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39. The Court has held that Directive 75/442, as amended by Directive 91/156, is a framework directive, Article 2(2) thereof providing that specific rules for particular instances, or supplementary rules, on the management of particular categories of waste may be laid down by means of individual directives. Such an individual directive may be considered to be special legislation (a lex specialis ) vis-à-vis Directive 75/442, so that its provisions prevail over those of Directive 75/442 in situations which it specifically seeks to regulate (see, to that effect, Case C-444/00 Mayer Parry Recycling [2003] ECR I-6163, paragraphs 51 and 57).

17 Regulation No 17 also conferred on the Commission a far-reaching power of investigation and verification, stating, in the eighth recital, that the Commission must be empowered, throughout the common market, to require such information to be supplied and to undertake such investigations as are necessary to bring to light any infringements of Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty (Case 347/87 Orkem v Commission [1989] ECR 3283, paragraph 15).

37 It should be recalled that, in proceedings under Article 267 TFEU, which are based on a clear separation of functions between the national courts and the Court of Justice, the national court alone has jurisdiction to find and assess the facts in the case before it and to interpret and apply national law (see, inter alia, judgments of 18 July 2007, Lucchini, C‑119/05, EU:C:2007:434, paragraph 43, and of 26 May 2011, Stichting Natuur en Milieu and Others, C‑165/09 to C‑167/09, EU:C:2011:348, paragraph 47).

17. Thus, the purpose of a vessel’s voyage within European Union waters is irrelevant for the application of the exemption of mineral oils from excise duties when that navigation involves the provision of services for consideration.

37 The Court has, however, held that EU law does not preclude national rules which, in certain cases, permit the regularisation of operations or measures which are unlawful in the light of EU law (judgments of 3 July 2008, Commission v Ireland, C‑215/06, EU:C:2008:380, paragraph 57; of 15 January 2013, Križan and Others, C‑416/10, EU:C:2013:8, paragraph 87; and of 17 November 2016, Stadt Wiener Neustadt, C‑348/15, EU:C:2016:882, paragraph 36).

35. Article 49 TFEU requires the abolition of restrictions on the freedom of establishment. Even though, according to their wording, the Treaty provisions on freedom of establishment are aimed at ensuring that foreign nationals are treated in the host Member State in the same way as nationals of that State, they also prohibit the Member State of origin from hindering the establishment in another Member State of one of its nationals or of a company incorporated under its legislation (see Case C‑264/96 ICI [1998] ECR I‑4695, paragraph 21; Case C‑298/05 Columbus Container Services [2007] ECR I‑10451, paragraph 33; Case C‑157/07 Krankenheim Ruhesitz am Wannsee‑Seniorenheimstatt [2008] ECR I‑8061, paragraph 29; and Case C‑96/08 CIBA [2010] ECR I‑2911, paragraph 18).

63 In order to answer that question, it should be recalled, in the first place, that the concept of ‘trial resulting in the decision’ as referred to in Article 4a of Framework Decision 2002/584, must be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation within the European Union, independently of the classifications and substantive and procedure rules in criminal matters, which by nature diverge in the various Member States (see, to that effect, judgment of 10 August 2017, Tupikas, C‑270/17 PPU, EU:C:2017:628, paragraphs 65, 67 and 76).

47. In that connection, it must be borne in mind that the notion and level of fair compensation under Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29 are linked to the harm resulting for the holders of the exclusive right of reproduction from the reproduction for private use of their protected works without their authorisation. From that perspective, fair compensation must be regarded as recompense for the harm suffered by such rightholders and must necessarily be calculated on the basis of the criterion of the harm caused to them by the introduction of the private copying exception ( Padawan , paragraphs 40 and 42).

33. Although, as PR Aviation states, Article 1(2) of Directive 96/9 confers a wide scope on that concept, unencumbered by considerations of a formal, technical or material nature (see to that effect judgment in Fixtures Marketing , C‑444/02, EU:C:2004:697, paragraphs 20 to 32), the fact remains that the definition in that provision applies, according to the wording of that article, ‘for the purposes of this Directive’.

51. As far as concerns the exercise of the power of taxation so allocated by bilateral conventions to prevent double taxation, the Member States must comply with Community rules (see, to that effect, Saint-Gobain ZN , paragraph 58, and Bouanich , paragraph 50) and, more particularly, respect the principle of national treatment of nationals of other Member States and of their own nationals who exercise the freedoms guaranteed by the Treaty (see de Groot , paragraph 94).

28. Conformément à l’article 5, paragraphe 2, de cette directive, une pratique commerciale est déloyale si elle est contraire aux exigences de la diligence professionnelle et altère ou est susceptible d’altérer de manière substantielle le comportement économique du consommateur moyen par rapport au produit (arrêts précités VTB-VAB et Galatea, point 54, ainsi que CHS Tour Services, point 36).

45. In particular, they enable an employee to sue his employer before the court which he regards as closest to his interests, by giving him the option of proceeding before a court of the State in which he is domiciled, the State in which he habitually carries out his work, or the State in which his employer’s establishment is situated. The provisions of that section also limit the choice of jurisdiction by an employer suing an employee, and the possibility of derogating from the rules of jurisdiction laid down by the regulation.

44. It should be recalled in this regard that, according to settled case-law, the interpretation which, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred on it by Article 267 TFEU, the Court gives to a rule of EU law clarifies and defines the meaning and scope of that rule as it must be or ought to have been understood and applied from the date of its entry into force. It follows that the rule as thus interpreted may, and must, be applied by the courts to legal relationships which arose and were established before the judgment ruling on the request for interpretation, provided that in other respects the conditions for bringing a dispute relating to the application of that rule before the courts having jurisdiction are satisfied (judgment in Balazs , C‑401/13 and C‑432/13, EU:C:2015:26, paragraph 49 and the case-law cited).

10 ARTICLES 22 AND 146 OF THE ACT OF ACCESSION ARE NOT RELEVANT TO THE ISSUE RAISED . THOSE PROVISIONS APPLY ONLY TO ACTS OF THE INSTITUTIONS THE ADAPTATION OF WHICH , RECOGNIZED TO BE NECESSARY WHEN THE DOCUMENTS CONCERNING ACCESSION WERE SIGNED , HAD TO BE CARRIED OUT DURING THE INTERIM PERIOD . AS REGARDS NEW MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED IN THAT PERIOD , THE INSTITUTIONS WERE AWARE OF THE IMMINENT ACCESSION OF GREECE , WHICH WAS GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO ASSERT ITS INTERESTS WHERE NECESSARY , IN PARTICULAR THROUGH THE INFORMATION AND CONSULTATION PROCEDURE DESCRIBED IN AN AGREEMENT ANNEXED TO THE FINAL ACT ( OFFICIAL JOURNAL 1979 , L 291 , P . 191 ).

45 It is to be remembered that due consultation of the Parliament in the cases provided for by the Treaty constitutes an essential formal requirement, breach of which renders the measure concerned void. Effective participation of the Parliament in the Community's legislative process, in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Treaty, represents an essential factor in the institutional balance intended by the Treaty. This function reflects the fundamental democratic principle that the people should take part in the exercise of power through the intermediary of a representative assembly (see, in particular, Case C-392/95 Parliament v Council [1997] ECR I-3213, paragraph 14).

35. Dans ces conditions, il convient de constater que, de même que la Cour a reconnu la qualité d’entreprise à un constructeur d’automobiles en tant qu’il opérait sur le marché de la certification des automobiles en délivrant des certificats de conformité nécessaires à leur immatriculation (arrêt du 11 novembre 1986, British Leyland/Commission, 226/84, Rec. p. 3263), les SOA doivent être considérées, dans le cadre de leur activité de certification, comme des «entreprises» au sens des articles 101 TFUE, 102 TFUE et 106 TFUE.

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).

19. In order to answer that question, it must first of all be noted that the third indent of Article 9(2)(e) of the Sixth Directive does not refer to professions, such as those of lawyers, consultants, accountants or engineers, but to services. The European Union legislature has used the professions mentioned in that provision as a means of defining the categories of services to which it refers (Case C‑145/96 von Hoffmann [1997] ECR I‑4857, paragraph 15).

114. It should be noted in that regard that the duty to state reasons does not require the Court of First Instance to provide an account which follows exhaustively and one by one all the arguments put forward by the parties to the case and that the reasoning may therefore be implicit on condition that it enables the persons concerned to know why the Court of First Instance has not upheld their arguments and provides the Court of Justice with sufficient material for it to exercise its power of review (see, inter alia, 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 372; judgment of 25 October 2007 in Case C-167/06 P Komninou and Others v Commission , paragraph 22; and FIAMM and Others v Council and Commission , paragraph 96).

59. Au rang de ces droits fondamentaux figurent, notamment, le respect des droits de la défense et le droit à une protection juridictionnelle effective (arrêt Kadi II, point 98).

10 FOLLOWING THAT EXCHANGE OF LETTERS , THE COMMISSION BROUGHT THE PRESENT ACTION ON 4 JUNE 1982 . IN ITS APPLICATION IT AGAIN QUOTED PARAGRAPH 12 OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED JUDGMENT . IN ADDITION , IT REFERRED TO THE CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THE DRAFT LAW AND ARGUED THAT MERELY TO LAY A DRAFT LAW BEFORE THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT WAS NOT SUFFICIENT TO PUT AN END TO THE INFRINGEMENT , THAT THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT HAD NOT ADOPTED ANY MEASURE CAPABLE OF GUARANTEEING THAT ARTICLE 11 OF LAW NO 306/75 WOULD NOT BE APPLIED PENDING ITS FORMAL REPEAL AND THAT THE AMENDMENT PROPOSED IN THE DRAFT LAW WAS NOT SUCH AS TO REMOVE THE INFRINGEMENT .

12 IN SECTORS COVERED BY A COMMON ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET , A FORTIORI WHEN THAT ORGANIZATION IS BASED ON A COMMON PRICE SYSTEM , MEMBER STATES CAN NO LONGER TAKE ACTION , THROUGH NATIONAL PROVISIONS TAKEN UNILATERALLY , AFFECTING THE MACHINERY OF PRICE FORMATION AT THE PRODUCTION AND MARKETING STAGES ESTABLISHED UNDER THE COMMON ORGANIZATION . IT FOLLOWS THAT NATIONAL LEGISLATION DESIGNED TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE , BY ANY METHOD , THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNIFORM PRODUCER PRICE FOR MILK , BY AGREEMENT OR BY AUTHORITY , AT THE NATIONAL OR REGIONAL LEVEL IS , BY ITS NATURE , OUTSIDE THE BOUNDS OF THE POWERS GIVEN TO MEMBER STATES AND RUNS CONTRARY TO THE PRINCIPLE ESTABLISHED BY REGULATION NO 804/68 , IN PARTICULAR ARTICLE 3 THEREOF , OF ATTAINING A TARGET PRODUCER PRICE FOR THE MILK SOLD BY COMMUNITY PRODUCERS DURING THE MILK YEAR ON THE COMMUNITY MARKET AND ON EXTERNAL MARKETS . IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT THE ABSENCE OF SANCTIONS FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE PRICE LAID DOWN IN ACCORDANCE WITH SUCH LEGISLATION DOES NOT AFFECT THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE LEGISLATION WITH THE COMMON ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET .

