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24. In that regard, it must be borne in mind that, although direct taxation falls within their competence, Member States must none the less exercise that competence consistently with Community law (see, in particular, Case C‑446/03 Marks & Spencer [2005] ECR I‑10837, paragraph 29; Case C‑196/04 Cadbury Schweppes and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas [2006] ECR I‑7995, paragraph 40; Case C‑374/04 Test Claimants in Class IV of the ACT Group Litigation [2006] ECR I‑11673, paragraph 36; and Case C‑379/05 Amurta [2007] ECR I‑9569, paragraph 16).

17. In that regard, it should be borne in mind that Article 2(d) of the Directive gives a particularly wide definition to the concept of commercial practices: ‘any act, omission, course of conduct or representation, commercial communication including advertising and marketing, by a trader, directly connected with the promotion, sale or supply of a product to consumers’.

21. It is necessary to point out that the Community legal order does not, in principle, aim to define concepts on the basis of one or more national legal systems unless there is express provision to that effect (Case 64/81 Corman [1982] ECR 13, paragraph 8; Case C‑296/95 EMU Tabac and Others [1998] ECR I‑1605, paragraph 30; Case C‑103/01 Commission v Germany [2003] ECR I‑5369, paragraph 33). In so far as Article 14(1) of Directive 92/12 provides, in its third sentence, that each Member State is to lay down the conditions under which the exemptions provided for in the first sentence of that provision are granted, that reference to national law does not affect the meaning or scope of the term ‘ force majeure ’ which appears in the first sentence.

102. Il y a lieu de rappeler à titre liminaire que la question de savoir si la motivation d’un arrêt du Tribunal est contradictoire ou insuffisante constitue une question de droit pouvant, en tant que telle, être invoquée dans le cadre d’un pourvoi (voir, notamment, arrêts du 7 mai 1998, Somaco/Commission, C‑401/96 P, Rec. p. I‑2587, point 53, et du 8 février 2007, Groupe Danone/Commission, C‑3/06 P, Rec. p. I‑1331, point 45).

15. Next, as regards the free movement of capital, it should be borne in mind that, in the absence of a definition in the FEU Treaty of the concept of ‘movement of capital’, the Court has recognised the Nomenclature annexed to Directive 88/361 as having indicative value, even though that directive was adopted on the basis of Articles 69 and 70(1) of the EEC Treaty (Articles 67 to 73 of the EEC Treaty were replaced by Articles 73b to 73g of the EC Treaty, which in turn became Articles 56 EC to 60 EC), it being understood that, in accordance with its introduction, the list set out therein is not exhaustive (see Case C‑513/03 van Hilten-van der Heijden [2006] ECR I‑1957, paragraph 39; Case C-386/04 Centro di Musicologia Walter Stauffer [2006] ECR I-8203, paragraph 22; Case C‑11/07 Eckelkamp and Others [2008] ECR I‑6845, paragraph 38; Case C‑43/07 Arens‑Sikken [2008] ECR I‑6887, paragraph 29; and Case C‑510/08 Mattner [2010] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 19).

14 Moreover, the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations may be invoked as against Community rules, only to the extent that the Community itself has previously created a situation which can give rise to a legitimate expectation.

46. Furthermore, as the Court has already held, the essential aim of the machinery of the common organisation of the market in milk and milk products is to achieve price levels at the production and wholesale stages which take into account both the interests of Community production as a whole in the relevant sector and those of consumers and which guarantee market supplies without encouraging overproduction (see Joined Cases 36/80 and 71/80 Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association and Others [1981] ECR 735, paragraph 20, and Milk Marque and National Farmers’ Union , paragraph 85).

14 In those circumstances the Commission was entitled to regard the funds provided by ENI through Lanerossi to the four subsidiaries as State interventions which could constitute aid. Contrary to what the Italian Government has submitted, it is not necessary to establish that the capital funds received by ENI from the Italian State were specifically and expressly intended to make up the losses of the four subsidiaries. It is sufficient to observe that in any event the receipt of the capital funds enabled ENI to release other resources to make up the losses of the four subsidiaries.

25 In the second place, it should be pointed out that a possible error by the General Court in the assessment of the severability of a provision of an act of EU law is an error of law which is subject to review by the Court of Justice (for such a review, see, inter alia, judgment of 29 March 2012, Commission v Estonia, C‑505/09 P, EU:C:2012:179, paragraphs 110 to 122).

33 In the present case, the fact that the applicant's units of production of welded steel mesh are far away from the French market is not in itself of such a nature as to hinder its exports to that market. Moreover, the applicant's arguments themselves show that the agreements were, in so far as they tended to increase prices, likely to increase its exports to France and thereby to affect trade between Member States.

20 Furthermore, it is settled case-law that the validity of a jurisdiction clause under Article 17 of the Convention must be assessed by reference to the relationship between the parties to the original contract (see to that end Case 71/83 Tilly Russ v Nova [1984] ECR 2417, paragraph 24, and Case C-159/97 Castelletti v Trumpy [1999] ECR I-1597, paragraphs 41 and 42). It follows that it is in relation to those parties, which it is for the national court to identify, that the conditions of application of Article 17 of the Convention must be assessed. The circumstances in which a jurisdiction clause may be enforced against a person who was not privy to the original contract are the subject-matter of the third question, which is considered below.

22 However, that circumstance is not by nature such as to render the preliminary question inadmissible. The national court is seised of a genuine dispute, so that, far from being asked to rule on a hypothetical problem, the Court has sufficient information at its disposal regarding the circumstances with which the main proceedings are concerned to enable it to interpret the rules of Community law and to give a helpful answer to the question submitted to it (see Aprile, cited above, paragraph 20).

49. It is clear from Article 2 of Regulation No 2988/95, in particular from paragraph 3 thereof, in conjunction with the fifth and eighth recitals in the regulation, that it is for the European Union legislature to lay down sectoral rules establishing administrative penalties, following the example of those which already existed in the sphere of the common agricultural policy when the regulation was adopted (see SGS Belgium and Others , paragraph 37).

11 In its judgment of 18 June 1991 in Case C-369/89 Piageme and Others [1991] ECR I-2971, the Court ruled that Articles 30 of the EEC Treaty and 14 of Directive 79/112 precluded a national law from requiring the exclusive use of a specific language for the labelling of foodstuffs, without allowing for the possibility of using another language easily understood by purchasers or of ensuring that the purchaser was informed by other measures.

29. It should be noted at the outset that, where a contract is to be awarded by the best-value-for-money procedure, in accordance with Article 97(2) of the Financial Regulation and Article 138(1) of the implementing rules, the contracting authority must define and specify in the tender specifications the award criteria enabling evaluation of the content of tenders. In addition, those criteria must, in accordance with Article 138(2) of the implementing rules, be justified by the subject of the contract. According to Article 138(3), the contracting authority must also specify, in the contract notice or in the tender specifications, the weighting it will apply to each of the criteria for determining the best value for money. Those provisions seek to ensure compliance with the principles of equal treatment and transparency at the stage of evaluation of tenders with a view to award of the contract (see, by analogy, Case 31/87 Beentjes [1988] ECR 4635, paragraphs 21 and 22, and Case C‑470/99 Universale-Bau and Others [2002] ECR I‑11617, paragraphs 90 to 92).

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

27 In that respect, it is sufficient to point out that the Court of Justice has already held in Commission v Spain, cited above, paragraph 20, that the requirement to provide remuneration for the periods of training in specialised medicine laid down in Article 2(1)(c) of the `coordination' directive, applies only to medical specialties which are common to all the Member States or to two or more Member States and are mentioned in Article 5 or Article 7 of the `recognition' directive.

38 The Court has no jurisdiction to give a ruling on the facts in an individual case or to apply the rules of Community law which it has interpreted to national measures or situations, since those questions are matters for the exclusive jurisdiction of the national court (see Case 13/68 Salgoil [1968] ECR 453, Case 51/74 Van der Hulst [1975] ECR 79, paragraph 12, and Case C-320/88 Shipping and Forwarding Enterprise Safe [1990] ECR I-285, paragraph 11) .

31. With regard, finally, to the view put forward by the Polish Government that the national legislation responds to the need to prevent tax evasion, it should be noted that, although the Court recognised, in Case C‑255/02 Halifax and Others [2006] ECR I‑1609, paragraph 70, that the principle of prohibiting abusive practices also applies to the sphere of VAT, that principle cannot allow Member States to widen the scope of the derogation scheme here at issue. Furthermore, although, as is stated by the referring court, the restrictions provided for by Polish law were based on the need to prevent certain types of tax evasion and avoidance, Article 27 of the Sixth Directive provides, to that end, for a special procedure allowing the Council to authorise any Member State to introduce special derogating measures.

30 Therefore, although, in those circumstances, Member States enjoy institutional autonomy as regards the organisation and the structuring of their NRAs within the meaning of Article 2(g) of the Framework Directive, that autonomy may be exercised only in accordance with the objectives and obligations laid down in that directive (judgments of 6 March 2008, Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones, C‑82/07, EU:C:2008:143, paragraph 24; of 6 October 2010, Base and Others, C‑389/08, EU:C:2010:584, paragraph 26, and of 17 September 2015, KPN, C‑85/14, EU:C:2015:610, paragraph 53).

115. In that vein, first, the statement of reasons required under Article 253 EC must be appropriate for the measure at issue and must disclose in a clear and unequivocal fashion the reasoning followed by the institution which adopted that measure in such a way as to enable the persons concerned to ascertain the reasons for it and to enable the competent Court of the European Union to exercise its jurisdiction to review legality. As regards, in particular, the reasons given for individual decisions, the purpose of the obligation to state the reasons on which an individual decision is based is, therefore, in addition to permitting review by the Courts, to provide the person concerned with sufficient information to know whether the decision may be vitiated by an error enabling its validity to be challenged ( Elf Aquitaine v Commission , paragraphs 147 and 148 and the case‑law cited).

23. Toutefois, le pouvoir des États membres dans l’aménagement de nouvelles taxes n’est pas illimité. Il est, en effet, de jurisprudence constante que l’interdiction édictée à l’article 110 TFUE doit s’appliquer chaque fois qu’une imposition fiscale est de nature à décourager l’importation de biens originaires d’autres États membres au profit de produits nationaux (arrêt Tatu, précité, point 52 et jurisprudence citée).

