Datasets:

ngarneau

/

link_prediction

like 0

47 The Court must observe that, according to its case-law established in the context of the interpretation of both the provisions of the Treaty and those of the agreement establishing an association between the European Economic Community and Turkey (OJ 1973 C 133, p. 1), the right to the same treatment as nationals in regard to establishment, as defined by Article 44(3) of the Association Agreement, in wording similar or identical to that of Article 52 of the Treaty, does indeed mean that rights of entry and residence are conferred, as corollaries of the right of establishment, on Polish nationals wishing to pursue activities of an industrial or commercial character, activities of craftsmen, or activities of the professions in a Member State (Royer, cited above, paragraphs 31 and 32, and Case C-37/98 Savas [2000] ECR I-2927, paragraphs 60 and 63).

57. According to settled case-law, the derogations from the rules intended to ensure the effectiveness of the rights conferred by the Treaty in connection with public contracts must be interpreted strictly (see Case C‑57/94 Commission v Italy [1995] ECR I‑1249, paragraph 23; Case C‑318/94 Commission v Germany [1996] ECR I‑1949, paragraph 13; and Case C‑394/02 Commission v Greece [2005] ECR I‑4713, paragraph 33). To prevent Directive 93/36 being deprived of its effectiveness, the Member States cannot, therefore, provide for the use of the negotiated procedure in cases not provided for by that directive, or add new conditions to the cases expressly provided for by the directive in question which make that procedure easier to use (see, to that effect, Case C‑84/03 Commission v Spain , paragraph 48).

40. Moreover, the concept of res judicata under European Union law does not attach only to the operative part of the judgment in question, but also attaches to the ratio decidendi of that judgment, which provides the necessary underpinning for the operative part and is inseparable from it (see, inter alia, Joined Cases C‑442/03 P and C‑471/03 P P & O European Ferries (Vizcaya) and Diputación Foral de Vizcaya v Commission [2006] ECR I‑4845, paragraph 44, and Case C‑221/10 P Artegodan v Commission [2012] ECR, paragraph 87). As observed in paragraph 35 above, given that the common rules of jurisdiction applied by the courts of the Member States have their source in European Union law, more specifically in Regulation No 44/2001, and given the requirement of uniform application referred to in paragraph 39 above, the concept of res judicata under European Union law is relevant for determining the effects produced by a judgment by which a court of a Member State has declined jurisdiction on the basis of a jurisdiction clause.

61 The recitals quite rightly highlight the difficulties involved in proving fraudulent intent. Whilst the authorities have only the information relating to the product and its destination at their disposal and the exporter is often the last link in a contractual chain of purchases for resale, there is a real risk that he will avoid responsibility for the inaccuracy of his declaration because of the possibility of error, negligence or fraud further back up the chain.

53 As regards more particularly the first of those concepts, according to settled case-law (Donà, cited above, paragraph 12, and Case 196/87 Steymann v Staatssecretaris van Justitie [1988] ECR 6159, paragraph 10), the pursuit of an activity as an employed person or the provision of services for remuneration must be regarded as an economic activity within the meaning of Article 2 of the Treaty.

11 It has therefore given that concept a sufficiently flexible interpretation in keeping with the objective of the directive, which is to safeguard employees in the event of a transfer of their undertaking, and has held that the directive is applicable wherever, in the context of contractual relations, there is a change in the natural or legal person who is responsible for carrying on the business and who incurs the obligations of an employer towards employees of the undertaking (see, most recently, the judgment in Case 101/87 Bork International v Foreningen af Arbejdsledere i Danmark [1988] ECR 3057, paragraph 13).

68. A corollary of the principle of respect for the rights of the defence, the right of access to the file means that the Commission must give the undertaking concerned the opportunity to examine all the documents in the investigation file which may be relevant for its defence (see, to that effect, Case T-30/91 Solvay v Commission [1995] ECR II-1775, paragraph 81, and Case C-199/99 P Corus UK v Commission [2003] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 125 to 128). Those documents include both incriminating evidence and exculpatory evidence, save where the business secrets of other undertakings, the internal documents of the Commission or other confidential information are involved (see Case 85/76 Hoffmann-La Roche v Commission [1979] ECR 461, paragraphs 9 and 11; Case C-51/92 P Hercules Chemicals v Commission [1999] ECR I-4235, paragraph 75; and Joined Cases C-238/99 P, C-244/99 P, C-245/99 P, C-247/99 P, C-250/99 P to C-252/99 P and C-254/99 P Limburgse Vinyl Maatschappij and Others v Commission [2002] ECR I-8375, paragraph 315).

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.

24 The Court concluded that Article 49 EC precludes national tax legislation which, as a general rule, takes into account gross income when taxing non-residents, without deducting business expenses, whereas residents are taxed on their net income, after deduction of those expenses (judgments of 12 June 2003 in Gerritse, C‑234/01, EU:C:2003:340, paragraphs 29 and 55; 3 October 2006 in FKP Scorpio Konzertproduktionen, C‑290/04, EU:C:2006:630, paragraph 42; and 15 February 2007 in Centro Equestre da Lezíria Grande, C‑345/04, EU:C:2007:96, paragraph 23).

22. Il est en effet admis qu’une pratique administrative peut faire l’objet d’un recours en manquement lorsqu’elle présente un certain degré de constance et de généralité (voir, notamment, arrêt du 29 avril 2004, Commission/Allemagne, C‑387/99, Rec. p. I-3751, point 42 et jurisprudence citée).

28. Freedom of establishment includes, for companies or firms formed in accordance with the laws of a Member State and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the Community, the right to pursue their activities in the Member State concerned through a subsidiary, a branch or an agency (Case C‑307/97 Saint-Gobain ZN [1999] ECR I‑6161, paragraph 35; Case C‑141/99 AMID [2000] ECR I‑11619, paragraph 20; Keller Holding , paragraph 29).

29. Having regard to the above considerations, the answer to the first question and the second part of the second question is that, on a proper interpretation of Article 13B(b) of the Sixth Directive, the concept of the leasing or letting of immovable property includes the leasing of a houseboat, including the space and the landing stage contiguous therewith, which is fixed by attachments which are not easily removable to the bank and bed of a river, stays in a demarcated and identifiable location in the river water and is exclusively used, according to the terms of the leasing contract, for the permanent operation of a restaurant-discotheque at that location. That leasing constitutes a single exempt supply, without it being necessary to distinguish between the leasing of the houseboat and that of the landing stage. The first part of the second question

9. Il y a lieu de relever à cet égard 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 27 octobre 2005, Commission/Luxembourg, C‑23/05, Rec. p. I‑9535, point 9, et du 27 septembre 2007, Commission/République tchèque, C‑115/07, point 9).

31 On that point it should be stated that, as the Austrian Government acknowledged at the hearing, the register enables the competent authorities to reduce the expenditure of the Austrian social security system, inasmuch as the pharmaceutical companies are generally required to agree to lower prices in consideration for the inclusion on the register of one of their medicinal products since that inclusion means that the cost will automatically be borne by the scheme. Under those conditions inclusion of a medicinal product in that register thus constitutes a measure intended to control prices.

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

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

60. Consequently, the reasoned opinion and the proceedings brought by the Commission must be based on the same complaints as those set out in the letter of formal notice initiating the pre-litigation procedure (Case C-191/95 Commission v Germany [1998] ECR I-5449, paragraph 55). The reasoned opinion and the application must be based on the same grounds and pleas, with the result that the Court cannot examine a ground of complaint which was not formulated in the reasoned opinion (Case 76/86 Commission v Germany [1989] ECR 1021, paragraph 8), which for its part must contain a cogent and detailed exposition of the reasons which led the Commission to the conclusion that the Member State concerned had failed to fulfil one of its obligations under the Treaty (see, in particular, Case C-350/02 Commission v Netherlands [2004] ECR I-6213, paragraph 20).

36. The requirements contained in Articles 6 and 7 of Regulation No 1538/91 do not apply to export operations themselves, that is to transactions between Community economic operators and those of third countries. Their sole purpose is to establish entitlement to a financial subsidy granted by the Community. In that sense it is an internal Community operation, as it involves the Community economic operator and the national authorities of a Member State and not natural or legal persons from third countries.

11 The Court has consistently held that any measure capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade constitutes a measure having an effect equivalent to a quantitative restriction (judgment in Case 8/74 Procureur du Roi v Dassonville [1974] ECR 837, paragraph 5).

67 Such schemes are also the result of negotiation between employers and employees or their representatives, or of a unilateral decision of the employer. They are also funded entirely by the employer or by both the employer and the employees, with no contributions from the State.

54. The Court has already had occasion to rule that the fact that the annual accounts must give a true and fair view of the assets and liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the company concerned constitutes a fundamental principle (see Case C‑234/94 Tomberger [1996] ECR I‑3133, paragraph 17, rectified by order of 10 July 1997; Case C‑306/99 BIAO [2003] ECR I‑1, paragraph 72; and Berlusconi and Others , paragraph 54). The disclosure of those annual accounts is primarily designed to provide information for third parties who do not know or cannot obtain sufficient knowledge of the company’s accounting and financial situation (Case C‑97/96 Daihatsu Deutschland [1997] ECR I‑6843, paragraph 22).

64. In this respect, it is settled case-law that such a justification may be relied on only if there is a genuine and sufficiently serious threat to a fundamental interest of society (see Case C-114/97 Commission v Spain [1998] ECR I-6717, paragraph 46, and Case C-36/02 Omega [2004] ECR I-9609, paragraph 30).

44 While the Court has ruled that maternity leave granted to a woman on expiry of the statutory protective period falls within the scope of Article 2(3) of Directive 76/207 (Hofmann, cited above, paragraph 26), it has also held that measures designed to protect women in their capacity as parents, which is a capacity which both male and female workers may have, cannot find justification in that provision of Directive 76/207 (Commission v France, cited above, paragraph 14).

13 HOWEVER, THE COURT HAS CONSISTENTLY HELD THAT SUCH A RESTRICTION MAY BE ALLOWED ONLY IN THE JUDGMENT RULING UPON THE INTERPRETATION SOUGHT . THE FUNDAMENTAL NEED FOR A GENERAL AND UNIFORM APPLICATION OF COMMUNITY LAW IMPLIES THAT IT IS FOR THE COURT OF JUSTICE ALONE TO DECIDE UPON THE TEMPORAL RESTRICTIONS TO BE PLACED ON THE INTERPRETATION WHICH IT LAYS DOWN .

47. As to the Italian Government's argument that the Commission was not adversely affected, it need merely be pointed out that failure by a Member State to fulfil an obligation imposed by a rule of Community law is sufficient to constitute a breach of Treaty obligations and the fact that the failure had no adverse effects is irrelevant (see Case C-150/97 Commission v Portugal [1999] ECR I-259, paragraph 22, and Case C-348/97 Commission v Germany [2000] ECR I-4429, paragraph 62), as is the view that it gave the Member State concerned no advantage.

82. Accordingly, the essential question when reviewing whether to continue to include a person on the list at issue is whether, since that person was included in that list or since the last review, the factual situation has changed in such a way that it is no longer possible to draw the same conclusion in relation to the involvement of the person at issue in terrorist activities.

