph 45), it is also clear from the Court’s case-law that Member States cannot be denied the possibility of attaining legitimate objectives through the introduction of rules which are easily managed and supervised by the competent authorities (see judgments in Commission v Italy , C‑110/05, EU:C:2009:66, paragraph 67; in Josemans , C‑137/09, EU:C:2010:774, paragraph 82; and in Commission v Spain , C‑400/08, EU:C:2011:172, paragraph 124).

57 It should be observed that, unlike the situation in Genius Holding, in the cases in the main proceedings the risk of any loss in tax revenues has been completely eliminated in sufficient time either because the issuer of the invoice has retrieved and destroyed the invoice before its recipient used it or because, although the invoice has been used, the issuer of the invoice has settled the amount shown separately on the invoice.

34. The Court has given a wide interpretation to the words ‘reasons not related to the individual workers concerned’ used in Article 1(1) of that directive (see, to that effect, Case C‑55/02 Commission v Portugal [2004] ECR I‑9387, paragraph 49, and Joined Cases C‑187/05 to C‑190/05 Agorastoudis and Others [2006] ECR I‑7775, paragraph 28). Nevertheless, it follows from the text of that directive that the concept ‘collective redundancies’ within the meaning of that provision presupposes the existence both of an employer and of an act on his part.

249IT IS ADVISABLE THEREFORE TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER THE DOMINANT UNDERTAKING HAS MADE USE OF THE OPPORTUNITIES ARISING OUT OF ITS DOMINANT POSITION IN SUCH A WAY AS TO REAP TRADING BENEFITS WHICH IT WOULD NOT HAVE REAPED IF THERE HAD BEEN NORMAL AND SUFFICIENTLY EFFECTIVE COMPETITION .

25. With regard to the question whether the mobility component of DLA is a special benefit, the Court has stated that DLA can be considered to include a ‘social assistance’ component and that the mobility component of DLA is in the nature of a special non-contributory benefit and ‘could’ lawfully be included in the list in Annex IIa to Regulation No 1408/71, as amended, as a non-exportable benefit (see Case C‑299/05 Commission v Parliament and Council , paragraphs 67 and 74). It is in this context that the Court, which annulled the reference to DLA in the list in that annex, decided provisionally to maintain the effects of inclusion of DLA in that list as regards solely the mobility part thereof so that, within a reasonable period, appropriate measures could be taken to include it in that annex (see, to that effect, Case C‑299/05 Commission v Parliament and Council , paragraph 75). It follows, in the view of the Court, that the mobility component of DLA may be a special benefit within the meaning of Article 4(2a) of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended.

46 As regards, in the second place, national legislation such as that in force on 29 August 2014, the obligation to have carried out an activity of organising games of chance for three years in a Member State does not create an advantage for operators established in the host Member State and could be justified by a general interest objective. However, it is important that the rules in question are applied transparently to all tenderers. It should accordingly be borne in mind that the obligation of transparency, which is a corollary of the principle of equality, is essentially intended to ensure that any interested operator may take the decision to tender for contracts on the basis of all the relevant information and to preclude any risk of favouritism or arbitrariness on the part of the licensing authority. It implies that all the conditions and detailed rules of the award procedure must be drawn up in a clear, precise and unequivocal manner, so that, first, all reasonably informed tenderers exercising ordinary care can understand their exact significance and interpret them in the same way and, second, so as to circumscribe the contracting authority’s discretion and enable it to ascertain effectively whether the tenders submitted satisfy the criteria applying to the relevant procedure (judgment of 4 February 2016, Ince, C‑336/14, EU:C:2016:72, paragraph 87).

33. Further, that benefit is closely linked to the socio-economic situation in the Netherlands since it is based on the minimum wage and the standard of living in that Member State. The Court has in the past accepted that the grant of benefits closely linked with the social environment may be made subject to a condition of residence in the State of the competent institution (see, to that effect, Case 313/86 Lenoir [1988] ECR 5391, paragraph 16; Case C-20/96 Snares [1997] ECR I-6057, paragraph 42; and Case C-43/99 Leclerc and Deaconescu [2001] ECR I-4265, paragraph 32).

48. Such a danger does in fact exist if group relief is extended to the losses of non-resident subsidiaries. It is avoided by a rule which precludes relief in respect of those losses.

61. Nevertheless, it must be held that those considerations may be transposed to the Treaty provisions and to the principles which relate to public service concessions excluded from the scope of the directives on public procurement. Indeed, in the field of public procurement and public service concessions, the principle of equal treatment and the specific expressions of that principle, namely the prohibition on discrimination on grounds of nationality and Articles 43 EC and 49 EC, are to be applied in cases where a public authority entrusts the supply of economic activities to a third party. By contrast, it is not appropriate to apply the Community rules on public procurement or public service concessions in cases where a public authority performs tasks in the public interest for which it is responsible by its own administrative, technical and other means, without calling upon external entities (see, to that effect, Stadt Halle and RPL Lochau , paragraph 48).

55. As regards the argument which the German Government derives from the encouragement of recruitment, it is for the Member States to choose the measures capable of achieving the aims which they pursue in employment matters. The Court has recognised that the Member States have a broad margin of discretion in exercising that power (see Seymour-Smith and Perez , paragraph 74).

35 As to the substance of the first ground of appeal, the parts of which must be examined together, it must be recalled, as a preliminary point, that it follows from settled case-law as regards the admissibility of an action for annulment that, in order to determine whether an act may be subject to such an appeal, importance must be given to the substance of that act, the form in which an act or decision is adopted being in principle irrelevant to the right to challenge such acts (see to that effect, in particular, judgments of 22 June 2000, Netherlands v Commission, C‑147/96, EU:C:2000:335, paragraph 27, and of 17 July 2008, Athinaïki Techniki v Commission, C‑521/06 P, EU:C:2008:422, paragraph 43).

35 Consequently, it must be held that, by precluding by regulation or administrative practice on the grounds of their nationality employed or self-employed workers from other Member States and the members of their families from being attributed large-family status for the purpose of the award of special benefits for such families and from being awarded family allowances, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 48 and 52 of the EC Treaty, Article 7 of Regulation No 1612/68, Article 7 of Regulation No 1251/70, Article 7 of Directive 75/34 and Article 3 of Regulation No 1408/71.

20 At the outset, it must be recalled that the terms used to specify the exemptions covered by Article 135(1) of the VAT Directive are to be interpreted strictly, since they constitute exceptions to the general principle that VAT is to be levied on all services supplied for consideration by a taxable person (see judgment in BGŻ Leasing, C‑224/11, EU:C:2013:15, paragraph 56).

21 Whilst it is for the national court to determine whether the contract in question comes under the head of international trade or commerce and to find whether there was a practice in the branch of international trade or commere in which the parties are operating and whether they were aware or are presumed to have been aware of that practice, the Court should nevertheless indicate the objective evidence which is needed in order to make such a determination.

81 At the outset, it should be borne in mind that it is not for the Court, when ruling on questions of law in the context of an appeal, to substitute, on grounds of fairness, its own assessment for that of the General Court exercising its unlimited jurisdiction to rule on the amount of fines imposed on undertakings for infringements of EU law (see, inter alia, judgment of 22 November 2012 in E.ON Energie v Commission, C‑89/11 P, EU:C:2012:738, paragraph 125).

38. En outre, il incombe aux juridictions nationales d’examiner si les États membres, en imposant de telles conditions, n’ont pas méconnu les limites de leur pouvoir d’appréciation en respectant les principes du droit de l’Union, en particulier le principe d’égalité de traitement, lequel se traduit, en matière de TVA, par le principe de neutralité fiscale (voir, en ce sens, arrêts précités Kingscrest Associates et Montecello, point 52, ainsi que L.u.P., point 48).

54. As regards the Community and national legislation referred to in paragraphs 23 to 25 of this judgment, on which the Italian Republic relies in contending, in essence, that in the light of the Community and national legislation on safety requirements for foodstuffs and animal feed, taken overall, it is impossible to classify the materials in question as waste, it is sufficient to point out that those materials cannot as a general rule be identified with the substances and objects listed in Article 2(1) of the Directive and, accordingly, they do not fall within the exceptions to the application of the Directive provided for in that provision. It should also be pointed out there is nothing in the Directive to suggest that it does not apply to disposal or recovery operations forming part of an industrial production process where those operations do not appear to constitute a danger to human health or the environment ( Inter-Environnement Wallonie , paragraph 30).

