Brussels, 31/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - Athens and Prague have been called to order with regard to their obstacles to the free movement of goods - Greece for pharmaceuticals and the Czech Republic for items of jewellery.
On 30 May, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Greece asking it to remove its obstacles to the export of pharmaceutical products which deprive potential exporters of the products the benefits of parallel exporting. Under Greek law, wholesalers can only export medicines that they have purchased directly from pharmaceutical companies, and not from other wholesalers. Furthermore, Greek law does not authorise traders that export medicines to act as an intermediary in exports made by other medicines traders. This constitutes a restriction that has the same effect as a quantitative restriction on exports and is in breach of Article 35 of the TFEU. Although the member states have the right to impose certain obligations on marketing authorisation holders and distributors of medicine, proportionate to the public health objective pursued, the Commission nevertheless considers that the restriction imposed by Athens goes beyond what is necessary to guarantee a continuous supply. Greece has two months to inform the Commission of measures it has taken to ensure compliance - at the risk of being taken to the Court of Justice.
The Commission also sent a reasoned opinion to the Czech Republic asking it to change its administrative practices and rules - which restrict the import of items of jewellery from other member states. In this particular case, the Czech assay office refuses to recognise hallmarks used by the Dutch assay office on jewellery, claiming that the hallmarks do not allow products originating in the EU to be distinguished from products originating from third countries (like China and Hong Kong). The Commission considers that the Czech rules currently in force are a barrier to the free movement of goods in the EU internal market and run counter to Articles 34 and 36 of the TFEU. With regard to the trade of products in precious metals, the Court of Justice of the EU has previously stated that a member state cannot require a fresh hallmark to be affixed to products imported from another member state where they are already legally marketed and hallmarked in accordance with the legislation of that member state, provided that the information on the hallmark is equivalent to that prescribed by the member state of importation and also intelligible to consumers of the importing state. The Czech Republic has two months to change its legislation - at the risk of being taken to the Court of Justice. (EH/transl.fl)