43 As regards Articles 12 and 46 of Regulation No 1408/71, the Court of Justice held, at paragraphs 19 and 22 of the Larsy judgment, cited above, that overlapping pensions to the benefit of a person who has, during the same period, worked in two Member States and who has during that period been obliged to pay old-age insurance contributions in both of those Member States cannot be deemed unjustified. The factual and legal situation on which that judgment is based is comparable in every respect to that which gave rise to the main proceedings.

60. In this respect, it must be recalled that, in accordance with the case-law of the Court, the Court may find it necessary to consider rules of European Union law which the national court has not referred to in its question but which may be of use in giving judgment in the case pending before it (see, inter alia, Case C-392/05 Alevizos [2007] ECR I-3505, paragraph 64). Directive 2003/86

40. It is to be recalled that, if the legislation under examination concerns a stake which gives its holder definite influence over the decisions of the company concerned and allows him to determine its activities, it is the provisions relating to freedom of establishment which are applicable (Case C-251/98 Baars [2000] ECR I-2787, paragraphs 21 and 22, and Case C-436/00 X and Y [2002] ECR I-10829, paragraphs 37 and 66 to 68). However, if that legislation is not intended to apply only to stakes which enable the holder to have a definite influence on a company’s decisions and to determine the company’s activities, it should be examined in relation to both Article 43 EC and Article 56 EC (see, to this effect, Case C‑446/04 Test Claimants in the FII Group Litigation [2006] ECR I‑11753, paragraphs 36 and 38, and Case C-157/05 Holböck [2007] ECR I‑4051, paragraphs 23 and 25).

11 In that connexcton it must be recalled that, according to the judgments of the Court, the principle of equal treatment of which Article 48(2 ) is one embodiment prohibits not only overt discrimination based on nationality but all covert forms of discrimination which, by applying other distinguishing criteria, in fact achieve the same result ( inter alia, judgment of 15 January 1986 in Case 41/84 Pinna v Caisse d' allocations familiales de la Savoie (( 1986 ) ECR 1 ).

43. As the Court has already held, the Treaty provides for derogations applicable in situations which may involve public safety, in particular, in Articles 30 EC, 39 EC, 46 EC, 58 EC, 64 EC, 296 EC and 297 EC, which deal with exceptional and clearly defined cases. It cannot be inferred from those articles that the Treaty contains an inherent general exception excluding all measures taken for reasons of public security from the scope of Community law. The recognition of the existence of such an exception, regardless of the specific requirements laid down by the Treaty, would be liable to impair the binding nature of Community law and its uniform application (see, to that effect, Case 222/84 Johnston [1986] ECR 1651, paragraph 26; Case C‑273/97 Sirdar [1999] ECR I‑7403, paragraph 16; Case C‑285/98 Kreil [2000] ECR I‑69, paragraph 16; and Dory , cited above, paragraph 31).

32. Il convient de souligner que ces règles devant servir à déterminer ce qui est protégé par le brevet de base au sens de l’article 3, sous a), du règlement nº 469/2009 sont celles relatives à l’étendue de l’invention faisant l’objet d’un tel brevet, à l’instar de ce que prévoit, dans l’affaire au principal, la section 125 de la loi du Royaume-Uni sur les brevets de 1977. Ces règles sont également, lorsqu’il s’agit d’un brevet délivré par l’OEB, celles tirées de la CBE ainsi que du protocole interprétatif de l’article 69 de cette convention.

15 Accordingly, the provisions of a directive must be implemented with unquestionable binding force and with the specificity, precision and clarity required in order to satisfy the requirement of legal certainty, under which, in the case of a directive intended to confer rights on individuals, persons concerned must be enabled to ascertain the full extent of their rights (Case C-361/88 Commission v Germany [1991] ECR I-2567, paragraphs 15 and 24).

55. Next, the Italian Government argues that that legislation, by specifying the length of service accrued under fixed-term employment contracts as a condition for benefiting from stabilisation and not as an element which may be taken into account in the context of a new permanent employment relationship, is motivated by the need to prevent reverse discrimination to the detriment of the career civil servants who are already members of the permanent staff. Indeed, if the stabilised workers could maintain their length of service, their being placed on the permanent staff would take place to the detriment of the workers already employed as civil servants on a permanent basis, following a general competition, but having a shorter length of service. Those workers would find themselves placed on the permanent staff at a lower level than that of workers benefiting from stabilisation.

76 In the present instance, as Mr Rendón Marín’s children possess the nationality of a Member State, namely Spanish and Polish nationality respectively, they enjoy the status of Union citizen (see, to this effect, judgments of 2 October 2003, Garcia Avello, C‑148/02, EU:C:2003:539, paragraph 21, and of 19 October 2004, Zhu and Chen, C‑200/02, EU:C:2004:639, paragraph 25).

38. S’agissant des effets des exonérations de petites quantités d’alcool éthylique sur le marché intérieur, il y a lieu de rappeler, en premier lieu, que, selon une jurisprudence constante de la Cour, lorsqu’une question est réglementée de manière harmonisée au niveau de l’Union, toute mesure nationale y relative doit être appréciée au regard des dispositions de cette mesure d’harmonisation (voir, notamment, arrêts DaimlerChrysler, C‑­324/99, EU:C:2001:682, point 32; Roby Profumi, C‑­257/06, EU:C:2008:35, point 14, ainsi que HSBC Holdings et Vidacos Nominees, C‑569/07, EU:C:2009:594, point 26). En second lieu, il convient de souligner que les directives 92/83 et 92/84 fixent les taux minimaux d’accise sur l’alcool éthylique sans conditionner l’imposition de celle-ci à l’effet que la production et la consommation privée dudit alcool pourraient avoir sur le marché.

30. In this respect, it must also be recalled that, within the framework of proceedings under Article 234 EC, the Court cannot resolve a dispute concerning the facts. Such a dispute, like any other assessment of the facts involved, is within the province of the national court (see Case 36/79 Denkavit Futtermittel [1979] ECR 3439, paragraph 12, and Joined Cases C‑211/03, C‑299/03 and C‑316/03 to C‑318/03 HLH Warenvertrieb and Orthica [2005] ECR I‑5141, paragraph 96).

44. It is a requirement of the principles of legal certainty and of transparency that migrant workers and their family members should have the benefit of a clear precise legal situation enabling them to ascertain not only the full extent of their rights but also, as the case may be, the limitations of those rights (see, by analogy, judgment in Altmark Trans and Regierungspräsidium Magdeburg , C‑280/00, EU:C:2003:415, paragraphs 58 and 59).

72. It is settled case-law relating to Article 253 EC, which is transposable to Article 15 ECSC, that the statement of reasons required by that provision must be appropriate to the act at issue and must disclose in a clear and unequivocal fashion the reasoning followed by the institution which adopted the measure in question in such a way as to enable the persons concerned to ascertain the reasons for the measure and to enable the Court to exercise its power of review. It is not necessary for the reasoning to go into all the relevant facts and points of law, since the question whether the statement of reasons meets the requirements of Article 253 EC 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 (see, inter alia , Case C-367/95 P Commission v Sytraval and Brink ' s France [1998] ECR I-1719, paragraph 63, and Case C-5/01 Belgium v Commission [2002] ECR I-11991, paragraph 68).

30 It follows that the courts of each Contracting State in which the defamatory publication was distributed and in which the victim claims to have suffered injury to his reputation have jurisdiction to rule on the injury caused in that State to the victim' s reputation.

30. It follows that, when determining the scope of the public policy exception provided for in Article 14(1) of Decision No 1/80, reference should be made to the interpretation given to that exception in the field of freedom of movement for workers who are nationals of a Member State of the Community. Such an approach is all the more justified because Article 14(1) is formulated in almost identical terms to Article 39(3) EC (Case C‑340/97 Nazli [2000] ECR I‑957, paragraph 56, and Cetinkaya , paragraph 43).

50. It is apparent from the foregoing that the appellant’s appeal must be dismissed as inadmissible. B – The appeal of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (C‑550/10 P) 1. Arguments of the parties

47. Il s’ensuit que, contrairement à ce que prétend la Commission, une interprétation purement littérale du régime particulier des agences de voyages fondée sur le texte d’une ou de plusieurs versions linguistiques, à l’exclusion des autres, ne saurait prévaloir. Conformément à une jurisprudence constante, il y a lieu de considérer que les dispositions du droit de l’Union doivent être interprétées et appliquées de manière uniforme à la lumière des versions établies dans toutes les langues de l’Union. En cas de disparité entre les diverses versions linguistiques d’un texte de l’Union, la disposition en cause doit être interprétée en fonction de l’économie générale et de la finalité de la réglementation dont elle constitue un élément (arrêt du 8 décembre 2005, Jyske Finans, C‑280/04, Rec. p. I‑10683, point 31).

29 The only difference between them is that the non-migrant worker acquires the entirety of his pension entitlements under a single body of legislation, whereas the migrant worker acquires them in sections corresponding to successive periods of work completed in different Member States under different legislative systems. In such situations, Article 51 of the Treaty aims to create, by coordination rather than by harmonization, a unified career, for social security purposes, for the migrant worker.

65. However, the Commission’s claims concerning the reasoning of the General Court set out in paragraphs 100 to 111 of that judgment have, in any event, no relevance to the operative part of that judgment, and must therefore be regarded as ineffective (see to that effect, in particular, Joined Cases C‑302/99 P and C‑308/99 P Commission and France v TF1 [2001] ECR I‑5603, paragraphs 27 to 29).

21 L' accord a, en effet, pour objectif, comme cela a déjà été exposé, de promouvoir une coopération globale entre les parties contractantes, notamment dans le domaine de la main-d' oeuvre . La circonstance que l' accord vise essentiellement à favoriser le développement économique du Maroc et qu' il se borne à établir une coopération entre les parties sans viser à une association ou à une future adhésion du Maroc aux Communautés n' est pas de nature à empêcher l' applicabilité directe de certaines de ses dispositions .

34. According to settled case-law, the right to obtain a refund of charges levied in a Member State in breach of rules of Community law is the consequence and the complement of the rights conferred on individuals by Community provisions as interpreted by the Court (see, inter alia, Case C-343/96 Dilexport [1999] ECR I‑579, paragraph 23; Joined Cases C‑397/98 and C-410/98 Metallgesellschaft and Others [2001] ECR I-1727, paragraph 84; and Marks & Spencer , paragraph 30).

83 Thus, the criterion to be applied is not whether the measure adopted by the legislature was the only one or the best one possible but whether it was manifestly inappropriate.

76 It is clear from the wording of Article 23(8) of Directive 2004/18 that a technical specification may not refer to a specific source unless this is justified by the subject matter of the public contract, and that this is permitted on an exceptional basis only. In any event, any reference to a technical specification, such as a specific source or origin, must be accompanied by the words ‘or equivalent’ (see, to that effect, judgment of 22 September 1988, Commission v Ireland, 45/87, EU:C:1988:435, paragraph 22).

78. It must be added that, according to Article 3(1)(c) and (j) EC, the activities of the Community are to include not only an ‘internal market characterised by the abolition, as between Member States, of obstacles to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital’, but also ‘a policy in the social sphere’. Article 2 EC states that the Community is to have as its task, inter alia, the promotion of ‘a harmonious, balanced and sustainable development of economic activities’ and ‘a high level of employment and of social protection’.