71. The Court concluded from this that the conditions laid down for the registration of vessels must not form an obstacle to freedom of establishment within the meaning of Articles 43 EC to 48 EC ( Factortame and Others , paragraph 23).

18. The rule that national courts may not themselves determine that Community acts are invalid may have to be qualified in certain circumstances in the case of proceedings relating to an application for interim measures ( Foto-Frost , paragraph 19; see also, to that effect, Case 107/76 Hoffmann-La Roche [1977] ECR 957, paragraph 6; Joined Cases 35/82 and 36/82 Morson and Jhanjan [1982] ECR 3723, paragraph 8; Joined Cases C‑143/88 and C‑92/89 Zuckerfabrik Süderdithmarschen and Zuckerfabrik Soest [1991] ECR I‑415, paragraphs 21 and 33; and Case C‑465/93 Atlanta Fruchthandelsgesellschaft and Others (I) [1995] ECR I‑3761, paragraphs 30, 33 and 51).

18 Those considerations do not apply, however, to the hiring-out of forms of transport . Since they may easily cross frontiers, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the place of their utilization . However, in each case a practical criterion must be laid down for VAT charging . Consequently, for the hiring-out of all forms of transport, the Sixth Directive provided that the service should be deemed to be supplied not at the place where the goods hired out are used but, in conformity with the general rule, at the place where the supplier has established his business .

61. Since the infringement of Article 47 EU arises from the fact that a measure having legal effects adopted by the Union on the basis of the EU Treaty could have been adopted by the Community, it is also not relevant whether in an area such as development cooperation – which does not fall within the exclusive competence of the Community and in which, therefore, the Member States are not precluded from exercising, individually or collectively, their competences (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C-181/91 and C-248/91 Parliament v Council and Commission [1993] ECR I-3685, paragraph 16, and C-316/91 Parliament v Council [1994] ECR I-625, paragraph 26) – such a measure could have been adopted by the Member States in exercise of their competences.

39 It is therefore for the competent national courts to give full effect to the obligations under Article 325(1) and (2) TFEU and to disapply national provisions, including rules on limitation, which, in connection with proceedings concerning serious VAT infringements, prevent the application of effective and deterrent penalties to counter fraud affecting the financial interests of the Union (see, to that effect, the Taricco judgment, paragraphs 49 and 58).

182. In so far as the question concerns successive fixed-term employment contracts, it must be pointed out that that question is the same as a question on which the Court has already given a ruling in Adeneler and Others (paragraphs 91 to 105) and that other relevant information enabling an answer to be given to that question appears in the judgments in Marrosu and Sardino (paragraphs 44 to 57) as well as Vassallo (paragraphs 33 to 42) and the order in Vassilakis and Others (paragraphs 120 to 137).

58. That plea, on the same grounds as those adopted by the General Court, must be rejected as unfounded.

57. In the context of the procedure laid down by Article 267 TFEU providing for cooperation between national courts and the Court of Justice, it is for the latter to provide the national court with an answer which will be of use to it and enable it to determine the case before it. In that light, the Court may have to reformulate the questions referred to it (see, inter alia, Case C-334/95 Krüger [1997] ECR I-4517, paragraphs 22 and 23, and Case C-243/09 Fuß [2010] ECR I-9849, paragraph 39 and case-law cited).

13 As the recitals in its preamble indicate, the Directive aims at encouraging the free movement of capital which is regarded as essential for the creation of an economic union whose characteristics are similar to those of a domestic market. As far as concerns taxes on the raising of capital, the pursuit of such an objective presupposes the abolition of indirect taxes in force in the Member States until then and imposing in place of them a duty charged only once in the common market and at the same level in all the Member States.

17 It should be noted at the outset that, as the Court has consistently held, provisions relating to charges having equivalent effect and those relating to discriminatory internal taxation cannot be applied together, with the result that, under the system established by the Treaty, the same charge cannot belong to both categories at the same time (see, inter alia, Case C-347/95 UCAL [1997] ECR I-4911, paragraph 17, and Case C-213/96 Outokumpu [1998] ECR I-1777, paragraph 19).

16 It is in return for the unemployed persons' retention of their rights to benefit for quite a long period while not remaining available to the Belgian employment services that they are required, under Article 69(4 ), to be employed again for at least three months in order to requalify for benefit when they return to Belgium .

14 It should be noted in that regard that, in referring to the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice (judgment in Joined Cases 89/86 and 91/86 Étoile Commerciale and CNTA v Commission [1987] ECR 3005, paragraph 11) and to the actual wording of Article 8(1) of Regulation No 729/70, the Court of First Instance pointed out, in paragraph 26 of the contested order, that, according to the institutional system of the Community and the rules governing relations between the Community and the Member States, it is for the latter, in the absence of any contrary provision of Community law, to ensure that Community regulations, particularly those concerning the common agricultural policy, are implemented within their territory.

22 By its first question, the national court is essentially asking whether Articles 4 and 10 of the Sixth Directive preclude a national practice which, in the case of transactions subject to VAT effected by a company before it was registered for VAT, consists in fixing the starting-point of the limitation period for recovery of that tax at the 20th of the month following the quarter in which that registration took place.

16. The purpose of the pre-litigation procedure laid down in Article 226 EC is to give the Member State concerned an opportunity to comply with its obligations under Community law or to avail itself of its right to defend itself against the complaints made by the Commission (judgment in Case 293/85 Commission v Belgium [1988] ECR 305, paragraph 13; order in Commission v Spain , cited above, paragraph 16, and judgment in Case C-1/00 Commission v France [2001] ECR I-9989, paragraph 53).

27. Admittedly, as DBI states, the registered dealer is, in such a case, the person responsible for payment of the registration duty to the competent tax authorities. The fact remains that, as regards that duty, the person liable for payment is the purchaser of the vehicle, as is shown by the fact that the dealer subsequently passes on to that purchaser the amount of the duty he has paid.

55 In particular, the Court observed that national legislation such as Article L.621-1 of Ceseda in the version prior to its amendment by the Law of 31 December 2012, which that judgment concerned and which provided for a term of imprisonment for any third-country national ‘who has entered or resided in France without [holding the documents and visas required for entry and, in the event of a stay exceeding three months, a residence permit,] or who has remained in France beyond the period authorised by his visa’, is capable of leading to imprisonment whereas, following the common standards and procedures set out in Articles 6, 8, 15 and 16 of Directive 2008/115, such a third-country national must be made the subject matter of a return procedure and may, as regards deprivation of liberty, at the very most be ordered to be detained (see judgment of 6 December 2011 in Achughbabian, C‑329/11, EU:C:2011:807, paragraphs 10, 11, 14 and 38).

36. In this regard, the Court has already held that the requirement to have a minimum share capital, imposed on private security undertakings, infringed Articles 43 EC and 49 EC ( Commission v Portugal , paragraphs 53 to 57). The justifications put forward by the Spanish Government, especially the particular terrorist threat existing in Spain, have no direct connection with the amount of the share capital of the undertaking and do not explain the restrictions placed on freedom to provide services and freedom of establishment.

59. Therefore, EU law does not require a national court to disapply domestic rules of procedure conferring finality on a judgment, even if to do so would make it possible to remedy a domestic situation which is incompatible with EU law (see, to that effect, the judgments in Eco Swiss , C‑126/97, EU:C:1999:269, paragraphs 46 and 47; Kapferer , EU:C:2006:178, paragraphs 20 and 21; Fallimento Olimpiclub , EU:C:2009:506, paragraphs 22 and 23; Asturcom Telecomunicaciones , C‑40/08, EU:C:2009:615, paragraphs 35 to 37; and Commission v Slovakia , C‑507/08, EU:C:2010:802, paragraphs 59 and 60).

39. Preventive monitoring of this kind would thus require active observation of all electronic communications conducted on the network of the ISP concerned and, consequently, would encompass all information to be transmitted and all customers using that network.

