Citation(s) (1983) Case 261/81 | Ruling court European Court of Justice | |
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Similar Schmidberger v Austria, Commission v Germany (1987), Commission v France (1997), Procureur du Roi v Benoît an, Rewe‑Zentral AG v Bundesm | ||
Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke v De Smedt PVBA (1983) Case 261/81 is an EU law case, concerning the free movement of goods in the European Union.
Contents
Facts
A Belgian law required margarine to be marketed in cube shaped packages, to avoid confusion with butter. This was applied to all kinds, domestic and imports. Walter Rau argued that the law contravened (what is now) TFEU article 34.
Judgment
The ECJ held that the measure was not lawful. In principle packaging requirements to prevents consumers being confused would be justified. But it must be ‘also necessary for such rules to be proportionate to the aim in view.’
References
Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke v De Smedt PVBA Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA