Citation(s) (1979) Case 120/78 Date decided February 20, 1979 | ||
Similar Procureur du Roi v Benoît an, Van Gend en Loos v Nederlan, Costa v ENEL, Defrenne v Sabena (No 2), Alpine Investments BV v Mini | ||
Rewe-Zentral AG v Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein (1979) Case 120/78, popularly known as the Cassis de Dijon case, is an EU law decision of the European Court of Justice. The Court held that a regulation applying to both imported and to domestic goods (an "indistinctly applicable measure") that produces an effect equivalent to a quantitative import restriction is an unlawful restriction on the free movement of goods. The case is a seminal judicial interpretation of article 34 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Contents
Facts
The case concerned the sale of "Cassis de Dijon" (a type of crème de cassis) in Germany by an importer and retailer (Rewe). Crème de cassis is a blackcurrant liqueur produced in France containing 15% to 20% alcohol by volume. The German government had a law stipulating that products sold as fruit liqueur had to contain at least 25% alcohol by volume. Therefore, the Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein (a section of the German Federal Ministry of Finance) told Rewe that the Cassis de Dijon might be imported: on the other hand, it advised the importer that its marketing wasn't allowed in Germany. The importer argued that this represented an effect equivalent to a quantitative restriction on trade in breach of article 30 of the Treaty of Rome.
Judgment
The ECJ held that the German legislation represented a measure having an effect equivalent to a quantitative restriction on imports and was thus in breach of article 28 of the Treaty:
Significance
In 2010, Switzerland unilaterally adopted this principle: generally, goods that can be lawfully produced or marketed according to standards applying in the European Union can also be lawfully produced or marketed in Switzerland or imported from the EU into Switzerland.