14 In this respect, the overriding reasons relating to the public interest which the Court has already recognized include professional rules intended to protect recipients of the service (Joined Cases 110/78 and 111/78 Van Wesemael [1979] ECR 35, paragraph 28); protection of intellectual property (Case 62/79 Coditel [1980] ECR 881); the protection of workers (Case 279/80 Webb [1981] ECR 3305, paragraph 19; Joined Cases 62/81 and 63/81 Seco v EVI [1982] ECR 223, paragraph 14; Case C-113/89 Rush Portuguesa [1990] ECR I-1417, paragraph 18); consumer protection (Case 220/83 Commission v France [1986] ECR 3663, paragraph 20; Case 252/83 Commission v Denmark [1986] ECR 3713, paragraph 20; Case 205/84 Commission v Germany [1986] ECR 3755, paragraph 30; Case 206/84 Commission v Ireland [1986] ECR 3817, paragraph 20; Commission v Italy, cited above, paragraph 20; and Commission v Greece, cited above, paragraph 21), the conservation of the national historic and artistic heritage (Commission v Italy, cited above, paragraph 20); turning to account the archaeological, historical and artistic heritage of a country and the widest possible dissemination of knowledge of the artistic and cultural heritage of a country (Commission v France, cited above, paragraph 17, and Commission v Greece, cited above, paragraph 21).

20 IN ITS JUDGMENT DELIVERED THIS DAY IN CASE 205/84 COMMISSION V FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY ( 1986 ) ECR 3793 , THE COURT HELD THAT IN THE INSURANCE SECTOR IN GENERAL THERE WERE IMPERATIVE REASONS RELATING TO THE PROTECTION OF THE CONSUMER BOTH AS A POLICY-HOLDER AND AS AN INSURED PERSON WHICH MIGHT JUSTIFY RESTRICTIONS ON THE FREEDOM TO PROVIDE SERVICES . THE COURT ALSO RECOGNIZED THAT IN THE PRESENT STATE OF COMMUNITY LAW , IN PARTICULAR WITH REGARD TO THE COORDINATION OF THE RELEVANT NATIONAL RULES , THE PROTECTION OF THAT INTEREST WAS NOT NECESSARILY GUARANTEED BY THE RULES OF THE STATE OF ESTABLISHMENT . THE COURT CONCLUDED THEREFROM THAT , AS REGARDS THE FIELD OF DIRECT INSURANCE IN GENERAL , THE REQUIREMENT OF A SEPARATE AUTHORIZATION GRANTED BY THE AUTHORITIES OF THE STATE IN WHICH THE SERVICE WAS PROVIDED REMAINED JUSTIFIED SUBJECT TO CERTAIN CONDITIONS . ON THE OTHER HAND , THE COURT CONSIDERED THAT THE REQUIREMENT OF AN ESTABLISHMENT , WHICH REPRESENTED THE VERY NEGATION OF THE FREEDOM TO PROVIDE SERVICES , EXCEEDED WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO ATTAIN THE OBJECTIVE PURSUED AND THAT , ACCORDINGLY , THAT REQUIREMENT WAS CONTRARY TO ARTICLES 59 AND 60 OF THE TREATY .

31. In pursuance of those rules, the right to the freedom to provide services may be relied on by an undertaking against the Member State in which it is established where the services are provided to recipients established in another Member State and, more generally, whenever a provider of services offers services in a Member State other than the one in which he is established (see, inter alia, Case C-381/93 Commission v France [1994] ECR I‑5145, paragraph 14, and ITC , paragraph 56).

14 In pursuance of those rules the freedom to provide services may be relied on not only by nationals of Member States established in a Member State other than that of the recipient of the services but also by an undertaking against the State in which it is established where the services are provided to recipients established in another Member State (see judgment in Case C-18/93 Corsica Ferries Italia [1994] ECR I-0000, paragraph 30, and more generally whenever a provider of services offers services in a Member State other than the one in which he is established (see judgment in Case C-154/89 Commission v France [1991] ECR I-659, paragraphs 9 and 10, and the abovementioned Peralta judgment, at paragraph 41).

30. It is settled case-law that, in the interests of legal certainty and ease of verification, the decisive criterion for the classification of goods for customs purposes is in general to be found in their objective characteristics and properties as defined in the wording of the relevant heading of the CN and of the section or chapter notes (see, in particular, Case C-339/98 Peacock [2000] ECR I-8947, paragraph 9; Case C-396/02 DFDS [2004] ECR I-8439, paragraph 27; Case C-495/03 Intermodal Transports [2005] ECR I-8151, paragraph 47; and Case C-142/06 Olicom [2007] ECR I-6675, paragraph 16).

35 Consequently, it must be held that, by precluding by regulation or administrative practice on the grounds of their nationality employed or self-employed workers from other Member States and the members of their families from being attributed large-family status for the purpose of the award of special benefits for such families and from being awarded family allowances, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 48 and 52 of the EC Treaty, Article 7 of Regulation No 1612/68, Article 7 of Regulation No 1251/70, Article 7 of Directive 75/34 and Article 3 of Regulation No 1408/71.

34 Whilst Article 85(1) of the Treaty does not restrict such an assessment to actual effects alone, in so far as it must also take account of the agreement's potential effects on competition within the common market, an agreement will nevertheless fall outside the prohibition in Article 85 if it has only an insignificant effect on the market (Case C-7/95 P Deere v Commission, cited above, paragraph 76, and Case C-8/95 P New Holland Ford v Commission, cited above, paragraph 91).

51 In that regard, it is important to note that, as the Commission rightly pointed out, Article 22(1) of the Sixth Directive imposes only the obligation for taxable persons to state when their activity commences, changes or ceases, but in no way authorises Member States, in the event of such a declaration not being submitted, to defer the exercise of the right to deduct until the time at which taxable transactions actually begin to be carried out on a regular basis or to deprive the taxable person of the exercise of that right.

79. Such a legitimate reason exists, inter alia, when the advertiser’s use of a sign identical with, or similar to, a trade mark seriously damages the reputation of that mark ( Parfums Christian Dior , paragraph 46, and BMW , paragraph 49).

51. Il y a lieu, à titre liminaire, de rappeler que la suppression d’une aide illégale par voie de récupération est la conséquence logique de la constatation de son illégalité et que cette conséquence ne saurait dépendre de la forme dans laquelle l’aide a été octroyée (arrêt Commission/Italie, C‑411/12, EU:C:2013:832, point 25 et jurisprudence citée).

28. The assessments made in the statement of objections provided for under Community rules are intended to define the scope of the administrative procedure vis-à-vis the undertakings in respect of which it was initiated (see, in particular, Joined Cases 142/84 and 156/84 British American Tobacco and Reynolds Industries v Commission [1987] ECR 4487, paragraph 70). To that end, the statement of objections must set forth clearly all the essential facts upon which the Commission is relying at that stage of the procedure. It has consistently been held that that may be done summarily, since the statement of objections is a preparatory document containing assessments of fact and of law which are purely provisional in nature (see, in particular, Joined Cases 100/80 to 103/80 Musique Diffusion française and Others v Commission [1983] ECR 1825, paragraph 14, and Joined Cases C‑204/00 P, C‑205/00 P, C‑211/00 P, C‑213/00 P, C‑217/00 P and C‑219/00 P Aalborg Portland and Others v Commission [2004] ECR I‑123, paragraph 67).

52. Ladite réglementation est ainsi susceptible de dissuader les ressortissants dudit État membre d’exercer leur droit à la liberté d’établissement en exerçant une activité économique dans un autre État membre tout en continuant à résider dans le premier État (voir, notamment, arrêts du 13 avril 2000, Baars, C‑251/98, Rec. p. I‑2787, points 28 et 29, ainsi que du 19 novembre 2009, Filipiak, C‑314/08, Rec. p. I‑11049, point 60).

45 In the absence of harmonisation at Community level, it is therefore for the legislation of each Member State to determine, first, the conditions concerning the right or duty to be insured with a social security scheme (Case 110/79 Coonan [1980] ECR 1445, paragraph 12, Case C-349/87 Paraschi [1991] ECR I-4501, paragraph 15, and Kohll, paragraph 18) and, second, the conditions for entitlement to benefits (Joined Cases C-4/95 and C-5/95 Stöber and Piosa Pereira [1997] ECR I-511, paragraph 36, and Kohll, paragraph 18).

