Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Common commercial policy - National measures of foreign and security policy - Restrictions on exports - Obligation to respect Community provisions

(EC Treaty, Art. 113)

2 Common commercial policy - Common export rules - Sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro - Prohibition of exports to those non-member countries - Exception for medical products - National rules placing restrictions on payments for exports duly effected from other Member States - Not permissible - Justification - Legal certainty - None

(EC Treaty, Art. 113; Council Regulations No 2603/69, Arts 1 and 11, and No 1432/92)

3 Common commercial policy - National measures infringing Community rules - Justification based on the existence of agreements concluded prior to the EEC Treaty - Conditions - Matter for determination by the national court

(EC Treaty, Arts 113 and 234)

Summary

4 The powers retained by the Member States in the field of foreign and security policy must be exercised in a manner consistent with Community law and, in particular, with the provisions adopted by the Community in the sphere of the common commercial policy provided for by Article 113 of the Treaty. They cannot treat national measures whose effect is to prevent or restrict the export of certain products as falling outside the scope of the common commercial policy on the ground that they have foreign and security policy objectives.

5 The common commercial policy provided for by Article 113 of the Treaty, as implemented by Regulation No 1432/92, prohibiting trade between the Community and the Republics of Serbia and Montenegro, and by Regulation No 2603/69, establishing common rules for exports, precludes Member State A from adopting, for the purpose of ensuring effective application of United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 (1992), measures prohibiting Serbian or Montenegrin funds deposited in its territory from being released in order to pay for goods exported by a national of Member State B from Member State B to Serbia or Montenegro on the ground that Member State A allows payment for such exports to be made only if the exports take place from its own territory and they have been authorized by its own competent authorities pursuant to Regulation No 1432/92, when the goods in question have been classified by the United Nations Sanctions Committee as products intended for strictly medical purposes and the competent authorities of Member State B have issued export authorization for them in accordance with Regulation No 1432/92.

Article 1 of Regulation No 2603/69 implements the principle of freedom to export at Community level and must therefore be interpreted as prohibiting not only quantitative restrictions on exports of goods from the Community to third countries but also measures adopted by the Member States whose effect is equivalent to a quantitative restriction where their application may lead to an export prohibition. Since the measures in issue constitute a restriction on the payment of the price of the goods, which is an essential element of an export transaction, they are equivalent to a quantitative restriction on exports.

In addition, since effective application of the sanctions can be ensured by other Member States' authorization procedures, as provided for by Regulation No 1432/92, recourse to Article 11 of Regulation No 2603/69, which authorizes the adoption or application by the Member States of quantitative restrictions on exports for reasons inter alia of public security, cannot be justified.

6 National measures which prove to be contrary to the common commercial policy provided for in Article 113 of the Treaty and to the Community regulations implementing that policy are justified under Article 234 of the Treaty only if they are necessary to ensure that the Member State concerned performs its obligations towards non-member countries under an agreement concluded prior to entry into force of the Treaty or prior to accession by that Member State.

In proceedings for a preliminary ruling it is not for the Court but for the national court to determine which obligations are imposed by an earlier agreement on the Member State concerned and to ascertain their ambit so as to determine the extent to which they thwart application of the provisions of Community law in question.