Judgment_paragraph 1. · F. van Luipen en Zn BV against a disciplinary measure adopted against it (29/82)

1.Van Luipen observes first of all that in order to be eligible for the certificates prescribed by the Community rules and thus to be able to export to other Member States as well as to nonmember countries a Netherlands exporter must be a member of the Bureau.Citing the judgment of the Court of 26 February 1980 in Case 94/79 Vriend [1980] ECR 327 van Luipen reminds the Court that it has held that any national rules “which makes the freedom of traders to market, resell, import and export or offer for export... conditional on their being affiliated to a public body or a body approved by an official authority” are not compatible with Community law.The reason why Regulation No 1035/72 does not contain any express prohibition of measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions on intra-Community trade is that the regulation was adopted at the end of the transitional period when Article 30 et seq became directly applicable and the previous regulation governing this sector had already abolished them. Moreover it appears from the judgment of the Court of 10 December 1974 in Case 48/74 Charmasson [1974] ECR 1383 that the rules on the free movement of goods have been expressly held to apply unconditionally to agricultural products at the end of the transitional period.In intra-Community trade the obligation to affiliate is therefore contrary to the EEC Treaty itself — in this case to Article 34. As for trade with nonmember countries, Article 22 (2) of Regulation No 1035/72 expressly prohibits measures having equivalent effect.Even though the Bureau is under the duty to accept as a member any person applying for membership it appears from the judgment of the Court of 15 December 1971 in Joined Cases 51 to 54/71 International Fruit Company [1971] ECR 1107 that any licensing system of a Member State which is a mere formality, inasmuch as any application is granted as a matter of course, is incompatible with Community law and, as far as nonmember countries arc concerned, permissible only if authorized by the Community.Even if only a formality, compulsory membership should be treated in the same way and because Regulation No 1035/72 gives no power to Member States to apply measures of that kind in trade with nonmember countries the obligation to affiliate is therefore contrary to Article 34 of the Treaty and Article 22 of that regulation.Although the purpose of the national rules is simply to ensure that Community quality standards are complied with the crucial fact is that without authority from the Community rules the obligation to affiliate constitutes an obstacle to trade.Consequently van Luipen concludes that the rules in question arc not compatible with Community law.