39 The advertiser uses the BMW mark to identify the source of the goods in respect of which the services are supplied, and thus to distinguish those goods from any others in respect of which the same services might have been provided. If the use of the trade mark in advertisements for the service which consists of selling second-hand BMW cars is undoubtedly intended to distinguish the subject of the services provided, it is not necessary to treat any differently the advertisements for the service consisting of repair and maintenance of BMW cars. In that case, too, the mark is used to identify the source of the goods which are the subject of the service.

53. Even if the Commission could, under the procedure laid down in Article 226 EC, have taken action against the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the basis of other provisions of Community law in respect of the system for issuing new fishing licences, as the Advocate General observed in point 45 of her Opinion, it is common ground that the breach of such provisions does not constitute the subject-matter of the failure to fulfil obligations complained of (see Case C‑6/04 Commission v United Kingdom [2005] ECR I‑9017, paragraphs 58 to 60, and Case C‑225/04 Commission v France [2006] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 24).

13. As stated in the second paragraph of Article 1, the objective of Directive 91/271 is to protect the environment from the adverse effects of urban waste water discharges.

51 It must, however, also be borne in mind that, according to settled case-law, a mere similarity in the wording of a provision of one of the Treaties establishing the Communities and of an international agreement between the Community and a non-member country is not sufficient to give to the wording of that agreement the same meaning as it has in the Treaties (see Case 270/80 Polydor and RSO Records [1982] ECR 329, paragraphs 14 to 21; Case 104/81 Kupferberg [1982] ECR 3641, paragraphs 29 to 31; Case C-312/91 Metalsa [1993] ECR I-3751, paragraphs 11 to 20).

69 However, it does follow from Article 3(1)(b) and the fourth recital of the Directive that the essential characteristic of a waste recovery operation is that its principal objective is that the waste serve a useful purpose in replacing other materials which would have had to be used for that purpose, thereby conserving natural resources.

13. It must be pointed out directly that although the French version of Article 57 suggests that adaptations thereunder must be made prior to accession – ‘avant l’adhésion’ – that temporal restriction is not in fact, as is clear from the other language versions of that provision, placed on recourse to Article 57 but on the date of the acts to be amended (see, to that effect, in respect of the identical provision in the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded (OJ 1994 C 241, p. 21, hereinafter ‘the 1994 Act of Accession’), Case C‑259/95 Parliament v Council [1997] ECR I‑5303, paragraphs 12 to 22).

79. It is common ground that it is for national authorities to consider whether, in the context of the aim pursued, it is necessary to prohibit activities of that kind, totally or partially, or only to restrict them and to lay down more or less rigorous procedures for controlling them ( Läärä and Others , cited above, paragraph 35, and Zenatti , cited above, paragraph 33).

34. Moreover, if there is no possibility of comparing the situation of a public authority with that of a private undertaking, ‘normal market conditions’ must be assessed by reference to the objective and verifiable elements which are available (judgments in Chronopost and Others v Ufex and Others , C‑83/01 P, C‑93/01 P and C‑94/01 P, EU:C:2003:388, paragraph 38, and Commission v EDF , EU:C:2012:318, paragraphs 101 and 102).

9 THE CHARGE THAT MIGRANT WORKERS OBTAIN AN ADVANTAGE OVER WORKERS WHO HAVE NEVER LEFT THEIR OWN COUNTRY CANNOT BE ACCEPTED , SINCE NO DISCRIMINATION CAN ARISE IN LEGAL SITUATIONS WHICH ARE NOT COMPARABLE .

32. Although the national court has formally limited its question to the interpretation of Article 1 of Directive 83/183, that does not preclude the Court from providing the national court with all those elements for the interpretation of Community law which may be of assistance in adjudicating on the case pending before it, whether or not that court has specifically referred to them in its question (see, to that effect, Case C-241/89 SARPP [1990] ECR I-4695, paragraph 8; Case C-315/92 Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb (‘Clinique’) [1994] ECR I-317, paragraph 7; Case C-87/97 Consorzio per la tutela del formaggio Gorgonzola [1999] ECR I-1301, paragraph 16; and Weigel , paragraph 44).

39. It must be borne in mind that the transfer of 49% of the shares in AbfallgmbH took place shortly after that company was made responsible, exclusively and for an unlimited period, for the collection and treatment of the town of Mödling’s waste. Furthermore, AbfallgmbH became operational only after Saubermacher AG took over some of its shares.

28 It is apparent from that case-law, first, that the concept of ‘matters relating to a contract’, within the meaning of Article 5(1) of Regulation No 44/2001, must be interpreted autonomously in order to ensure that that concept is applied uniformly in all Member States and, secondly, that, in order to come within the scope of that concept, the claimant’s action must place in issue a legal obligation freely consented to by one person towards another (see, to that effect, judgments of 14 March 2013, Česká spořitelna, C‑419/11, EU:C:2013:165, paragraphs 45 to 47, and of 28 January 2015, Kolassa, C‑375/13, EU:C:2015:37, paragraphs 37 and 39).

39. However, although Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation No 44/2001 does not require the conclusion of a contract, it is nevertheless essential, for that provision to apply, that an obligation be identified, since the jurisdiction of the national court under that provision is determined by the place of performance of the obligation in question. Thus, the application of the rule of special jurisdiction provided for matters relating to a contract in Article 5(1)(a) presupposes the establishment of a legal obligation freely consented to by one person towards another and on which the claimant’s action is based (see the judgment in Česká spořitelna , EU:C:2013:165, paragraphs 46 and 47).

14 In the second place, as to the existence of exclusive rights, it should be stated first that with regard to the interpretation of Article 86 of the Treaty the Court has consistently held that an undertaking having a statutory monopoly over a substantial part of the common market may be regarded as having a dominant position within the meaning of Article 86 of the Treaty (see the judgments in Case C-41/90 Hoefner and Elser v Macrotron [1991] ECR I-1979, paragraph 28; Case C-260/89 ERT v DEP [1991] ECR I-2925, paragraph 31).

25. Where, on more detailed examination, it appears to the customs authorities that that interpretation is wrong, following an error of assessment or evolution in the thinking in relation to tariff classification, they are entitled to consider that one of the conditions laid down for the issue of a BTI is no longer fulfilled and to revoke that BTI with a view to amending the tariff classification of the goods concerned.

73. However, according to settled case-law, such compatibility would exist only to the extent that, in particular, the national legislation concerned does not place the worker at a disadvantage compared to those who pursue all their activities in the Member State where it applies and does not purely and simply result in the payment of social security contributions on which there is no return (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C‑393/99 and C‑394/99 Hervein and Others [2002] ECR I‑2829, paragraph 51; Case C‑493/04 Piatkowski [2006] ECR I‑2369, paragraph 34; Case C‑3/08 Leyman [2009] ECR I‑9085, paragraph 45; and van Delft and Others , paragraph 101).

51 Accordingly, the Treaty offers no guarantee to a worker that extending his activities into more than one Member State or transferring them to another Member State will be neutral as regards social security. Given the disparities in the social security legislation of the Member States, such an extension or transfer may be to the worker's advantage in terms of social security or not, according to circumstance. It follows that, in principle, any disadvantage, by comparison with the situation of a worker who pursues all his activities in one Member State, resulting from the extension or transfer of his activities into or to one or more other Member States and from his being subject to additional social security legislation is not contrary to Articles 48 and 52 of the Treaty if that legislation does not place that worker at a disadvantage as compared with those who pursue all their activities in the Member State where it applies or as compared with those who were already subject to it and if it does not simply result in the payment of social security contributions on which there is no return.

180. First, such obligations are the corollary to the prohibition on the abandonment, dumping or uncontrolled disposal of waste laid down in the second paragraph of Article 4 of the Directive, a provision already found to have been breached by Ireland in paragraph 176 of the present judgment (see Case C-1/03 Van de Walle and Others [2004] ECR I-0000, paragraph 56).

