Case C-390/99, Canal Satélite Digital; Case C-159/00, Sapod Audic v. Eco-Emballages

Summary:

Directive 83/189 has been lauded as a significant contribution to effective market management within the European Union. It supplements protection of the free movement of goods based on the haphazard system of ex post control by the Commission and individual traders under Articles 28–30 EC, with an additional and more systematic regime of ex ante control by means of the imposition upon Member States of notification (Art. 8) and standstill (Art. 9) obligations.

The Court’s case law on the legal effects of non-compliance with Directive 83/189 has not entirely endeared itself to academic opinion, and the judgments in Canal Satelite Digital and Sapod Audic help illustrate why. But the latter decision also suggests that the Court is becoming more sensitive to the legitimate concerns raised against its recent jurisprudence – even if the solution currently on offer remains far from convincing.