Judgment of the Court 21 February 1991

In Case C-140/88, REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands) for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT, composed of: O. Due, President, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, G. C. Rodriguez Iglesias and M. Diez de Velasco (Presidents of Chambers), C. N. Kakouris, F. Grévisse and M. Zuleeg, Judges, Advocate General: J. Mischo Registrar: J. A. Pompe, Deputy Registrar

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, by Egbert Frederik Jacobs, Secretary-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, by Javier Conde de Saro, Director-General for Legal and Institutional Coordination with the Community, and Rosario Silva Lapuerta, Abogado del Estado, acting as Agents, the Commission of the European Communities, by René Barents, a member of its Legal Department, acting as Agent,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of the Netherlands Government, represented by J. W. De Zwaan, acting as Agent, the Spanish Government and the Commission at the hearing on 16 May 1990,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General delivered at the sitting on 14 June 1990,

gives the following

Judgment

The first part of Question 1

The second part of Question 1 and Question 2

Costs

1 Language of the case: Dutch.