46. It should be pointed out, in that regard, that the Court of Justice can declare an appeal to be inadmissible where an event subsequent to the judgment of the General Court has removed its prejudicial effect for the appellant. An interest in bringing the appeal proceedings assumes that the appeal is likely, if successful, to procure an advantage to the party bringing it (see Case C-19/93 P Rendo and Others v Commission [1995] ECR I-3319, paragraph 13, and the orders in Case C-111/99 P Lech-Stahlwerke v Commission [2001] ECR I-727, paragraph 18, and Case C-503/07 P Saint-Gobain Glass Deutschland v Commission [2008] ECR I-2217, paragraph 48).

26. Such an imbalance between the consumer and the seller or supplier may only be corrected by positive action unconnected with the actual parties to the contract ( Océano Grupo Editorial and Salvat Editores , paragraph 27).

52. In any event, an infringement of EU law will be sufficiently serious where the decision concerned was made in manifest breach of the case-law of the Court in the matter (see, inter alia, to that effect Brasserie du Pêcheur and Factortame , paragraph 57; Case C‑118/00 Larsy [2001] ECR I‑5063, paragraph 44; and Köbler , paragraph 56).

25. As regards marks made up of signs or indications that are also used as advertising slogans, indications of quality or incitements to purchase the goods or services covered by those marks, registration of such marks is not excluded by virtue of such use ( OHIM v Erpo Möbelwerk , paragraph 41, and Audi v OHIM , paragraph 35). As regards the assessment of the distinctive character of such marks, it is inappropriate to apply to slogans criteria which are stricter than those applicable to other types of sign ( OHIM v Erpo Möbelwerk , paragraph 32, and Audi v OHIM , paragraph 36).

43. In the case of companies, it should be borne in mind that their registered office for the purposes of Article 48 EC serves, in the way same as nationality in the case of individuals, as the connecting factor with the legal system of a Member State. Acceptance of the proposition that the Member State in which a company seeks to establish itself may freely apply different treatment merely by reason of its registered office being situated in another Member State would deprive Article 43 EC of all meaning (see, to that effect, Case 270/83 Commission v France [1986] ECR 273, paragraph 18; Case C-330/91 Commerzbank [1993] ECR I‑4017, paragraph 13; Metallgesellschaft and Others , paragraph 42; and Marks & Spencer , paragraph 37). Freedom of establishment thus aims to guarantee the benefit of national treatment in the host Member State, by prohibiting any discrimination based on the place in which companies have their seat (see, to that effect, Commission v France , paragraph 14, and Saint‑Gobain ZN , paragraph 35).

66. À cet égard, il convient de rappeler que, selon l’article 141, paragraphe 4, CE, pour assurer concrètement une pleine égalité entre hommes et femmes dans la vie professionnelle, le principe de l’égalité de traitement n’empêche pas un État membre de maintenir ou d’adopter des mesures prévoyant des avantages spécifiques destinés à faciliter l’exercice d’une activité professionnelle par le sexe sous-représenté ou à prévenir ou à compenser des désavantages dans la carrière professionnelle.

25. In that regard, whilst it is established that EU law respects the power of the Member States to organise their social security systems and that, in the absence of harmonisation at EU level, it is for the legislation of each Member State to determine the conditions for the grant of social security benefits, the fact nevertheless remains that, when exercising that power, Member States must comply with EU law (see, to that effect, judgments in Watts , C‑372/04, EU:C:2006:325, paragraph 92 and the case-law cited, and Somova , C‑103/13, EU:C:2014:2334, paragraphs 33 to 35 and the case-law cited).

57. Article 30 of that regulation defines uniformly and independently the time when a court is to be deemed to be seised for the purposes of the application of Section 9 of Chapter II of that regulation, relating to lis pendens . Under Article 30, a court is deemed to be seised either at the time when the document instituting the proceedings or an equivalent document is lodged with the court, provided that the plaintiff has not subsequently failed to take the steps he was required to take to have service effected on the defendant, or, if a document has to be served before being lodged with the court, at the time when it is received by the authority responsible for service, provided that the plaintiff has not subsequently failed to take the steps he was required to take to have the document lodged with the court. Two methods of bringing proceedings before national courts or tribunals are envisaged, either by the lodging of the document initiating proceedings at the court or tribunal or by service of that document.

59. Moreover, if Article 12 of Regulation No 1612/68 were to be interpreted as being limited, since the entry into force of Directive 2004/38, to conferring the right to equal treatment with regard to access to education without providing for any right of residence for the children of migrant workers, maintaining it would appear superfluous after the entry into force of that directive. Article 24(1) of the directive provides that all Union citizens residing in the territory of the host Member State are to enjoy equal treatment with the nationals of that State within the scope of the Treaty, and it has been held that access to education falls within the scope of European Union law (see, inter alia, Case 293/83 Gravier [1985] ECR 593, paragraphs 19 and 25).

43. The derogation in Article 58(1)(a) EC is itself limited by Article 58(3) EC, which provides that the national provisions referred to in paragraph 1 of that Article ‘shall not constitute a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on the free movement of capital and payments as defined in Article 56’ (see Jäger , paragraph 41; Eckelkamp and Others , paragraph 58; Arens-Sikken , paragraph 52; and Mattner , paragraph 33).

51. In the second place, it is also clear from the Court’s case-law that neither the legal context of the employment relationship under national law, in the framework of which the vocational training or internship is carried out, nor the origin of the funds from which the person concerned is remunerated and, in particular, in the present case, the funding of that remuneration through public grants, can have any consequence in regard to whether or not the person is to be regarded as a worker (see, to that effect, inter alia, judgments in Bettray , 344/87, EU:C:1989:226, paragraphs 15 and 16; Birden , C‑1/97, EU:C:1998:568, paragraph 28, and Kurz , C‑188/00, EU:C:2002:694, point 34).

47. It will also be for the referring court, when reviewing whether there has been compliance with the principle of proportionality, to determine whether the prohibition on leaving the country is appropriate to ensure the achievement of the objective it pursues and does not go beyond what is necessary to attain it (see, to that effect, Jipa, paragraph 29). In that respect, even if the impossibility of recovering the debt at issue were to constitute a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society, it will be for the referring court to determine, inter alia, whether, by depriving Mr Aladzhov of the possibility of pursuing part of his professional activity abroad and thereby depriving him of part of his income, the measure of prohibition at issue is both appropriate to ensure the recovery of the tax sought and necessary for that purpose. It will be also be for the referring court to determine that there were no other measures other than that of a prohibition on leaving the territory which would have been equally effective to obtain that recovery, but would not have encroached on freedom of movement.

60 In that regard, it should be noted that in paragraphs 20 to 23 of its judgment in Enichem Base, the Court observed that neither the wording nor the purpose of Article 3(2) of Directive 75/442 in its original version provides any support for the view that failure by the Member States to observe their obligation under that provision to give prior notice in itself renders unlawful the national rules thus adopted, inasmuch as that provision merely requires the Member States to inform the Commission of any draft rules to which it applies, without laying down any procedure for Community control of those draft rules or making implementation of the planned rules conditional upon agreement by the Commission or its failure to object (see, also, CIA Security International, paragraph 49).

21. The references for a preliminary ruling must therefore be declared admissible. Substance

37. Accordingly, Regulation No 1408/71 continues to apply only to the extent that the bilateral conventions concluded before its entry into force do not impede its application (see, to that effect, Case 28/68 Torrekens [1969] ECR 125, paragraphs 19 to 21). However, an EU law provision which, like Article 7(2) of that regulation, gives precedence to the application of a bilateral convention, cannot have a purport that conflicts with the principles underlying the legislation of which it is part (see, by analogy, Case C‑533/08 TNT Express Nederland [2010] ECR I‑4107, paragraph 51).

52. It follows that a measure of domestic law, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which seeks to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and which applies to waste other than municipal waste, is compatible with the Directive and constitutes a more stringent protective measure for the purposes of Article 176 EC.

48. By referring to balance of payments and by prohibiting, first, all restrictions on payments in freely convertible currency on the current account of that balance and, second, restrictions on the movement of capital linked to investments in companies and which concern transactions on the capital account of that balance, Article 47(1) of the OCT Decision has a particularly wide scope, close to the scope of Article 56 EC in the relations between Member States and third countries (see, to that effect and concerning Article 63 TFEU, Prunus EU:C:2011:276, paragraphs 29 to 31).

25. It is also settled law that those exemptions constitute independent concepts of Community law whose purpose is to avoid divergences in the application of the VAT system as between one Member State and another and must be placed in the general context of the common system of VAT ( Skandia , paragraph 23).

52. In that respect, it is true that a prior declaration system, when coupled with appropriate legal instruments, may in fact constitute a measure proportionate to the public interest objective pursued. The Court has thus held that such a system may make it possible to eliminate the requirement of prior authorisation, generally more restrictive of the free movement of capital, without undermining the effective pursuit of the aims of the public authority (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C-163/94, C-165/94 and C-250/94 Sanz de Lera and Others [1995] ECR I‑4821, paragraph 27; Konle, paragraphs 46 and 47; and Salzmann , paragraph 50). As the Commission of the European Communities rightly submits, such a declaration system cannot, in itself, constitute a disproportionate measure.

94 As regards the seriousness of the infringements and in particular the effects of failure to comply on private and public interests, the obligation to dispose of waste without endangering human health and without harming the environment forms part of the very objectives of Community environmental policy as set out in Article 130r of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 174 EC). The failure to comply with the obligation resulting from Article 4 of Directive 75/442 could, by the very nature of that obligation, endanger human health directly and harm the environment and must, in the light of the other obligations, be regarded as particularly serious.

35. According to settled case-law, the question whether a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined by reference to the situation prevailing in the Member State at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (see, in particular Case C-173/01 Commission v Greece [2002] ECR I-6129, paragraph 7, and Case C-114/02 Commission v France [2003] ECR I-3783, paragraph 9).

21. À cet égard, il y a lieu de rappeler que, en premier lieu, un recours en annulation introduit contre une décision ordonnant la récupération d’une aide n’a pas d’effet suspensif et que, en l’espèce, ainsi qu’il a été indiqué au point 5 du présent arrêt, aucune des requérantes devant le Tribunal n’a demandé la suspension de l’exécution de la décision. En tout état de cause, ces recours ont été rejetés par le Tribunal.

53. Thus, the Court has, for example, held to be unlawful for the purposes of Article 10(c) of Directive 69/335 taxes on the registration of a new company ( Ponente Carni and Cispadana Costruzioni , paragraphs 30 and 31, and Fantask and Others , paragraph 22), on the authentication of the formation of a new company (the order in Gründerzentrum , paragraph 30), on the recording of an increase in share capital ( Fantask and Others , paragraph 22; Case C‑134/99 IGI [2000] ECR I‑7717, paragraph 25; and Case C‑206/99 SONAE [2001] ECR I‑4679, paragraph 31), on the authentication of an increase in share capital ( Modelo I , paragraph 26), and on the authentication of the payment of the amount of the share capital not yet paid up ( Solred , paragraph 23).

