Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 23 March 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Korkein hallinto-oikeus – Finland) – Proceedings brought by Booky.fi Oy
(Case C-662/21, 1 Booky.fi)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Articles 34 and 36 TFEU – Free movement of goods – Measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction – Recordings of audiovisual programmes – Online sale – Legislation of a Member State requiring classification according to age and labelling of programmes – Protection of minors – Recordings already classified and labelled in another Member State – Proportionality)
Language of the case: Finnish
Referring court
Korkein hallinto-oikeus
Subject matter of the main proceedings
Applicant: Booky.fi Oy
Third party: Kansallinen audio-visuaalinen instituutti (KAVI)
Operative part
Articles 34 and 36 TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that they do not preclude legislation of a Member State which, with the objective of protecting minors against audiovisual content capable of harming their well-being and their development, requires that audiovisual programmes recorded on a physical medium and marketed via an online store have previously been the subject of an inspection procedure and classification, according to age limits, and corresponding labelling in accordance with the law of that Member State, including where those programmes have already been the subject of a comparable procedure and of comparable classification and labelling in application of the law of another Member State, provided that that legislation is appropriate for securing the attainment of that objective and does not go beyond what is necessary in order to attain it;
In that regard, the fact that some of the recordings that may be marketed in the Member State in question from another Member State are excluded from the scope of that legislation is not of decisive importance, provided that such a limitation does not compromise the attainment of the objective pursued. Nor is it decisive that the national legislation concerned does not provide for a derogation from that requirement where it may be established that the purchaser of a recording covered by that legislation is of full age.
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1 OJ C 24, 17.1.2022.