41. In order to guarantee the protection intended by Directive 93/13, the Court has already stated on several occasions that the imbalance which exists between the consumer and the seller or supplier may be corrected only by positive action unconnected with the actual parties to the contract (see Océano Grupo Editorial and Salvat Editores , paragraph 27; Mostaza Claro , paragraph 26; Asturcom Telecomunicaciones , paragraph 31; and VB Pénzügyi Lízing , paragraph 48).

33 It should be noted that point 1 of the Annex to the `coordination' directive, as amended by Directive 82/76, is explicit and unconditional in requiring participation in all the medical activities of the department where the training is carried out, including on-call duties, so that the trainee specialist devotes to this practical and theoretical training all his professional activity throughout the duration of the standard working week and throughout the year.

42. Unlike Article 28 EC, which concerns quantitative restrictions on imports and measures having equivalent effect to such restrictions, Article 29 EC prohibits only national measures which provide for a difference in treatment between products destined for export and those sold within the Member State concerned (Groenveld , cited above, paragraphs 7 and 9).

9. Il convient de souligner que, selon une jurisprudence constante, l’existence d’un manquement doit être appréciée en fonction de la situation de l’État membre telle qu’elle se présentait au terme du délai fixé dans l’avis motivé (arrêts du 14 juillet 2005, Commission/Espagne, C‑135/03, Rec. p. I‑6909, point 31, et du 6 décembre 2007, Commission/France, C‑106/07, non encore publié au Recueil, point 16).

20 Nevertheless, if the receipt of dividends paid by those subsidiaries to the holding company thus involving itself in their management is to fall within the scope of VAT, a further requirement is that the dividends are capable of being regarded as consideration for the economic activity in question, which presupposes that there is a direct link between the activity carried out and the consideration received (see, inter alia, Case 154/80 Staatssecretaris van Financiën v Coöperatieve Aardappelenbewaarplaats [1981] ECR 445, paragraph 12; and Case C-288/94 Argos Distributors v Commissioners of Customs and Excise [1996] ECR I-5311, paragraph 16).

23. Tout d’abord, il importe de rappeler que, selon une jurisprudence constante, la lettre de mise en demeure adressée par la Commission à l’État membre concerné puis l’avis motivé émis par cette dernière délimitent l’objet du litige, lequel ne peut plus, dès lors, être étendu. En effet, la possibilité pour l’État membre concerné de présenter ses observations constitue, même s’il estime ne pas devoir en faire usage, une garantie essentielle voulue par le traité FUE et son observation est une forme substantielle de la régularité de la procédure constatant un manquement d’un État membre. Par conséquent, l’avis motivé et le recours de la Commission doivent reposer sur les mêmes griefs que ceux de la lettre de mise en demeure qui engage la procédure précontentieuse (voir arrêt Commission/Pays-Bas, C‑576/10, EU:C:2013:510, point 28 et jurisprudence citée).

31 The residence obligation imposed on both managers and staff of security firms and internal security services, save for administrative and logistical staff, constitutes a restriction on both the freedom of establishment (see Commission v Spain, cited above, paragraph 44) and the free movement of workers (see Case C-350/96 Clean Car Autoservice v Landeshauptmann von Wien [1998] ECR I-2521, paragraphs 27 to 30).

29. In the light of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the first question is that Directive 2001/29, in particular Article 5(2)(b) and (5) thereof, must be interpreted as meaning that the final user who carries out, on a private basis, the reproduction of a protected work must, in principle, be regarded as the person responsible for paying the fair compensation provided for in Article 5(2)(b). However, it is open to the Member States to establish a private copying levy chargeable to the persons who make reproduction equipment, devices and media available to that final user, since they are able to pass on the amount of that levy in the price paid by the final user for that service. The second question

55. Consequently, the Member State to which a decision requiring recovery of illegal aid is addressed is obliged under Article 249 EC to take all measures necessary to ensure implementation of that decision (see Case C‑209/00 Commission v Germany [2002] ECR I‑11695, paragraph 31; Case C‑404/00 Commission v Spain [2003] ECR I‑6695, paragraph 21; and Case C‑232/05 Commission v France , paragraph 42). This must result in the actual recovery of the sums owed (see, to that effect, Case C‑415/03 Commission v Greece [2005] ECR I‑3875, paragraph 44, and Commission v France , paragraph 42).

27 On the other hand, Regulation No 17 does not give an undertaking under investigation any right to evade the investigation on the ground that the results thereof might provide evidence of an infringement by it of the competition rules . On the contrary, it imposes on the undertaking an obligation to cooperate actively, which implies that it must make available to the Commission all information relating to the subject-matter of the investigation .

53 That is the case, according to settled case-law of the Court, where the difference in treatment relates to a legally permitted objective pursued by the measure having the effect of giving rise to such a difference and is proportionate to that objective (see, to that effect, judgments of 17 October 2013, Schaible, C‑101/12, EU:C:2013:661, paragraph 77, and of 22 May 2014, Glatzel, C‑356/12, EU:C:2014:350, paragraph 43).

41. That provision clearly, precisely and unconditionally lays down the obligation for Member States to subject discharges of the substances listed in Annex II to the Protocol to the issue by the competent national authorities of an authorisation taking due account of the provisions of Annex III.

107. The principles of customary international law mentioned in paragraph 103 of the present judgment may be relied upon by an individual for the purpose of the Court’s examination of the validity of an act of the European Union in so far as, first, those principles are capable of calling into question the competence of the European Union to adopt that act (see Joined Cases 89/85, 104/85, 114/85, 116/85, 117/85 and 125/85 to 129/85 Ahlström Osakeyhtiö and Others v Commission [1988] ECR 5193, paragraphs 14 to 18, and Case C‑405/92 Mondiet [1993] ECR I‑6133, paragraphs 11 to 16) and, second, the act in question is liable to affect rights which the individual derives from European Union law or to create obligations under European Union law in his regard.

14. Finally, as the Court stressed in Joined Cases C-159/91 and C-160/91 Poucet and Pistre v Assurances Générales de France and Others [1993] ECR I-637, paragraph 13, social security schemes such as those in issue in the main proceedings, which are based on the principle of solidarity, require compulsory contributions in order to ensure that the principle of solidarity is applied and that their financial equilibrium is maintained. If Article 2(2) of Directive 92/49/EEC were to be interpreted in the manner contemplated by the national tribunal, the obligation to contribute would be removed and the schemes in question would thus be unable to survive.

22. As the Court has held on a number of occasions, the justification for the prohibition of customs duties and any charges having an equivalent effect lies in the fact that any pecuniary charge, however small, imposed on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier, constitutes an obstacle to the movement of goods which is aggravated by the resulting administrative formalities. It follows that any pecuniary charge, whatever its designation and mode of application, which is imposed unilaterally on goods by reason of the fact that they cross a frontier and is not a customs duty in the strict sense constitutes a charge having an equivalent effect to a customs duty within the meaning of Articles 23 EC and 25 EC, even if it is not imposed on behalf of the State (see, inter alia , Case 158/82 Commission v Denmark [1983] ECR 3573, paragraph 18; and Case 18/87 Commission v Germany [1988] ECR 5427, paragraph 5).

134. Article 5(3)(d) of Directive 2001/29 is intended to strike a fair balance between the right to freedom of expression of users of a work or other protected subject-matter and the reproduction right conferred on authors.

24. Thus, where powers of taxation are exercised by a State in the territory in which activity has generated taxable income, it must be possible for the costs directly connected to that activity to be taken into account in the taxation of non-residents. In that connection, Community law does not preclude a Member State from going further, by allowing costs that do not have such a connection to be taken into account (see, to that effect, FKP Scorpio Konzertproduktionen, paragraphs 50 to 52).

Pour ce qui est, enfin, de l’allégation d’Odile Jacob selon laquelle le Tribunal, en indiquant, au point 160 de l’arrêt attaqué, que le «processus de désinvestissement était sous étroite surveillance de la Commission», aurait dénaturé les faits, puisque les missions de surveillance auraient été déléguées à un mandataire, conformément aux engagements de Lagardère, il convient de rappeler qu’une telle dénaturation doit apparaître de façon manifeste des pièces du dossier, sans qu’il soit nécessaire de procéder à une nouvelle appréciation des faits et des preuves (arrêt Commission/ANKO, C‑78/14 P, EU:C:2015:732, point 54 et jurisprudence citée).

105. Even though Directive 93/104 leaves the Member States a degree of latitude when they adopt rules in order to implement it, particularly as regards the reference period to be fixed for the purposes of applying Article 6 of that directive, and even though it also permits them to derogate from Article 6, those factors do not alter the precise and unconditional nature of Article 6(2). First, it is clear from the wording of Article 17(4) of the directive that the reference period can never exceed 12 months and, second, the Member States’ right not to apply Article 6 is subject to compliance with all the conditions set out in Article 18(1)(b)(i) of the directive. It is therefore possible to determine the minimum protection which must be provided in any event (see, to that effect, Simap , paragraphs 68 and 69).

40. According to the settled case-law of the Court, the definition of aid is 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 (see, inter alia, judgment in Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Others , C‑222/04, EU:C:2006:8, paragraph 131 and the case-law cited).

33 The Court has held that Articles 130r of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 174 EC) and 130s of the Treaty are intended to confer powers on the Community to undertake specific action on environmental matters, while leaving intact its powers under other provisions of the Treaty, even if the measures in question pursue at the same time one of the objectives of environmental protection (see Case C-405/92 Mondiet [1993] ECR I-6133, paragraph 26). The third sentence of the first subparagraph of Article 130r(2) of the Treaty, in its version prior to the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the substance of which was repeated in Article 6 EC, provides, in that respect, that environmental protection requirements are to be a component of the Community's other policies, so that a Community measure cannot be part of Community action on environmental matters merely because it takes account of those requirements (see, to that effect, the abovementioned Titanium dioxide judgment, paragraph 22, and Mondiet, paragraph 27).

27 That interpretation is confirmed by the second sentence of Article 130r(2), pursuant to which environmental protection requirements are to be a component of the Community' s other policies. That provision, which expresses the principle that all Community measures must satisfy the requirements of environmental protection, implies that a Community measure cannot be part of Community action on environmental matters merely because it takes account of those requirements (Greece v Council, cited above, paragraph 20, C-300/89 Commission v Council [1991] ECR I-2867, paragraph 22).

31. Moreover, the amount of VAT to be paid on the transfer of a business or a part thereof is likely to constitute a particularly heavy burden on the transferee in relation to the resources of the business concerned, even where the totality of assets transferred includes no immovable property. It is therefore consistent with the purpose of Article 5(8) of the Sixth Directive, as described in paragraph 23 above, also to accord special treatment to transfers of a totality of assets concomitant with the conclusion of a contract for lease of the business premises (see, to that effect, Zita Modes , paragraph 41).

14 IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING , THE CLAIM FOR REVISION OF PARAGRAPHS 24 AND 25 OF THE CONTESTED JUDGMENT MUST ALSO BE DISMISSED .