68 As the Court held in Telemarsicabruzzo and in Banchero, cited above (paragraphs 7 and 5 respectively), those requirements are of particular importance in certain areas, such as that of competition, which are characterised by complex factual and legal situations.

14 In this respect, it must be noted, first, that the specific purpose of a mark is to guarantee the origin of the product bearing that mark and that a repackaging of that product carried out by a third party without the authorisation of the proprietor is likely to create real risks for that guarantee of origin (see, by analogy, judgment of 26 April 2007, Boehringer Ingelheim and Others, C‑348/04, EU:C:2007:249, paragraph 14 and the case-law cited).

14. It must be borne in mind that the specific subject-matter of a mark is to guarantee the origin of the product bearing that mark and that repackaging of that product by a third party without the authorisation of the proprietor is likely to create real risks for that guarantee of origin (see Boehringer Ingelheim and Others , paragraph 29).

64 It is true that, in particular circumstances, the Court has already held, in the light of the case-law cited in paragraph 61 of the present judgment, that a trader which opted for the abovementioned economic model had to be regarded as individually concerned by a regulation which imposed anti-dumping duties (see, to this effect, judgments in Nashua Corporation and Others v Commission and Council, C‑133/87 and C‑150/87, EU:C:1990:115, paragraphs 3 and 17 to 20, and Gestetner Holdings v Council and Commission, C‑156/87, EU:C:1990:116, paragraphs 3 and 20 to 23).

15. It must be noted that the strict special procedures prescribed by the EU directives coordinating public procurement procedures apply only to contracts whose value exceeds a threshold expressly laid down in each of those directives. Accordingly, the rules in those directives do not apply to contracts with a value below the threshold set by those directives (judgment in SECAP and Santorso , C‑147/06 and C‑148/06, EU:C:2008:277, paragraph 19 and the case-law cited). Consequently, Article 23(8) of Directive 2004/18, which the Court has been asked to interpret, is not applicable in the context of the dispute in the main proceedings. The value, exclusive of VAT, of the public contract concerned is in the order of EUR 58 600, whereas the relevant threshold for the application of that directive set by Article 7(b) thereof is EUR 200 000.

30. It must also be pointed out, first, that the right to deduct forms an integral part of the VAT mechanism and in principle cannot be limited ( Bockemühl , paragraph 38, and Case C-368/09 Pannon Gép Centrum [2010] ECR I-7467, paragraph 37 and the case-law cited).

58. Toutefois, il convient d’écarter l’argument du Royaume de Belgique selon lequel, en l’absence d’harmonisation en la matière, des mesures nationales, telles que celles en cause dans la présente affaire, qui affectent la libre circulation des marchandises entre les États membres, sont acceptables. En effet, l’absence d’harmonisation ne peut constituer une justification du maintien de réglementations nationales ayant des effets restrictifs sur la libre circulation des marchandises qu’à condition qu’elles soient justifiées par l’une des raisons d’intérêt général énumérées à l’article 30 CE ou par l’une des exigences impératives consacrées par la jurisprudence de la Cour et que ces réglementations soient propres à garantir la réalisation de l’objectif poursuivi et n’aillent pas au-delà de ce qui est nécessaire pour l’atteindre (voir arrêts du 22 janvier 2002, Canal Satélite Digital, C‑390/99, Rec. p. I‑607, point 33; du 20 juin 2002, Radiosistemi, C‑388/00 et C‑429/00, Rec. p. I‑5845, points 40 à 42; du 8 septembre 2005, Yonemoto, C‑40/04, Rec. p. I‑7755, point 55, et du 10 novembre 2005, Commission/Portugal, C‑432/03, Rec. p. I‑9665, point 42).

41. S’agissant de l’existence même de la discrimination, il ressort de la jurisprudence de la Cour qu’une réglementation d’un État membre n’ouvrant le droit à des avantages en termes de rémunération ou de conditions de travail qu’aux travailleurs mariés, alors que le mariage n’est légalement possible dans cet État membre qu’entre personnes de sexe différent, crée une discrimination directe fondée sur l’orientation sexuelle à l’encontre des travailleurs salariés homosexuels titulaires d’un PACS qui se trouvent dans une situation comparable (voir, en ce sens, arrêts précités Maruko, point 73, et Römer, point 52).

L’exercice, par la Commission, de son pouvoir d’appréciation est également limité par les règles de conduite qu’elle s’est imposées dans ses lignes directrices. Par ailleurs, la pratique administrative connue et accessible de la Commission est soumise à l’entier contrôle du juge de l’Union, dont la jurisprudence constante a permis de préciser, conformément aux exigences posées par le principe de légalité des peines, certaines notions indéterminées que pouvait contenir l’article 23, paragraphes 2 et 3, du règlement n° 1/2003 (voir, par analogie, arrêt du 17 juin 2010, Lafarge/Commission, C‑413/08 P, EU:C:2010:346, point 95).

56. The la wfulness of a decision taken at the end of the preliminary examination stage is examined only on the basis of the information which the Commission had at its disposal at the time when it made the decision (see Nuova Agricast , paragraphs 54 to 60), that is to say, in the present case, at the time the contested act was adopted.

58. Plus particulièrement, il convient de rappeler que l’obligation, pour un État membre, de prendre toutes les mesures nécessaires pour atteindre le résultat prescrit par une directive est une obligation contraignante imposée par l’article 288, troisième alinéa, TFUE et par cette directive elle-même. Cette obligation de prendre toutes les mesures générales ou particulières s’impose à toutes les autorités des États membres, y compris, dans le cadre de leurs compétences, aux autorités juridictionnelles (voir, en ce sens, arrêt SETAR, C‑551/13, EU:C:2014:2467, point 36).

50. Article 12 requires only that the child have lived with his parents or with either parent in a Member State while at least one of the parents resided there as a worker (Case 197/86 Brown [1988] ECR 3205, paragraph 30, and Case C-480/08 Teixeira [2010] ECR I-1107, paragraph 52).

86 The relatively small amount of aid, or the relatively small size of the undertaking which receives it, does not as such exclude the possibility that intra-Community trade might be affected (Spain v Commission, cited above, paragraph 42).

15 According to the Court' s case-law, it is clear from the scheme of the Directive and from the terms of Article 1(1) thereof that the Directive is intended to ensure continuity of employment relationships existing within a business, irrespective of any change of ownership. It follows that the decisive criterion for establishing whether there is a transfer for the purposes of the Directive is whether the business in question retains its identity (see, in particular, the judgment in Case 24/85 Spijkers v Benedik [1986] ECR 1119, paragraph 11).

54. It is, however, common ground in the present case, according to the case-law of the Corte suprema di cassazione, that the Italian legislature is pursuing a policy of expanding activity in the betting and gaming sector, with the aim of increasing tax revenue, and that no justification for the Italian legislation is to be found in the objectives of limiting the propensity of consumers to gamble or of curtailing the availability of gambling.

73. Those findings are not vitiated by any error of law. It follows from the case-law that, in accordance with a principle common to the legal systems of the Member States whose origins may be traced back to Roman law, when legislation is amended, unless the legislature expresses a contrary intention, the continuity of the legal system must be ensured, and that that principle applies to amendments to the primary law of the European Union (see, to that effect, Case 23/68 Klomp [1969] ECR 43, paragraph 13).

40 Consequently, while it is not for the Court to define the content of the public policy of a Member State, it is nonetheless required to review the limits within which the courts of a Member State may have recourse to that concept for the purpose of refusing recognition of a judgment emanating from a court in another Member State (see judgment of 28 April 2009 in Apostolides, C‑420/07, EU:C:2009:271, paragraph 57 and the case-law cited).

23. In order to apply those principles in a case such as that in the main proceedings, it is therefore necessary to identify the legal relationship between the parties to the dispute and to examine the basis and the detailed rules governing the bringing of the action (see, to that effect, Baten , paragraph 31).

84 If the judicial review guaranteed by Article 47 of the Charter is to be effective, the reasons given by the requesting authority must put the national court in a position in which it may carry out the review of the legality of the request for information (see, to that effect, judgments of 4 June 2013, ZZ, C‑300/11, EU:C:2013:363, paragraph 53, and of 23 October 2014, Unitrading, C‑437/13, EU:C:2014:2318, paragraph 20).

69 Second, as regards the requirement that the selection procedure must be based on non-discriminatory criteria, it should be noted that the general principle of equal treatment requires that comparable situations must not be treated differently and different situations must not be treated in the same way unless such treatment is objectively justified (judgment of 16 December 2008, Arcelor Atlantique et Lorraine and Others, C‑127/07, EU:C:2008:728, paragraph 23 and the case-law cited). The comparability of situations must be assessed in particular in the light of the subject matter and purpose of the measure in question. The principles and objectives of the field to which that measure relates must also be taken into account (see, to that effect, judgment of 16 December 2008, Arcelor Atlantique et Lorraine and Others, C‑127/07, EU:C:2008:728, paragraph 26 and the case-law cited).

61. Thus, the plea in law raised by the FEG in support of its action before the Court of First Instance, and alleging a breach of the ‘reasonable time’ principle, is unfounded and must, accordingly, be rejected.

25. Such integration, which is a precondition of the acquisition of the right of permanent residence laid down in Article 16(1) of Directive 2004/38 is based not only on territorial and temporal factors but also on qualitative elements, relating to the level of integration in the host Member State (see Case C-325/09 Dias [2011] ECR I-6387, paragraph 64), to such an extent that the undermining of the link of integration between the person concerned and the host Member State justifies the loss of the right of permanent residence even outside the circumstances mentioned in Article 16(4) of Directive 2004/38 (see, to that effect, Dias , paragraphs 59, 63 and 65).

45. As to the provisions of Regulation No 3665/87 concerning force majeure , it is also settled case-law that, since that concept does not have the same scope in the various spheres of application of European Union law, its meaning must be determined by reference to the legal context in which it is to operate (see, in particular, Case C‑12/92 Huygen and Others [1993] ECR I‑6381, paragraph 30, and Case C‑263/97 First City Trading and Others [1998] ECR I‑5537, paragraph 41).

39 Although the subdivision of Article 29(1) requires the appointing authority to consider the possibility of promotion with the utmost care before going on to the following stage, it does not prevent the authority, in the course of such an examination, from also taking account of the possibility of obtaining better candidates by using the other procedures mentioned in that paragraph. Consequently the appointing authority is at liberty to consider the subsequent options (Case 10/82 Mogensen and Others v Commission [1983] ECR 2397, paragraph 10).

31. Il convient de relever que les cas dans lesquels il est permis de limiter l’obligation de paiement des institutions de garantie, tels que prévus par l’article 4 de la directive 80/987, telle que modifiée, doivent faire l’objet d’une interprétation stricte (voir, en ce sens, arrêt van Ardennen, précité, point 34).

118. With regard to the appellants’ arguments, since they rely, in essence, both on the infringement of the General Court’s duty to review the Commission’s obligation to state reasons and of its own obligation to state reasons, it should, first, be borne in mind that the obligation to state reasons laid down in Article 253 EC is an essential procedural requirement that must be distinguished from the question whether the reasoning is well founded, which goes to the substantive legality of the measure at issue (Case C‑521/09 P Elf Aquitaine v Commission [2011] ECR I‑8947, paragraph 146 and case-law cited).