104. Nor can it be denied that an infringement of the rights of the defence at the stage of the administrative procedure cannot be remedied by the mere fact that access was made possible at a later stage, in particular during the judicial proceedings relating to an action in which annulment of the contested decision is sought (see Hercules Chemicals v Commission , paragraph 78, and Limburgse Vinyl Maatschappij and Others v Commission , paragraph 318).

13 It should also be noted that the occupational risks which are to be evaluated by employers are not fixed once and for all, but are continually changing in relation, particularly, to the progressive development of working conditions and scientific research concerning such risks.

61. Nor can the City of Hamburg, whether as a public authority or as an employer, justify discrimination arising from a scheme of part-time work for older employees solely because avoidance of such discrimination would involve increased costs (see, to that effect, Hill and Stapleton , paragraph 40).

21 In the case of patents, the specific subject-matter of the industrial property is, in particular, the exclusive right for the patent proprietor to use an invention with a view to manufacturing industrial products and putting them into circulation for the first time, either directly or by the grant of licences to third parties, as well as the right to oppose infringements (Case 434/85 Allen and Hanburys v Generics [1988] ECR 1245, paragraph 11).

15 Next, the Court stressed in the judgment in Case 82/72 Walder [1973] ECR 599, paragraphs 6 and 7, relating to the interpretation of Articles 5 and 6 of Regulation No 3 and Articles 6 and 7 of Regulation No 1408/71, that it is clear from those provisions that the replacement by the Community regulations of the provisions of social security conventions concluded between Member States is mandatory in nature and does not allow of exceptions, save for the cases expressly stipulated by the regulations, even where the social security conventions are more advantageous to the persons covered by them than the Community regulations.

37. The imposition of a minimum retail selling price by the public authorities thus means that the maximum retail selling price determined by manufacturers and importers cannot, in any event, be lower than that obligatory minimum price. Legislation imposing such a minimum price is therefore capable of undermining competition by preventing some of those producers or importers from taking advantage of lower cost prices so as to offer more attractive retail selling prices.

66 Although there is no provision empowering the authority in question to take interim protective decisions in connection with the right of residence, it must none the less be observed that, under Article 9 of the directive as interpreted by the Court ( judgment in Pecastaing v Belgium, cited above, paragraph 18 ), once the matter has been brought before that authority, an expulsion order covered by Article 9 may not be executed, save in cases of urgency, before the opinion of that consultative body has been obtained and notified to the person concerned . It must further be noted that the order may not be enforced in breach of the right of that person to stay in the territory for the time necessary to avail himself of the remedies accorded to him under Article 8 of the directive ( judgment in Pecastaing v Belgium, cited above, paragraph 12 ).

96. It must be added that the case-law to which the Commission refers, namely the judgment of the Court of First Instance in ARBED v Commission and the judgment of the Court of Justice in Compagnie maritime belge transports and Others v Commission , both cited above, provides no support for the reasoning in support of which it is invoked whatsoever. Indeed, the judgment of the Court of First Instance was set aside by the Court of Justice on appeal. The Court of Justice, referring in particular to the abovementioned judgment in Compagnie maritime belge transports and Others v Commission , thus held that the Court of First Instance had been wrong to conclude that the lack of a statement of objections addressed to ARBED SA by the Commission, even though the latter had imposed a fine on it for conduct of its subsidiary TradeARBED SA, was not such as to entail annulment of the Commission’s decision for breach of the rights of the defence (see ARBED v Commission , paragraph 24).

27 It should be noted as a preliminary that, according to settled case-law, an action for annulment must be available in the case of all measures adopted by the institutions, whatever their nature or form, which are intended to have legal effects (see Case 22/70 Commission v Council [1971] ECR 263, paragraph 42, and Case C-366/88 France v Commission [1990] ECR I-3571, paragraph 8).

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

45. In its case-law on equal treatment in the area of employment and occupation, the Court has already held that the definition of ‘disability’ must be understood, for the purposes of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (OJ 2000 L 303, p. 16) read in the light of the UN Convention on Disabilities, as long-term physical, mental or psychological impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder the full and effective participation of the person concerned in professional life on an equal basis with other workers (Joined Cases C‑335/11 and C‑33711 HK Danmark EU:C:2013:222, paragraphs 37 to 39; Case C‑312/11 Commission v Italy E U:C:2013:446, paragraph 56; and Case C‑363/12 Z EU:C:2014:159, paragraph 76).

30 It is thus apparent that the situation of an undertaking being wound up by the court presents considerable differences from that of an undertaking subject to insolvency proceedings and that the reasons which have led the Court to rule out application of the Directive in the latter situation may be absent in the case of an undertaking being wound up by the court.

110 In order to rule on the merits of this ground of appeal, put forward in the alternative by the Commission, it must be noted that, on grounds identical to those set out in paragraphs 74 to 76 of the present judgment, the line of argument which that institution seeks to draw from the judgments of 27 January 1988, Denmark v Commission (349/85, EU:C:1988:34, paragraph 19), of 6 October 1993,Italy v Commission (C‑55/91, EU:C:1993:832, paragraph 69), of 4 July 1996, Greece v Commission (C‑50/94, EU:C:1996:266, paragraph 6), and of 22 April 1999, Netherlands v Commission (C‑28/94, EU:C:1999:191, paragraph 51), is irrelevant.

28. That condition could place, above all, nationals of other Member States at a disadvantage. Inasmuch as it links the grant of that allowance to the requirement that the applicant has obtained the required diploma in Belgium, that condition can be met more easily by Belgian nationals.

21. It follows that EU law does not preclude a national authority from relying on the expiry of a reasonable limitation period unless, by its conduct, it was responsible for the delay in the application, thereby depriving the applicant in the main proceedings of the opportunity to enforce his rights under an EU directive before the national courts (see, to that effect, Edis , paragraph 48, and Case C‑228/96 April e [1998] ECR I‑7141, paragraph 43; see also, by analogy, Case C‑327/00 Santex [2003] ECR I‑1877, paragraphs 57 to 61, and Case C‑542/08 Barth [2010] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 33 to 36).

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.

50. The Court has already held that needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character, within the meaning of Article 1(b) of the Community directives coordinating the award of public contracts are generally needs which are satisfied otherwise than by the availability of goods and services in the marketplace and which, for reasons associated with the general interest, the State chooses to provide itself or over which it wishes to retain a decisive influence (see BFI Holding , paragraphs 50 and 51, and Agorà and Excelsior , paragraph 37).

24 In reviewing the exercise of such powers, the Court cannot substitute its own assessment for that of the Community legislature, but must confine itself to examining whether that latter assessment contains a manifest error or constitutes a misuse of powers, or whether the authority in question did not clearly exceed the bounds of its discretion (judgments in Case C-122/94 Commission v Council [1996] ECR I-881, paragraph 18; C-84/94 United Kingdom v Council [1996] ECR I-5755, paragraph 58; Case C-169/95 Spain v Commission [1997] ECR I-0000, paragraph 34).

17. The situations falling within the scope of Community law include those involving the exercise of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Treaty, in particular those involving the freedom to move and reside within the territory of the Member States, as conferred by Article 18 EC (see, inter alia, as cited above, Grzelczyk , paragraph 33; D’Hoop , paragraph 29, and Garcia Avello , paragraph 24).

36. Indeed, a limitation of the compensation so designed enables passengers to be compensated easily and swiftly, yet without imposing a very heavy burden of damages on air carriers, which would be difficult to determine and to calculate, and would be liable to undermine, and even paralyse, the economic activity of those carriers.

15. Secondly, it is important to point out that neither the economic nor the recreational requirements mentioned in Article 2 of the Directive may be taken into account when selecting an SPA and defining its boundaries (see, to that effect, Case C-3/96 Commission v Netherlands [1998] ECR I-3031, paragraph 59).

8. À cet égard, il convient de rappeler que, selon une jurisprudence constante, l’existence d’un manquement doit être appréciée en fonction de la situation de l’État membre telle qu’elle se présentait au terme du délai fixé dans l’avis motivé et que les changements intervenus par la suite ne sauraient être pris en compte par la Cour (voir, notamment, arrêts du 30 janvier 2002, Commission/Grèce, C-103/00, Rec. p. I-1147, point 23, et du 10 février 2009, Commission/France, C-224/08, point 9).

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

28 In that connection, it would also seem appropriate for the national court to take into account advertising material published by Käserei Champignon and placed before the courts by the plaintiff, which suggests that the phonetic similarity between the two names is not fortuitous.

29. It is for the national court, which alone has jurisdiction to assess the facts, to determine whether, in the light of facts relating to the nature of the work done and the conditions in which it is carried out, work of equal value to that performed by Ms Nikoloudi exists within OTE, without necessarily taking account of the working schedule on the basis of which the work is performed (see, to this effect, Case C-400/93 Royal Copenhagen [1995] ECR I‑1275, paragraph 43, and JämO , cited above, paragraphs 20 and 49).

20 The midwives work under a three-shift system from 7 a.m. to 3.30 p.m., from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., and from 9.30 p.m. to 7.30 a.m. The roster is drawn up for periods of 15 weeks. The JämO argues that midwives on the labour ward are the only group of workers who work on a shift basis in the Swedish health care sector.

43 In that regard, it should be noted that, admittedly, as the Advocate General stated in points 53 to 55 of her Opinion, referring in particular to Article 9(5) of Regulation No 1083/2006 and, by analogy, to the judgment of 21 December 2011 in Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de l’Indre (C‑465/10, EU:C:2011:867, paragraphs 46 and 47), it is the role of the Union to finance, by the Structural Funds or the Cohesion Fund, only actions conducted in complete conformity with EU law.