20 However, provided that the appellant challenges the interpretation or application of EU law by the General Court, the points of law examined at first instance may be discussed again in the course of an appeal. Indeed, if an appellant could not thus base his appeal on pleas in law and arguments already relied on before the General Court, an appeal would be deprived of part of its purpose (judgment of 19 January 2017, Commission v Total and Elf Aquitaine, C‑351/15 P, EU:C:2017:27, paragraph 31 and the case-law cited).

19 WITH REGARD TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY THE SYSTEM OF INTERNAL COMMUNITY MEASURES MAY NOT THEREFORE BE SEPARATED FROM THAT OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS .

56. The Court has held that, although intrinsically connected with other matters governed by the regulation, in particular rights of custody, the enforceability of a judgment requiring the return of a child following a judgment of non‑return has procedural autonomy, so as not to delay the return of a child who has been wrongfully removed. The Court has also confirmed the procedural autonomy of the provisions of Articles 11(8), 40 and 42 of the regulation and the priority given to the jurisdiction of the court of origin, in the context of Section 4 of Chapter III of the regulation (see, to that effect, Rinau , paragraphs 63 and 64).

49. The concept of independence, which is inherent in the task of adjudication, involves primarily an authority acting as a third party in relation to the authority which adopted the contested decision (see, to that effect, inter alia Case C‑24/92 Corbiau [1993] ECR I-1277, paragraph 15, and Case C‑516/99 Schmid [2002] ECR I-4573, paragraph 36).

32. This interpretation is, moreover, consistent with the principle of fiscal neutrality, which precludes treating similar supplies of services, which are thus in competition with each other, differently for VAT purposes (Case C-109/02 Commission v Germany [2003] ECR I‑12691, paragraph 20; and Kingscrest Associates and Montecello , paragraph 54). It would be contrary to that principle to make medical tests prescribed by general practitioners subject to a different VAT scheme depending on where they are carried out when they are equivalent from a qualitative point of view in the light of the professional qualifications of the service providers in question (see, to that effect, Dornier , paragraph 49; and Joined Cases C‑443/04 and C‑444/04 Solleveld and van den Hout-van Eijnsbergen [2006] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 40 and 41). The type of establishments providing the services at issue in the main proceedings

47 However, if Articles 37(1), 50, 51(1) and 203(1) of the Customs Code are read together, it is apparent that the scope of Article 203(1) extends well beyond the acts referred to in Article 865 of the implementing regulation and that removal must be understood as encompassing any act or omission the result of which is to prevent, if only for a short time, the competent customs authority from gaining access to goods under customs supervision and from monitoring them as provided for in Article 37(1) of the Customs Code.

24. In that regard, it is also to be borne in mind that Article 82 EC applies, in particular, to the conduct of a dominant undertaking that, through recourse to methods different from those governing normal competition on the basis of the performance of commercial operators, has the effect, to the detriment of consumers, of hindering the maintenance of the degree of competition existing in the market or the growth of that competition (see, to that effect, AKZO v Commission , paragraph 69; France Télécom v Commission , paragraphs 104 and 105; and Case C‑280/08 P Deutsche Telekom v Commission [2010] ECR I‑0000, paragraphs 174, 176 and 180 and case-law cited).

Il est de jurisprudence constante que le respect du principe d’équivalence implique que les États membres ne prévoient pas des modalités procédurales moins favorables pour les recours fondés sur une violation du droit de l’Union que celles qui sont applicables aux recours similaires, eu égard à leur objet, leur cause et leurs éléments essentiels, fondés sur une violation du droit interne (voir, en ce sens, arrêt du 19 juillet 2012, Littlewoods Retail e.a., C‑591/10, EU:C:2012:478, point 31 ainsi que jurisprudence citée).

32. As the Court has stated, those directives would be deprived of their effectiveness if, solely on the basis of the victim’s contribution to the occurrence of his injuries, national rules, established on the basis of general and abstract criteria, either denied the victim the right to be compensated by the compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles or limited such a right in a disproportionate manner. It is, therefore, only in exceptional circumstances that that right may be limited on the basis of an assessment of a particular case ( Ambrósio Lavrador and Olival Ferreira Bonifácio , paragraph 29).

291 When one or more Member States are faced with an emergency situation within the meaning of Article 78(3) TFEU, the burdens entailed by the provisional measures adopted under that provision for the benefit of that or those Member States must, as a rule, be divided between all the other Member States, in accordance with the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility between the Member States, since, in accordance with Article 80 TFEU, that principle governs EU asylum policy.

36. Selon une jurisprudence constante de la Cour, les éléments caractéristiques de la notion de «temps de travail» sont présents dans les périodes de garde des médecins, telles que les gardes actives en cause dans la présente affaire, selon un régime de présence physique à l’hôpital. L’obligation faite à ces médecins d’être présents et disponibles sur les lieux de travail en vue de la prestation de leurs services professionnels doit être considérée comme relevant de l’exercice de leurs fonctions (voir, en ce sens, arrêts Simap, C‑303/98, EU:C:2000:528, point 48, et Jaeger, C‑151/02, EU:C:2003:437, point 49).

59 It follows that, as the relevant period to be taken into account for the application of the tax-free allowance does not depend on the amount of the taxable value but applies to the beneficiary in his capacity as a taxable person, the characteristics pertaining to the tax liability of the non-resident beneficiary who receives a gift from a non-resident donor are not such as to make the situation of that beneficiary, as regards that period, objectively different from that of a non-resident beneficiary who receives a gift from a resident donor or from that of a resident beneficiary who receives a gift from a non-resident donor (see, by analogy, the judgment of 17 October 2013 in Welte, C‑181/12, EU:C:2013:662, paragraph 55).

Il suffit de relever, à cet égard, qu’il ressort de la jurisprudence de la Cour que la Commission n’est pas tenue, lors de la détermination du montant des amendes, de s’assurer, dans le cas où de telles amendes sont infligées à plusieurs entreprises impliquées dans une même infraction, que les montants finaux des amendes traduisent une différenciation entre les entreprises concernées quant à leur chiffre d’affaires global (arrêt du 7 septembre 2016, Pilkington Group e.a./Commission, C‑101/15 P, EU:C:2016:631, point 65).

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.

30. In that regard, according to settled case-law, the procedure provided for by Article 234 EC is an instrument of cooperation between the Court of Justice and national courts by means of which the former provides the latter with interpretation of such Community law as is necessary for them to give judgment in cases upon which they are called to adjudicate (see, inter alia , Joined Cases C-297/88 and C-197/89 Dzodzi [1990] ECR I-3763, paragraph 33; Case C-231/89 Gmurzynska-Bscher [1990] ECR I-4003, paragraph 18; Case C-83/91 Meilicke [1992] ECR I-4871, paragraph 22, and Case C-413/99 Baumbast and R [2002] ECR I-7091, paragraph 31).

114. As to the argument that "virtual pharmacists" are less able to react than pharmacists in dispensaries, the disadvantages which have been mentioned in this regard concern, first, the fact that the medicine concerned may be incorrectly used and, second, the possibility that it may be abused. As regards incorrect use of the medicine, the risk thereof can be reduced through an increase in the number of on-line interactive features, which the customer must use before being able to proceed to a purchase. As regards possible abuse, it is not apparent that for persons who wish to acquire non-prescription medicines unlawfully, purchase in a traditional pharmacy is more difficult than an internet purchase.

67. Further, as regards the complaint that the General Court deviated from the Commission’s decision-making practice, suffice it to state, as the General Court did in paragraph 143 of the judgment under appeal, that, according to the Court’s settled case-law, the Commission’s practice in previous decisions does not serve as a legal framework for the fines imposed in competition matters (see judgments in JCB Service v Commission , C‑167/04 P, EU:C:2006:594, paragraph 205; Tomra Systems and Others v Commission , C‑549/10 P, EU:C:2012:221, paragraph 104; and Team Relocations and Others v Commission , C‑444/11 P, EU:C:2013:464, paragraph 82).

67. It must be observed in this respect that the application of the set-off method should enable the tax on dividends deducted in Germany to be set off in full against the tax payable in the State of establishment of the recipient company, so that, if the dividends received by that company were ultimately taxed more heavily than the dividends paid to companies established in Germany, that heavier tax burden could no longer be attributed to the Federal Republic of Germany, but to the State of establishment of the recipient company which exercised its power of taxation (see, to that effect, Commission v Spain , paragraph 60).

23 Moreover, to accept that it is possible for Member States to exclude any reduction of the VAT taxable amount would run counter to the principle of the neutrality of VAT, which means, inter alia, that the trader, as tax collector on behalf of the State, is entirely to be relieved of the burden of tax due or paid in the course of his economic activities, themselves subject to VAT (see, to that effect, judgments of 13 March 2008, Securenta, C‑437/06, EU:C:2008:166, paragraph 25, and of 13 March 2014, Malburg, C‑204/13, EU:C:2014:147, paragraph 41).

37. In that regard, as has already been stated, products such as those at issue in the main proceedings have, as a result of the addition of water and other substances, lost the taste, smell and appearance of a beverage produced from a particular fruit or natural product, that is to say a fermented beverage. The particular organoleptic characteristics of those products, which define their essential character, therefore correspond to those of products classified in heading 2208 of the CN.

26. As the specific aim of the Double Taxation Convention is to secure fiscal cohesion, that Convention may not be invoked to justify an inconsistency as regards the taxpayer, which must be remedied by the introduction of the relief which is the subject of the main proceedings (see, by way of analogy, Wielockx , paragraph 25).

17. It is settled case-law that ‘genuine use’ within the meaning of the Directive must be understood to denote actual use, consistent with the essential function of a trade mark, which is to guarantee the identity of the origin of goods or services to the consumer or end user by enabling him, without any possibility of confusion, to distinguish the goods or services from others which have another origin (Case C-40/01 Ansul [2003] ECR I-2439, paragraphs 35 and 36, and Case C-442/07 Verein Radetzky-Orden [2008] ECR I-0000, paragraph 13).

59 It follows from the case-law of the Court of Justice, however, that the taking into account, by virtue of the principle of equal treatment, of differences between the undertakings that have participated in a single cartel (in particular with regard to the geographic scope of their respective involvement) for the purpose of assessing the gravity of an infringement need not necessarily occur when the multipliers for the ‘gravity of the infringement’ and for the ‘additional amount’ are set but may occur at another stage in the setting of the fine, such as when the basic amount of the fine is adjusted in the light of mitigating and aggravating circumstances under points 28 and 29 of the 2006 Guidelines (see, to that effect, judgments of 11 July 2013, Gosselin Group v Commission, C‑429/11 P, not published, EU:C:2013:463, paragraphs 96 to 100, and of 11 July 2013, Team Relocations and Others v Commission, C‑444/11 P, not published, EU:C:2013:464, paragraphs 104 and 105).

29. It follows that the process of checking requests for refunds must be regarded as an integral part of the system of export refunds provided for by Regulation No 3665/87. In order to determine which document constitutes the request for refund, the document which must be taken into consideration is not that which seeks the payment of the refund, but that which triggers the system of checks of the request for refund.

74. In accordance with settled case-law, national measures restricting the free movement of capital may be justified by overriding reasons in the public interest, provided that they are appropriate to secure the attainment of the objective which they pursue and do not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it (Case C‑112/05 Commission v Germany [2007] ECR I‑8995, paragraphs 72 and 73, and Dijkman and Dijkman-Lavaleije , paragraph 49).

