C-154/00
ECLI:EU:C:2001:555
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COMMISSION v GREECE
OPINION OF ADVOCATE GENERAL GEELHOED delivered on 18 October 2001 1
I — Introduction product itself, with a lower threshold of [EUR] 500, provided that the item of property:
1. The present case concerns an action brought by the Commission, pursuant to Article 226 EC, against the Hellenic Republic for failure to comply with obli- gations under the Treaty on the grounds that the Greek legislation transposing (i) is of a type ordinarily intended for Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July private use or consumption, and 1985 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products 2 (hereinafter: 'the Directive') did not comply with Article 9(b) of the Directive. Contrary to what is laid down in that provision, the Greek Govern- ment failed, according to the Commission, (ii) was used by the injured person to transpose into its national law the lower mainly for his own private use or threshold of EUR 500 specified therein. consumption.'
2. Article 9(b) of the Directive reads as follows:
II — Appraisal
'(b) damage to, or destruction of, any item of property other than the defective
1 — Original language: Dutch. 3. The subject-matter of this case is almost 2 —OJ 1985 L 210, p. 29. the same as that of Case C-52/00 Commis-
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sion v France and Case C-183/00 Gonzalez paragraphs 27 to 55 of my Opinion in that Sanchez v Medicina Asturiana in which I case, and on the basis of which I concluded delivered my Opinions on 18 September as follows: 3 2001. As in the present case, the key question in those cases was whether the Directive provides for exhaustive harmon- isation or whether it involves harmon- isation at a minimum level. In the former case, the national legislature is completely '— Directive 85/374/EEC seeks to bring bound by the Directive and may not, as about complete harmonisation in regards liability for defective products, respect of strict liability for defective afford the national consumer protection products; which exceeds that expressly permitted by the Directive. In the second case, the Member States do indeed have the power to do so.
—· the national legislature may derogate from the Directive only if and in so far as provisions thereof expressly permit such derogation, regard being had to the conditions and requirements attached thereto in the Directive.
4. In support of its view that the Directive provides for minimum harmonisation, the Greek Government puts forward argu- ...' ments in this case which are similar to those which it put forward in its written observations in Gonzalez Sanchez. The tenor of those arguments is virtually the same as those which the French Govern- ment advanced in its defence in Case 6. The specific arguments which the Greek C-52/00. Government puts forward for the incom- plete transposition of Article 9(b) of the Directive are unconvincing.
7. The reference to the national system of private law fails in this case for the reasons
5. I would like to refer to the consider- ations in this regard which I set out at 3 — Paragraph 56.
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COMMISSION v GREECE
set out at paragraph 69 of my Opinion of 28 July 1999 similarly does not bear scru- 18 September 2001. 4 tiny. 6 Due regard for the powers which the Community legislature enjoys under the EC Treaty requires that the Court refrain from giving judgments which anticipate, or may anticipate, its decision-making.
10. At paragraphs 63 to 69 of the above- mentioned Opinion I have already 8. Similarly, the fact that a lower threshold appraised, and held to be unfounded, the of EUR 500 constitutes a reduction in the Greek Government's contention that the legal protection already afforded to the lower threshold is incompatible with consumer by the Greek legislation does not Article 6(1) of the European Convention provide any grounds for not transposing in on Human Rights and Fundamental Free- full what is laid down in Article 9(b). 5 doms.
11. Finally, as regards the argument derived from the ninth recital in the pre- amble to the Directive, it must be observed that this recital sets out the reasons why a lower threshold is incorporated in Article 9(b). No argument can be found 9. The argument that the abolition of that either in this recital or the wording of lower threshold was envisaged in the Green Article 9(b) itself for not transposing the paper — Liability for defective products of lower threshold which is prescribed with- out qualification. 4 — Cited at paragraph i of this Opinion. 5 — See paragraphs 49 to 55 of my Opinion of 18 September 2001. 6 — COM (1999) 396 fin.
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III — Conclusion
12. In the light of the foregoing, I propose that the Court should:
(a) declare that the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July 1985 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products;
(b) order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs pursuant to Article 69(2) of the Rules of Procedure.
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