Opinion of Advocate General Gulmann delivered on 14 July 1993

1 Original language: Danish.

2 OJ 1983 L 109. p. 8, amended by Council Directive 88/182/EEC of 22 March 1988 (OJ 1988 L 81, p. 75). The amending directive was to be transposed before 1 January 1989 and has no relevance to this case.

3 OJ 1986 C 245. p. 4.

4 Directive 80/181/EEC of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement (OJ 1980 L 39, p. 40).

5 The Italian Government has stated that it sent Decree No 514 to the Commission in July 1991 (that is, following the expiry of the period allowed in the Commission's reasoned opinion for Italy to take the necessary steps). Furthermore, it is apparent from the documents before the Court that, in accordance with the directive on the procedure for the provision of information, the Italian Government in June 1992 submitted a new draft ministerial decree to replace Decree No 514 and bring the rules in that decree up to date.

6 See, for example, Case 232/78 Commission v France [1979] ECR 2729, paragraph 3, and Case 124/81 Commission v United Kingdom [1983] ECR 233, paragraph 6.