29. To give companies the option of having their losses taken into account in the Member State in which they are established or in another Member State would seriously undermine a balanced allocation of the power to impose taxes between the Member States, since the tax base would be increased in the first Member State, and reduced in the second, by the amount of the losses transferred (see Marks & Spencer , paragraph 46, Oy AA , paragraph 55, and Lidl Belgium , paragraph 32).

25 As the Advocate General noted at point 27 of his Opinion, it is only by way of derogation from the general principle laid down in Article 2(1) of Regulation No 44/2001, attributing jurisdiction to the courts of the Member State in which the defendant is domiciled, that Section 2 of Chapter II of that regulation makes provision for certain special jurisdictional rules, such as the rule laid down in Article 5(3) of that regulation. Insofar as the jurisdiction of the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred constitutes a rule of special jurisdiction, it must be interpreted independently and strictly, which does not permit an interpretation going beyond the cases expressly envisaged by that regulation (see, to that effect, judgments of 5 June 2014 in Coty Germany, C‑360/12, EU:C:2014:1318, paragraphs 43 to 45, and of 10 September 2015 in Holterman Ferho Exploitatie and Others, C‑47/14, EU:C:2015:574, paragraphs 72 and case-law cited).

83. Those include Resolutions 1373 (2001) and 1377 (2001) of the UN Security Council, from which it is clear that the Security Council takes as its starting point the principle that international terrorist acts are, generally speaking and irrespective of any State participation, contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

96. Thus, the taxpayer should not be excluded a priori from providing relevant documentary evidence enabling the tax authorities of the Member State imposing the tax to ascertain, clearly and precisely, that he is not attempting to avoid or evade the payment of taxes (see, to that effect, Case C‑254/97 Baxter and Others [1999] ECR I‑4809, paragraphs 19 and 20, and Case C‑39/04 Laboratoires Fournier [2005] ECR I‑2057, paragraph 25).

29. À cet égard, un brevet protégeant plusieurs «produits» distincts peut certes permettre en principe d’obtenir plusieurs CCP en lien avec chacun de ces produits distincts, pour autant notamment que chacun de ceux-ci soit «protégé» en tant que tel par ce «brevet de base» au sens de l’article 3, sous a), du règlement nº 469/2009, lu en combinaison avec l’article 1 er , sous b) et c), de celui-ci (arrêt du 12 décembre 2013, Georgetown University, C‑484/12, point 30).

95 The instant cases can therefore be distinguished from the case that gave rise to the judgment of 12 November 2014, Guardian Industries and Guardian Europe v Commission (C‑580/12 P, EU:C:2014:2363). By that judgment the Court reduced the amount of the fine imposed on a participant in an infringement in order to take into account the fact that, by erroneously applying the method that it had chosen to determine the amount of the fine, the Commission had imposed on another participant in the same cartel a fine that reduced the relative weight in the infringement of that other participant (judgment of 12 November 2014, Guardian Industries and Guardian Europe v Commission, C‑580/12 P, EU:C:2014:2363, paragraphs 70 to 80).

80. In those circumstances, in the light of all the considerations of fact and law in the present case, the amount of the fine imposed on Guardian in Article 2 of the decision at issue must be reduced by 30% and set at EUR 103 600 000. Costs

52 As is apparent from the answer to the first two questions, the decision of a Member State to extradite a Union citizen, in a situation such as that of the main proceedings, comes within the scope of Article 18 TFEU and Article 21 TFEU and, therefore, of EU law for the purposes of Article 51(1) of the Charter (see, to that effect, by analogy, judgment of 26 February 2013 in Åkerberg Fransson, C‑617/10, EU:C:2013:105, paragraphs 25 to 27).

42. Those objective criteria for assessing the depreciation of motor vehicles have not been listed by the Court as being obligatory ( Commission v Greece , paragraph 37). They need not thus necessarily be applied cumulatively. However, the application of a scale based on a single criterion of depreciation, such as the age of the motor vehicle, does not guarantee that the scale reflects the actual depreciation of those vehicles (see, to that effect, Gomes Valente , paragraphs 28 and 29, and Commission v Greece , paragraphs 38 to 42). In particular, where kilometrage is not taken into account, the scale adopted by the legislation at issue does not, as a general rule, lead to a reasonable approximation of the actual value of imported second-hand vehicles ( Commission v Greece , paragraph 43).

37. Such a restriction on freedom of establishment can be accepted only if it pursues a legitimate aim compatible with the Treaty or is justified by overriding reasons of public interest. But even if that were so, application of that measure would still have to be such as to ensure achievement of the aim in question and not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose (see, inter alia, Marks & Spencer , paragraph 35 and the case-law cited there, and Cadbury Schweppes and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas , paragraph 47).

12 THE MANDATORY NATURE OF DIRECTIVES ENTAILS THE OBLIGATION FOR ALL MEMBER STATES TO COMPLY WITH THE TIME-LIMITS CONTAINED THEREIN IN ORDER THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION SHALL BE ACHIEVED UNIFORMLY WITHIN THE WHOLE COMMUNITY .

19 It follows that point 13 of the 2006 Guidelines pursues the objective of adopting, as the starting point for the calculation of the fine imposed on an undertaking, an amount which reflects the economic significance of the infringement and the size of the undertaking’s contribution to it. Consequently, while the concept of the ‘value of sales’ referred to in point 13 of the Guidelines admittedly cannot extend to encompassing sales made by the undertaking in question which do not come within the scope of the alleged cartel, it would, however, be contrary to the goal pursued by that provision if that concept were to be understood as applying only to turnover achieved by the sales in respect of which it is established that they were actually affected by that cartel (judgments of 11 July 2013, Team Relocations and Others v Commission, C‑444/11 P, not published, EU:C:2013:464, paragraph 76, and of 12 November 2014, Guardian Industries and Guardian Europe v Commission, C‑580/12 P, EU:C:2014:2363, paragraph 57).

37. Moreover, it is apparent from Article 3(4) of Directive 2003/30 that the Member States also enjoy a wide discretion with regard to the products which they wish to promote in order to attain the objectives laid down in the directive, since they may choose to give priority to the promotion of certain types of fuels by taking account of their overall cost-effective climate and environmental balance, while also taking into account competitiveness and security of supply.

39. Therefore, the provisions of Regulation No 1408/71 must be interpreted in the light of Article 48 TFEU which aims to facilitate freedom of movement for workers and entails, in particular, that migrant workers must not lose their right to social security benefits or have the amount of those benefits reduced because they have exercised the right to freedom of movement conferred on them by the FEU Treaty (see, inter alia, judgments in Bosmann , C‑352/06, EU:C:2008:290, paragraph 29, and Hudzinski and Wawrzyniak , C‑611/10 and C‑612/10, EU:C:2012:339, paragraph 46).

49. Directive 2001/83 thus provides two definitions of medicinal product: one definition ‘by presentation’ and another definition ‘by function’. A product is a medicinal product if it comes within one or other of those two definitions.

29. Lastly, it should be recalled that both the notes which head the chapters of the Common Customs Tariff and the HS Explanatory Notes are important means of ensuring the uniform application of the Tariff and as such may be regarded as useful aids to its interpretation (see Case C‑11/93 Siemens Nixdorf [1994] ECR I‑1945, paragraph 12; Case C‑382/95 Techex [1997] ECR I‑7363, paragraph 12; Case C‑339/98 Peacock [2000] ECR I‑8947, paragraph 10, and Olicom , paragraph 17).

36. In particular, Article 40(5) of Regulation No 1782/2003 allows farmers who were under agri-environmental commitments to avoid being penalised in the context of the single payment scheme by reason of the fact that they were under such commitments during the reference period.

33. In the application of Article 110 TFEU, and in particular in the comparison of the taxes applicable to imported second-hand cars with those applicable to second-hand cars which are already on national territory, it is necessary to have regard not only to the rate of tax but also to the basis of assessment and the detailed rules for levying the tax in question (see, to that effect, judgments in Commission v Denmark , C‑47/88, EU:C:1990:449, paragraph 18; Nunes Tadeu , C‑345/93, EU:C:1995:66, paragraph 12; and Commission v Greece , C‑74/06, EU:C:2007:534, paragraph 27).

48. L’approche de ce nouveau cadre réglementaire se distingue de celle ayant présidé au cadre réglementaire antérieurement en vigueur. En effet, dans l’ancien cadre réglementaire, les obligations imposées à une entreprise puissante sur un marché déterminé étaient définies par le cadre réglementaire lui-même et non par les ARN sur la base d’une analyse du marché (voir, en ce sens, arrêt du 22 novembre 2007, Deutsche Telekom, C‑262/06, Rec. p. I‑10057, point 28).

41 Under settled case-law, Article 49 TFEU requires the elimination of restrictions on freedom of establishment. That freedom includes, for companies established in accordance with the legislation of a Member State and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the European Union, the right to exercise their activity in other Member States through a subsidiary, branch or agency (judgment of 21 May 2015, Verder LabTec, C‑657/13, EU:C:2015:331, paragraph 32 and the case-law cited).

43. However, the activities in question in the main proceedings, as carried out by FHT, namely the dispatch of a kit for collecting umbilical cord blood and the testing and processing of that blood and, where appropriate, the storage of stem cells contained in it, whether taken together or separately, do not appear to have as their direct purpose any actual diagnosis, treatment or cure of diseases or health disorders, or any actual protection, maintenance or restoration of health.

45. It follows from the Court's case-law that partial annulment of a decision is possible if the elements whose annulment is sought may be severed from the remainder of the decision (see, to that effect, Case 17/74 Transocean Marine Paint v Commission [1974] ECR 1063, paragraph 21, and Joined Cases C-68/94 and C-30/95 France and Others v Commission [1998] ECR I-1375, paragraph 256). That is the situation in the present case.

102. The elements mentioned in paragraphs 97 to 101 of the present judgment appear to be capable of demonstrating the existence of a genuine and sufficient connection between the appellant and the competent Member State.

28. As to the choice of those aspects, Article 47 of Directive 2004/18 leaves a fair degree of freedom to the contracting authorities. Unlike Article 48 of the Directive which, as regards technical and professional capacity, establishes a closed system which limits the methods of assessment and verification available to those authorities and, therefore, limits their opportunities to lay down requirements (see, as regards the similar provisions in earlier directives than Directive 2004/18, Case 76/81 Transporoute et travaux [1982] ECR 417, paragraphs 8 to 10 and 15), Article 47(4) expressly authorises contracting authorities to choose the probative references which must be produced by candidates or tenderers to furnish proof of their economic and financial standing. As Article 44(2) of Directive 2004/18 refers to Article 47, the same freedom of choice exists as regards the minimum levels of economic and financial standing.

59 In such a situation, in contrast to that giving rise to the judgments cited above in Bachmann and Commission v Belgium (see Bachmann, paragraph 28, and Commission v Belgium, paragraph 20), the coherence of the tax system can be safeguarded by measures which are less restrictive or less prejudicial to freedom of establishment, relating specifically to the risk of a definitive departure of the taxpayer, in respect of all types of share transfers entailing the same objective risk.

79. It must be borne in mind that the principle of legal certainty requires that rules of Community law be clear and precise, so that interested parties can ascertain their position in situations and legal relationships governed by Community law (see Case C-63/93 Duff and Others [1996] ECR I-569, paragraph 20).

