C-154/85

Circular No 66/84 of 19 March 1984, in 3. Before turning my attention to the force from 1 July 1984 to 28 February 1985, substance of the dispute, the submission put and Circular No 125/84 of 11 July 1984, forward by the Italian Republic to the effect both amending and supplementing Circular that the Commission has no interest in No 104/83 of 3 May 1983; bringing these proceedings, and which should therefore be regarded as an objection of inadmissibility, must be Circular No 22/85 of 15 February 1985, rejected. which came into force on 1 March 1985 and remained in force until 21 June 1985, repealing the abovementioned three The repeal of the measures at issue does not circulars 'except for those provisions deprive the Commission of an interest in expressly carried over'. bringing the proceedings, and in any event the Commission has limited the purpose of its application to a declaration that the 2. Notwithstanding the discussion of that Italian Republic failed to fulfil its obli­ subject in the written procedure and at the gations during the period in question. The hearing, the application does not concern Court has held that Circular No 133/85 of 28 August 1985, which is subsequent to the reasoned opinion 'even when the fault has been remedied and was adopted after subsequent to the time-limit prescribed by paragraph 2 [of Article 169 of the EEC Treaty], pursuit of the action still has an (i) the interlocutory order of 7 June 1985 object'. 1 in which the President of the Court of 1 — Case 39/72 Commission v Italian Republic [1973] ECR 111, * Translated from the French. paragraph 9.

5. Subject to the details set out below, reference is made to the Report for the Hearing for the description both of the rules 7. Unless they are justified under Article 36 contained in Circular No 104/83, which of the EEC Treaty, those provisions are were applicable until 30 June 1984, and undoubtedly in the nature of measures which the Commission regards as being in having an effect equivalent to quantitative accordance with Community rules, and the restrictions on imports within the meaning contested provisions, introduced successively of Article 30, as interpreted by the Court by Circulars Nos 66/84, 125/84 and 22/85. in Dassonville. The requirement that an Those measures substantially amended the additional document be produced, even rules for registering vehicles not yet or though it is not systematic, the introduction already registered in the exporting country. of a long time-limit and the additional cost of registration constitute rules enacted by a Member State which are 'capable of 6. In regard to vehicles not yet registered, hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or those amendments were introduced only by potentially, intra-Community trade'. 3 Circular No 22/85, which makes regis­ tration of such vehicles in Italy subject to the production not merely, as in the past, of 8. With regard to vehicles already a certificate of origin but also registered in the exporting country, the rules applicable to parallel imports laid down in Circular No 104/83 were amended 'if the information necessary to prepare the successively by Circulars Nos 66 and registration book is not contained in the 125/84, on the one hand, and 22/85, on the certificate of origin' other.

12. In fact, the defendant Member State relies on Article 36 of the EEC Treaty as a basis for contending that the Commission's the doubling of the maximum time-limit for application should be dismissed. Italy refers carrying out technical tests, increased from to the need to put an end to unlawful trans­ 30 to 60 days; actions organized under the cover of parallel imports. It thus claims that the provisions of Article 30 may be disregarded in this case in the interests of public policy, the new document concerning the technical as permitted by Article 36. characteristics of the vehicle, replacing the certificate of conformity, which must be a single document drawn up individually for the vehicle concerned. 13. As the Commission pointed out in its reasoned opinion, the importance of the problem raised by unlawful dealings in vehicles cannot be denied, nor can the defendant Member State's need to adopt the 10. Circular No 22/85 certainly abolished means to ensure effective policing in that the requirement to produce the single area. None the less, the measures adopted document and the certification formalities for that purpose must permit a fair balance described above. However, it laid down in to be struck between the restrictions regard to vehicles already registered in the imposed in the interest of crime prevention exporting country measures having equi­ and compliance with the rules guaranteeing valent effect because it made their regis­ free movement of goods. As the Court held tration in Italy subject to the production, in Dassonville: not merely of the registration book already required under the 1983 rules, but also of the certificate of origin and, in certain cases, of a technical certificate under the same 'if a Member State takes measures to conditions concerning time-limits and cost prevent unfair practices ... it is however as those set out above in regard to new subject to the condition that these measures vehicles, thus constituting a hindrance to should be reasonable and that the means of trade. proof required should not act as a hindrance

to trade between Member States and already issued in respect of the same vehicle should, in consequence, be accessible to all 6 in another Member State. Community nationals'. 4 16. With regard to the other conditions laid down in the Italian rules, the fact that the Member State has at its disposal an alter­ 14. It cannot therefore be denied that the native system of control is sufficient to show rules laid down in the various Italian that they are disproportionate. It may be circulars are contrary to the principle of considered, as the Commission does, that proportionality, the essential nature of the discovery, with a view to prosecution, of which the Court has thus emphasized. dealings in stolen vehicles, in regard to which in fact no precise information has ever been supplied, may be effectively carried out by measures which are less 15. With regard to the administrative restrictive, less costly and which may be formalities required for parallel imports of carried out more rapidly than those at issue, vehicles from another State, it must be in particular by an appropriate check of considered that the requirement to have the chassis numbers. registration book certified by the authorities of the Member State from which the vehicle comes and the need to produce a document 17. Hence the imposition of administrative to meet the special requirements imposed by formalities in addition to or in the place of the Italian rules dealing with the technical the submission of the certificates of origin characteristics of the vehicle must be or conformity or the registration book of an regarded in fact as a presumption that the imported vehicle issued by the authorities documents normally issued by those auth­ in the exporting Member State may not orities for the same purposes are not in be regarded as necessary to satisfy conformity with the Italian rules. It may be requirements of public policy. Obviously deduced a fortiori from the solution adopted that does not call into question the 5 by the Court in its judgment in Case 2/84 legitimacy of any checks which the Member concerning documents issued by an adminis­ State of destination might impose in order tration in a non-member country that in to ensure that imported vehicles comply such circumstances, cooperation between with national technical requirements the Member States should lead at least to justified, in particular, in the interest of reciprocal recognition of control documents safety.

from 1 March 1985 to 21 June 1985 the rules contained in Circular No 22/85,

the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 30 of the EEC Treaty without being entitled to rely on the derogations provided for in Article 36 thereof;

Order the defendant Member State to pay the costs.