19. En effet, le système des voies de recours établi par le traité CE distingue les recours visés aux articles 226 CE et 227 CE, qui tendent à faire constater qu’un État membre a manqué aux obligations qui lui incombent, et les recours visés aux articles 230 CE et 232 CE, qui tendent à faire contrôler la légalité des actes ou des abstentions des institutions communautaires. Ces voies de recours poursuivent des objectifs distincts et sont soumises à des modalités différentes. Un État membre ne saurait donc utilement, en l’absence d’une disposition du traité l’y autorisant expressément, invoquer l’illégalité d’une décision dont il est destinataire comme moyen de défense à l’encontre d’un recours en manquement fondé sur l’inexécution de cette décision (voir notamment, en ce sens, arrêts du 30 juin 1988, Commission/Grèce, 226/87, Rec. p. 3611, point 14; du 27 octobre 1992, Commission/Allemagne, C‑74/91, Rec. p. I‑5437, point 10; du 22 mars 2001, Commission/France, C‑261/99, Rec. p. I‑2537, point 18, et du 26 juin 2003, Commission/Espagne, C‑404/00, Rec. p. I‑6695, point 40).

72 On the other hand, the Treaty provisions on citizenship of the Union do not confer any autonomous right on third-country nationals (judgments of 8 November 2012, Iida, C‑40/11, EU:C:2012:691, paragraph 66, and of 8 May 2013, Ymeraga and Others, C‑87/12, EU:C:2013:291, paragraph 34).

La Commission fait valoir que l’argumentation principale avancée par la République fédéraled’Allemagne selon laquelle elle était en droit d’attendre la fin de la procédure administrative engagée devant l’Oberverwaltungsgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen (tribunal administratif supérieur de Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie) avant d’entamer le processus législatif de transposition de la directive 2005/65 aboutissant à l’adoption de la loi sur la sûreté portuaire de 2015 ne saurait prospérer. En effet, cette situation n’aurait pas d’incidence sur la responsabilité de cet État membre au regard des manquements qui lui sont reprochés. À cet égard, la Commission rappelle une jurisprudence constante de la Cour (voir, notamment, arrêt du 4 mars 2010, Commission/Italie, C‑297/08, EU:C:2010:115, point 83) selon laquelle un État membre ne saurait exciper de situations internes pour justifier le non-respect des obligations et des délais résultant des dispositions du droit de l’Union.

79. According to consistent case-law, the distinctive character of a trade mark within the meaning of Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation No 40/94 means that the mark in question makes it possible to identify the product in respect of which registration is applied for as originating from a particular undertaking, and thus to distinguish that product from those of other undertakings (Joined Cases C‑473/01 P and C‑474/01 P Procter & Gamble v OHIM [2004] ECR I‑5173, paragraph 32, and Case C‑64/02 P OHIM v Erpo Möbelwerk [2004] ECR I‑10031, paragraph 42). That distinctive character must be assessed, first, by reference to the products or services in respect of which registration has been applied for and, second, by reference to the perception of the relevant public ( Procter & Gamble v OHIM , paragraph 33, and Case C‑24/05 P Storck v OHIM [2006] ECR I‑5677, paragraph 23).

35. À titre liminaire, étant donné que le législateur de l’Union a pris le soin d’ajouter le qualificatif d’«importante» pour désigner la modification concernée, il doit être exigé que, pour relever du champ d’application de l’article 30, paragraphe 4, du règlement n o  1260/1999, ladite modification doit non pas simplement remplir les deux conditions figurant à cette disposition, mais revêtir de surcroît une certaine ampleur.

51 It should be noted, as observed by the Advocate General in point 54 of his Opinion, that that provision encapsulates the basic principle applying to appeals, namely that an appeal must be directed against the operative part of the General Court’s decision and may not merely seek the amendment of some of the grounds of that decision (see, to that effect, judgment of 15 November 2012, Al-Aqsa v Council and Netherlands v Al-Aqsa, C‑539/10 P and C‑550/10 P, EU:C:2012:711, paragraphs 43 to 45).

22 Consequently, if the aim of the refusal by a Member State to allow for an export transaction a VAT exemption laid down by the Sixth Directive is to penalize the breach of a national provision requiring authorization for such an export, the refusal serves a purpose alien to that of the Sixth Directive.

52. First of all, as regards the first part of that question, the Court has already held, in C-228/00 Commission v Germany [2003] ECR I-1439, paragraph 47, that the criterion of the calorific value of waste is not relevant for the purpose of establishing whether an operation involving the combustion of waste is a recovery operation as referred to in point R1 of Annex IIB to the Directive.

89. Under those circumstances, ‘acts which conflict with a normal exploitation of [a] database or which unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the maker of the database’ refer to unauthorised actions for the purpose of reconstituting, through the cumulative effect of acts of extraction, the whole or a substantial part of the contents of a database protected by the sui generis right and/or of making available to the public, through the cumulative effect of acts of re-utilisation, the whole or a substantial part of the contents of such a database, which thus seriously prejudice the investment made by the maker of the database.

50. It must be observed that, since the 2003 Act constitutes the legislation by which Ireland discharged its obligations under Directive 1999/70, a claim based on an infringement of that legislation and a claim based directly on that directive must, as the referring court itself pointed out, be regarded as being covered by the same form of action (see, to that effect, Case C‑326/96 Levez [1998] ECR I‑7835, paragraphs 46 and 47, and Case C‑78/98 Preston and Others [2000] ECR I‑3201, paragraph 51). Notwithstanding formal distinctions as to their legal basis, both claims, as the Advocate General noted at point 58 of her Opinion, seek the protection of the same rights deriving from Community law, namely Directive 1999/70 and the framework agreement.

5 IT IS COMMON GROUND THAT IN THIS CASE THE CONTESTED DECISION IS NOT ADDRESSED TO THE APPLICANTS . IT IS THEREFORE NECESSARY , WITHOUT GOING INTO THE LEGAL NATURE OF THE DECISION , TO CONSIDER WHETHER THE DECISION IS NEVERTHELESS OF DIRECT AND INDIVIDUAL CONCERN TO THE APPLICANTS .

43 Furthermore, since, as recalled in paragraph 38 above, the benefits that the employer pays during maternity constitute pay within the meaning of Article 119 of the EC Treaty (subsequently Article 141 EC) and Article 1 of Directive 75/117, that pay cannot be covered by Directive 76/207. It is clear in particular from the second recital of Directive 76/207 that the latter does not cover pay (see, to that effect, judgments of 13 February 1996 in Gillespie and Others, C‑342/93, EU:C:1996:46, paragraph 24, and 27 October 1998 in Boyle and Others, C‑411/96, EU:C:1998:506, paragraph 38). That being so, it is unnecessary to examine this case in the light of Directive 76/207.

19 On 23 April 1996 the Commission sent a letter to the CVMP informing it of its decision to stay the procedure for including somatosalm in Annex II until further scientific information had been obtained. It explained that there had been a certain amount of opposition to somatosalm in the Adaptation Committee because the substance could be used to boost growth. It therefore asked the CVMP for a further opinion as to whether abuses of the product were possible.

56 When the Court is prompted to define the examination necessary to determine the essential aim of the transactions at issue, it takes into account only the objective of the transaction or transactions whose abusiveness is to be assessed and not that of the supplies which, as a result of those initial transactions, formally satisfy the conditions for obtaining a tax advantage (see, inter alia, judgments of 22 December 2010, Weald Leasing, C‑103/09, EU:C:2010:804, paragraphs 10 to 15 and 31, and of 17 December 2015, WebMindLicenses, C‑419/14, EU:C:2015:832, paragraphs 20 and 43 to 45).

15. Il ressort de la jurisprudence de la Cour que, en tant que dérogation à la règle fondamentale de la libre circulation et de la non-discrimination des travailleurs communautaires, l’article 39, paragraphe 4, CE doit recevoir une interprétation qui limite sa portée à ce qui est strictement nécessaire pour sauvegarder les intérêts que cette disposition permet aux États membres de protéger (arrêts précités Colegio de Oficiales de la Marina Mercante Española, point 41, ainsi que Anker e.a., point 60 et jurisprudence citée).

33 Next, in order to ascertain whether such a worker, recruited under an employment contract relating to the pursuit of a genuine and effective economic activity, is duly registered as belonging to the labour force of a Member State for the purposes of Article 6(1) of Decision No 1/80, it must be determined, in accordance with settled case-law (Bozkurt, paragraphs 22 and 23, Günaydin, paragraph 29, and Ertanir, paragraph 39), whether the legal relationship of employment of the person concerned can be located within the territory of a Member State or retains a sufficiently close link with that territory, taking account in particular of the place where the Turkish national was hired, the territory on or from which the paid activity is pursued and the applicable national legislation in the field of employment and social security law.

97. Il convient de rappeler, à ce propos, que les conclusions indemnitaires présentées par la requérante trouvent leur fondement dans l’illégalité de la décision du 27 avril 2004.

55. The as-efficient-competitor test has been specifically applied by the Court to low-pricing practices in the form of selective prices or predatory prices (see, in respect of selective prices, judgment in Post Danmark , C‑209/10, EU:C:2012:172, paragraphs 28 to 35, and in respect of predatory prices, judgments in AKZO v Commission , C‑62/86, EU:C:1991:286, paragraphs 70 to 73, and France Télécom v Commission , C‑202/07 P, EU:C:2009:214, paragraphs 107 and 108), and margin squeeze (judgment in TeliaSonera Sverige , C‑52/09, EU:C:2011:83, paragraphs 40 to 46).

46. In contrast, the holding, even a minority holding, of a private undertaking in the capital of a company in which the contracting authority in question also has a holding too means that, on any view, it is impossible for that contracting authority to exercise over that company control similar to that which it exercises over its own departments (see, to that effect, Stadt Halle and RPL Lochau , paragraph 49, and Coditel Brabant , paragraph 30).

57. In that regard, it should be pointed out that, according to settled case‑law, a national court which is called upon, within the exercise of its jurisdiction, to apply provisions of Community law is under a duty to give full effect to those provisions, if necessary refusing of its own motion to apply any conflicting provision of national legislation (see, inter alia, Case 106/77 Simmenthal [1978] ECR 629, paragraphs 21 to 24; Case C‑213/89 Factortame and Others [1990] ECR I‑2433, paragraphs 19 to 21; and Case C‑119/05 Lucchini [2007] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 61).

50. On the contrary, the prohibition laid down in Article 2(3) of Regulation No 881/2002 is framed in particularly broad terms, as evidenced by the use of the words ‘directly or indirectly’.