65. Article 3(3) of the Directive allows Member States to derogate, under certain conditions, from Articles 5, 6, 17, 18 and 21 of the Directive. It does not apply to Article 7 or to Article 16 of the Directive. Article 3(3) of the Directive cannot therefore be relied on to justify a derogation from Articles 7(5) and 16 thereof.

22. In that respect, the Court held at paragraph 28 of Case C‑181/95 Biogen [1997] ECR I‑357 that, where a product is protected by a number of basic patents in force, which may belong to a number of patent holders, each of those patents may be designated for the purpose of the procedure for the grant of an SPC, although only one SPC may be granted for each basic patent.

28 Consequently, where a product is protected by a number of basic patents in force, which may belong to a number of patent holders, each of those patents may be designated for the purpose of the procedure for the grant of a certificate. Under Article 3(c) of the Regulation, however, only one certificate may be granted for each basic patent.

99. In addition, it must be pointed out that Article 307 EC does not apply to such agreements since no third c ountry is party to them (Case 235/87 Matteucci [1988] ECR 5589, paragraph 21).

30. It should be noted, at the outset, that infringement of the competition rules by a subsidiary may be imputed to the parent company in particular where, although having separate legal personality, that subsidiary does not decide independently upon its own conduct on the market but carries out, in all material respects, the instructions given to it by the parent company, having regard in particular to the economic, organisational and legal links between those two legal entities (see, inter alia, Case C‑97/08 P Akzo Nobel and Others v Commission [2009] ECR I‑8237, paragraph 58, and Joined Cases C‑628/10 P and C‑14/11 P Alliance One International and Standard Commercial Tobacco v Commission and Commission v Alliance One International and Others [2012] ECR, paragraph 43).

87. Consequently, it must be held that a provision which is, in substance, identical to the previous legislation, or limited to reducing or eliminating an obstacle to the exercise of Community rights and freedoms in the earlier legislation, will be covered by the derogation provided for in Article 17(6) of the Sixth Directive. By contrast, legislation based on an approach which differs from that of the previous law and establishes new procedures cannot be treated as legislation existing at the date fixed in the Community measure in question (see, to that effect, Case C-155/01 Cookies World [2003] ECR I‑8785, paragraph 63, and, by analogy, Holböck , paragraph 41).

34 In addition, it is not clear from the information submitted to the Court, in particular from the information provided at the hearing, that ENEA’s conduct was dictated by instructions from public authorities. On the contrary, it was indicated that the decision to decline offers for the sale of electricity produced by cogeneration during the year 2006 was the result of wholly autonomous business decisions.

29. As the statement of reasons for a measure of general application may be confined to indicating the general situation which led to its adoption and the general objectives which it is intended to achieve (see judgment in AJD Tuna , C‑221/09, EU:C:2011:153, paragraph 59 and the case-law cited), the EU legislature cannot be criticised for having only set out generally, in recitals 4 to 7 in the preamble to the basic regulation, the divergences between the national rules governing the marketing of seal products and the resulting adverse effect on the operation of the internal market that justified recourse to Article 95 EC. In particular, the EU legislature, contrary to the appellants’ submissions, was not required to specify in the very text of the preamble to the basic regulation the number and identity of the Member States whose national rules are the source of that measure.

613 By way of that negative formulation, it merely gave expression to the conclusion which it had reached in the exercise of its unfettered discretion following its assessment of the gravity and duration of the matters established and having regard to Montedison's arguments disputing those facts or casting a different light on them, which it had previously rejected.

128. With regard, first, to the complaint that, in the contested decision, the Commission departed from the notice relating to State aid in the field of taxation, it should be observed that that notice, which, being an internal measure adopted by the administration, cannot be regarded as a rule of law, nevertheless forms rules of practice from which the administration may not depart in an individual case without giving reasons which are compatible with the principle of equal treatment (see, with regard to the guidelines on State aid, the judgment of 9 June 2011 in Joined Cases C‑465/09 P to C‑470/09 P Diputación Foral de Vizcaya and Others v Commission , paragraph 120 and the case-law cited).

60. Accordingly, European Union law does not in all circumstances require a national court to disapply domestic rules of procedure conferring the force of res judicata on a judgment, even if to do so would make it possible to remedy an infringement of European Union law by the judgment in question (see, to that effect, Kapferer , paragraph 21, and Fallimento Olimpiclub , paragraph 23).

211. In the main proceedings, the first condition is plainly satisfied as regards Articles 43 EC and 56 EC. Those provisions confer rights on individuals (see, respectively, Brasserie du Pêcheur and Factortame , paragraphs 23 and 54, and Joined Cases C‑163/94, C‑165/94 and C‑250/94 Sanz de Lera and Others [1995] ECR I‑4821, paragraph 43).

94 It must be held that it is clear from the contested judgment and from the documents before the Court of First Instance that, although the Commission submitted to it a list of all the documents in the file concerning it, the appellant did not sufficiently identify, in its request to the Court of First Instance, the documents in the file of which it sought production. As regards the documents concerning the German structural crisis cartel, although the appellant criticised the Commission for deciding that its participation in the cartel was an aggravating factor, it nevertheless did not give any information as to how the documents asked for might be useful to it.

13 Such autonomous interpretation is alone capable of ensuring uniform application of the Convention, the objectives of which include unification of the rules on jurisdiction of the Contracting States, so as to avoid as far as possible multiplication of the bases of jurisdiction in relation to one and the same legal relationship and to reinforce the legal protection available to persons established in the Community by, at the same time, allowing the plaintiff easily to identify the court before which he may bring an action and the defendant reasonably to foresee the court before which he may be sued (Mulox IBC, paragraph 11, and Rutten, paragraph 13).

35 The term `employed person', which appears in Article 73 of the Regulation, is defined in Article 1(a). However, that definition is displaced by the definition in Point I.C of Annex I to the Regulation when the competent institution for granting family benefits is, in accordance with Chapter 7 of Title III of the Regulation, a German institution.

22 As regards the CB sets imported from non-member countries, it must be borne in mind that, since the introduction of the Common Customs Tariff on 1 July 1968, the levying of a customs duty or charge having equivalent effect, unilaterally introduced by a Member State in respect of goods imported directly from non-member countries, is contrary to Articles 9, 12 and 113 of the Treaty (Joined Cases 37/73 and 38/73 Diamantarbeiders v Indiamex [1973] ECR 1609, paragraph 18, and Case C-126/94 Cadi Surgelés and Others [1996] ECR I-5647, paragraph 18).

31. En effet, le choix du moment le plus opportun pour interroger la Cour par voie préjudicielle est de la compétence exclusive du juge national (voir, notamment, arrêts du 30 mars 2000, JämO, C‑236/98, Rec. p. I‑2189, points 30 et 31, ainsi que du 7 janvier 2004, X, C‑60/02, Rec. p. I‑651, point 28 et jurisprudence citée).

27. Furthermore, a person who incurs investment expenditure with the intention, confirmed by objective evidence, of engaging in economic activity within the meaning of Article 9(1) of Directive 2006/112 must be regarded as a taxable person. Acting in that capacity, he has therefore, in accordance with Article 167 et seq. of the directive, the right immediately to deduct the VAT payable or paid on the investment expenditure incurred for the purposes of the transactions which he intends to carry out and which give rise to the right to deduct (see, to that effect, Rompelman , paragraphs 23 and 24; INZO , paragraphs 16 and 17; Ghent Coal Terminal , paragraph 17; Gabalfrisa and Others , paragraph 47; and Case C‑400/98 Breitsohl [2000] ECR I‑4321, paragraph 34).

29. Furthermore, although the Munich Convention lays down common rules on the grant of European patents, it is clear from Articles 2(2) and 64(1) of that convention that such a patent continues to be governed by the national law of each of the Contracting States for which it has been granted.

107. Although the statement of reasons required by Article 253 EC must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the Community authority which adopted the contested measure, so as to enable the persons concerned to ascertain the reasons for the measure and to enable the Court to exercise its power of review, it is not required to go into every relevant point of fact and law (Case C-122/94 Commission v Council [1996] ECR I‑881, paragraph 29; British American Tobacco (Investments) and Imperial Tobacco , paragraph 165; Arnold André , paragraph 61; Swedish Match , paragraph 63; and Alliance for Natural Health and Others , paragraph 133).

57 The Dublin system, of which that regulation forms part, seeks, as is apparent from recitals 4 and 5 thereof, to make it possible, in particular, to determine rapidly the Member State responsible, so as to guarantee effective access to the procedures for granting international protection and not to compromise the objective of processing applications for international protection expeditiously.

25. Next, it must be borne in mind that it is settled case-law that that provision must be interpreted as meaning that the taxable amount for a supply of services is represented by the consideration actually received for that supply (see, inter alia, Case C-126/88 Boots Company [1990] ECR I-1235, paragraph 19, and Town & County Factors , paragraph 27).

93. As the Advocate General observed in point 193 of her Opinion, an exemption granted for a specified period may require a prospective analysis regarding the occurrence of the advantages associated with the agreement, and it is therefore sufficient for the Commission, on the basis of the arguments and evidence in its possession, to arrive at the conviction that the occurrence of the appreciable objective advantage is sufficiently likely in order to presume that the agreement entails such an advantage.

19 As a preliminary point, it should be noted that the EU legislature has laid down the obligations of air carriers in the event of cancellation or long delay of flights (that is, a delay equal to or in excess of three hours) in Article 5(1) of Regulation No 261/2004 (judgments of 23 October 2012, Nelson and Others, C‑581/10 and C‑629/10, EU:C:2012:657, paragraph 40).

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

36. In the light of the permanent and continuous nature of the planning and management services provided by Saudaçor, the fact that that compensation is determined not on the basis of individualised services but on a flat-rate and annual basis to cover the operating costs of that company is not in itself such as to affect the direct link between the supply of services made and the consideration received, the amount of which is determined in advance on the basis of well-established criteria (see, to that effect, judgment in Le Rayon d’Or , C‑151/13, EU:C:2014:185, paragraphs 36 and 37).

23. Article 4(5) of the Convention contains an exception clause which makes it possible to disregard those presumptions when the circumstances as a whole establish that the contract is more closely connected with another country (see, to that effect, ICF , EU:C:2009:617, paragraph 27).

41 The Court's case-law shows that, for a person to be directly concerned by a Community measure, the latter must directly affect the legal situation of the individual and leave no discretion to the addressees of that measure who are entrusted with the task of implementing it, such implementation being purely automatic and resulting from Community rules without the application of other intermediate rules (see to that effect, in particular, International Fruit Company, cited above, paragraphs 23 to 29, Case 92/78 Simmenthal v Commission [1979] ECR 777, paragraphs 25 and 26, Case 113/77 NTN Toyo Bearing Company and Others v Council [1979] ECR 1185, paragraphs 11 and 12, Case 118/77 ISO v Council [1979] ECR 1277, paragraph 26, Case 119/77 Nippon Seiko and Others v Council and Commission [1979] ECR 1303, paragraph 14, Case 120/77 Koyo Seiko and Others v Council and Commission [1979] ECR 1337, paragraph 25, Case 121/77 Nachi Fujikoshi and Others v Council [1979] ECR 1363, paragraph 11, Joined Cases 87/77, 130/77, 22/83, 9/84 and 10/84 Salerno and Others v Commission and Council [1985] ECR 2523, paragraph 31, Case 333/85 Mannesmann-Röhrenwerke and Benteler v Council [1987] ECR 1381, paragraph 14, Case 55/86 Arposol v Council [1988] ECR 13, paragraphs 11 to 13, Case 207/86 Apesco v Commission [1988] ECR 2151, paragraph 12, and Case C-152/88 Sofrimport v Commission [1990] ECR I-2477, paragraph 9).

