Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Free movement of goods - Derogations - Protection of public health - Prohibition on the marketing of a foodstuff containing a certain preservative - Justification - Conditions and limits

( EEC Treaty, Arts 30 and 36; Council Directive 64/54 )

Summary

Articles 30 and 36 of the EEC Treaty do not preclude a Member State from prohibiting the marketing of a foodstuff which has been imported from another Member State where it is lawfully produced and marketed and to which one of the substances listed in the annex to Council Directive 64/54/EEC, on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning the preservatives authorized for use in foodstuffs intended for human consumption, has been added, provided that the principle of proportionality underlying the last sentence of Article 36 is observed . This means that, in the Member State of importation, the marketing of that foodstuff must be authorized under a procedure which is readily accessible to manufacturers and traders and which can be completed within a reasonable period, where the addition of the substance in question meets a genuine need - in particular a technological need - and represents no danger to public health . It is for the competent national authorities to show in each case, in the light of national eating habits and with due regard to the results of international scientific research, that their rules are necessary in order to give effective protection to the interests referred to in Article 36 of the Treaty .