Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Free movement of goods ° Quantitative restrictions ° Measures having equivalent effect ° Prohibition of sale of articles of precious metal not bearing the statutory hallmark affixed by an independent body ° Application to articles of the same type imported from other Member States ° Whether permissible ° Conditions ° Assessment by the national court ° Application to imports of a prohibition of the sale of such articles not bearing an indication of the date of their manufacture ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Art. 30)

Summary

Article 30 of the Treaty must be interpreted as meaning that it does not preclude the application of national rules prohibiting the sale of articles of precious metal not bearing a hallmark indicating their fineness in accordance with those rules, where those articles do not bear a hallmark, in accordance with the legislation of the Member State of exportation, containing information which is equivalent to that provided by the hallmarks required by the rules of the Member State of importation and which is intelligible to consumers in that Member State. Similarly, where national rules require the hallmark to be affixed by an independent body, the marketing of those articles of precious metal imported from other Member States may be prohibited, where they have not in fact been hallmarked by an independent body in the Member State of exportation.

The findings of fact required in order to determine the equivalence of the information provided by the hallmark are a matter for the national court, which must also examine whether the articles of precious metal have been hallmarked by an independent body in the Member State of exportation.

On the other hand, Article 30 precludes the application of national rules which prohibit the marketing of articles of precious metal not indicating the date of their manufacture, where those articles have been lawfully marketed without that indication in other Member States, from which they have been imported.