Opinion of Mr advocate-general Capotorti

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. By decision of 7 April 1976 the Cour d'Appel, IVth Chambre Correctionnelle), Douai, referred two questions to this Court concerning the interpretation of Articles 30 to 32 of the Treaty of Rome and especially of the concept of measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions. The questions are couched in the following terms:

2. In the case-law of this Court, the question of measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions has been examined, from different standpoints, on a number of occasions. The first decision to which I ought to draw attention is that in the Dassonville case (Judgment of 11 July in Case 8/74 [1974] ECR 837 et seq.) in which the Court made the general declaration that All trading rules enacted by Member States which are capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade are to be considered as measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions. The same view was taken in the Van Haaster case (Judgment of 30 October 1974 in Case 190/73, [1974] ECR 1123 et seq.) with specific reference to Regulation (EEC) No 234/68 of the Council on the establishment of a common organization of the market in live trees and other plants, bulbs, roots and the like, cut flowers and ornamental foliage, Article 10 of which contains, inter alia, a provision prohibiting any quantitative restriction or measure having equivalent effect.

3. I come now to the first question referred for a ruling by the French court. As I have stated, it is expressed in terms relating to a specific set of circumstances, in which goods imported into a Member State are in free circulation, accompanied by the Community movement certificate, and in which the importing Member State requires the country of origin to be indicated in the customs declaration. Is this requirement compatible with the prohibition in Article 30 of the Treaty?

4. Consideration must, however, be given to another aspect of the question, bearing in mind what was stated by the French customs authorities before the Court concerned with the substance of the case; I refer to the fact that, under Article 95 of the French customs code, referred to by the order of the Director-General of Customs of 1 December 1961, the declarations of origin of imported goods must contain all the information necessary for the purposes of customs statistics as well. Does this use of declarations of origin for statistical purposes avail to justify the provision obliging importers to make the declarations in question?

5. I can now turn to the second question submitted by the national court. That question is based on a case in which, in a Member State, a licence is required for the importation of goods in free circulation in another Member State for the purposes of a possible application of Article 115 of the Treaty. The Court of Justice is asked to rule whether or not such a case comes within the Community prohibition of measures equivalent to quantitative restrictions either during or after the transitional period.

6. However, the effects of Articles 30 to 32 differ according to whether the conduct inconsistent with them took place during the transitional period or after its conclusion.

7. For all these reasons I am of the opinion that the Court should reply to the questions referred to it for a preliminary ruling by the Cour d'Appel of Douai by ruling as follows:

1 Translated from the Italian.