83. According to settled case law, national measures which restrict the free movement of capital may be justified on the grounds set out in Article 58 EC or by overriding reasons in the public interest, provided that they are appropriate to secure the attainment of the objective which they pursue and do not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it (see Commission v Germany , paragraphs 72 and 73 and case law cited, and Case C‑171/08 Commission v Portugal , paragraph 69).

14 That being so, the point raised is whether it is permissible, for the purpose of achieving equality, to take away from the favoured class (in this case, women), both for the past and for the future, the advantage enjoyed by that class, the reference date being either the date of entry into force of such a measure (in this case, 1 July 1991) or the date of the Barber judgment (17 May 1990), which identified the discrimination to be eliminated.

44. Where national legislation falling within an area which has not been harmonised at European Union level is applicable without distinction to all persons and undertakings operating in the territory of the Member State concerned, it may, notwithstanding its restrictive effect on the freedom to provide services, be justified where it meets an overriding requirement in the public interest and that interest is not already safeguarded by the rules to which the service provider is subject in the Member State in which he is established and in so far as it is appropriate for securing the attainment of the objective which it pursues and does not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it ( Arblade and Others , paragraphs 34 and 35; Case C-224/04 Commission v Germany [2006] ECR I-885, paragraph 31; and Case C-219/08 Commission v Belgium [2009] ECR I-9213, paragraph 14).

29. In order to fulfil its function, the graphic representation within the meaning of Article 2 of the Directive must be clear, precise, self-contained, easily accessible, intelligible, durable and objective (Sieckmann , paragraphs 47 to 55).

40. As the Court has previously held, where the national legislation in question does not specify the aim pursued, it is important that other elements, taken from the general context of the measure concerned, enable the underlying aim of that measure to be identified for the purposes of review by the courts of whether it is legitimate and whether the means put in place to achieve it are appropriate and necessary (see Palacios de la Villa , paragraph 57, and Age Concern England , paragraph 45).

80. However, it is apparent from paragraphs 75 and 76 above that, in the cases in the main proceedings, the duty became chargeable as soon as the goods went beyond the area in which the first customs office inside the customs territory of the Community is situated.

61. Thus, in the specific area of State aid, the Court has already had occasion to stress that the Commission is bound by the guidelines and notices that it issues, inasmuch as they do not depart from the rules in the Treaty and are accepted by the Member States (see, for example, Case C‑409/00 Spain v Commission , paragraphs 69 and 95, and Italy v Commission , paragraph 45, both cited above).

47. In addition, within the banking sector it benefits only undertakings which carry out the operations referred to.

53 However, even supposing that it may be considered that, given the time which had passed between those two requests, the second request should no longer be considered to be a request made after the maternity leave, the fact nonetheless remains that the second request can also not be regarded as a request to change working hours or working pattern made after a ‘return from parental leave’ within the meaning of Clause 6(1) of the revised Framework Agreement, since the applicant in the main proceedings was not ‘returning’ to work following such leave.

40. Accordingly, where a financial leasing contract relating to a motor vehicle provides either that ownership of that vehicle is to be transferred to the lessee on the expiry of that contract or that the lessee is to possess all the essential powers attaching to ownership of that vehicle and, in particular, that substantially all the rewards and risks incidental to legal ownership of that vehicle are transferred to the lessee and that the present value of the amount of the lease payments is practically identical to the market value of the property, the transaction must be treated as the acquisition of capital goods.

39. A rule of that kind involves an irrebutable presumption of mutual interference in cases in which a consortium and one or more of its member companies have submitted competing tenders in the same procedure for the award of a public contract, even where the consortium in question has not participated in the procedure on behalf and in the interests of those companies, without either the consortium or the companies concerned being afforded the possibility of showing that their tenders were drawn up completely independently and that there is therefore no risk of influencing competition between tenderers (see, to that effect, Michaniki , paragraph 67, and Assitur , paragraph 30, in relation to the public contracts falling within the scope of Council Directive 93/37/EEC of 14 June 1993 concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts (OJ 1993 L 199, p. 54) and Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts (OJ 1992 L 209, p. 1).

45. With regard to Article 95 of the Treaty, it must be noted that that provision must be interpreted as also prohibiting any tax discrimination against products intended for export to other Member States (see Case 142/77 Larsen and Kjerulff [1978] ECR 1543, paragraph 27, and Nygård , cited above, paragraph 41).

Second, as regards the absence of sufficient reasoning alleged in the context of the first ground of challenge of the third part of the single ground of appeal, it should be recalled that, in accordance with the Court’s settled case-law, the duty incumbent upon the General Court under Article 36 and the first paragraph of Article 53 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union to state reasons for its judgments does not require the General Court to provide an account that follows exhaustively and one by one all the arguments articulated by the parties to the case. The reasoning may therefore be implicit, on condition that it enables the persons concerned to know the grounds on which the General Court has based its findings and provides the Court of Justice with sufficient information for it to exercise its powers of review on appeal (see, inter alia, the judgment of 20 November 2014, Intra-Presse v OHIM, C‑581/13 P and C‑582/13 P, not published, EU:C:2014:2387, paragraph 53 and case-law cited).

32 Such an obligation would jeopardize the fundamental rights of the employee, who must be free to choose his employer and cannot be obliged to work for an employer whom he has not freely chosen.

69. This directive thus codified and expressly extended to the principle of equal treatment within the meaning of Directive 76/207 previous case-law according to which the burden of proof, which in principle lies with the worker, may shift when this is necessary to avoid depriving workers who appear to be the victims of discrimination of any effective means of enforcing the principle of equal pay. Accordingly, when a measure distinguishing between employees on the basis of their hours of work has in practice an adverse impact on a substantially greater percentage of members of one or other sex, it is for the employer to show that there are objective reasons which justify the difference in pay that has been found (see Case C-127/92 Enderby [1993] ECR I-5535, paragraphs 13, 14 and 18, and Case C-381/99 Brunnhofer [2001] ECR I-4961, paragraphs 52, 53 and 60).

62. It must be pointed out, first, that the regulatory tasks of the national regulatory authority are set out in Articles 8 to 13 of the Framework Directive. Article 8(1) thereof provides that Member States are to ensure that, in carrying out those tasks, the national regulatory authorities take all reasonable measures which are aimed at achieving the objectives set out in paragraphs 2 to 4 of that article.

38. The Court has also noted that the wording of Article 15(1) of the Brussels I Regulation is not identical in every respect to that of the first paragraph of Article 13 of the Brussels Convention. In particular, it has found that the conditions for application which consumer contracts must fulfil are now worded more generally than they were, in order to ensure better protection for consumers with regard to new means of communication and the development of electronic commerce (see Pammer and Hotel Alpenhof , paragraph 59).

16 Where a sub-buyer of goods purchased from an intermediate seller brings an action against the manufacturer for damages on the ground that the goods are not in conformity, it must be observed that there is no contractual relationship between the sub-buyer and the manufacturer because the latter has not undertaken any contractual obligation towards the former.

30. La Cour a toutefois précisé que, pour que des impôts, droits, prélèvements et taxes puissent relever de l’assiette de la TVA alors même qu’ils ne représentent pas de valeur ajoutée et qu’ils ne constituent pas la contrepartie économique de la livraison du bien, ils doivent présenter un lien direct avec cette livraison (arrêt De Danske Bilimportører, précité, point 17 et jurisprudence citée).

9THE LEGISLATIVE PRACTICE OF THE COMMUNITY SHOWS THAT , EXCEPT FOR A FEW ISOLATED PROVISIONS , THE COUNCIL HAS NOT MADE USE OF THE POWER CONFERRED IN THE SECOND SUBPARAGRAPH OF ARTICLE 227 ( 2 ). ON THE OTHER HAND , MANY SPECIAL PROVISIONS HAVE SUBSEQUENTLY BEEN ADOPTED IN FAVOUR OF THE FRENCH OVERSEAS DEPARTMENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF LEGISLATION ON THE MOST DIVERSE SUBJECTS , BUT NONE OF THAT LEGISLATION REFERS TO THE TAX PROVISIONS . THE QUESTION RAISED BY THE NATIONAL COURT IS TO BE ANSWERED IN THE LIGHT OF THESE FACTUAL AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS .

27. European Union law, in the current state of its development and in a situation such as that at issue in the main proceedings, does not lay down any general criteria for the attribution of areas of competence between the Member States in relation to the elimination of double taxation within the European Union. Consequently, apart from Council Directive 90/435/EEC of 23 July 1990 on the common system of taxation applicable in the case of parent companies and subsidiaries of different Member States (OJ 1990 L 225, p. 6), the Convention of 23 July 1990 on the elimination of double taxation in connection with the adjustment of profits of associated enterprises (OJ 1990 L 225, p. 10) and Council Directive 2003/48/EC of 3 June 2003 on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments (OJ 2003 L 157, p. 38), no uniform or harmonisation measure designed to eliminate double taxation has as yet been adopted at European Union law level ( Kerckhaert and Morres , paragraph 22, and Block , paragraph 30).

189ALTHOUGH IT IS TRUE , AS THE APPLICANT POINTS OUT , THAT THE FACT THAT AN UNDERTAKING IS IN A DOMINANT POSITION CANNOT DISENTITLE IT FROM PROTECTING ITS OWN COMMERCIAL INTERESTS IF THEY ARE ATTACKED , AND THAT SUCH AN UNDERTAKING MUST BE CONCEDED THE RIGHT TO TAKE SUCH REASONABLE STEPS AS IT DEEMS APPROPRIATE TO PROTECT ITS SAID INTERESTS , SUCH BEHAVIOUR CANNOT BE COUNTENANCED IF ITS ACTUAL PURPOSE IS TO STRENGTHEN THIS DOMINANT POSITION AND ABUSE IT .

75. However, since they derogate from the principle of the widest possible public access to documents, those exceptions must be interpreted and applied strictly ( Sison v Council , paragraph 63; Sweden and Turco v Council , paragraph 36; Sweden and Others v API and Commission , paragraph 73).

43. In those circumstances, the contested regulation must be annulled in so far as it relates to the appellants. Costs

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

23. Moreover, in accordance with settled case-law, the right not to be discriminated against on grounds of sex is one of the fundamental human rights the observance of which the Court has a duty to ensure (see Case 149/77 Defrenne [1978] ECR 1365, paragraphs 26 and 27, and Case C-13/94 P. v S. [1996] ECR I-2143, paragraph 19).

