In the absence of common rules relating to the production and marketing of a product it is for member states to regulate all matters relating to its production, distribution and consumption on their own territory subject, however, to the condition that those rules do not present an obstacle, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, to intra-community trade. It is only where national rules, which apply without discrimination to both domestic and imported products, may be justified as being necessary in order to satisfy imperative requirements relating in particular to the protection of public health, the fairness of commercial transactions and the defence of the consumer that they may constitute an exception to the requirements arising under article 30 of the EEC treaty. The concept of ‘measures having equivalent effect’ to ‘quantitative restrictions on imports’, occurring in article 30 of the eec treaty, is to be understood as meaning that a prohibition imposed by a member state on importing or marketing vinegar containing acetic acid not derived from the acetic fermentation of wine comes within that provision where the vinegar involved is lawfully produced and marketed in another member state.
Citations:
C-788/79
European
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.132952