52. However, although in some cases that may actually reflect the true position, there cannot be a general presumption that a holder of excavated earth and rocks should derive from the fact that they are intended for re-use an advantage over and above that of simply being able to discard them.

34 Furthermore, even where it is established that the burden of the charge has been passed on in whole or in part to third parties, repayment to the trader of the amount thus passed on does not necessarily entail his unjust enrichment (Comateb, paragraph 29).

23 A cultural policy understood in that sense may indeed constitute an overriding requirement relating to the general interest which justifies a restriction on the freedom to provide services. The maintenance of the pluralism which that Dutch policy seeks to safeguard is connected with freedom of expression, as protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Community legal order (Case 4/73 Nold v Commission [1974] ECR 491, paragraph 13).

53. In the present case, the regulation of the working time of self-employed drivers envisaged by the contested directive is intended to improve road safety (see paragraphs 33 to 36 above) and consequently corresponds to an objective of general interest (see Case C-55/93 Van Schaik [1994] ECR I‑4837, paragraph 19, and Case C-314/98 Snellers [2000] ECR I‑8633, paragraph 55).

10. Il y a lieu de rappeler qu’il résulte de l’article 38, paragraphe 1, sous c), du règlement de procédure et de la jurisprudence relative à cette disposition que toute requête introductive d’instance doit indiquer l’objet du litige ainsi que l’exposé sommaire des moyens et que cette indication doit être suffisamment claire et précise pour permettre à la défenderesse de préparer sa défense et à la Cour d’exercer son contrôle. Il en découle que les éléments essentiels de fait et de droit sur lesquels un recours est fondé doivent ressortir d’une façon cohérente et compréhensible du texte même de la requête et que les conclusions de cette dernière doivent être formulées de manière non équivoque afin d’éviter que la Cour ne statue ultra petita ou bien n’omette de statuer sur un grief (voir, notamment, arrêts du 12 février 2009, Commission/Pologne, C-475/07, point 43, et du 16 juillet 2009, Commission/Pologne, C-165/08, Rec. p. I‑6843, point 42).

35. It is clear from the last-mentioned condition that, for VAT to be deductible, the input transactions must have a direct and immediate link with the output transactions giving rise to a right of deduction. Thus, the right to deduct VAT charged on the acquisition of input goods or services presupposes that the expenditure incurred in acquiring them was a component of the cost of the output transactions that gave rise to the right to deduct (see Midland Bank , paragraph 30, and Abbey National , paragraph 28, and also Case C-16/00 Cibo Participations [2001] ECR I-6663, paragraph 31).

28 It follows from that principle, as well as from the rule that, in order to give rise to the right to deduct, the goods or services acquired must have a direct and immediate link with the taxable transactions, that the right to deduct the VAT borne by those goods or services presupposes that the expenditure incurred in acquiring them was part of the cost components of the taxable transactions. That expenditure must therefore form part of the costs of the output transactions which use the goods and services acquired. Consequently, those cost components must generally have arisen before the taxable person carried out the taxable transactions to which they relate (see Midland Bank, paragraph 30).

55. In accordance with settled case-law, the Community legislature has a wide discretion in this field, corresponding to the political responsibilities given to it by Articles 34 EC to 37 EC. Consequently, judicial review must be limited to verifying that the measure in question is not vitiated by any manifest error or misuse of powers and that the authority concerned has not manifestly exceeded the limits of its discretion (Case C-189/01 Jippes and Others  [2001] ECR I‑5689, paragraph 80, and Case C-304/01 Spain v Commission [2004] ECR I‑7655, paragraph 23).

21NEVERTHELESS IT IS POSSIBLE FOR SUCH A PRACTICE TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE PROPRIETOR OF THE MARKS AS PART OF A SYSTEM OF MARKETING INTENDED TO PARTITION THE MARKETS ARTIFICIALLY .

17. It should be borne in mind at the outset that, in determining the scope of a provision of Community law, its wording, context and objectives must all be taken into account (Case C-162/91 Tenuta il Bosco [1992] ECR I‑5279, paragraph 11; Case C-315/00 Maierhofer [2003] ECR I-563, paragraph 27; and Case C-280/04 Jyske Finans [2005] ECR I-10683, paragraph 34). Furthermore, it follows from the need for uniform application of Community law and from the principle of equality that the terms of a provision of Community law which makes no express reference to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining its meaning and scope must normally be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the Community, having regard to the context of the provision and the objective pursued by the legislation in question (see, inter alia, Case C-321/02 Harbs [2004] ECR I-7101, paragraph 28, and Case C-195/06 Österreichischer Rundfunk [2007] ECR I-0000, paragraph 24).

78. In such a situation, the information displayed on the packaging, labels and in advertising containing that claim or indication may mislead the consumer as to the sodium content of the mineral waters at issue in the main proceedings.

17 It is settled case-law that, in order to determine whether a body making a reference for a preliminary ruling is a court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 177 of the Treaty, which is a question governed by Community law alone, the Court takes account of a number of factors, such as whether the body is established by law, whether it is permanent, whether its jurisdiction is compulsory, whether its procedure is inter partes, whether it applies rules of law and whether it is independent (see, as the most recent authority, Case C-54/96 Dorsch Consult v Bundesbaugesellschaft Berlin [1997] ECR I-4961, paragraph 23, and Case 61/65 Vaassen (neé Göbbels) [1966] ECR 261; Case 14/86 Pretore di Salò v Persons unknown [1987] ECR 2545, paragraph 7; Case 109/88 Danfoss [1989] ECR 3199, paragraphs 7 and 8; Case C-393/92 Almelo and Others [1994] ECR I-1477; and Case C-111/94 Job Centre [1995] ECR I-3361, paragraph 9).

257. It follows from those principles that, subject to compliance with the upper limit provided for in that decision, which refers to total turnover (see Musique Diffusion française and Others v Commission , paragraph 119), it is permissible for the Commission to take account of the turnover of the undertaking concerned in order to assess the gravity of the infringement when determining the amount of the fine, but that disproportionate importance must not be attributed to that turnover by comparison with other relevant factors.

57 It is for the Court, where it exercises the power to limit the effect on past events of a declaration in preliminary ruling proceedings that a Community regulation is invalid, to decide whether an exception to that temporal limitation of the effect of its judgment is to be made in favour of the party to the main proceedings which brought an action before the national court against the national measure implementing the regulation, or whether, conversely, a declaration of invalidity applicable only to the future is an adequate remedy even for that party.

32. À cet égard, il résulte d’une jurisprudence établie que, pour déterminer si une législation nationale relève de l’une ou de l’autre des libertés de circulation, il y a lieu de prendre en considération l’objet de cette législation (voir, en ce sens, arrêts du 24 mai 2007, Holböck, C‑157/05, Rec. p. I‑4051, point 22, et du 26 mars 2009, Commission/Italie, C‑326/07, non encore publié au Recueil, point 33).

31. By prohibiting the registration as Community trade marks of such signs and indications, Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation No 40/94 pursues an aim which is in the public interest, namely that descriptive signs or indications relating to the characteristics of goods or services in respect of which registration is sought may be freely used by all. That provision accordingly prevents such signs and indications from being reserved to one undertaking alone because they have been registered as trade marks (see, inter alia, in relation to the identical provisions of Article 3(1)(c) of First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (OJ 1989 L 40, p. 1), Windsurfing Chiemsee , paragraph 25, and Joined Cases C-53/01 to C-55/01 Linde and Others [2003] ECR I-3161, paragraph 73).

30 As regards the nature of the contested contributions, the Commission submits that, according to the Court’s case-law, the nature of a tax, duty or charge in the light of EU law must be determined by the Court, according to the objective characteristics by which it is levied, irrespective of its classification under national law (Bautiaa and Société française maritime, C‑197/94 and C‑252/94, EU:C:1996:47, paragraph 39 and the case-law cited).

10 The aim of the directive is to ensure continuity of employment relationships within an economic entity, irrespective of any change of ownership. The decisive criterion for establishing the existence of a transfer within the meaning of the directive is whether the entity in question retains its identity, as indicated inter alia by the fact that its operation is actually continued or resumed (Case 24/85 Spijkers [1986] ECR 1119, paragraphs 11 and 12, and, most recently, Joined Cases C-171/94 and C-172/94 Merckx and Neuhuys [1996] ECR I-1253, paragraph 16; see also the advisory opinion of the Court of the European Free Trade Association of 19 December 1996 in Case E-2/96 Ulstein and Røiseng, not yet reported, paragraph 27).

45 Article 3(3) therefore constitutes a major exception to the rule laid down in Articles 3(1)(b), (c) and (d), whereby registration is to be refused in relation to trade marks which are devoid of any distinctive character, descriptive marks, and marks which consist exclusively of indications which have become customary in the current language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade.

52. In that connection, it should be recalled that Council Directive 77/799 enables a Member State to obtain from the competent authorities of another Member State all the information enabling it to determine the correct amount of income tax (see Case C‑55/98 Vestergaard [1999] ECR I‑7641, paragraph 26), or all the information it considers necessary to ascertain the correct amount of income tax payable by a taxpayer according to the legislation which it applies (see, to that effect, Wielockx , paragraph 26).

26 In any event, as the Commission points out in its written observations, the tax authorities may always collect all necessary information pursuant to Council Directive 77/799/EEC of 19 December 1977 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct taxation (OJ 1977 L 336, p. 15).

53 That definition of the term `onset of the employer's insolvency' cannot, however, preclude the option available to the Member States, acknowledged in Article 9 of the Directive, of applying or introducing provisions that are more favourable to employees, in particular for the purpose of including unpaid remuneration during a period subsequent to the lodging of a request that proceedings to satisfy collectively the claims of creditors be opened (see also the judgment of today's date in Joined Cases C-94/95 and C-95/95 Bonifaci and Others and Berto and Others, cited above, at paragraphs 36 to 43).

33 Thus, in the present case, the fact, mentioned by the Netherlands Government, that the staff representative organizations in the civil service are involved in the management of the scheme and that in practice there is consultation with them before any change is made to the scheme, does not mean that the criterion held to be relevant in Ten Oever will prevail. That consultation does not lead to the conclusion of a formal agreement laying down the detailed rules governing the scheme, which would then bind the public authorities and the legislature. Moreover, the documents put before the Court do not suggest that, when the ABPW was amended in 1985 and in 1986, the legislature was formally bound by a prior agreement concluded between employees and management in the civil service, or that it took action merely in order to make that agreement binding on the civil service in its entirety.

78. The Court has already ruled that, where Directive 89/48 is applicable, a public body in a Member State, which is bound to comply with the rules laid down in that directive, can no longer require that a candidate’s qualifications be homologated by the competent national authorities as a prior condition for taking up the profession in question (see, to that effect, Case C‑234/97 Fernández de Bobadilla [1999] ECR I-4773, paragraph 27, and Case C‑141/04 Peros [2005] ECR I‑7163, paragraph 35).

17. The test for determining whether an advertisement is comparative in nature is thus whether it identifies, explicitly or by implication, a competitor of the advertiser or goods or services which the competitor offers ( Toshiba Europe , paragraph 29).