54. It follows that questions relating to European Union law enjoy a presumption of relevance. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of European Union 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-570/07 and C-571/07 Blanco Pérez and Chao Gómez [2010] ECR I-4629, paragraph 36, and Case C-509/10 Geistbeck [2012] ECR, paragraph 48).

72. Concerning the third part of the second ground of appeal, it is settled case-law that, in order to determine whether an agreement is to be considered to be prohibited by reason of the distortion of competition which is its effect, the competition in question should be assessed within the actual context in which it would occur in the absence of the agreement in dispute (Case C-7/95 P Deere v Commission [1998] ECR I-3111, paragraph 76; Case C-8/95 P New Holland Ford v Commission [1998] ECR I-3175, paragraph 90).

11 Taken together, those definitions show that the term "producers" in Article 3a of Regulation No 1546/88 refers only to farmers who, for the purposes of milk production, operate all the production units on their own account. Where a holding has been let, those conditions are fulfilled only by the lessee, who enjoys the right to operate the holding, and not by the lessor, the landlord who, by the very fact of letting the holding, has transferred that right to the lessee.

85 So, in considering whether Article 100a was the proper legal basis, the Court must verify whether the measure whose validity is at issue in fact pursues the objectives stated by the Community legislature (see, in particular, Spain v Council, cited above, paragraphs 25 to 41, and Case C-233/94 Germany v Parliament and Council [1997] ECR I-2405, paragraphs 10 to 21).

14 The purpose of Regulation No 1697/79 is, in particular, to limit, for reasons of legal certainty, the possibility for the national authorities to take legal action to recover import and export duties after clearance (see inter alia Case 210/87 Padovani and Others v Amministrazione delle Finanze della Stato [1988] ECR 6177, paragraph 6).

38 In this connection, it is sufficient to observe that, as the Swedish Government and the Commission have pointed out and as is clear from paragraphs 28 to 31 of the judgment of the Court of today's date in Case C-321/97 Andersson [1999] ECR I-0000, the Court does not have jurisdiction, either under Article 177 of the Treaty or under the EEA Agreement, to rule on the interpretation of the EEA Agreement as regards its application by the Republic of Austria during the period prior to the accession of that Member State to the European Union.

28 However, that jurisdiction to interpret the EEA Agreement under Article 177 of the Treaty applies solely with regard to the Community; the Court has no jurisdiction to rule on the interpretation of that agreement as regards its application in the EFTA States.

61. As regards the argument that the General Court was incorrect to consider that AC‑Treuhand cannot plead infringement of the 2006 Guidelines, it is sufficient to note that, at paragraphs 298 and 299 of the judgment under appeal, in accordance with the Court’s case-law on the legal effects of guidelines adopted by the Commission for the calculation of fines (see, inter alia, judgment in Dansk Rørindustri and Others v Commission , C‑189/02 P, C‑202/02 P, C‑205/02 P to C‑208/02 P and C‑213/02 P, EU:C:2005:408, paragraphs 209 to 213), the General Court verified, in the light of the complaints raised by AC‑Treuhand in that regard, whether the Commission was entitled to depart from the 2006 Guidelines in the particular circumstances of the present case.

64. It is apparent from paragraphs 24 and 25 above that it is unnecessary to show that the users of such files actually make copies for private use, as such users are rightly presumed to benefit fully from the making available of those files. It follows that if a rightholder allows a natural person to use such files, by making them available to that person, the simple fact that those files may be used for the purpose of reproducing protected works justifies the application of the private copying levy.

29. Under point (a) of the first paragraph of Article 78 of the VAT Directive, taxes, excluding the VAT itself, are to be included in the taxable amount. The Court has held previously that, in order for taxes to be included in the taxable amount for VAT, even though they do not represent any added value and do not constitute the financial consideration for the supply of goods or services, they must have a direct link with that supply and the question whether the chargeable event for the tax coincides with that for VAT is a decisive factor for the purposes of establishing the existence of such a direct link (see, to that effect, judgments in De Danske Bilimportører , C‑98/05, EU:C:2006:363, paragraph 17; Commission v Poland , C‑228/09, EU:C:2010:295, paragraph 30; Commission v Austria , C‑433/09, EU:C:2010:817, paragraph 34; and TVI , C‑618/11, C‑637/11 and C‑659/11, EU:C:2013:789, paragraphs 37 and 39).

39. Quant à la question de savoir si la taxe sur la diffusion représente un lien direct avec la prestation de services de diffusion de publicité commerciale, il ressort d’une jurisprudence constante que la question de savoir si le fait générateur de ladite taxe litigieuse coïncide avec celui de la TVA est un élément déterminant pour établir l’existence d’un tel lien direct (voir, en ce sens, arrêts précités De Danske Bilimportører, points 17 et 18, ainsi que Commission/Pologne, points 30 à 32).

39. A product’s shape is a sign which may constitute a trade mark. In the case of the Community trade mark, that follows from Article 4 of Regulation No 40/94, which provides that a Community trade mark may consist of any signs capable of being represented graphically, such as words, designs, the shape of goods and their packaging, provided that such signs are capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C-456/01 P and C-457/01 P Henkel v OHIM [2004] ECR I‑5089, paragraphs 30 and 31).

68. More specifically, it is a question of assessing whether the subject-matter of the present case is the same as that which gave rise to the judgment in C-499/99 Commission v Spain (see, to that effect, Commission v Portugal , paragraph 27).

30. Thus, according to settled case-law, Member States may not, within the framework of the Authorisation Directive, levy any fees or charges in relation to the provision of networks and electronic communication services other than those provided for by that directive (judgment in Vodafone España and France Telecom España , EU:C:2012:446, paragraph 28 and the case-law cited).

83 The Commission is also obliged to indicate as precisely as possible the evidence sought and the matters to which the investigation must relate (National Panasonic v Commission, cited above, paragraphs 26 and 27), as well as the powers conferred on the Community investigators.

26 It should remembered that, as the Court of Justice has held on several occasions, the fact that a subsidiary has separate legal personality is not sufficient to exclude the possibility of its conduct being imputed to the parent company, especially where the subsidiary does not independently decide its own conduct on the market, but carries out, in all material respects, the instructions given to it by the parent company (see, in particular, ICI v Commission, cited above, paragraphs 132 and 133); Case 52/69 Geigy v Commission [1972] ECR 787, paragraph 44, and Case 6/72 Europemballage and Continental Can v Commission [1973] ECR 215, paragraph 15).

43. Il convient de relever, dans ce contexte, qu’il ressort de la jurisprudence que, au sens de la directive 92/51, la notion de «cycle d’études postsecondaires» est distincte de celle de «stage professionnel» et que des périodes de stage ne sauraient donc être incluses dans le calcul de la durée des études postsecondaires (voir, en ce sens, arrêt du 29 avril 2004, Beuttenmüller, C‑102/02, Rec. p. I‑5405, point 64).

43. In particular, the compensation cannot exceed what is necessary to cover all or part of the costs incurred in the discharge of public service obligations, taking into account the relevant receipts and a reasonable profit for discharging those obligations (see, to that effect, Ferring , paragraph 32; Altmark Trans and Regierungspräsidium Magdeburg , paragraph 92; Servizi Ausiliari Dottori Commercialisti , paragraph 66; and Essent Netwerk Noord and Others , paragraph 84).

167. In order for such a difference in treatment to be compatible with the provisions of the Treaty on the free movement of capital, it must concern situations which are not objectively comparable or be justified by an overriding reason in the general interest.

32. It is true that the Court has stated, when called upon to determine whether there was an ‘agreement’ within the meaning of Article 81(1) EC, that the issue was whether the parties had expressed their concurrent intention to conduct themselves on the market in a particular manner (see, to that effect, inter alia, judgment in ACF Chemiefarma v Commission , 41/69, EU:C:1970:71, paragraph 112). The Court has also held that the criteria of coordination and cooperation which are constituent elements of a ‘concerted practice’ within the meaning of that provision must be understood in the light of the concept inherent in the provisions of the Treaty relating to competition, to the effect that each economic operator must determine independently the policy which he intends to adopt on the common market (see, inter alia, judgment in Commission v Anic Partecipazioni , C‑49/92 P, EU:C:1999:356, paragraph 116)

47 In the present case, the objective pursued by the legislation at issue, namely the safeguarding of supplies of petroleum products in the event of a crisis, falls undeniably within the ambit of a legitimate public interest. Indeed, the Court has previously recognised that the public-security considerations which may justify an obstacle to the free movement of goods include the objective of ensuring a minimum supply of petroleum products at all times (Campus Oil, paragraphs 34 and 35). The same reasoning applies to obstacles to the free movement of capital, inasmuch as public security is also one of the grounds of justification referred to in Article 73d(1)(b) of the Treaty.