47. Next, the award of must-carry status must be based on objective criteria which are suitable for securing pluralism by allowing, where appropriate, by way of public service obligations, access inter alia to national and local news on the territory in question. Thus, such status should not automatically be awarded to all television channels transmitted by a private broadcaster, but must be strictly limited to those channels having an overall content which is appropriate for the purpose of attaining such an objective. In addition, the number of channels reserved to private broadcasters having that status must not manifestly exceed what is necessary in order to attain that objective.

46. The Court has already held that those provisions are not only intended to ensure that the persons concerned are not left without social security cover because there is no legislation which is applicable to them (see, to that effect, Case 92/63 Nonnenmacher [1964] ECR 281, pp. 281, 287 and 288), but also to ensure that the persons concerned are subject to the social security scheme of only one Member State in order to prevent more than one system of national legislation from being applicable and to avoid the complications which may arise from that situation (see, to that effect, Case 60/85 Luijten [1986] ECR 2365, paragraph 12).

21. At the outset, it should be noted that Article 56(1) EC lays down a clear and unconditional prohibition for which no implementing measure is needed and which confers rights on individuals which they can rely on before the courts (see, to that effect, Sanz de Lera and Others , paragraphs 41 and 47).

30 On this point, it must be noted that under Article 168a of the EC Treaty (now Article 225 EC) and Article 51 of the EC Statute of the Court of Justice an appeal is limited to points of law and must be based on the grounds of lack of competence of the Court of First Instance, breach of procedure before it which adversely affects the interests of the appellant, or infringement of Community law by the Court of First Instance (see, inter alia, Case C-136/92 P Commission v Brazzelli Lualdi and Others [1994] ECR I-1981, paragraph 47, and Case C-7/95 P Deere v Commission [1998] ECR I-3111, paragraph 18).

26. Les articles 1 er des huitième et treizième directives précisent ces notions d’«assujetti qui n’est pas établi à l’intérieur du pays» ou respectivement d’«assujetti qui n’est pas établi sur le territoire de la Communauté» et déterminent ainsi leur champ d’application.

33. Next, it must be noted that if the supplementing application of the national decree of 2008 is to be understood as meaning that the implementing provisions laid down in section 5.1 thereof apply, as the Advocate General notes in points 23 to 25 of her Opinion, beyond the wording of paragraph 2 of the single article of that decree, to the intracommunal river basins, the legal situation which would ensue would not satisfy the demands of clarity and precision required in respect of national implementing measures (see, to that effect, Case C‑372/99 Commission v Italy [2002] ECR I‑819, paragraph 18).

52 IT MUST THEREFORE BE CONCLUDED THAT THE IRREGULARITY WHICH HAS BEEN FOUND DID NOT IN THIS CASE HAVE HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES CAPABLE OF VITIATING THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE .

26 It must be recalled that, according to the Court’s settled case-law, it follows from the need for a uniform application of EU law and from the principle of equality that the wording of a provision of EU law which, as in the present case, 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 European Union, having regard not only to its wording but also to the context of the provision and the objective pursued by the rules of which it forms part (see, inter alia, judgments of 26 May 2016, Envirotec Denmark, C‑550/14, EU:C:2016:354, paragraph 27, and of 18 May 2017, Hummel Holding, C‑617/15, EU:C:2017:390, paragraph 22 and the case-law cited).

22 It must be noted that the Court has consistently held that it follows from the need for uniform application of EU law and from the principle of equality that the terms of a provision of EU 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 European Union, having regard not only to its wording but also to the context of the provision and the objective pursued by the legislation in question (see, inter alia, judgments of 18 January 1984, Ekro, 327/82, EU:C:1984:11, paragraph 11; of 3 September 2014, Deckmyn and Vrijheidsfonds, C‑201/13, EU:C:2014:2132, paragraph 14; and of 16 July 2015, Abcur, C‑544/13 and C‑545/13, EU:C:2015:481, paragraph 45).

47. Selon une jurisprudence constante, l’infliction d’une astreinte ne se justifie, en principe, que pour autant que perdure le manquement tiré de l’inexécution d’un précédent arrêt jusqu’à l’examen des faits par la Cour (arrêt Commission/Grèce, C‑378/13, EU:C:2014:2405, point 47).

26 In response to that argument, suffice it to note that objects which are shipped across a frontier for the purposes of commercial transactions are subject to Article 30, whatever the nature of those transactions.

44 It should be borne in mind that in paragraph 25 of the judgment in Belgocodex, cited above, the Court held, with respect to retroactive removal of the right to opt for taxation and of entitlement to deduction which had already arisen under the Sixth Directive, that the principles of the protection of legitimate expectations and of legal certainty form part of the Community legal order and must be observed by the Member States when they exercise the powers conferred on them by Community directives.

57. Toutefois, lorsque le Tribunal a constaté ou apprécié les faits, la Cour est compétente pour exercer, en vertu de l’article 256 TFUE, un contrôle sur la qualification juridique de ces faits et les conséquences de droit qui en ont été tirées par le Tribunal (voir, notamment, arrêt du 10 juillet 2008, Bertelsmann et Sony Corporation of America/Impala, C‑413/06 P, Rec. p. I‑4951, point 29 et jurisprudence citée).

24. In that regard, it is apparent from the documents before the Court that X AB holds 45% of the shares in Y Ltd, in both capital and voting rights. It has already been held that a holding at this level, in principle, confers a ‘definite influence’ over the decisions and activities of the company concerned, within the meaning of the case-law cited at paragraph 18 above (see, by analogy, judgment in SGI , C‑311/08, EU:C:2010:26, paragraph 35).

49. Dans ces conditions, pour apprécier si l’attribution d’une concession sur la cale de halage respecte le droit de l’Union, il appartient à la juridiction de renvoi de vérifier si l’attribution de la concession de service public par le Comune di Ancona répond à des exigences de transparence qui sont, notamment, de nature à permettre qu’une entreprise située sur le territoire d’un État membre autre que celui de la République italienne puisse avoir accès aux informations adéquates relatives à cette concession avant que celle-ci ne soit attribuée de sorte que, si cette entreprise l’avait souhaité, elle aurait été en mesure de manifester son intérêt pour obtenir ladite concession (voir arrêt Coname, précité, point 21).

69. In those circumstances, on the same grounds as those given in paragraphs 88 to 107 of the judgment in Specht and Others (C‑501/12 to C‑506/12, C‑540/12 and C‑541/12, EU:C:2014:2005), the answer to Question 4 is as follows: – in circumstances such as those of the case before the referring court, EU law does not require judges who have been discriminated against to be retrospectively granted an amount equal to the difference between the pay actually received and that corresponding to the highest step in their grade; – it is for the referring court to ascertain whether all the conditions laid down by the case-law of the Court are met for the Federal Republic of Germany to have incurred liability under EU law. Question 5

35 It follows that Sardegna Lines is individually concerned by Decision 98/95.

76. Freedom of establishment, which Article 52 of the Treaty grants to Community nationals and which includes the right to take up and pursue activities as self-employed persons and to set up and manage undertakings, under the conditions laid down for its own nationals by the law of the Member State of residence, entails, in accordance with Article 58 of the EC Treaty (now Article 48 EC), for companies or firms formed in accordance with the law of a Member State and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the European Community, the right to exercise their activity in the Member State concerned through a subsidiary, branch or agency (see, inter alia, Cadbury Schweppes and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas , paragraph 41, and Test Claimants in Class IV of the ACT Group Litigation , paragraph 42).

76. The provisions of the Charter are therefore applicable to the facts of the dispute before the referring court.

91. Such a restriction on the free movement of goods must therefore necessarily be based on a detailed assessment of the risk alleged by the Member State invoking Article 30 EC (see, to that effect, Commission v Denmark , paragraph 47, and Commission v France , paragraph 54).

106. Those rules are therefore contrary to Articles 2(1) and 4(2) of Directive 85/337, as amended. The United Kingdom has thus failed to fulfil its obligation to transpose those provisions into domestic law.

88. It follows from this that the EC Treaty and the ECSC Treaty are independent treaties and that, consequently, the EC Treaty and the secondary legislation enacted on the basis of it cannot produce effects in areas that fall within the scope of the ECSC Treaty (see, to that effect, Joined Cases 188/80 to 190/80 France and Others v Commission [1982] ECR 2545, paragraph 31). The provisions of the EC Treaty only apply in the alternative, in situations in which there is no specific rule under the ECSC Treaty (see, in particular, Case 328/85 Deutsche Babcock [1987] ECR 5119, paragraphs 6 to 14).

96. In those circumstances, the concept of ‘objective reasons’ for the purposes of clause 5(1)(a) of the Framework Agreement must, as the Court has already held, be understood as referring to precise and concrete circumstances characterising a given activity, which are therefore capable, in that particular context, of justifying the use of successive fixed-term employment contracts. Those circumstances may result, in particular, from the specific nature of the tasks for the performance of which such contracts have been concluded and from the inherent characteristics of those tasks or, as the case may be, from pursuit of a legitimate social-policy objective of a Member State ( Adeneler and Others , paragraphs 69 and 70; Case C‑307/05 Del Cerro Alonso [2007] ECR I‑7109, paragraph 53; and order in Vassilakis and Others , paragraphs 88 and 89).

38. Thus, according to settled case-law, derogation under those articles must be restricted to activities which, in themselves, are directly and specifically connected with the exercise of official authority (see Servizi Ausiliari Dottori Commercialisti , cited above, paragraph 46 and the case-law cited), which excludes from being regarded as connected with the exercise of official authority, within the meaning of that derogation, functions that are merely auxiliary and preparatory vis-à-vis an entity which effectively exercises official authority by taking the final decision ( Thijssen , cited above, paragraph 22).

32. Each of those cases concerns an exemption for certain operators from a tax of general application and in which it is alleged that that exemption itself amounted to an aid measure.