24 The periphrasis "the person entitled to the family benefits or family allowances, or the person to whom they are paid" must therefore be understood as encompassing in particular, apart from the spouse, a person who is not or is no longer married to the person entitled to benefits in pursuance of Article 73 of Regulation No 1408/71 or that person himself if the overlapping entitlement to family allowances arises because that person is also working in the State of residence. The legislature chose to define that group of persons by their common characteristic, namely their status as persons entitled to family allowances in the State of residence, rather than by giving an exhaustive list. Moreover in the judgment in Case 168/88 Dammer v Securex ([1989] ECR 4553, paragraph 16), the Court held that: "... under the Community rules prohibited overlapping is considered to occur when two parents work in two different Member States and are each entitled, in their State of employment, to family benefits for the same member of the family, and that problem is resolved by a rule determining priority, as between the two sets of national legislation concerned, in the event that that member of the family resides in one of the two States of employment".

39. Quant à la position 82 de l’annexe n° 3 de la loi sur la TVA, la République de Pologne fait valoir que les substances qui y figurent, à savoir la cystine, la cystéine et leurs dérivés, peuvent constituer un produit pharmaceutique fini au sens de l’arrêt Commission/Espagne (C‑360/11, EU:C:2013:17, point 49) dès lors qu’elles sont susceptibles d’être commercialisées en tant que produits autonomes. Dans sa réplique, la Commission reconnaît qu’un taux réduit de TVA peut être appliqué à ces substances dans la mesure où elles sont vendues aux consommateurs en tant que produit fini. En revanche, elle considère que, en tant qu’intrants d’autres produits ou d’autres préparations, lesdites substances doivent être soumises au taux normal de TVA.

20 It is settled law that Community legislation must, so far as possible, be interpreted in a manner that is consistent with international law, in particular where its provisions are intended specifically to give effect to an international agreement concluded by the Community (see to that effect Case C-61/94 Commission v Germany [1996] ECR I-3989, paragraph 52).

63 Furthermore, even if this limb were declared admissible, it would still be irrelevant. In order to obtain compensation for the damage attributable to a delay in conducting proceedings for which the Commission can be held responsible, the onus is on the applicant to adduce proof of fault on the part of the institution, of the damage suffered, and of a causal link between the two, these three conditions being cumulative.

41 It should be noted at the outset that, where there is a regulation on the common organisation of the market in a given sector, the Member States are under an obligation to refrain from taking any measures which might undermine or create exceptions to it (see, in particular, Case 148/85 Direction Générale des Impôts v Forest [1986] ECR 3449, paragraph 14). Rules which interfere with the proper functioning of a common organisation of the market are also incompatible with such common organisation, even if the matter in question has not been exhaustively regulated by it (see, to that effect, Case 218/85 Cerafel v Le Campion [1986] ECR 3513, paragraph 13, and Case C-27/96 Danisco Sugar v Allmänna Ombudet [1997] ECR I-0000, paragraph 24).

14 AS THE COURT HAS ALREADY HELD IN ITS JUDGMENT OF 7 FEBRUARY 1984 ( CASE 237/83 JONGENEEL KAAS V NETHERLANDS ( 1984 ) ECR 483 ), WHERE A REGULATION EXISTS ESTABLISHING A COMMON ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET IN A GIVEN SECTOR , MEMBER STATES ARE UNDER AN OBLIGATION TO REFRAIN FROM TAKING ANY MEASURES WHICH MIGHT UNDERMINE OR CREATE EXCEPTIONS TO IT . IT IS CLEAR FROM THAT JUDGMENT , HOWEVER , THAT THE FACT THAT THE REGULATION IN QUESTION IS SILENT ON THE MATTER PROVIDES NO GROUND FOR THE CONCLUSION THAT MEMBER STATES MAY NO LONGER TAKE MEASURES IN THE SECTOR . ON THE CONTRARY , SINCE THE COMMUNITY LEGISLATURE HAS NOT ADOPTED RULES GOVERNING THE FLOUR-MILLING SECTOR , THE MEMBER STATES REMAIN COMPETENT TO TAKE SUCH MEASURES AS THEY CONSIDER APPROPRIATE TO IMPROVE STRUCTURES IN THAT SECTOR , SO LONG AS THEY OBSERVE THE MECHANISMS AND PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE COMMON ORGANIZATION OF THE MARKET .

108. In that case, and without prejudice to any protection under specific rights such as trade mark rights, the protection of that name cannot be justified on the grounds of protection of industrial and commercial property within the meaning of Article 30 EC (see, to that effect, Exportur , paragraph 37, and Joined Cases C-321/94 to C-324/94 Pistre and Others [1997] ECR I-2343, paragraph 53).

41 As to the first condition, it is not possible for the person seeking authorisation to provide incontrovertible proof of the future use of the land to be acquired. The administrative authorities thus have, in determining the probative value of the information received, considerable latitude which is closely related to a discretionary power. Furthermore, the explanatory memoranda drawn up by the administrative authorities of the Land of Tyrol on Section 25 of the TGVG 1996, which were produced by the applicant in the main proceedings and the significance of which for the interpretation of the Law has been accepted by the Republic of Austria, reveal the intention of using the means of assessment offered by the authorisation procedure in order to subject applications from foreigners, including nationals of Member States of the Community, to a more thorough check than applications from Austrian nationals. In addition, the accelerated authorisation procedure laid down in Section 25(2) is presented in that document as designed to replace the declaration procedure laid down in Section 10(2) of the TGVG 1993 and reserved for Austrians alone.

50 The Court has already noted, moreover, that the purpose of Directive 68/151 is to guarantee legal certainty in relation to dealings between companies and third parties in view of the intensification of trade between Member States following the creation of the internal market and that, with that in mind, it is important that any person wishing to establish and develop trading relations with companies situated in other Member States should be able easily to obtain essential information relating to the constitution of trading companies and to the powers of persons authorised to represent them, which requires that all the relevant information should be expressly stated in the register (see, to that effect, judgment of 12 November 1974, Haaga, 32/74, EU:C:1974:116, paragraph 6).

82. Consequently, only economic disadvantages directly caused by natural disasters or by exceptional occurrences qualify for compensation as provided for in that provision(see to this effect Case C-156/98 Germany v Commission , cited above, paragraph 54, and Case C-301/96 Germany v Commission , cited above, paragraph 72).

90 Indeed, such an obligation reinforces the high level of trust that must exist between Member States and, consequently, the principle of mutual recognition on which the mechanism of the European arrest warrant is based. That principle is founded on mutual trust between the Member States that their national legal systems are capable of providing equivalent and effective protection of the fundamental rights recognised at EU level (see, to that effect, judgments of 30 May 2013, F., C‑168/13 PPU, EU:C:2013:358, paragraphs 49 and 50, and of 5 April 2016, Aranyosi and Căldăraru, C‑404/15 and C‑659/15 PPU, EU:C:2016:198, paragraphs 77 and 78).

25. By contrast, the components of the worker’s total remuneration which are intended exclusively to cover occasional or ancillary costs arising at the time of performance of the tasks which the worker is required to carry out under his contract of employment, such as costs connected with the time that pilots have to spend away from base, need not be taken into account in the calculation of the payment to be made during annual leave.

24. It is clear from the case‑law that national legislation determining conditions for repayment of excess VAT which are more onerous for one category of taxable persons because of a presumed risk of evasion, without making any provision for the taxable person to demonstrate the absence of tax evasion or avoidance in order to take advantage of less restrictive conditions, is not a means proportionate to the objective of combating tax evasion and avoidance and has a disproportionate effect on the objectives and principles of the Sixth VAT Directive (see, by analogy, in relation to exclusions from the right to deduct, Joined Cases C‑177/99 and C‑181/99 Ampafrance and Sanofi [2000] ECR I‑7013, paragraph 62, and, in relation to preventive attachment, Molenheide and Others , paragraph 51).

51 It must be held that, where a preventive attachment procedure constitutes a derogation from the ordinary law applicable to preventive attachments, in that necessity and urgency are irrebuttably presumed, doubts may legitimately be entertained as to whether it is an indispensable instrument for ensuring recovery of the sums due.

196. With regard to the question whether the derogations set out in Article 9 of the Directive are capable of applying to situations governed by the specific protective requirements prescribed in Article 7(4) of the Directive, it should be noted that the Court held in Case C-182/02 Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux and Others [2003] ECR I‑12105, at paragraph 9, that Article 9(1)(c) of the Directive permits authorisation, in compliance with the other requirements of Article 9, of the capture, keeping or other judicious use of birds during the periods mentioned in Article 7(4) of the Directive, during which the survival of wild birds is at particular risk.

59. The dissuasive effect which, according to the ruling of the Court in Eridania zuccherifici nazionali and Others , the system for financing the costs of disposal is liable to have on producers derives, as the Advocate General has noted at point 60 of her Opinion, from the very fact that the production levy imposes on producers the burden of financing the costs of disposing of Community production surpluses.

77. That objective can be achieved without any need to lay down an obligation of reinvestment within the territory of the Member State concerned. That objective would be similarly achieved if the taxable person were to choose to reinvest the capital gains resulting from the sale of the replaced asset for the purposes of acquiring a replacement asset forming part of the assets of a permanent establishment located within the territory of another Member State rather than within Germany. Notwithstanding the categorisation, for tax purposes, of a permanent establishment located outside the national territory, under conventional tax law, and the tax treatment of the replacement asset under that law, the replacement asset would, in any event, be linked to the economic activity of the taxable person and would, therefore, contribute to enhancing the promotion of investment in the undertaking and the restructuring of that undertaking and could, accordingly, guarantee the continuity of that economic activity (see, to that effect, judgment in Commission v Portugal , C‑345/05, EU:C:2006:685, paragraphs 31 to 33 and 35).

11 It may be added that where an institution' s power is based on two provisions of the Treaty, it is bound to adopt the relevant measures on the basis of the two relevant provisions .

41. Finally, so far as concerns the third argument, it is apparent from Joined Cases C‑403/08 and C-429/08 Football Association Premier League and Others [2011] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 76 to 145, that communications to the public by satellite must be capable of being received in all the Member States and that they therefore by definition have a cross-border nature. Furthermore, the communications at issue in the main proceedings display such a nature since they involve Belgian and Netherlands companies, Airfield and Canal Digitaal, and the programme-carrying signals are intended in particular for television viewers residing in Belgium and Luxembourg.

15 Although the reasoned opinion provided for in Article 169 of the Treaty must contain a coherent and detailed statement of the reasons which led the Commission to conclude that the State in question has failed to fulfil one of its obligations under the Treaty, the letter of formal notice cannot be subject to such strict requirements of precision, since it cannot, of necessity, contain anything more than an initial brief summary of the complaints. There is therefore nothing to prevent the Commission from setting out in detail in the reasoned opinion the complaints which it has already made more generally in the letter of formal notice (see the judgment in Case C-289/94 Commission v Italy, cited above, paragraph 16).

36. Similarly, according to settled case-law of the Court, literary and artistic works may be the subject of commercial exploitation, whether by way of public performance or of the reproduction and marketing of the recordings made of them (judgment in FDV , C‑61/97, EU:C:1998:422, paragraph 14 and the case-law cited).

