Opinion of Mr Advocate General Tesauro delivered on 11 December 1990

1 Original language: Italian.

2 OJ 1979 L 33, p. 1.

3 See in particular the judgment in Case C-231/89 Gmurzynska-Bscher v Oberfinanzdirektion Kolt [1990] ECR I-4003, paragraphs 19, 20, 22 and 23; judgment in Case C-297/88 Massam Dzodz i v Belgian State [1990] ECR I-3763, paragraphs 34, 35. 39 and 40

4 See second, third, fourth and seventh recitals to the preamble.

5 See in particular the judgment in Case 220/81 Criminal proceeding against Timothy Frederick Robertson and others [1982] ECR 2349, paragraphs 11, 12 and 13: judgment in Case 27/80 Criminal proceedings against Anton Adriaan Fietje [1980] ECR 3839.

6 It is worth noting that, bv a decision of 28 September 1987, the Correctionele Rechtbank (Criminal Court) Mechelen, decided, with regard to the sale of bottles of Coca Cola featuring a label in German, that such a practice was in accordance with Article 14 of Directive 79/112, and refused to apply Article 10 of the Royal Decree of 2 October 1980 (see Journal del Tribunaux, 1988, No 5448, p. 48). That decision, however has been appealed against in the Hof van Beroep (Court of Appeal), Antwerp, which has not vet made a ruling For analogous decisions from courts in the Netherlands applying the above criteria, sec Van Bunnen, L'emploi des langues dans l'etiquetage et le droit communautaire, Journal des Tribunaux, 1988, No 5448, p 41