11 It should be borne in mind that it is settled case-law (see, for example, the judgment in Case 107/83 Ordre des Avocats au Barreau de Paris v Klopp [1984] ECR 2971, paragraph 19; the judgment in Case 143/87 Stanton and SA Belge d' Assurances L' Etoile 1905 v Inasti [1988] ECR 3877, paragraph 11 and the judgment in Joined Cases 154 and 155/87 Rijksinstituut voor de Sociale Verzekering der Zelfstandigen v Wolf and NV Microtherm Europe and Others [1988] ECR 3897, paragraph 11; the judgment in Case 106/91 Ramrath, not yet published in the ECR, paragraph 20), that the right of establishment entails the freedom to set up and maintain, subject to observance of the professional rules of conduct, more than one place of work within the Community.

41. It may also be deduced from Thyssen Haniel Logistic that a product which, on account of its objective characteristics and properties, is clearly intended for medical use, may be classified in Chapter 30 of the CN. In that judgment, a sterile powder was at issue which was composed of a mixture of amino acids which, after water was added, was administered in the form of infusion solutions during medical treatment. That product was therefore devoid of medicinal properties as such but was nevertheless classified in Chapter 30 of the CN on account of its intended use.

181. In that regard, it is clear from the case-law of the Court that interested parties other than the Member State concerned, such as in the present case the Government of Gibraltar, have, in the procedure for reviewing State aid, only the opportunity to send to the Commission all information intended for the guidance of the latter with regard to its future action and they cannot themselves seek to engage in an adversarial debate with the Commission in the same way as is offered to that Member State (see Commission v Sytraval and Brink’s France , paragraph 59, and Joined Cases C‑74/00 P and C‑75/00 P Falck and Acciaierie di Bolzano v Commission [2002] ECR I‑7869, paragraphs 80 and 82).

23. Although it is for the national court to determine whether the taxable person supplies a single service in a particular case and to make all definitive findings of fact in that regard, the Court may, however, provide it with any guidance as to interpretation that will be helpful to it in disposing of the case (see, to that effect, Levob Verzekeringen and OV Bank , paragraph 23, and Case C‑334/10 X [2012] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 24).

32 With regard, secondly, to the term "social security" used in Article 39(1) of the Agreement, it is clear by analogy with the judgments in Kziber, paragraph 25, and Yousfi, paragraph 24, that it must be deemed to bear the same meaning as the identical term used in Regulation No 1408/71.

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

19 IN ORDER TO FULFIL THEIR FUNCTION OF ENSURING LEGAL CERTAINTY LIMITATION PERIODS MUST BE FIXED IN ADVANCE .

59. First, with respect to Directive 89/104, it follows from the Court’s case-law on the definition of use by a third party, for which provision is made in Article 5(1) of that directive, that the exclusive right conferred by a trade mark was intended to enable the trade mark proprietor to protect his specific interests as proprietor, that is, to ensure that the trade mark can fulfil its functions and that, therefore, the exercise of that right must be reserved to cases in which a third party’s use of the sign affects or is liable to affect the functions of the trade mark, in particular its essential function of guaranteeing to consumers the origin of the goods (see Case C‑206/01 Arsenal Football Club [2002] ECR I‑10273, paragraphs 51 and 54).

Il convient de rappeler que, selon une jurisprudence constante, la motivation de l’arrêt attaqué doit faire apparaître de façon claire et non équivoque le raisonnement du Tribunal, de manière à permettre aux intéressés de connaître les justifications de la décision prise et à la Cour d’exercer son contrôle juridictionnel (voir, notamment, arrêt du 26 mai 2016, Rose Vision/Commission, C‑224/15 P, EU:C:2016:358, point 24 et jurisprudence citée).

84. Since those regulations do not contain a provision expressly giving one regulation primacy over the other, it is necessary to ensure that each of the regulations is applied in a manner which is compatible with the other and enables them to be applied consistently (see, by analogy, Case C‑28/08 P Commission v Bavarian Lager [2010] ECR I‑6055, paragraph 56; Commission v Éditions Odile Jacob , paragraph 110; and Commission v Agrofert Holding , paragraph 52).

12 The Court has consistently held that, in view of the fundamental importance of the principle of equal treatment, the exclusion of social security matters from the scope of the directive provided for in Article 1(2) must be interpreted strictly (see the judgments in Case 151/84 Roberts v Tate & Lyle [1986] ECR 703, paragraph 35, and in Case 152/84 Marshall v Southampton and South-West Hampshire Area Health Authority [1986] ECR 723, paragraph 36).

39. Thus, the Court has already held that a member of a board of directors of a capital company who, in return for remuneration, provides services to the company which has appointed him and of which he is an integral part, who carries out his activities under the direction or supervision of another body of that company and who can, at any time, be removed from his duties without such removal being subject to any restriction, satisfies, prima facie, the criteria for being treated as a ‘worker’ within the meaning of EU law (see, to that effect, judgment in Danosa , C‑232/09, EU:C:2010:674, paragraphs 51 and 56).

37. It follows from the foregoing that the measures which can be adopted on the basis of Article 57 of the 2003 Act of Accession are limited, in principle, to adaptations intended to render earlier Community measures applicable in the new Member States, to the exclusion of all other amendments (see, by way of analogy, in respect of the identical provision contained in the 1994 Act of Accession, Parliament v Council , paragraphs 14 and 19), and, particularly, to the exclusion of temporary derogations.

44. As the Court has repeatedly held in this context, where a subsequent verification does not allow confirmation of the origin of the goods as stated in the EUR.1 certificate, it must be concluded that those goods are of unknown origin and that the EUR.1 certificate and the preferential tariff were therefore wrongly granted (Case C‑12/92 Huygen and Others [1993] ECR I-6381, paragraphs 17 and 18; Joined Cases C‑153/94 and C‑204/94 Faroe Seafood and Others [1996] ECR I‑2465, paragraph 16; and Beemsterboer Coldstore Services , paragraph 34).

76. It is to be noted, in that regard, that the rules prohibiting restrictions on freedom of movement and freedom of establishment laid down in Articles 28 and 31 of the EEA Agreement are identical to those established in Articles 39 EC and 43 EC.

17. In that regard, it should be pointed out that, in order to determine whether national legislation falls within the scope of one or other of the freedoms of movement, it is clear from now well established case-law that the purpose of the legislation concerned must be taken into consideration (see Case C‑157/05 Holböck [2007] ECR I‑4051, paragraph 22; Case C‑182/08 Glaxo Wellcome [2009] ECR I‑8591, paragraph 36).

116. Consequently, the payment of such a premium goes beyond what is necessary to ensure appropriate remuneration for those right holders.

60 In its judgment of 21 December 2011, N. S. and Others (C‑411/10 and C‑493/10, EU:C:2011:865, paragraphs 86 to 94 and 106), the Court stressed that the transfer of asylum seekers within the framework of the Dublin system may, in certain circumstances, be incompatible with the prohibition laid down in Article 4 of the Charter. It thus held that an asylum seeker would run a real risk of being subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, within the meaning of that article, in the event of a transfer to a Member State in which there are substantial grounds for believing that there are systemic flaws in the asylum procedure and in the conditions for the reception of applicants. Consequently, in accordance with the prohibition laid down in that article, the Member States may not carry out transfers within the framework of the Dublin system to a Member State in the case where they cannot be unaware that such flaws exist in that Member State.

41. On the other hand, it is incompatible with the rules governing the right of deduction under Directive 2006/112 to impose a penalty, in the form of refusal of that right, on a taxable person who did not know, and could not have known, that the transaction concerned was connected with fraud committed by the supplier or that another transaction forming part of the chain of supply, downstream or upstream of the transaction carried out by the taxable person, was vitiated by VAT fraud (see, to that effect, Optigen and Others , paragraphs 52 and 55; Kittel and Recolta Recycling , paragraphs 45, 46 and 60; and Mahagében and Dávid , paragraph 47).

11 In that connection, it should be noted that the Court has consistently held that Member States are obliged under the second paragraph of Article 5 of the Treaty not to detract, by means of national legislation, from the full and uniform application of Community law or from the effectiveness of its implementing measures; nor may they introduce or maintain in force measures, even of a legislative nature, which may render ineffective the competition rules applicable to undertakings (see, in particular, the judgment in Case 231/83 Cullet v Leclerc [1985] ECR 305, at paragraph 16).

52 In particular, EUIPO does not explain how or establish that, in the present case, the decision at issue could not have been more favourable to European Dynamics Luxembourg even in the absence of the various irregularities established by the General Court.

60 According to the Court’s case-law, benefits which are granted automatically to families that meet certain objective criteria relating in particular to their size, income and capital resources, without any individual and discretionary assessment of personal needs, and which are intended to meet family expenses must be regarded as social security benefits (see to this effect, in particular, judgments of 16 July 1992 in Hughes, C‑78/91, EU:C:1992:331, paragraph 22, and of 10 October 1996 in Hoever and Zachow, C‑245/94 and C‑312/94, EU:C:1996:379, paragraph 27).

17 IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES, IT MUST BE HELD THAT AS COMMUNITY LAW NOW STANDS, THERE IS NO REASON WHY THE MEMBER STATES, IN THE CONTEXT OF THEIR POWERS IN REGARD TO PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTS, SHOULD NOT FIX A MAXIMUM VALUE FOR WORKS WHICH MAY BE CARRIED OUT AT ONE TIME .

88. Finally, with regard to the issue whether, in cases where the tax on dividends withheld in the Member State from which the dividends were paid cannot be offset in full in the Member State of residence of the taxpayer for the year in which those dividends were paid, the possibility of offsetting that tax in subsequent years may have the effect of neutralising the effects of a restriction, it must be observed that, in its request for a preliminary ruling, the referring court states that the issue whether an entitlement to such offsetting was open to Société Générale in France as regards the Netherlands tax paid for the year 2008 could be validly relied on was not examined before the lower courts. In those circumstances, that question must be regarded as hypothetical and is, therefore, inadmissible (judgment in Pohotovosť , C‑470/12, EU:C:2014:101, paragraph 27 and the case-law cited).

61. Under Article 5(1) of Directive 2006/12, Member States are to take appropriate measures to establish an integrated and adequate network of waste disposal installations, so as to enable the Community as a whole to become self-sufficient in waste disposal and the Member States to move towards that aim individually. To that end, Member States must take into account geographical circumstances or the need for specialised installations for certain types of waste.