44. L’obligation de prendre en compte la situation personnelle et familiale ne peut peser sur l’État membre d’emploi que lorsque le contribuable tire la totalité ou la quasi-totalité de ses ressources imposables d’une activité exercée dans ce dernier et qu’il ne perçoit pas de revenu significatif dans son État de résidence, de sorte que celui-ci n’est pas en mesure de lui accorder les avantages résultant de la prise en compte de sa situation personnelle et familiale (voir, notamment, arrêts précités Schumacker, point 36; Gschwind, point 27; Zurstrassen, points 21 à 23, et de Groot, point 89).

40 However, the Court can provide the national court with guidance as to the interpretation of Community law, which may be of use to it in undertaking such an assessment.

50 It is the Court’s settled case-law that the meaning and scope of terms, for which EU law gives no definition, must be determined by considering their usual meaning in everyday language, while also taking into account the context in which they occur and the purposes of the rules of which they are part (judgments of 10 March 2005, EasyCar, C‑336/03, EU:C:2005:150, paragraph 21, and of 3 September 2014, Deckmyn and Vrijheidsfonds, C‑201/13, EU:C:2014:2132, paragraph 19 and the case-law cited) and it being precluded that, where there are doubts, the text of a provision be considered in isolation in one of its language versions (see, to that effect, judgments of 16 July 2009, Horvath, C‑428/07, EU:C:2009:458, paragraph 35 and the case-law cited, and of 11 June 2015, Pfeifer & Langen, C‑51/14, EU:C:2015:380, paragraph 34).

25. However, in the present case, neither of those freedoms precludes the application of the Austrian legislation.

28. Furthermore, the objective of Regulation No 1896/2006, as is apparent from Article 1(1)(a) thereof, is, inter alia, to simplify, speed up and reduce the costs of litigation in cross-border cases concerning uncontested pecuniary claims. Although that regulation neither replaces nor harmonises existing domestic mechanisms for the recovery of uncontested claims, it establishes, for the attainment of that objective, a uniform instrument for the recovery of such claims, guaranteeing a level playing field for creditors and debtors throughout the European Union (Case C‑215/11 Szyrocka [2012] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 30).

42 The existence of a difficult political situation in a third State which is a contracting party, as in the present case, cannot justify a failure to fulfil obligations. If a Member State encounters difficulties which make it impossible to adjust an agreement, it must denounce the agreement.

14 The Court of Justice has consistently held that a misuse of powers is deemed to exist only if it is proven that the appointing authority, in adopting the contested decision, was pursuing an objective other than that pursued by the rules in question (see for example the judgment in Case 135/87 Vlachou v Court of Auditors [1988] ECR 2901, paragraph 27).

41. Ensuite, un État membre ne saurait exciper de dispositions, de pratiques ou de situations de son ordre juridique interne pour justifier l’inobservation des obligations et des délais prescrits par une directive (voir, notamment, arrêts Commission/Espagne, C‑483/10, EU:C:2013:114, point 51, et Commission/Chypre, C‑412/12, EU:C:2013:506, point 15).

48. However, considerations of social policy, of State organisation, of ethics, or even the budgetary concerns which influenced or may have influenced the establishment by the national legislature of a scheme cannot prevail if the pension concerns only a particular category of workers, if it is directly related to the period of service completed and if its amount is calculated by reference to the last salary ( Beune , paragraph 45; Evrenopoulos , paragraph 21; Griesmar , paragraph 30; Niemi, paragraph 47; and Schönheit and Becker , paragraph 58).

32 That conclusion is not invalidated by the fact that the second subparagraph of Article 4(5 ) of the Sixth Directive requires activities to be treated as taxable if their treatment as non-taxable would lead to significant distortions of competition . That limitation placed on the rule of treatment as non-taxable persons is thus only a conditional limitation, and whilst it is true that its application involves an assessment of economic circumstances, that assessment is not exempt from judicial review .

32. Regarding the objective of the legislation at issue in the main proceedings, the Court acknowledges that, as pointed out by the Spanish and the Swedish Governments, partial recognition of professional qualifications could, theoretically, have the effect of fragmenting the professions regulated in a Member State into various activities. That would lead essentially to a risk of confusion in the minds of the recipients of services, who might well be misled as to the scope of those qualifications. The protection of the recipients of services, and consumers in general, has already been held by the Court to be capable of justifying restrictions on the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services (Case 220/83 Commission v France [1986] ECR 3663, paragraph 20; Case C-124/97 Läärä and Others [1999] ECR I-6067, paragraph 33; and Case C-6/01 Anomar and Others [2003] ECR I-8621, paragraph 73).

88. It is thus clear that the infringement of which the Italian Republic is accused lasted for a quite considerable period which in any event had no relation to the difficulties in recovering the aid paid under a scheme that had been declared unlawful and incompatible with the common market.

66. It is settled case-law that practices by an undertaking in a dominant position which tend to extend that position to a neighbouring but separate market by distorting competition amount to abuse of a dominant position within the meaning of Article 82 EC (see, to that effect, the judgment in Connect Austria , EU:C:2003:297, paragraphs 81 and 82 and case-law cited).

31 It is common ground that Article 2(1)(b) of Directive 89/665 does not define the decisions taken unlawfully which a party may ask to have set aside. The Community legislature confined itself to stating that such decisions include those containing discriminatory technical, economic or financial specifications in the documents relating to the contract award procedure in question.

23 The Court observed in that connection at paragraphs 23 to 25 of its judgment in Casarin that if the increase in the coefficient for vehicles with a fiscal horsepower of over 18 CV does indeed deter some consumers from buying such vehicles, those consumers will choose a model in the tax band immediately below, the 17-18 CV band, or in the 15-16 CV band. At the time of the facts in Casarin, those two tax bands included both imported vehicles and vehicles of domestic manufacture, although a very large majority of the vehicles in the 17-18 CV tax band were manufactured abroad and those in the 15-16 CV band were for the most part of domestic manufacture.

37 The aim of the Convention is to prevent the producers of a Contracting State from using the geographical names of another State, thereby taking advantage of the reputation attaching to the products of the undertakings established in the regions or places indicated by those names. Such an objective, intended to ensure fair competition, may be regarded as falling within the sphere of the protection of industrial and commercial property within the meaning of Article 36, provided that the names in question have not, either at the time of the entry into force of that Convention or subsequently, become generic in the country of origin.

36. According to settled case-law, Article 87(1) EC prohibits State aid ‘favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods’, that is to say, selective aid (see Case C‑66/02 Italy v Commission [2005] ECR I‑10901, paragraph 94, and Case C‑88/03 Portugal v Commission [2006] ECR I‑7115, paragraph 52). As regards appraisal of the condition of selectivity, Article 87(1) EC requires assessment of whether, under a particular legal regime, a national measure is such as to favour ‘certain undertakings or the production of certain goods’ in comparison with others which, in the light of the objective pursued by that regime, are in a comparable factual and legal situation (see, to that effect, Case C‑143/99 Adria-Wien Pipeline and Wietersdorfer & Peggauer Zementwerke [2001] ECR I‑8365, paragraph 41; Case C‑308/01 GIL Insurance and Others [2004] ECR I‑4777, paragraph 68; and Case C‑172/03 Heiser [2005] ECR I‑1627, paragraph 40). In order to determine whether a measure is selective, it is therefore appropriate to examine whether, within the context of a particular legal system, that measure constitutes an advantage for certain undertakings in comparison with others which are in a comparable factual and legal situation ( Portugal v Commission , paragraph 56).

38. As a preliminary point, it should be noted that, according to the Court’s settled case-law, questions on the interpretation of EU 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. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred for a preliminary ruling by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of EU 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 (see, inter alia, judgments in Pohotovosť , C‑470/12, EU:C:2014:101, paragraph 27 and the case-law cited, and Kušionová , C‑34/13, EU:C:2014:2189, paragraph 38).

