Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) 2 June 1994

In Joined Cases C-401/92 and C-402/92, REFERENCES to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Gerechtshof, 's Hertogenbosch, Chamber for Economic Affairs, for a preliminary ruling in the criminal proceedings pending before that court against

THE COURT (Sixth Chamber), composed of: G. F. Mancini, President of the Chamber, M. Diez de Velasco (Rapporteur), C. N. Kakouris, F. A. Schockweiler and P. J. G. Kapteyn, Judges, Advocate General: W. Van Gerven, Registrar: L. Hewlett, Administrator,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of: the defendants, by M. van Empel, of the Amsterdam Bar, the German Government, by E. Röder, Ministerialrat at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, and C.-D. Quassowski, Regierungsdirektor at that Ministry, acting as Agents, the Netherlands Government, by A. Bos, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, the United Kingdom Government, by J. E. Collins, Assistant Treasury Solicitor, acting as Agent, the Commission of the European Communities, by B. Drijber, of its Legal Service, acting as Agent,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Tankstation 't Heukske and J. B. E. Boermans, the Netherlands Government, represented by J. W. de Zwaan, Deputy Legal Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, the United Kingdom Government, represented by J. E. Collins and N. Paines, Barrister, and the Commission of the European Communities at the hearing on 27 January 1994,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 16 March 1994,

gives the following

Judgment

Article 30 of the Treaty

Article 86 in conjunction with Articles 3(f) and 5 of the Treaty

Costs

1 Language of the case: Dutch.