Notice for the OJ

 

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 29 April 2004 in Case C-387/99: Commission of the European Communities v Federal Republic of Germany 1

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Articles 30 and 36 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Articles 28 EC and 30 EC) - Directive 65/65/EEC - Food preparations containing three times more vitamins than the recommended daily amount - Preparations lawfully marketed as food supplements in the Member State of exportation - Preparations classified as medicinal products in the Member State of importation - 'Medicinal product' - Obstacle - Justification - Public health - Proportionality - Admissibility of the application)

(Language of the case: German)

(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in the European Court Reports)

In Case C-387/99: Commission of the European Communities (Agent: C. Schmidt), with an address for service in Luxembourg, v Federal Republic of Germany (Agent: W.-D. Plessing, assisted by J. Sedemund), supported by Kingdom of Denmark (Agent: J. Molde), with an address for service in Luxembourg, and by Republic of Finland (Agents: T. Pynnä and E. Bygglin), with an address for service in Luxembourg ( application for a declaration that, by classifying as medicinal products vitamin and mineral preparations which are lawfully produced or marketed as food supplements in the other Member States in the case where they contain three times more vitamins and mineral salts than the daily amount recommended by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung, the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 30 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 28 EC) ( the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: V. Skouris, acting as President of the Sixth Chamber, J. N. Cunha Rodrigues, R. Schintgen, F. Macken (Rapporteur) and N. Colneric, Judges; L. A. Geelhoed, Advocate General; H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 29 April 2004, in which it:

1.    Declares that, by automatically classifying as medicinal products vitamin preparations lawfully manufactured or marketed as food supplements in the other Member States in the case where they contain three times more vitamins, other than vitamins A and D, than the daily amount recommended by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung (German Food Association), the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 30 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 28 EC);

2.    Orders the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs;

3.    Orders the Kingdom of Denmark and the Republic of Finland to bear their own costs.

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