19 In order to guarantee complete and effective protection of groundwater, it is vital that the prohibitions set out in the directive be expressly embodied in national law (see the judgment in Case 252/85 Commission v France [1988] ECR 2243, paragraph 19). Paragraph 34(1) of the Wasserhaushaltsgesetz, which is relied on by the Federal Republic of Germany, does not contain a general prohibition; it permits the competent authority to grant, subject to certain conditions, authorization to introduce substances into groundwater, on the basis, moreover, of rather vague criteria, such as "harmful pollution" and "detrimental effect on the properties" of the water.

27 Article 15(7) of Regulation No 3821/85 provides that, whenever requested by an authorised inspecting officer to do so, the driver must be able to produce record sheets for the current week, and in any case for the last day of the previous week on which he drove. The purpose of that provision, as the Court held in Case C-158/90 Nijs and Transport Vanschoonbeek-Matterne [1991] ECR I-6035, at paragraph 13, is to ensure that compliance with the compulsory weekly rest period can be checked.

51. In addition, according to the case-law cited in paragraph 44 of the present judgment, the exercise of the Union institutions’ discretion when selecting the reference third country is subject to review by the Court. It is necessary, in particular, to verify that those institutions have not neglected to take account of essential factors for the purpose of establishing the appropriate nature of the country chosen and that the information contained in the file in the case was considered with all the care required for it to be held that the normal value was determined in an appropriate and not unreasonable manner (see, to that effect, judgments in Nölle , C‑16/90, EU:C:1991:402, paragraphs 12 and 13, and GLS , C‑338/10, EU:C:2012:158, paragraph 22).

65. It follows from paragraph 85 of Texdata Software , EU:C:2013:588 that the latter characteristic may be of some importance when considering possible justifications for restricting the right to be heard before the adoption of an adverse decision.

37 Accordingly, in pursuit of the objectives of introducing a common agricultural policy and establishing a system of undistorted competition, Article 42 TFEU recognises that the common agricultural policy takes precedence over the objectives of the Treaty in the field of competition and also recognises the EU legislature’s power to decide to what extent the rules on competition are to be applied in the agricultural sector (see, to that effect, judgments of 5 October 1994, Germany v Council, C‑280/93, EU:C:1994:367, paragraph 61, and of 12 December 2002, France v Commission, C‑456/00, EU:C:2002:753, paragraph 33).

44. The default interest provided for by Article 11 of Regulation No 1150/2000 is payable in respect of "any delay" , regardless of the reason for the delay in making the entry in the Commission's account (see, in particular, Commission v Italy , paragraph 12, and Case C-359/97 Commission v United Kingdom [2000] ECR I-6355, paragraph 78).

49 In that context, the Court has also held, first, that such a measure can be adopted only if the alleged real risk for public health appears to be sufficiently established on the basis of the latest scientific data available at the date of the adoption of that measure (see judgments of 23 September 2003, Commission v Denmark, C‑192/01, EU:C:2003:492, paragraph 48; of 5 February 2004, Commission v France, C‑24/00, EU:C:2004:70, paragraph 55; of 2 December 2004, Commission v Netherlands, C‑41/02, EU:C:2004:762, paragraph 49; and of 28 January 2010, Commission v France, C‑333/08, EU:C:2010:44, paragraph 89), and, secondly, that the evaluation of that risk must be carried out on the basis of the most reliable scientific data available and the most recent results of international research (see judgment of 5 February 2004, Greenham and Abel, C‑95/01, EU:C:2004:71, paragraph 47).

51. It is true that, whilst on part-time parental leave, a worker employed under a full-time contract does not work the same number of hours as someone working full-time. However, that does not mean that the two workers are in a different position in relation to the initial employment contract with their employer.

27 Consequently, the situation of a person, such as Mr Sleutjes, who has lodged an objection, the admissibility of which is being examined in appeal proceedings, against a penalty order made pursuant to Paragraph 407 et seq. of the StPO of which he was the addressee clearly falls within the scope of Directive 2010/64, with the result that that person must be able to exercise the right to interpretation and translation guaranteed by that directive (see, to that effect, judgment of 15 October 2015, Covaci, C‑216/14, EU:C:2015:686, paragraph 27).

53. In that respect, account must be taken of the difference between the selling prices of the products in question and the impact of that difference on the consumer’s choice, as well as to changes in the consumption of those products ( Roders and Others , paragraph 39).

87. Consequently, the benefit of stable employment is viewed as a major element in the protection of workers (see Case C‑144/04 Mangold [2005] ECR I‑9981, paragraph 64), whereas – as is apparent from the second paragraph of the preamble to the framework agreement and paragraph 8 of the general considerations – it is only in certain circumstances that fixed-term employment contracts are liable to respond to the needs of both employers and workers (see Adeneler and Others , paragraph 62).

91. Thus, and contrary to the submissions of the Belgian, Italian and Polish Governments, according to which the Member States lack the instruments necessary to assess compliance with fundamental rights by the Member State responsible and, therefore, the risks to which the asylum seeker would be exposed were he to be transferred to that Member State, information such as that cited by the European Court of Human Rights enables the Member States to assess the functioning of the asylum system in the Member State responsible, making it possible to evaluate those risks.

37 According to the Court’s settled case-law, provisions of a directive which derogate from a general principle established by that directive must be interpreted strictly (judgments of 16 July 2009, Infopaq International, C‑5/08, EU:C:2009:465, paragraph 56, and of 10 April 2014, ACI Adam and Others, C‑435/12, EU:C:2014:254, paragraph 22).

À cet égard, et contrairement à ce que soutient la requérante, la notion de « soutien logistique », au sens de la décision 2010/413 et du règlement n° 267/2012, est suffisamment explicite pour permettre de comprendre la raison pour laquelle le Conseil considère que les activités de la requérante relèvent d’une telle notion. En effet, IOEC ne pouvait raisonnablement ignorer que le Conseil visait particulièrement, comme le relève à juste titre le Tribunal au point 53 de l’arrêt attaqué, les activités de la requérante qui sont censées permettre au gouvernement iranien de répondre à des besoins logistiques déterminés dans le secteur du pétrole et du gaz. La seule circonstance que, dans l’arrêt attaqué, le Tribunal a défini ce qu’il convient d’entendre par « appui logistique » ne suffit pas à démontrer que cette expression était au préalable insuffisamment déterminée.

10. In that regard, it must be pointed out that, according to settled case-law, the question whether a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined by reference to the situation prevailing in the Member State at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion and the Court cannot take account of any subsequent changes (see, inter alia , Case C-177/01 Commission v France [2002] ECR I-5137, paragraph 13).

14 IN ACCORDANCE WITH THESE PRINCIPLES, THE REQUIREMENT THAT PERSONS WHOSE FUNCTIONS ARE TO ASSIST THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE MUST BE PERMANENTLY ESTABLISHED FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF CERTAIN COURTS OR TRIBUNALS CANNOT BE CONSIDERED INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLES 59 AND 60, WHERE SUCH REQUIREMENT IS OBJECTIVELY JUSTIFIED BY THE NEED TO ENSURE OBSERVANCE OF PROFESSIONAL RULES OF CONDUCT CONNECTED, IN PARTICULAR, WITH THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND WITH RESPECT FOR PROFESSIONAL ETHICS .

55. For the purposes of determining whether a product falls within the definition of a medicinal product by function within the meaning of Directive 2001/83, the national authorities, acting under the supervision of the courts, must decide on a case-by-case basis, taking account of all the characteristics of the product, in particular its composition, its pharmacological properties to the extent to which they can be established in the present state of scientific knowledge, the manner in which it is used, the extent of its distribution, its familiarity to consumers and the risks which its use may entail ( HLH Warenvertrieb and Orthica , paragraph 51).