35. Having regard to those considerations, the Court has held, in a case concerning the market analysis procedure provided for in Article 16 of the Framework Directive, that undertakings competing with an undertaking with significant power on the relevant market, as potential beneficiaries of the rights corresponding to the specific regulatory obligations imposed by an NRA on that undertaking with significant market power, may be regarded as being ‘affected’, for the purposes of Article 4(1) of the Framework Directive, by decisions of that authority which amend or withdraw those obligations (see, to that effect, judgment in Tele2 Telecommunication , EU:C:2008:103, paragraph 36).

42. Dans ces conditions, la Commission ayant fourni suffisamment d’éléments faisant apparaître certains faits situés sur le territoire de l’État membre défendeur, il incombe à celui-ci de contester de manière substantielle et détaillée les données ainsi présentées et les conséquences qui en découlent (arrêts Commission/Italie, C‑135/05, EU:C:2007:250, point 30 et jurisprudence citée, ainsi que Commission/Italie, C‑297/08, EU:C:2010:115, point 102 et jurisprudence citée).

56. In so far as vitamins are usually defined as substances which, in minute quantities, form an essential part of the daily diet and are indispensable for the proper functioning of the body, they cannot, as a general rule, be regarded as medicinal products when they are consumed in small quantities. Similarly, it is a fact that vitamin preparations are sometimes used, generally in large doses, for therapeutic purposes in combating certain diseases other than those of which the morbid cause is a vitamin deficiency. In such cases, it is beyond dispute that those vitamin preparations constitute medicinal products ( Van Bennekom , cited above, paragraphs 26 and 27).

21 As regards the other arguments put forward to demonstrate that the questions referred to the Court are inadmissible, it is settled case-law that it is solely for the national court before which the dispute has been brought, and which must assume responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the particular circumstances of the case both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court (see, in particular, Case C-387/93 Banchero [1995] ECR I-4663, paragraph 15). Consequently, where the questions submitted by the national court concern the interpretation of Community law, the Court of Justice is, in principle, bound to give a ruling (see, in particular, Case C-415/93 Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association and Others v Bosman and Others [1995] ECR I-4921, paragraph 59).

55. The Court has already held that Article 8(3) of Directive 2004/48, read in conjunction with Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58, does not preclude Member States from imposing an obligation to disclose to private persons personal data in order to enable them to bring civil proceedings for copyright infringements, but nor does it require those Member States to lay down such an obligation (see Promusicae , paragraphs 54 and 55, and order in LSG-Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung von Leistungsschutzrechten , paragraph 29).

13 IT MUST BE STATED IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT THE PROCEDURE FOR CALCULATING THE NORMAL VALUE IS LAID DOWN IN ARTICLE 2*(3 ) TO ( 7 ) OF REGULATION NO 3017/79, AND THE PROCEDURE FOR CALCULATING THE EXPORT PRICE IS LAID DOWN IN ARTICLE 2*(8 ) THEREOF . THOSE PROVISIONS SEPARATELY SPECIFY SEVERAL DIFFERENT METHODS FOR CALCULATING EACH OF THE TERMS OF THE COMPARISON .

28 Furthermore, it is settled case-law that the transmission, and broadcasting, of television signals comes within the rules of the Treaty relating to the provision of services (see, in particular, Case 155/73 Sacchi [1974] ECR 409, paragraph 6; Case 52/79 Debauve and Others [1980] ECR 833, paragraph 8; Case C-260/89 ERT [1991] ECR I-2925, paragraphs 20 to 25; Case C-353/89 Commission v Netherlands [1991] ECR I-4069, paragraph 38; Case C-211/91 Commission v Belgium [1992] ECR I-6757, paragraph 5, and Case C-23/93 TV10 [1994] ECR I-4795, paragraphs 13 and 16).

34. According to the case-law referred to in the preceding paragrap h, migrant workers are guaranteed certain rights linked to the status as a worker even when they are no longer in an employment relationship ( Lair , cited above, paragraph 36, and Case C-35/97 Commission v France [1998] ECR I-5325, paragraph 41).

29. That court observes that Directive 2008/115 does not contain any definition of the concept of ‘risk to public policy’ in Article 7(4) of that directive and adds that the history of that concept provides no clues as to its scope. It points out that, since that provision also does not contain any express reference to the law of the Member States, that concept should, according to the settled case-law of the Court (see, inter alia, judgments in Ekro , 327/82, EU:C:1984:11, paragraph 11, and Brouwer , C‑355/11, EU:C:2012:353, paragraph 36), be given an independent and uniform interpretation, considering its usual meaning in everyday language, and taking into account the context in which it occurs and the purposes of the rules of which it forms part.

40 However, whilst the intention of the legislature, to be gathered from the political debates preceding the adoption of a law or from the statement of the grounds on which it was adopted, may be an indication of the aim of that law, it is not conclusive.

25. Second, as noted in paragraph 19 of the present judgment, the Court’s case-law also makes clear that, even in situations where the goods in question were first placed on the market in the EEA by a person having no economic link to the proprietor of the trade mark and without his express consent, the intention to renounce the exclusive rights provided for in Article 5 of Directive 89/104 may result from that proprietor’s implied consent, it being possible to infer such consent on the basis of the criteria set out in paragraph 46 of Zino Davidoff and Levi Strauss .

50. The development in the case‑law of a list of factors to be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining a person’s habitual residence, which is now codified in Article 11(1) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems (OJ 2009 L 284, p. 1), reflects the importance of establishing a single place of residence.

21. In any event, in circumstances such as those of the main proceedings, the restriction referred to cannot be justified by the need, which the Court has held to be lawful, for the balanced allocation of the power to impose taxes between Member States (see, inter alia, Case C‑446/03 Marks & Spencer [2005] ECR I‑10837, paragraphs 45, 46 and 51).

54. With regard to the condition of the distortion of competition, it should be borne in mind in that regard that, in principle, aid intended to release an undertaking from costs which it would normally have to bear in its day-to-day management or normal activities distorts the conditions of competition (see Case C‑156/98 Germany v Commission [2000] ECR I‑6857, paragraph 30, and Heiser , paragraph 55).

46. On this point, it should be noted that under Article 13(2)(f) of Regulation No 1408/71 a person to whom the legislation of a Member State ceases to be applicable, without the legislation of another Member State becoming applicable to him in accordance with the provisions of Article 13(2)(a) to (d) or Articles 14 to 17 of that regulation, is subject to the legislation of the Member State in whose territory he resides. According to settled case-law, Article 13(2)(f) applies inter alia to persons who have definitively ceased all activity (Case C‑275/96 Kuusijärvi [1998] ECR I‑3419, paragraphs 39 and 40, and Case C‑372/02 Adanez-Vega [2004] ECR I‑10761, paragraph 24).

49. The holiday pay required by Article 7(1) of the directive is intended to enable the worker actually to take the leave to which he is entitled.

59. Ziegler maintains, as a principle argument, that the General Court erred in law in exempting the Commission from the obligation to define the relevant market as it was required to by point 55 of the Guidelines on the effect on trade, whereas the Commission argues, on the contrary, that the General Court was incorrect in finding that those guidelines are binding on the Commission. It should be noted in that regard, first, that, according to the settled case‑law of the Court of Justice, the Commission may adopt a policy as to how it will exercise its discretion in the form of measures such as guidelines, in so far as those measures contain rules indicating the approach which the institution is to take and do not depart from the rules of the FEU Treaty (see, to that effect, Case C‑313/90 CIRFS and Others v Commission [1993] ECR I‑1125, paragraphs 34 and 36, and Case C‑288/96 Germany v Commission [2000] ECR I‑8237, paragraph 62).

42 That case-law applies a fortiori in relation to the external relations of a department, especially where it is entrusted with diplomatic tasks. The essential element of diplomatic functions is, indeed, to prevent tensions from arising and to smooth out any which do. Such functions absolutely require the confidence of those involved. Once that is shaken, for whatever reason, the official in question is no longer able to carry out the functions. So that the criticisms made against him do not extend to the whole of the department concerned, sound administration requires that the institution should distance him from the situation as soon as possible.

34. It is precisely in view of the harmful effects which the risk of dismissal may have on the physical and mental state of women who are pregnant, have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, including the particularly serious risk that pregnant women may be prompted voluntarily to terminate their pregnancy, that, pursuant to Article 10 of Directive 92/85, the Community legislature laid down special protection for women, by prohibiting dismissal during the period from the beginning of their pregnancy to the end of their maternity leave (Case C-32/93 Webb [1994] ECR I-3567, paragraph 21; Brown , paragraph 18; Case C-109/00 Tele Danmark [2001] ECR I-6993, paragraph 26; McKenna , paragraph 48; and Paquay , paragraph 30).

40. It is clear from the Court’s case-law that a restriction on the freedom of establishment is permissible only if it is justified by overriding reasons in the public interest. It is further necessary, in such a case, that its application be appropriate to ensuring the attainment of the objective in question and not go beyond what is necessary to attain it ( Lidl Belgium , paragraph 27 and case-law cited).

43 In Van der Kooy v Commission, cited above, the Landbouwschap had negotiated with the supplier a preferential gas tariff challenged by the Commission and was one of the signatories to the agreement establishing that tariff. Likewise, in this respect, it had been obliged to engage in new tariff negotiations with the supplier and to sign a new agreement in order to put into effect the Commission's decision.

17 Unlike the receipt of dividends by a holding company, in respect of which, in Case C-333/91 Sofitam [1993] I-3513, paragraph 13, the Court held that, not being consideration for an economic activity, it did not fall within the scope of VAT, interest received by a property management company on placements made for its own account of sums paid by co-owners or lessees cannot be excluded from the scope of VAT, since the interest does not arise simply from ownership of the asset, but is the consideration for placing capital at the disposition of a third party.

31 Although it is undisputed that the first paragraph of Article 6 of the EC Treaty is not concerned with any disparities in treatment or the distortions which may result, for the persons and undertakings subject to the jurisdiction of the Community, from divergences existing between the laws of the various Member States, so long as those laws affect all the persons subject to them, in accordance with objective criteria and without direct or indirect regard to nationality, it does prohibit any discrimination on grounds of nationality. Consequently, that provision requires each Member State to ensure that nationals of other Member States in a situation governed by Community law are placed on a completely equal footing with its own nationals (see, to that effect, Phil Collins and Others, cited above, paragraphs 30 and 32).

