Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Preliminary rulings ° Reference to the Court ° Need for a preliminary ruling ° Assessment by the national court

(EC Treaty, Art. 177)

2. Freedom of movement for persons ° Freedom of establishment ° Treaty provisions ° Not applicable to situations purely internal to a Member State

(EC Treaty, Arts 3(c), 52 and 53)

3. Competition ° Community rules ° Obligations of the Member States ° Free movement of goods ° Obligation on traders wishing to market their products in an island region of the national territory to ensure supplies to a certain number of islands ° Whether permissible

(EC Treaty, Arts 3(f), 5, second para., 30 and 85)

4. Approximation of laws ° Article 102(1) of the Treaty ° Direct effect ° None

(EC Treaty, Art. 102(1))

Summary

1. It is for the national courts alone, before which the proceedings are pending and which must assume responsibility for the judgment to be given, to determine, having regard to the particular features of each case, both the need for a preliminary ruling to enable them to give judgment and the relevance of the questions which they refer to the Court.

2. Since the Treaty provisions on free movement of persons cannot apply to activities which are confined in all respects to a single Member State, Articles 3(c), 52 and 53 of the Treaty are not applicable where a company which has its head office in a Member State and pursues its activities there is required to comply with rules whereby the regional authorities of a Member State responsible for governing an archipelago forming part of the territory of that State require all petroleum product wholesalers wishing to extend their activities to that part of the national territory to supply a certain number of islands in the archipelago, having regard to the problems of supplying island regions.

3. Article 85, read in conjunction with the second paragraph of Article 5, and Article 30 of the Treaty do not preclude rules whereby the regional authorities of a Member State responsible for governing an archipelago forming part of the territory of that State require all petroleum product wholesalers wishing to extend their activities to that part of the national territory to supply a certain number of islands in the archipelago, having regard to the problems of supplying island regions.

Such rules do not appear liable to require or favour anti-competitive conduct or to reinforce the effects of an existing agreement, decision or concerted practice, and their effects on the free movement of goods between Member States are too uncertain and indirect for the obligation they lay down to be regarded as being capable of hindering trade between Member States.

4. Article 102(1) of the EC Treaty does not create individual rights which the national courts must protect.