Europa Failure of a State to fulfil its obligations – Protection of animal health. 1. Although under article 36 of the treaty it is for each of the member states to determine, and, if appropriate, to alter its policy relating to animal health, the effects of health policy on imports from other member states cannot exceed the limits laid down by community law.
2. The second sentence of article 36 is designed to prevent restrictions on trade mentioned in the first sentence of that article from being diverted from their proper purpose and used in such a way as either to create discrimination in respect of goods originating in other member states or indirectly to protect certain national products.
In so far as certain facts suggest that the real aim of health measures adopted by a member state is to block, for commercial and economic reasons, imports from other member states and inasmuch as it cannot be shown that, for reasons of animal health, the only possibility open to the member state concerned was to apply those measures and that they were therefore not more restrictive than was necessary for the intended purpose, the measures in question constitute a disguised restriction within the meaning of the second sentence of article 36.
Citations:
C-40/82, [1982] EUECJ C-40/82, [1984] EUECJ C-40/82
Links:
European, Animals
Updated: 21 May 2022; Ref: scu.133385