31. The Portuguese Republic also maintains that Article 10(5) of the CIRS is intended to ensure that the taxpayer’s own residence and that of his family are protected and maintained and, therefore, guarantees that individual a right to accommodation, which is a constitutional right.

20. In accordance with the Court’s settled case-law, a provision in a decision of the EEC-Turkey Association Council must be regarded as having direct effect when, regard being had to its wording and to the purpose and nature of the decision of which it forms part and of the agreement to which it relates, that provision contains a clear and precise obligation which is not subject, in its implementation or effects, to the adoption of any subsequent measure (Case C-192/89 Sevince [1990] ECR I-3461, paragraph 15, and Case C171/01 Wählergruppe Gemeinsam [2003] ECR I-4301, paragraphs 54 and 55).

120. Quant à la troisième branche du quatrième moyen, le respect des droits de la défense exige que les destinataires de décisions qui affectent de manière sensible leurs intérêts soient mis en mesure de faire connaître utilement leur point de vue (arrêt Texdata Software, C-418/11, EU:C:2013:588, point 83 et jurisprudence citée).

37 Likewise, the Court, having regard to the circumstances of the case, held that Community law confers a right to reparation where three conditions are met: the rule of law infringed must be intended to confer rights on individuals; the breach must be sufficiently serious; and there must be a direct causal link between the breach of the obligation resting on the State and the damage sustained by the injured parties (Brasserie du Pêcheur and Factortame, paragraph 51; Dillenkofer, paragraphs 21 and 23; Denkavit, paragraph 48; Brinkmann, paragraph 25; see also Case C-140/97 Rechberger and Others v Austria [1999] ECR I-3499, paragraph 21; and Case C-424/97 Haim v Kassenzahnärztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein [2000] ECR I-5123, paragraph 36).

38. As the French and Netherlands Governments and the Commission have noted, that is true of the less favourable tax treatment of foreign-sourced dividends associated with a shareholding of two thirds of the shares of the company making the distribution.

53. For the purposes of examining CMV’s arguments relating to the specific complaints set out by the Commission in the withdrawal decision, it must first be noted that the Court has already ruled, in response to an argument based on the principle of gradation of measures, that Article 24(2) of Regulation No 4253/88 authorises the Commission to request the complete cancellation of Community financial assistance and that limiting the possibilities open to the Commission to reduce the assistance in proportion exclusively to the amount to which the irregularities found to exist relate would have the effect of encouraging fraud on the part of the applicants for financial assistance, since they would then risk only the loss of the benefit of the sums unduly paid (see, to that effect Case C‑500/99 P Conserve Italia v Commission [2002] ECR I‑867, paragraphs 74, 88 and 89). – The arguments concerning the making of a film by Romana Video

112. In fact, in that latter case, the power referred to in paragraph 110 above, far from implying that national legislation on the incorporation and winding-up of companies enjoys any form of immunity from the rules of the EC Treaty on freedom of establishment, cannot, in particular, justify the Member State of incorporation, by requiring the winding-up or liquidation of the company, in preventing that company from converting itself into a company governed by the law of the other Member State, to the extent that it is permitted under that law to do so.

53. The Court has consistently held that indirect discrimination on grounds of sex arises where a national measure, albeit formulated in neutral terms, puts considerably more workers of one sex at a disadvantage than the other (see, to that effect, Case C‑1/95 Gerster [1997] ECR I‑5253, paragraph 30; Case C‑123/10 Brachner [2011] ECR I‑10003, paragraph 56; and Case C‑7/12 Riežniece [2013] ECR, paragraph 39).

112. Moreover, the lack of any possibility of recoupment of losses is not sufficient to prevent the undertaking concerned reinforcing its dominant position, in particular, following the withdrawal from the market of one or a number of its competitors, so that the degree of competition existing on the market, already weakened precisely because of the presence of the undertaking concerned, is further reduced and customers suffer loss as a result of the limitation of the choices available to them.

37. It follows that, under Article 17(1) and (2) of the Sixth Directive, Kretztechnik is entitled to deduct all the VAT charged on the expenses incurred by that company for the various supplies which it acquired in the context of the share issue carried out by it, provided, however, that all the transactions carried out by that company in the context of its economic activity constitute taxed transactions. A taxable person who effects both transactions in respect of which VAT is deductible and transactions in respect of which it is not may, under the first subparagraph of Article 17(5) of the Sixth Directive, deduct only that proportion of the VAT which is attributable to the former transactions ( Abbey National , paragraph 37, and Cibo Participations , paragraph 34).

14 In a case such as that in the main proceedings here, it appears that, of the various chapters, headings and subheadings mentioned in the annex to that regulation, Chapter 30 alone is relevant.

47. Thus, an interpretation by the Court of provisions of EU law in situations outside its scope is justified where those provisions have been made applicable to such situations by national law in a direct and unconditional way in order to ensure that internal situations and situations governed by EU law are treated in the same way (see, to that effect, Cicala , paragraph 19 and case-law cited).

47 However, if Articles 37(1), 50, 51(1) and 203(1) of the Customs Code are read together, it is apparent that the scope of Article 203(1) extends well beyond the acts referred to in Article 865 of the implementing regulation and that removal must be understood as encompassing any act or omission the result of which is to prevent, if only for a short time, the competent customs authority from gaining access to goods under customs supervision and from monitoring them as provided for in Article 37(1) of the Customs Code.

64. Nevertheless, given that the Member States are under an obligation to ensure full compliance with Community law, the Commission may show that compliance with the provision of a directive governing such relations requires the adoption of specific measures transposing that provision into the national legal order (see Case C-296/01 Commission v France , cited above, paragraph 92, and Case C-429/01 Commission v France , cited above, paragraph 68).

44. In those circumstances, in order to find that the licensing agreement in question arose from an abusive practice designed to benefit from a lower rate of VAT in Madeira, it is necessary to establish that that agreement constituted a wholly artificial arrangement concealing the fact that the services concerned, that is to say, operation of the website using WML’s know-how, were not actually supplied in Madeira by Lalib, but were in fact supplied in Hungary by WML. As regards determining the actual place of that supply, such a finding must be based on objective factors which are ascertainable by third parties, such as the physical existence of Lalib in terms of premises, staff and equipment (see, by analogy, judgment in Cadbury Schweppes and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas , C‑196/04, EU:C:2006:544, paragraph 67).

29. In addition, pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 252 TFEU, it is the duty of the Advocate General, acting with complete impartiality and independence, to make, in open court, reasoned submissions on cases which, in accordance with the Statute of the Court of Justice, require the Advocate General’s involvement. The Court is not bound either by the Advocate General’s Opinion or by the reasoning on which it is based (judgment in Buono and Others v Commission , EU:C:2014:2284, paragraph 27 and the case-law cited).

39 In those circumstances, the provision must not be interpreted strictly and cannot, failing any clear indication to that effect, be construed as requiring the Turkish migrant worker still to be employed in the host Member State at the time when his child wishes to gain access to the employment market there.

35. Il convient de rappeler que, pour apprécier si une pension de retraite entre dans le champ d’application de l’article 141 CE, seul le critère tiré de la constatation que la pension est versée au travailleur en raison de la relation de travail qui l’unit à son ancien employeur, c’est-à-dire le critère de l’emploi, tiré des termes mêmes de l’article 141 CE, peut revêtir un caractère déterminant (arrêts précités Beune, point 43; Griesmar, point 28; Niemi, point 44, ainsi que Schönheit et Becker, point 56).

113. That is not the case where the service provider, instead of confining itself to providing that service neutrally by a merely technical and automatic processing of the data provided by its customers, plays an active role of such a kind as to give it knowledge of, or control over, those data ( Google France and Google , paragraphs 114 and 120).

37. In addition, the purpose of the national rules at issue in Case C‑65/05 Commission v Greece was to combat the serious social problems caused by the fact that the games concerned could easily be converted into games of chance, which are prohibited in Greece outside casinos. At paragraph 38 of the judgment in that case, the Court accepted that the overriding public-interest reasons put forward by the Hellenic Republic might justify the barrier to the free movement of goods established in that case. At paragraph 41 of that judgment, however, the Court held that the prohibition of the games in question on all public and private premises apart from casinos constitutes a measure which is disproportionate in view of the objective pursued.

33. The exclusion of such an advantage in respect of the losses incurred by a subsidiary established in another Member State which does not conduct any trading activities in the parent company’s Member State is of such a kind as to hinder the exercise by that parent company of its freedom of establishment by deterring it from setting up subsidiaries in other Member States.

32. It should be noted that, pursuant to the case-law of the Court, in the absence of unifying or harmonising measures adopted by the European Union, the Member States retain competence for determining the criteria for taxation on income and capital with a view to eliminating double taxation by means, inter alia, of international agreements. In that context, the Member States are free to determine the connecting factors for the allocation of fiscal jurisdiction in bilateral agreements for the avoidance of double taxation (see, inter alia, Case C-307/97 Saint-Gobain ZN [1999] ECR I-6161, paragraph 57; Case C-385/00 de Groot [2002] ECR I-11819, paragraph 93; Case C-265/04 Bouanich [2006] ECR I-923, paragraph 49; and Case C-527/06 Renneberg [2008] ECR I-7735, paragraph 48).

32. Therefore, contrary to what the appellant submits, where a three-dimensional mark is constituted by the shape of the product for which registration is sought, the mere fact that that shape is a ‘variant’ of a common shape of that type of product is not sufficient to establish that the mark is not devoid of any distinctive character for the purposes of Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation No 40/94. It must always be determined whether such a mark permits the average consumer of that product, who is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, to distinguish the product concerned from those of other undertakings without conducting an analytical examination and without paying particular attention.

63. The Court has thus held, in particular, that an applicant may retain an interest in claiming the annulment of a decision either in order to be restored to his original position (Case 92/78 Simmenthal v Commission [1979] ECR 777, paragraph 32) or in order to induce the author of the contested act to make suitable amendments in the future, and thereby avoid the risk that the unlawfulness alleged in respect of that act will be repeated (see, to that effect, Simmenthal v Commission , paragraph 32; Case 53/85 AKZO Chemie and AKZO Chemie UK v Commission [1986] ECR 1965, paragraph 21; and Wunenburger v Commission , paragraph 50).

34. Whilst the provisions of Directive 2004/38 do not confer any autonomous right on family members of a Union citizen who are not nationals of a Member State, any rights conferred on them by provisions of EU law on Union citizenship are rights derived from the exercise by a Union citizen of his freedom of movement (see, to this effect, judgment in O. and B. , EU:C:2014:135, paragraph 36 and the case-law cited).