43. Furthermore, the fact that, pursuant to Article 34 of the Visa Code, the grounds for refusal of a visa are the same as those which justify its annulment or revocation, implies that if it were accepted that a Member State might provide that its competent authorities must refuse a visa on a ground not set out in that code it would therefore also have to be accepted that that State might provide that those authorities are required to annul or revoke visas on an equivalent ground, so as to ensure the coherence of a system in which the fact that a condition for the issue of a visa is not met precludes that visa from being valid.

33 It is clear from the factors set out above that, according to its aim and content, the main purpose of the Regulation is to establish business registers with a view to enabling the Commission efficiently to collect the information necessary for the performance of the various tasks entrusted to it by the Treaty. Whilst it cannot be denied that the Regulation will also have effects on the establishment and functioning of the internal market, those effects are merely ancillary to the main aim described above, with the result that, contrary to the view of the German Government, Article 100a of the EEC Treaty cannot constitute the proper legal basis for the adoption of the Regulation. As the Court has already held, the mere fact that an act may affect the establishment or functioning of the internal market is not sufficient to justify using that provision as the basis for the act (see, in particular, the judgment in Commission v Council, cited above, paragraphs 18 and 19).

43. The Court has held that the concept of State aid includes not only certain parafiscal charges, depending on the use to which the revenue from those charges is put (see, inter alia, Lornoy and Others , paragraph 28), but also the collection of a contribution constituting a parafiscal charge (see Case C-72/92 Scharbatke [1993] ECR I-5509, paragraph 20).

45. By contrast, if the referring court were to find that either the threshold has not been reached or that the value of the medical services exceeds the value of the transport services, only the general principles of transparency and equal treatment flowing from Articles 49 TFEU and 56 TFEU would be applicable in addition to Articles 23 and 35(4) of Directive 2004/18 (see, to that effect, judgments in Commission v Ireland , EU:C:2007:676, paragraph 26 and the case-law cited, and Strong Segurança , EU:C:2011:161, paragraph 35).

41. Contrary to the Hellenic Republic’s assertion, the fact that, in such cases of intensive use of a vehicle, it is open to the owner to challenge the application of the fixed scale is not sufficient to prevent a system of taxation from contravening Article 90 EC.

35. The principle of proportionality, which is one of the general principles of Community law, requires that measures adopted by Community institutions do not exceed the limits of what is appropriate and necessary in order to attain the legitimate objectives pursued by the legislation in question; when there is a choice between several appropriate measures, recourse must be had to the least onerous, and the disadvantages caused must not be disproportionate to the aims pursued (Case C-331/88 Fedesa and Others [1990] ECR I-4023, paragraph 13; Joined Cases C-133/93, C-300/93 and C-362/93 Crispoltoni and Others [1994] ECR I‑4863, paragraph 41; Case C-157/96 National Farmers’ Union and Others [1998] ECR I-2211, paragraph 60; and Case C‑189/01 Jippes and Others [2001] ECR I‑5689, paragraph 81).

34. En jugeant que l’article 3, sous a), du règlement nº 469/2009 s’oppose à la délivrance d’un CCP portant sur des principes actifs qui ne figurent pas dans les revendications d’un brevet de base (voir arrêt Medeva, précité, point 25; ordonnances du 25 novembre 2011, University of Queensland et CSL, C‑630/10, Rec. p. I‑12231, point 31, et Daiichi Sankyo, C‑6/11, Rec. p. I‑12255, point 30), la Cour a souligné le rôle essentiel des revendications aux fins de déterminer si un produit est protégé par un brevet de base au sens de cette disposition.

91. It is true that the assessment which a Member State is required to make may reveal a high degree of scientific and practical uncertainty in that regard. Such uncertainty, which is inseparable from the concept of precaution, influences the extent of the discretion of the Member State and thus has an impact on the means of applying the proportionality principle. In such circumstances, it must be acknowledged that a Member State may, under the precautionary principle, take protective measures without having to wait for the reality and the seriousness of those risks to be fully demonstrated (see, to that effect, Case C-157/96 National Farmers’ Union and Others [1998] ECR I‑2211, paragraph 63, and Commission v Netherlands , paragraphs 51 and 52). However, the assessment of the risk cannot be based on purely hypothetical considerations (see, to that effect, Case C‑236/01 Monsanto Agricoltura Italia and Others [2003] ECR I‑8105, paragraph 106; Commission v Denmark , paragraph 49; and Commission v Netherlands , paragraph 52).

63 Where there is uncertainty as to the existence or extent of risks to human health, the institutions may take protective measures without having to wait until the reality and seriousness of those risks become fully apparent.

In that judgment, the Court first of all recalled, citing the judgment of 6 December 2007, Commission v Ferriere Nord (C‑516/06 P, EU:C:2007:763, paragraph 29) that such letters only constitute, as a general rule, an enforcement notice, not entailing autonomous legal consequences compared with the original decision of the Commission imposing a fine and, as the case may be, default interest. The Court, however, stated, next, that that was not the case of the letters in question in the case giving rise to the judgment of 19 January 2017, Commission v Total and Elf Aquitaine (C‑351/15 P, EU:C:2017:27), in that they demanded that the undertakings concerned pay default interest in spite of the payment in full of the original amount of the fine and, therefore, were, in fact, a modification of the pecuniary obligation for which those undertakings were liable (judgment of 19 January 2017, Commission v Total and Elf Aquitaine, C‑351/15 P, EU:C:2017:27, paragraph 48).

30. Instead of receiving all their remuneration in cash, the Astra Zeneca employees who have chosen to receive such vouchers must give up part of that remuneration in exchange for those vouchers, that transaction resulting in a specific deduction from their Fund.

27. In accordance with settled case-law, national provisions which apply to holdings by nationals of the Member State concerned in the capital of a company established in another Member State, giving them definite influence on the company’s decisions and allowing them to determine its activities, come within the substantive scope of the provisions of the EC Treaty on freedom of establishment (see, to that effect, Case C‑251/98 Baars [2000] ECR I-2787, paragraph 22; Case C-436/00 X and Y [2002] ECR I-10829, paragraph 37; and Case C-196/04 Cadbury Schweppes and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas [2006] ECR I-0000, paragraph 31).

18 Moreover, it is apparent from Rule 2(a) of the General Rules for the interpretation of the CN that, for the purposes of customs classification, an incomplete or unfinished article is to be treated in the same way as a complete or finished article, provided that it has the essential character of the complete or finished article. That rule of interpretation is itself clarified by the Customs Cooperation Council's explanatory notes, according to which the heading relating to the finished product covers blanks, that is to say, articles which, although not ready for direct use, have the approximate shape or outline of the finished article and can only be used for completion into the finished article.

48. With regard to the second part of the second plea, it is necessary to point out, first of all, that decisions concerning registration of a sign as a Community trade mark which the Boards of Appeal of OHIM are called on to take under Regulation No 40/94 are adopted in the exercise of circumscribed powers and are not a matter of discretion. Accordingly, as the Court of First Instance essentially held in paragraph 55 of the judgment under appeal, the legality of those decisions must be assessed solely on the basis of that regulation and not on the basis of a previous decision-making practice of those boards (Case C‑37/03 P BioID v OHIM [2005] ECR I-0000, paragraph 47).

58. It is thus apparent that the basic pay received by two employees appointed on the same date in the same salary group will differ according to their age at the time of appointment. It follows that those two employees are in a comparable situation and one of them receives lower basic pay than the other. That employee is thus treated less favourably, because of his age, than the other employee.

40. The purpose of the pre-litigation procedure, inter alia, is to give the Member State concerned an opportunity to avail itself of its right to defend itself against the charges formulated by the Commission (Case C-439/99 Commission v Italy [2002] ECR I-305, paragraph 10, and Case C-350/02 Commission v Netherlands [2004] ECR I-6213, paragraph 18) and to ensure that any contentious procedure will have a clearly defined dispute as its subject-matter (see Case C-287/00 Commission v Germany [2002] ECR I-5811, paragraph 17, and Commission v Netherlands , paragraph 19).

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

12. It must be borne in mind at the outset that, according to settled case-law, although direct taxation falls within their competence, the Member States must none the less exercise that competence consistently with Community law (see Case C‑80/94 Wielockx [1995] ECR I-2493, paragraph 16; Verkooijen , paragraph 32, and Case C-334/02 Commission v France [2004] ECR I-0000, paragraph 21).

40. As regards, secondly, the German Government’s assertion that the fact that, by virtue of the replacement of goods not in conformity, the consumer has the benefit of new goods without having to make proper payment constitutes unjust enrichment, it should be borne in mind that Article 3(1) of the Directive makes the seller liable to the consumer for any lack of conformity which exists at the time the goods are delivered.

34. According to settled case-law, where a company has a shareholding in another company which gives it definite influence over that company’s decisions and allows it to determine that company’s activities, it is the provisions of the Treaty on the freedom of establishment that are to be applied (see, inter alia, Cadbury Schweppes and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas , paragraph 31; Test Claimants in Class IV of the ACT Group Litigation , paragraph 39; Case C‑524/04 Test Claimants in the Thin Cap Group Litigation [2007] ECR I‑2107, paragraph 27; Case C‑231/05 Oy AA [2007] ECR I‑6373, paragraph 20; and Burda , paragraph 69).

55. It must be borne in mind that those conditions are cumulative in the sense that non-compliance with any one of them will lead to the act of reproduction not being exempted pursuant to Article 5(1) of Directive 2001/29 from the reproduction right provided for in Article 2 of that directive.

36 However, it is also clear from the case-law of the Court that, where Member States make use of that freedom and determine the connecting factors for the allocation of fiscal jurisdiction in bilateral conventions for the avoidance of double taxation, they are required to respect the principle of equal treatment and the freedoms of movement guaranteed by primary EU law (see, to that effect, judgment of 19 November 2015 in Bukovansky, C‑241/14, EU:C:2015:766, paragraph 37).

29. Or, les États membres doivent donner à la directive 85/337 une exécution qui corresponde pleinement aux exigences qu’elle pose compte tenu de son objectif essentiel, qui est, ainsi que cela résulte de son article 2, paragraphe 1, que, avant l’octroi d’une autorisation, les projets susceptibles d’avoir des incidences notables sur l’environnement, notamment en raison de leur nature, de leurs dimensions ou de leur localisation, soient soumis à une évaluation en ce qui concerne leurs incidences (arrêt du 23 novembre 2006, Commission/Italie, C‑486/04, Rec. p. I‑11025, point 36 et jurisprudence citée).

66. As to those submissions, it is apparent from the Court’s case-law that national legislation is appropriate for securing attainment of the objective relied upon only if it genuinely reflects a concern to attain that objective in a consistent and systematic manner (see Joined Cases C-338/04, C-359/04 and C-360/04 Placanica and Others [2007] ECR I-1891, paragraphs 53 and 58; Case C-500/06 Corporación Dermoestética [2008] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 39 and 40; and Hartlauer , paragraph 55).

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.