56. À titre liminaire, il y a lieu de rappeler que l’Union est une Union de droit dans laquelle ses institutions sont soumises au contrôle de la conformité de leurs actes, notamment, avec les traités, les principes généraux du droit ainsi que les droits fondamentaux (arrêt Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami e.a./Parlement et Conseil, précité, point 91).

41. Moreover, contrary to Mediakabel’s submissions, the concept of ‘near-video on-demand’ is one known to the Community legislature. Although it is true that it has not been specifically defined by Community law, the concept is referred to in the indicative list in Annex V to Directive 98/34, where it is included among television broadcasting services. Likewise, points 83 and 84 of the Explanatory Report accompanying the European Convention on Transfrontier Television of 5 May 1989, which was drawn up at the same time as Directive 89/552 and to which the latter refers in recital 4 thereto, indicate that near-video on-demand is not a ‘communication service operating on individual demand’, a concept which corresponds to that referred to in Article 1(a) of Directive 89/552 and thus comes within the scope of application of that convention (see, to that effect, concerning other points in the Explanatory Report of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television, Joined Cases C-320/94, C-328/94, C-329/94 and C‑337/94 to C‑339/94 RTI and Others [1996] ECR I-6471, paragraph 33, and Case C-245/01 RTL Television [2003] ECR I-12489, paragraph 63).

90. Even where such provisions extend to the situation of a company which is not resident in one of the contracting Member States, they apply only to persons resident in one of those Member States and, by contributing to the overall balance of the DTCs in question, are an integral part of them.

Il convient de rappeler également que la procédure suivie devant les juridictions de l’Union est contradictoire. À l’exception des moyens d’ordre public que le juge est tenu de soulever d’office, telle l’absence de motivation de la décision attaquée, c’est à la partie requérante qu’il appartient de soulever des moyens à l’encontre de cette dernière et d’apporter des éléments de preuve à l’appui de ces moyens (arrêt du 24 octobre 2013, Kone e.a./Commission, C‑510/11 P, non publié, EU:C:2013:696, point 30).

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

32. According to settled case-law of the Court, questions on the interpretation of EU law referred by a national court in the factual and legislative context which that court is responsible for defining, and the accuracy of which is not a matter for the Court to determine, enjoy a presumption of relevance. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of EU law that is sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it (see, inter alia, judgments in Commune de Mesquer , C‑188/07, EU:C:2008:359, paragraph 30 and the case-law cited therein, and Verder LabTec , C‑657/13, EU:C:2015:331, paragraph 29).

69. The financial corrections which may be adopted by the Commission are now subject to rules that are common to those three Funds; these are set out in Articles 99 to 102 of that regulation.

60. However, it must be recalled that, as follows from the case-law on bankrupt undertakings that have received aid, the restoration of the previous situation and the elimination of the distortion of competition resulting from the unlawfully paid aid may, in principle, be achieved by registration of the liability relating to the repayment of the aid in question in the schedule of liabilities (Case 52/84 Commission v Belgium [1986] ECR 89, paragraph 14; Case C‑142/87 Belgium v Commission (‘Tubemeuse’) [1990] ECR I‑959, paragraphs 60 to 62; and Case C‑277/00 Commission v Germany [2004] ECR I‑3925, paragraph 85).

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

32. The Court has, indeed, had occasion to rule that a Member State can exercise its right under Article 8(2) of Directive 91/439 to apply its own provisions on withdrawal of the right to drive to the holder of a driving licence issued by another Member State only by reason of some conduct of the person concerned after he has obtained that driving licence (see judgments in Wiedemann and Funk , paragraph 59; and orders in Zerche and Others , paragraph 56; Halbritter , paragraph 38; and Kremer , paragraph 35).

9. Il convient de rappeler que, selon une jurisprudence constante, d’une part, 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 les changements intervenus par la suite ne sauraient être pris en compte par la Cour (voir, notamment, arrêt du 27 octobre 2005, Commission/Luxembourg, C-23/05, Rec. p. I‑9535, point 9).

46. In accordance with the case-law of the Court, the judicial review mechanisms laid down in Article 263 TFEU apply to the bodies, offices and agencies established by the EU legislature which were given powers to adopt measures that are legally binding on natural or legal persons in specific areas, such as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) (see, to that effect, judgment in United Kingdom v Council and Parliament , C‑270/12, EU:C:2014:18, paragraph 81).

62. As is apparent from the wording of Article 5(2) of Directive 1999/44, read in the light of recital 19 in the preamble thereto, and from the purpose of that provision, the obligation thereby imposed on the consumer cannot go beyond that of informing the seller that a lack of conformity exists.

64. In that regard, it is ultimately for the national court, which has sole jurisdiction to assess the facts and interpret the national legislation, to determine whether and to what extent such legislation satisfies those conditions (see, to that effect, Case 171/88 Rinner-Kühn [1989] ECR 2743, paragraph 15, and Joined Cases C-4/02 and C-5/02 Schönheit and Becker [2003] ECR I‑12575, paragraph 82).

15 It is for the national court, which has sole jurisdiction to assess the facts and interpret the national legislation, to determine whether and to what extent a legislative provision, which, though applying independently of the sex of the worker, actually affects a greater number of women than men, is justified by reasons which are objective and unrelated to any discrimination on grounds of sex .

50. Accordingly, an appeal which merely repeats or reproduces verbatim the pleas in law and arguments previously submitted to the Court of First Instance, including those based on facts expressly rejected by that Court, does not satisfy the requirements to state reasons under the provisions referred to in the preceding paragraph (see, inter alia, Biegi Nahrungsmittel and Commonfood v Commission , paragraph 38; Koninklijke Coöperatie Cosun v Commission , paragraph 54; and order in Ricosmos v Commission , paragraph 71). Such an appeal amounts in reality to no more than a request for re-examination of the application submitted to the Court of First Instance, which the Court of Justice does not have jurisdiction to undertake (Case C‑352/98 P Bergaderm and Goupil v Commission [2000] ECR I‑5291, paragraph 35, and Case C‑76/01 P Eurocoton and Others v Council [2003] ECR I‑10091, paragraph 47).

17 In that connection, it must be observed that the specific function of a registered designation of origin is to guarantee that the product bearing it comes from a specified geographical area and displays certain particular characteristics.

29. That consideration is particularly important in the field of education in view of the aims pursued by Article 6(e) TFEU and the second indent of Article 165(2) TFEU, namely, inter alia, encouraging mobility of students and teachers (see D’Hoop , paragraph 32; Case C-147/03 Commission v Austria [2005] ECR I-5969, paragraph 44; and Morgan and Bucher , paragraph 27).

35. Directive 97/13, as is clear from the first, third and fifth recitals in its preamble, is among the measures adopted for the complete liberalisation of telecommunications services and infrastructures as from 1 January 1998, which also include Directive 96/19 with regard to the implementation of full competition in telecommunications markets. To that end, Directive 97/13 establishes a common framework for general authorisations intended to make a significant contribution to the entry of new operators into the market.

67. As to whether a lump sum payment should be imposed, it should also be pointed out that this must, in each individual case, depend on all the relevant factors pertaining to both the particular nature of the infringement established and the individual conduct of the Member State involved in the procedure instigated pursuant to Article 260 TFEU (see Case C‑121/07 Commission v France , paragraph 62).

22. In the light of the foregoing, the reference for a preliminary ruling must be regarded as admissible. Substance

59. The action to establish liability is an autonomous form of action, with a particular purpose to fulfil within the system of legal remedies and subject to conditions of use dictated by its specific purpose (Case 4/69 Lütticke v Commission [1971] ECR 325, paragraph 6, and the order of 21 June 1993 in Case C‑257/93 Van Parijs and Others v Council and Commission [1993] ECR I-3335, paragraph 14). Although actions for annulment and for failure to act seek a declaration that a legally binding measure is unlawful or that such a measure has not been taken, an action to establish liability seeks compensation for damage resulting from a measure or from unlawful conduct, attributable to a Community institution or body (see to that effect Case 118/83 CMC v Commission [1985] ECR 2325, paragraphs 29 to 31; Case C‑308/87 Grifoni v Commission [1990] ECR I‑1203, and Case C‑146/91 KYDEP v Council and Commission [1994] ECR I‑4199).

25 Those guidelines did not contain any definition of the term `different distributors'.

58 As the Court has already held, Article 4a(1) of Framework Decision 2002/584 seeks to guarantee a high level of protection and to allow the executing judicial authority to surrender the person concerned despite that person’s failure to attend the trial which led to his conviction, while fully respecting his rights of defence (see judgment of 24 May 2016, Dworzecki, C‑108/16 PPU, EU:C:2016:346, paragraph 37).

34. To establish whether there is a transfer within the meaning of Directive 77/187, it is necessary to assess whether the unit in question retains its identity, which follows in particular from the fact that its operation is actually continued or resumed by the new employer, with the same or similar economic activities (see Case 24/85 Spijkers [1986] ECR 1119, paragraphs 11, 12 and 15, and Case C‑48/94 Rygaard [1995] ECR I-2745, paragraphs 15 and 16).

51. As regards, first, the setting up of such a council, the central management must, in accordance with Article 4(1) of the Directive, create the conditions and means necessary for the setting up of such a council. That responsibility includes an obligation to supply the employees’ representatives with the information essential to the opening of negotiations for establishing a European Works Council (see Kühne & Nagel , paragraphs 49 and 51).

102. It has thus observed in particular that, because of the lack of direct contact between consumer and operator, games of chance accessible via the internet involve different and more substantial risks of fraud by operators against consumers compared with the traditional markets for such games ( Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional and Bwin International , paragraph 70).

69. Lastly, in Case C‑522/08 Telekomunikacja Polska EU:C:2010:135, paragraph 29, the Court, after finding that Article 20 of the Universal Service Directive applied without prejudice to national rules on consumer protection in conformity with EU law, ruled that the Framework Directive and the Universal Service Directive do not provide for full harmonisation of consumer-protection aspects.

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