21 It must be remembered, however, that, as a fundamental principle of the Treaty, the freedom to provide services may be limited only by rules which are justified by imperative reasons relating to the public interest and which apply to all persons or undertakings pursuing an activity in the State of destination, in so far as that interest is not protected by the rules to which the person providing the services is subject in the Member State in which he is established. In particular, those requirements must be objectively necessary in order to ensure compliance with professional rules and to guarantee the protection of the recipient of services and they must not exceed what is necessary to attain those objectives (see, in particular, Case 279/80 Webb [1981] ECR 3305, paragraphs 17 and 20; Case 205/84 Commission v Germany [1986] ECR 3755, paragraph 27; and Case C-76/90 Säger v Dennemeyer [1991] ECR I-4221, paragraph 15).

67. The more immediately and strongly the earlier mark is brought to mind by the later mark, the greater the likelihood that the current or future use of the later mark is taking unfair advantage of, or is detrimental to, the distinctive character or the repute of the earlier mark.

29. Likewise, the Court has also held that a principle of international law, reaffirmed in Article 3 of Protocol No 4 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed in Rome on 4 November 1950, that European Union law cannot be assumed to disregard in the context of relations between Member States, precludes a Member State from refusing its own nationals the right to enter its territory and remain there for any reason (see Case 41/74 van Duyn [1974] ECR 1337, paragraph 22, and Case C‑257/99 Barkoci and Malik [2001] ECR I‑6557, paragraph 81); that principle also precludes that Member State from expelling its own nationals from its territory or refusing their right to reside in that territory or making such right conditional (see Cases C‑370/90 Singh [1992] ECR I‑4265, paragraph 22 and C‑291/05 Eind [2007] ECR I‑10719, paragraph 31). The applicability of Directive 2004/38

29 It would be otherwise if that rule were withdrawn from the domestic legal system by a decision subsequent to the date of accession but with retroactive effect from before that date, thereby eliminating the provision in question as regards the past.

18 It must be borne in mind first of all that the purpose of Article 7 is to protect consumers against the risks arising from the insolvency of the package holiday or tour organiser. As the French Government has pointed out, those risks, which are inherent in the contract concluded between the purchaser and the package holiday organiser, stem from the payment in advance of the price of the package and from the spread of liability between the travel organiser and the various providers of the services which, in combination, make up the package. Consequently, the result prescribed by Article 7 of the Directive entails the grant to package travellers of rights guaranteeing the refund of money that they have paid over and their repatriation in the event of the organiser's insolvency (see Joined Cases C-178/94, C-179/94, C-188/94 to C-190/94 Dillenkofer and Others v Federal Republic of Germany [1996] ECR I-4845, paragraph 42).

9 It is settled case-law that the Treaty provisions on the freedom of movement for persons cannot be applied to activities which are confined in all respects within a single Member State (see, for example, Joined Cases C-330/90 and C-331/90 López Brea and Hidalgo Palacios [1992] ECR I-323, paragraph 7).

62. As regards the claim of the applicant in the main proceedings as to the same person’s being the director of Naviglobe and of Navimer, it is for the referring court to assess what the real relationship between the two companies is in order to establish whether Naviglobe is, indeed, the employer of the personnel engaged by Navimer. The court seised must, in particular, take into consideration all the objective factors making it possible to establish that there exists a real situation different from that which appears from the terms of the contract (see, by analogy, Case C-341/04 Eurofood IFSC [2006] ECR I-3813, paragraph 37).

53. In addition, the competent authorities may authorise the establishment of an additional optician’s shop only after receiving a mandatory opinion from a committee of the Chamber of Commerce which is made up, according to the information submitted to the Court, of representatives of opticians active on the market, namely direct competitors of those seeking establishment.

147 Article 11 of the Charter affirms the freedom of expression and information. That freedom is also protected under Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed in Rome on 4 November 1950, which applies, in particular, as is clear from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, to the dissemination by a business of commercial information, including in the form of advertising. Given that the freedom of expression and information laid down in Article 11 of the Charter has — as is clear from Article 52(3) thereof and the Explanations Relating to the Charter as regards Article 11 — the same meaning and scope as the freedom guaranteed by the Convention, it must be held that that freedom covers the use by a business, on the packaging and labelling of tobacco products, of indications such as those covered by Article 13(1) of Directive 2014/40 (judgment in Neptune Distribution, C‑157/14, EU:C:2015:823, paragraphs 64 and 65).

22 Observance of the institutional balance means that each of the institutions must exercise its powers with due regard for the powers of the other institutions . It also requires that it should be possible to penalize any breach of that rule which may occur .

41 The Court also considers that it is compatible with EU law to lay down reasonable time limits for bringing proceedings in the interests of legal certainty, which protects both the individual and the administrative authority concerned. In particular, it finds that such time limits are not liable to make it in practice impossible or excessively difficult to exercise the rights conferred by EU law (see, to that effect, judgments of 15 April 2010, Barth, C‑542/08, EU:C:2010:193, paragraph 28, and of 16 January 2014, Pohl, C‑429/12, EU:C:2014:12, paragraph 29).

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

35. That subsequent application is itself subject to VAT and the amount of the VAT for which the Gemeente is liable as a result of that application must be calculated, in accordance with Article 11A(1)(b) of the Sixth Directive, on the basis of the overall value of each of those elements, the land and the building, it being understood that VAT must not have been previously charged on those elements (see, to that effect, judgment in Gemeente Vlaardingen , EU:C:2012:698, paragraphs 28 to 33).

81 Even though Ireland contests certain calculations made by the Commission, it concedes that the amount of registration tax levied initially may be more than double the amount of registration tax finally payable after a refund. As the Advocate General has observed in point 42 of his Opinion, such an approach entails the freezing of substantial funds and therefore represents a considerable cash-flow disadvantage for the person liable to pay the tax.

31. However, the fact that a national court has, formally speaking, worded the question referred for a preliminary ruling with reference to certain provisions of European Union law does not preclude the Court from providing to the national court all the guidance on points of interpretation which may be of assistance in adjudicating on the case pending before it, whether or not that court has referred to the points in its questions. It is for the Court to extract from all the information provided by the national court, in particular from the grounds of the decision referring the questions, the points of European Union law which require interpretation, having regard to the subject-matter of the dispute (see Case C‑115/08 ČEZ [2009] ECR I‑10265, paragraph 81).

16 The Kingdom of Spain refers, however, to the opinions of various parliamentary committees which, according to the Kingdom of Spain, came out in favour of the progressive liberalization of cabotage in passenger transport operations before the resolution of 10 March 1988 was adopted.

53 It is therefore clear that neither Decision 2011/782 nor Regulation No 36/2012 establishes a presumption that the heads of the leading businesses of Syria provide support for the Syrian regime (see, by analogy, the judgments in Anbouba v Council, C‑630/13 P, EU:C:2015:247, paragraph 44, and Anbouba v Council, C‑605/13 P, EU:C:2015:248, paragraph 43).

20. Il convient de rappeler que, selon une jurisprudence constante, l’existence d’un manquement doit être appréciée en fonction de la situation de l’État membre telle qu’elle se présentait au terme du délai fixé dans l’avis motivé et que les changements intervenus par la suite ne sauraient être pris en compte par la Cour (voir, notamment, arrêts du 11 octobre 2001, Commission/Autriche, C-111/00, Rec. p. I-7555, point 13, et du 26 avril 2007, Commission/Italie, C-135/05, Rec. p. I-3475, point 36).

50. It must be borne in mind that the Community system of VAT is the result of a gradual harmonisation of national legislation pursuant to Articles 93 EC and 94 EC. The Court has consistently held that this harmonisation, as brought about by successive directives and in particular by the Sixth Directive, is still only partial (Case C-165/88 ORO Amsterdam Beheer and Concerto [1989] ECR I-4081, paragraph 21).

33. It is clear from the Court’s settled case-law that the purpose of the subrogation of the European Union referred to in Article 85a of the Staff Regulations is to ensure that an official is not compensated twice in respect of the same damage. In so far as the damage suffered by an official renders the European Union subject to the obligation to pay him benefits under the Staff Regulations, the risk of twofold compensation can be avoided only if the official is deprived of his rights against any third party responsible for causing him damage, those rights being transferred to the European Union (see, to that effect, judgments in Royale belge , C‑333/90, EU:C:1992:94, paragraph 9 and the case-law cited, and Lucaccioni v Commission , C‑257/98 P, EU:C:1999:402, paragraph 20).

47. In such circumstances, as the contracting authority has no influence on the detailed rules of public law governing the service, it is impossible for it to introduce and, therefore, to transfer risk factors which are excluded by those rules. Moreover, it would not be reasonable to expect a public authority granting a concession to create conditions which were more competitive and involved greater financial risk than those which, on account of the rules governing the sector in question, exist in that sector ( Eurawasser , paragraphs 75 and 76).

48. The establishment in Member States of independent supervisory authorities is thus an essential component of the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data (Case C‑518/07 Commission v Germany EU:C:2010:125, paragraph 23, and Case C‑614/10 Commission v Austria EU:C:2012:631, paragraph 37), as stated in recital 62 in the preamble to Directive 95/46.

65. In this regard, it should be noted that the Court has already held that overriding reasons relating to the public interest capable of justifying a restriction on the freedom to provide services include the protection of workers (judgment in dos Santos Palhota and Others , EU:C:2010:589, paragraph 47 and the case-law cited), the prevention of unfair competition on the part of undertakings which pay their workers at a rate less than the minimum rate of pay, in so far as that objective includes protecting workers by combating social dumping (see, to that effect, judgment in Wolff & Müller , C‑60/03, EU:C:2004:610, paragraphs 35, 36 and 41), and combating fraud, in particular social security fraud, and preventing abuse, in particular combating undeclared work, in so far as that objective can form part of the objective of protecting the financial balance of social security systems (see, to that effect, judgment in Rüffert , C‑346/06, EU:C:2008:189, paragraph 42 and the case-law cited).

42. Consequently, as the Advocate General stated in point 47 of his Opinion, Article 8(3) of the Access Directive should be interpreted as meaning that, except under certain provisions, including in particular Article 28 of the Universal Service Directive, NRAs may not impose obligations related to price control such as those laid down in Article 13 of the Access Directive on operators which do not have significant power on a given market. Accordingly, Article 8(3) of the Access Directive does not preclude the imposition of obligations related to price controls, such as those referred to in Article 13(1) of that directive, on an operator which does not have significant market power on the relevant market under Article 28 of the Universal Service Directive, provided that the conditions for the application of that provision are met.

61. That would have the consequence that Article 73 of the VAT Directive would be applicable in order to establish that, subject to the exceptions provided for by that directive, the taxable amount of the transactions at issue in the main proceedings is the consideration actually received. As the Court has held with respect to Article 11(A)(1)(a) of the Sixth Directive 77/388, as amended by Directive 2006/69, which became Article 73 of the VAT Directive, that provision has direct effect (see, to that effect, Case C‑62/93 BP Soupergaz [1995] ECR I‑1883, paragraphs 34 to 36, and Case C‑62/00 Marks & Spencer [2002] ECR I‑6325, paragraph 47).

131. While the General Court, in making that assessment, had to determine the content of that statement, and was thus able to find that the intention had been to effect that transfer of liability, it was not for it to judge the lawfulness of the transfer, and if it did it would be ruling ultra petita .