21 In that connection the Court has consistently held that an appeal is admissible only in so far as it is claimed that the decision of the Court of First Instance is incompatible with the rules of law the application of which it had to ensure (see Case C-283/90 P Vidrányi v Commission [1991] ECR I-4339, paragraph 13).

16 As its preamble shows, Directive 69/335 is intended to promote the free movement of capital, which is regarded as essential for the creation of an economic union whose characteristics are similar to those of a domestic market. As regards taxes on the raising of capital, the pursuit of such an objective presupposes the abolition of indirect taxes already in force in Member States and their replacement by a tax levied only once throughout the common market and at the same rate in all Member States.

27 Moreover, the Court has already pointed out in its judgment of 8 December 2011, Ziebell (C‑371/08, EU:C:2011:809, paragraphs 82 and 83), that the adoption of such a measure may not be ordered automatically following a criminal conviction, but rather requires a case-by-case assessment which must, in particular, have regard to the elements mentioned in Article 12(3) of Directive 2003/109.

119. En particulier, ainsi que la Cour l’a rappelé aux points 90 et 91 de l’arrêt Commission/Italie (C‑496/09, EU:C:2011:740), la République italienne a déjà fait l’objet de nombreux arrêts constatant un manquement en raison du fait qu’elle n’avait pas immédiatement et effectivement récupéré des aides déclarées illégales et incompatibles avec le marché intérieur.

23. An analysis of those definitions shows that the scope of the term economic activities is very wide, and that the term is objective in character, in the sense that the activity is considered per se and without regard to its purpose or results (see Commission v Netherlands , paragraph 8; Commission v Greece , paragraph 26; and Commission v Spain , paragraph 89).

43 Second, it is true that the export prohibition is an exception to the minimum harmonization and mutual recognition which the Directive generally seeks to achieve. However, in view of the complexity of the matter and the differences between the legislation of the Member States, the Parliament and the Council were empowered to achieve the necessary harmonization progressively (see, to that effect, Case C-193/94 Skanavi and Chryssanthakopoulos [1996] ECR I-929, paragraph 27).

37 It follows from the case-law of the Court that a refusal by the authorities of a Member State to recognise the name of a national of that State who exercised his right to move and reside freely in the territory of another Member State, as determined in that second Member State, is likely to hinder the exercise of the right, enshrined in Article 21 TFEU, to move and reside freely in the territories of the Member States. Confusion and inconvenience are liable to arise from the divergence between the two names used for the same person (see, to that effect, judgment of 22 December 2010 in Sayn-Wittgenstein, C‑208/09, EU:C:2010:806, paragraphs 39, 41, 42, 66 and 71).

25. Secondly, it should be observed that, when the interests involved are weighed, a number of separate interests may, cumulatively, militate in favour of disclosure.

82 Accordingly, by contrast with the benefits provided by organisations charged with the management of compulsory social security schemes of the kind referred to in Poucet and Pistre, cited above, the amount of the benefits provided by the Fund depends on the financial results of the investments made by it, in respect of which it is subject, like an insurance company, to supervision by the Insurance Board.

57. L’argument de la République italienne selon lequel la fixation, pour le départ à la retraite, d’une condition d’âge différente selon le sexe est justifiée par l’objectif d’éliminer des discriminations au détriment des femmes ne saurait prospérer. Même si l’article 141, paragraphe 4, CE autorise les États membres à maintenir ou à adopter des mesures prévoyant des avantages spécifiques destinés à prévenir ou à compenser des désavantages dans la carrière professionnelle, afin d’assurer une pleine égalité entre hommes et femmes dans la vie professionnelle, il ne saurait en être déduit que cette disposition permet la fixation d’une telle condition d’âge différente selon le sexe. En effet, les mesures nationales couvertes par ladite disposition doivent, en tout état de cause, contribuer à aider les femmes à mener leur vie professionnelle sur un pied d’égalité avec les hommes [voir, s’agissant de l’interprétation de l’article 6, paragraphe 3, de l’accord sur la politique sociale conclu entre les États membres de la Communauté européenne à l’exception du Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d’Irlande du Nord (JO 1992, C 191, p. 91), arrêt Griesmar, précité, point 64].

36 In this regard, it is appropriate to point out, firstly, that it is not disputed that it follows from point IX of the nomenclature of capital movements appearing in Annex I to Council Directive 88/361/EEC of 24 June 1988 for the implementation of Article 67 of the Treaty (OJ 1988 L 178, p. 5), that guarantees granted by non-residents to residents or by residents to non-residents constitute movements of capital within the meaning of Article 1 of that directive and are therefore covered by Article 56(1) EC (see, to that effect, Case C-222/97 Trummer and Mayer [1999] ECR I-1661, paragraphs 21 to 24).

20. It follows from the foregoing that, in order to decide which court has jurisdiction to hear and determine a specific action brought against the Community seeking compensation for damage, it is necessary to determine whether the action in question concerns the Community’s contractual liability or its non-contractual liability.

54. Ireland admits that those economic agents benefit from the reduced rate at issue, but argues, without providing any data, that, firstly, most of the persons who practise an equestrian sport or one relating to greyhounds do so in their private capacity as final consumers and furthermore that, according to the Court’s case‑law, it is possible to satisfy the second condition laid down under the second paragraph of Article 110 of Directive 2006/112 also in the event that the buyers are not final consumers, but where the upstream transaction which is subject to a reduced rate is sufficiently close to the consumer to be of advantage to him (see aforementioned cases Commission v Ireland , paragraph 18, and Commission v United Kingdom , paragraph 17).

19. It is settled case-law that, although direct taxation falls within their competence, the Member States must none the less exercise that competence consistently with Community law (Case C-311/97 Royal Bank of Scotland [1999] ECR I-2651, paragraph 19, and Manninen , paragraph 19).

32. The Court has ruled on numerous occasions that the fact that a measure is, by its nature and scope, a provision of general application inasmuch as it applies to the traders concerned in general, does not of itself prevent it being of individual concern to some of them (see, to that effect, Case C-309/89 Codorníu v Council [1994] ECR I‑1853, paragraph 19, and Joined Cases C‑182/03 and C‑217/03 Belgium and Forum 187 v Commission [2006] ECR I‑5479, paragraph 58).

24. The fourth criterion, in contrast to the analysis by the French Government, refers not only to deterioration of the quality of the water which produces harmful effects for ecosystems but also deterioration of the colour, appearance, taste or odour of the water or any other change which prevents or limits water uses such as tourism, fishing, fish farming, clamming and shellfish farming, abstraction of drinking water or cooling of industrial installations.

58. The direct effect of both Article 41(1) of the Additional Protocol and Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 is clear from the case-law of the Court of Justice (see, as regards Article 41(1), Joined Cases C-37/98 Savas [2000] ECR I-2927, paragraphs 54 and 71, and, as regards Article 13, Case C-192/89 Sevince [1990] ECR I-3461, paragraph 26). Those provisions lay down, clearly, precisely and unconditionally, unequivocal "standstill" clauses, which contain an obligation entered into by the contracting parties which amounts in law to a duty not to act (see Savas , cited above, paragraphs 46 and 47).

110. As has been stated in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the present judgment, the legislature defined the concept of ‘information society service’ as covering services which are provided at a distance, by means of electronic equipment for the processing and storage of data, at the individual request of a recipient of services, and normally in return for remuneration. Regard being had to the characteristics, summarised in paragraph 23 of this judgment, of the referencing service at issue in the cases in the main proceedings, the conclusion must be that that service features all of the elements of that definition.

61 That is why the Court has held that it has no jurisdiction to give a preliminary ruling on a question submitted by a national court where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of Community law sought by that court bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose (see, inter alia, Case C-143/94 Furlanis v ANAS [1995] ECR I-0000, paragraph 12) or where the problem is hypothetical and the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it (see, inter alia, Meilicke, cited above, paragraph 32).

72. Article 70(1) of the ZDDS therefore does not restrict the right to deduct within the meaning of Article 176 of the VAT Directive.

35 It is clear, however, from the judgments in Case C-57/93 Vroege [1994] ECR I-4541, paragraphs 20 to 27, Case C-128/93 Fisscher [1994] ECR I-4583, paragraphs 17 to 24, and Case C-246/96 Magorrian and Cunningham v EHSSB and DHSS [1997] ECR I-7153, paragraphs 27 to 35, that the limitation in time of the effects of Article 119 resulting from both the Barber judgment and the Protocol concerns only those kinds of discrimination which employers and pension schemes could reasonably have considered to be permissible owing to the transitional derogations for which Community law provided and which were capable of being applied to occupational pensions (see Case C-435/93 Dietz v Stichting Thuiszorg Rotterdam [1996] ECR I-5223, paragraph 19).

39. For the sake of completeness, it must be noted that, as recitals 3, 21 and 24 in the preamble to Regulation No 1782/2003 make clear, environmental protection forms part of the objectives of the single payment scheme. The Court has also held that environmental protection, one of the essential objectives of the European Union, must be regarded as forming part of the common agricultural policy (Case C-428/07 Horvath [2009] ECR I-6355, paragraph 29). Moreover, Article 2 point (1) of Regulation No 796/2004 expressly provides that arable land, and consequently agricultural areas pursuant to Article 2(a) of Regulation No 795/2004, is land maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition within the meaning of Article 5 of Regulation No 1782/2003.

41. It must be added that, according to the settled case-law of the Court, whereby the operative part of a decision on State aid is indissociably linked to the statement of reasons for it, so that, when it has to be interpreted, account must be taken of the reasons which led to its adoption (see, in particular, Case C-355/95 P TWD v Commission [1997] ECR I-2549, paragraph 21), the amounts to be repaid pursuant to Decision 2003/372 can be established by reading Article 2 in conjunction with points 206 to 208 of the grounds thereof.

46. On the same grounds, the fact that the transmission costs charged to subscribers incorporate the payments made to broadcasting channels and the royalties paid to copyright collecting societies in connection with the transmission of programme content cannot preclude the service supplied by UPC from being characterised as an ‘electronic communications service’ for the purposes of the NRF.

22 In the Sevince judgment, the Court stated that a Turkish worker was not in a stable and secure situation as a member of the labour force of a Member State during the period in which he benefited from the suspensory effect of an appeal he had lodged against a decision refusing him a residence permit and had obtained authorization, on a provisional basis, pending the outcome of the dispute, to reside and be employed in the Member State in question (paragraph 31).

184. In that regard, it should be noted that, according to Article 5(2) of the Customs Code, representation of an operator for the performance of the acts and formalities laid down in the customs rules may be either direct, where the representative acts in the operator’s name and on his behalf, or indirect, where the representative acts in his own name but on behalf of another person.

23 The Court has also held, in relation to a prohibition under German law of mail-order sales of medicinal products the sale of which is, in the Member State concerned, restricted to pharmacies, that such a prohibition is more of an obstacle to pharmacies outside Germany than to those within Germany. Although there is little doubt that, as a result of the prohibition, pharmacies in Germany cannot use an extra or alternative method of gaining access to the German market consisting of end consumers of medicinal products, they are nonetheless able to sell the products in their dispensaries. By contrast, for pharmacies not established in Germany, the internet provides a more significant way by which to gain direct access to the German market. A prohibition which has a greater impact on pharmacies established outside German territory could impede access to the market for products from other Member States more than it impedes access for domestic products, and therefore constitutes a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction within the meaning of Article 34 TFEU (see, to that effect, judgment of 11 December 2003, Deutscher Apothekerverband, C‑322/01, EU:C:2003:664, paragraphs 74 to 76).