88. Toutefois, cette exigence ne saurait aller jusqu’à imposer, en toute hypothèse, une coïncidence parfaite entre l’énoncé des griefs figurant dans le dispositif de l’avis motivé et les conclusions de la requête, dès lors que l’objet du litige, tel que défini dans l’avis motivé, n’a pas été étendu ou modifié (arrêt du 8 juillet 2010, Commission/Portugal, précité, point 26). La Commission peut notamment préciser ses griefs initiaux dans sa requête, à la condition cependant qu’elle ne modifie pas l’objet du litige (arrêt du 11 juillet 2013, Commission/Pays‑Bas, C‑576/10, point 35).

42. As regards the interpretation of Article 13(2)(a) of Regulation No 1408/71, it is true that, prior to the insertion of Article 13(2)(f) of that regulation, that provision was interpreted as meaning that an employed person who ceases carrying on his activities in the territory of one Member State and moves to another Member State without working there remains subject to the legislation of the Member State where he was last employed, regardless of how much time has elapsed since the end of the activities in question and the end of the employment relationship (Case 302/84 Ten Holder [1986] ECR 1821, paragraph 15), unless the cessation was definitive (Case C‑140/88 Noij [1991] ECR I‑387, paragraphs 9 and 10; and Case C‑215/90 Twomey [1992] ECR I‑1823, paragraph 10).

43. Directive 2000/78 aims to combat certain types of discrimination as regards employment and occupation. In that context, the concept of ‘disability’ must be understood as referring to a limitation which results in particular from physical, mental or psychological impairments and which hinders the participation of the person concerned in professional life.

39. It is to be borne in mind that even if, as in the case in the main proceedings, the European Parliament, in response to the request of the Member concerned, has taken a decision to defend the latter’s immunity, that decision, adopted in accordance with its Rules of Procedure, is no more than an opinion without any binding effect on national courts, for there is no provision in the Protocol obliging those courts to refer to the Parliament the decision whether the conditions laid down in Article 8 of the Protocol have been met. As the Court has previously held, the fact that the law of a Member State, like the law in question in the main proceedings, provides for a procedure to defend members of the national parliament, enabling the latter to intervene when the national court does not recognise that immunity, does not imply that the same powers are conferred on the European Parliament in relation to its Members from that Member State, for Article 8 of the Protocol does not expressly provide such a power and does not refer to rules of national law (see, to that effect, Marra , paragraphs 35 to 40).

20 Admittedly, the Court has recognized that the employment criterion cannot be regarded as exclusive, since pensions paid under statutory social security schemes may reflect, wholly or in part, pay in respect of work (Beune, cited above, paragraph 44).

59. However, it cannot be denied that the withdrawal of that advantage constitutes a clear disadvantage in terms of cash-flow. In this connection, the Court has repeatedly held that the exclusion of a cash-flow advantage in a cross-border situation where it is available in an equivalent domestic situation is a restriction on the freedom of establishment (see, to that effect, inter alia, Joined Cases C-397/98 and C-410/98 Metallgesellschaft and Others [2001] ECR I-1727, paragraphs 44, 54 and 76; Case C-436/00 X and Y [2002] ECR I-10829, paragraphs 36 to 38; Case C-446/03 Marks & Spencer [2005] ECR I-10837, paragraph 32; and Case C-347/04 Rewe Zentralfinanz [2007] ECR I-2647, paragraph 29).

20. In that regard, it must be observed that Afton cannot be regarded, for the purpose of the fourth paragraph of Article 230 EC, as undoubtedly ‘directly and individually concerned’ by the contested provisions ( Bavaria and Bavaria Italia , paragraph 41).

35. Thus, an effect on intra-Community trade is normally the result of a combination of several factors which, taken separately, are not necessarily decisive (Joined Cases C‑215/96 and C‑216/96 Bagnasco and Others [1999] ECR I‑135, paragraph 47, and Case C‑359/01 P British Sugar v Commission [2004] ECR I‑4933, paragraph 27). In order to assess whether an arrangement has an appreciable effect on trade between Member States, it is necessary to examine it in its economic and legal context (see, to that effect, Case C‑393/92 Almelo [1994] ECR I‑1477, paragraph 37).

37 In order to determine whether such an agreement has an appreciable effect on trade between Member States, it is necessary, as the Court observed in its judgments in Case 23/67 Brasserie de Haecht [1967] ECR 525 and Case C-234/89 Delimitis [1991] ECR I-935, to assess it in its economic and legal context and to take account of any cumulative effect resulting from the existence of other exclusivity agreements.

28. Thus, the Court may reject a request for a preliminary ruling submitted 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 (see, inter alia, Case C‑379/98 PreussenElektra [2001] ECR I‑2099, paragraph 39; Joined Cases C‑94/04 and C‑202/94 Cipolla and Others [2006] ECR I‑11421, paragraph 25; and Magoora , paragraph 23).

29. It follows from the foregoing considerations that the pleas of inadmissibility must be rejected. Substance

39. According to settled case-law, the first paragraph of Article 110 TFEU is infringed where the tax charged on the imported product and that charged on the similar domestic product are calculated in a different manner on the basis of different criteria which lead, if only in certain cases, to higher taxation being imposed on the imported product (Case C‑393/98 Gomes Valente [2001] ECR I‑1327, paragraph 21; Case C‑387/01 Weigel [2004] ECR I‑4981, paragraph 67; Brzeziński , paragraph 29; and Case C‑74/06 Commission v Greece [2007] ECR I‑7585, paragraph 25). In that respect, it must be borne in mind that, in order to apply Article 110 TFEU, not only the rate of direct or indirect internal taxation on domestic and imported products but also the basis of assessment for levying that tax must be taken into consideration (see Case 74/76 Iannelli & Volpi [1977] ECR 557, paragraph 21, and Commission v Denmark , paragraph 18).

49 However, by way of exception to that principle, acts tainted by an irregularity whose gravity is so obvious that it cannot be tolerated by the Community legal order must be treated as having no legal effect, even provisional, that is to say that they must be regarded as legally non-existent. The purpose of this exception is to maintain a balance between two fundamental, but sometimes conflicting, requirements with which a legal order must comply, namely stability of legal relations and respect for legality.

36. It should be borne in mind at the outset that a colour mark per se is capable of constituting, under certain conditions, a trade mark within the meaning of Article 2 of Directive 2008/95 (see, to that effect, Case C‑104/01 Libertel EU:C:2003:244, paragraphs 27 to 42, and Case C‑49/02 Heidelberger Bauchemie EU:C:2004:384, paragraph 42).

27. Il convient de rappeler que, dans la mesure où le règlement n o  44/2001 remplace la convention de Bruxelles, l’interprétation fournie par la Cour en ce qui concerne les dispositions de cette convention vaut également pour celles dudit règlement, lorsque les dispositions de ces instruments peuvent être qualifiées d’équivalentes (arrêt du 4 mai 2010, TNT Express Nederland, C‑533/08, Rec. p. I‑4107, point 36 et jurisprudence citée).

34. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that, as a derogation from the fundamental rule of freedom of establishment, Article 45 must be interpreted in a manner which limits its scope to what is strictly necessary in order to safeguard the interests which it allows the Member States to protect (see, inter alia, Case 147/86 Commission v Greece [1988] ECR 1637, paragraph 7; Case C-114/97 Commission v Spain [1998] ECR I-6717, paragraph 34; and Case C-451/03 Servizi Ausiliari Dottori Commercialisti [2006] ECR I-2941, paragraph 45).

45. In that regard, it must be remembered that, as derogations from the fundamental rule of freedom of establishment, Articles 45 EC and 55 EC must be interpreted in a manner which limits their scope to what is strictly necessary for safeguarding the interests which those provisions allow the Member States to protect (Case 147/86 Commission v Greece [1988] ECR 1637, paragraph 7, and Case C-114/97 Commission v Spain [1998] ECR I-6717, paragraph 34).

86. In that regard it is sufficient to recall that the principle of equal treatment requires that comparable situations must not be treated differently and that different situations must not be treated in the same way unless such treatment is objectively justified (Joined Cases C‑87/03 and C‑100/03 Spain v Council [2006] ECR I‑2915, paragraph 48 and case-law cited there).

12 Since the Commission may not rely solely on presumptions to support its submission, consideration must be given to the question whether, in support of its application, it has adduced facts proving that the Kingdom of the Netherlands did not decide in good time to prohibit fishing for certain stocks of fish during the period in question .