96. On the contrary, as set out in the 2002 Recommendation and, in particular, in point (f) of the section ‘Rights to be granted’ contained in the Appendix to that recommendation, and paragraph 24 of the Explanatory Memorandum of that recommendation, the scope of the right of communication to the public would be modelled on the right provided for in Article 13(d) of the Rome Convention, which restricts it to places accessible to the public against payment of an entrance fee.

71. With regard to the second limb of the second question, according to the Court's case-law, the various grounds for refusing registration set out in Article 3 of the Directive must be interpreted in the light of the public interest underlying each of them (see, to that effect, Windsurfing Chiemsee , paragraphs 25 to 27, and Philips , paragraph 77).

77. En effet, la réglementation litigieuse considère, en principe, les héritiers ou les donataires tant résidents que non-résidents comme assujettis aux fins de la perception de droits de succession ou de mutation sur des biens immeubles situés en Espagne. Partant, il n’existe entre un résident et un non-résident aucune différence de situation objective de nature à fonder une différence de traitement (voir, en ce sens, arrêt Schumacker, EU:C:1995:31, point 37).

19. Moreover, it is also settled case-law that it is for the Court alone, where questions may be formulated inappropriately or go beyond the ambit of its powers under Article 234 EC, to extract from all the information provided by the national court, and in particular from the grounds of the order for reference, the elements of Community law requiring interpretation – or, as the case may be, an assessment of validity – having regard to the subject-matter of the dispute (see Case 83/78 Pigs Marketing Board [1978] ECR 2347, paragraph 26, and Case C-107/98 Teckal [1999] ECR I-8121, paragraph 34).

23. In those circumstances, it must be held that the manager is making a communication to a public.

34. Thereafter, the same provision seeks to deepen the lasting integration of the Turkish migrant worker’s family into the host Member State by granting to the family member concerned, after three years of legal residence, the possibility of himself gaining access to the labour force. The fundamental objective thus pursued is that of consolidating the position of that family member, who is, at that stage, already legally integrated into the host Member State, by giving him the means to earn his own living in that State and therefore to establish a position which is independent of that of the migrant worker (see, inter alia, Eyüp , paragraph 26; Cetinkaya , paragraph 25; Aydinli , paragraph 23; and Derin , paragraphs 50 and 71).

31. Those two situations are therefore objectively comparable to the extent that the benefit of the advantages of the tax entity regime is sought in both situations for the group formed by the parent company and the sub-subsidiaries.

67 As a preliminary matter, it should be noted that, in accordance with settled case-law, the choice of the legal basis for a legal act of the Union must rest on objective factors amenable to judicial review, which include the aim and content of the measure (judgments of 29 April 2004 in Commission v Council, C‑338/01, EU:C:2004:253, paragraph 54, of 19 July 2012, Parliament v Council, C‑130/10, EU:C:2012:472, paragraph 42, and of 18 December 2014, United Kingdom v Council, C‑81/13, EU:C:2014:2449, paragraph 35).

18 Under those provisions, where the supplier of goods agrees that the purchaser, in return for payment of interest, should defer payment of the price until delivery, the total value of the goods must be regarded as including that interest, even if the contract treats it as distinct from the price.

30 It follows that in classifying pension schemes, the Court has not confined itself to a formal finding of statutory origin. It has given precedence to the criterion of whether there is an agreement rather than the criterion of statutory origin. Thus, in Bilka, cited above (paragraphs 20 to 22), the Court stated that, even if adopted in accordance with legislation, a pension scheme based on an agreement between employer and staff representatives, and having the effect of supplementing social benefits paid under generally applicable national legislation with benefits financed entirely by the employer, is not a social security scheme, and that such a scheme provides benefits constituting consideration received by the worker from the employer in respect of his employment, within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 119. In Barber, cited above (paragraphs 25 and 27), the Court also held that schemes such as private occupational contracted-out schemes, resulting either from negotiation between employees and employers or from a unilateral decision taken by the employer, which are entirely financed by the employer, or by both employer and employees, without any contribution being made by the public authorities in any circumstances, form part of the consideration offered to employees by the employer. Even if the contributions paid to those schemes and the benefits they provide are in part a substitute for those of the general statutory scheme, that fact cannot preclude the application of Article 119.

59. The same interpretation must be adopted a fortiori with respect to Directive 2004/38, which amended Regulation No 1612/68 and repealed the earlier directives on freedom of movement for persons. As is apparent from recital 3 in the preamble to Directive 2004/38, it aims in particular to ‘strengthen the right of free movement and residence of all Union citizens’, so that Union citizens cannot derive less rights from that directive than from the instruments of secondary legislation which it amends or repeals.

33. The procedure provided for in Article 93(2) of the Treaty takes place primarily between the Commission and the Member State concerned. It is initiated against that State and not against the beneficiaries (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C‑74/00 P and C-75/00 P Falck and Acciaierie di Bolzano v Commission [2002] ECR I-7869, paragraphs 81 and 83).

67. It must be recalled at the outset that Article 43 EC is one of the fundamental provisions of European Union law (see, to that effect, inter alia, Reyners , paragraph 43).

23 The point of the second question is whether, if Article 119 allows the retirement age for women to be raised to that for men, occupational pension schemes which equalize retirement ages in that way must minimize the adverse consequences of that change for women.

42. It follows that, apart from the case of substances or combinations of substances intended for the purpose of making a medical diagnosis, a product cannot be regarded as being a medicinal product by function where, having regard to its composition – including its content in active substances – and if used as intended, it is incapable of appreciably restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions in human beings.

39. In this regard it is sufficient to observe that according to settled case-law, the question whether a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined by reference to the situation prevailing in the Member State at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion and that the Court cannot take account of any subsequent changes (see, in particular, Case C‑423/00 Commission v Belgium [2002] ECR I‑593, paragraph 14, and Case C‑433/03 Commission v Germany [2005] ECR I‑6985, paragraph 32).

36 That provision thus sets a series of objectives, principles and criteria which the Community legislature must respect in implementing environmental policy.

31 It follows that the principles laid down by the Court on the basis of Articles 30 and 36 of the Treaty are applicable to trade between the Community and the two new Member States. The Court has consistently held that the proprietor of an industrial or commercial property right protected by the legislation of a Member State cannot rely upon that legislation to prevent the importation of a product which has been lawfully marketed in another Member State by the proprietor himself or with his consent. The Court has inferred from that principle that an inventor, or someone deriving rights from him, cannot invoke the patent which he holds in one Member State to prevent the importation of a product freely marketed by him in another Member State where the product is not patentable (judgment in Case 187/80 Merck [1981] ECR 2063, paragraphs 12 and 13).

23 That procedure is merely intended to reduce the time needed to prepare an application for authorisation by freeing the applicant from the obligation to carry out the pharmacological and toxicological tests and clinical trials referred to in Article 4.8 of Directive 65/65, the objective of which is to prove the safety and efficacy of medicinal products (see Scotia Pharmaceuticals, cited above, paragraph 17).

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).

36. According to the case-law of the Court, the mere acquisition, holding and sale of shares in a company do not, in themselves, amount to an economic activity within the meaning of the Sixth Directive, since the mere acquisition of financial holdings in other undertakings does not amount to the exploitation of property for the purpose of obtaining income therefrom on a continuing basis. Any dividend yielded by that holding is merely the result of ownership of the property (see, to that effect, Case C‑60/90 Polysar Investments Netherlands [1991] ECR I‑3111, paragraph 13; Case C‑142/99 Floridienne and Berginvest [2000] ECR I‑9567, paragraphs 17 and 22; Case C‑16/00 Cibo Participations [2001] ECR I‑6663, paragraph 19; and Case C‑496/11 Portugal Telecom [2012] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 32 and the case-law cited).

33 In that regard, the General Court recalled, firstly, in paragraph 22 of the judgment under appeal, that the Court of Justice has previously held that it follows from a schematic interpretation of the relevant regulations that the adoption by the Commission of a decision on financial corrections in connection with the Cohesion Fund, as from 2000, was subject to the observance of a certain time limit, the length of which varied depending on the applicable rules (see, to that effect, judgments of 4 September 2014, Spain v Commission, C‑192/13 P, EU:C:2014:2156, paragraphs 76, 82, 83, 93 and 94, and of 4 September 2014, Spain v Commission, C‑197/13 P, EU:C:2014:2157, paragraphs 76, 82, 83, 93 and 94).

69. In those circumstances, the answer to the fifth question must be that an importer, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which has brought an action before a national court against the decisions by which the collection of anti-dumping duties is claimed from it under Regulation No 2398/97, declared invalid by this judgment, is, in principle, entitled to rely on that invalidity in the dispute in the main proceedings in order to obtain repayment of those duties in accordance with Article 236(1) of Regulation No 2913/92. Costs

52. Il y a lieu de souligner, enfin, que, l’article 233 CE n’obligeant l’institution dont émane l’acte annulé que dans les limites de ce qui est nécessaire pour assurer l’exécution de l’arrêt d’annulation (voir arrêt du 6 mars 2003, Interporc/Commission, C‑41/00 P, Rec. p. I‑2125, point 30), la procédure visant à remplacer un tel acte peut ainsi être reprise au point précis auquel l’illégalité est intervenue (arrêts du 12 novembre 1998, Espagne/Commission, C‑415/96, Rec. p. I‑6993, point 31, et Industrie des poudres sphériques/Conseil, précité, point 82).

30ON THE OTHER HAND , AS REGARDS THE RELATIONSHIPS OF EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO NATIONAL LAW , THE COMMUNITY HAD NOT , AT THE TIME OF THE EVENTS NOW BEFORE THE BELGIAN COURTS , ASSUMED ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUPERVISING AND GUARANTEEING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN WORKING CONDITIONS OTHER THAN REMUNERATION .

38. In the absence of a definition in the EC Treaty of ‘movement of capital’ for the purposes of Article 56(1) EC, the Court has previously recognised the nomenclature annexed to Directive 88/361 as having indicative value, even though the latter was adopted on the basis of Articles 69 and 70(1) of the EEC Treaty (subsequently, Articles 69 and 70(1) of the EC Treaty, repealed by the Treaty of Amsterdam), subject to the qualification, contained in the introduction to the nomenclature, that the list set out therein is not exhaustive (see, in particular, Case C‑513/03 van Hilten‑van der Heijden [2006] ECR I‑1957, paragraph 39; Case C‑452/04 Fidium Finanz [2006] ECR I‑9521, paragraph 41; Federconsumatori and Others , paragraph 20; and Case C‑256/06 Jäger [2008] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 24).

31. However, in the main proceedings, it is not contested that the revenue from the IVMDH has to be allocated by the Autonomous Communities to health expenditure in general and not to health expenditure which is specifically linked to the consumption of the taxed hydrocarbons. Such general expenditure may be financed by the proceeds of all kinds of taxes.