2.4.2005   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 82/10

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Landesgericht Korneuburg (Austria) by order of that court of 13 January 2005 in Plato Plastik Robert Frank GmbH v CAROPACK Handels GmbH

(Case C-26/05)

(2005/C 82/21)

Language of the case: German

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by order of the Landesgericht Korneuburg (Regional Court, Korneuburg) (Austria) of 13 January 2005, received at the Court Registry on 27 January 2005, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings between Plato Plastik Robert Frank GmbH and CAROPACK Handels GmbH on the following questions:

1.

Principal question: ‘For the purposes of European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994, is the producer of sales packaging, grouped packaging or transport packaging, namely the packaging producer, always the party which, in the course of the exercise of its professional activity, brings goods, or has goods brought, directly or indirectly together with the product intended as packaging, and does this also apply to carrier bags? Is the producer (supplier) of products described in the first sentence of Article 3(1), namely products used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, and non-returnable items used for the same purposes, therefore a producer (supplier) of packaging materials (packaging products) and not a producer of sales packaging, grouped packaging or transport packaging (packaging producer; compare the corresponding terms in Article 3(11) of the directive)?’

2.

First additional question, should the principal question be answered in the affirmative: ‘Is the producer of a carrier bag accordingly not a producer of sales packaging, grouped packaging or transport packaging but a producer of packaging materials (packaging products)?’

3.

Second additional question, should the first additional question be answered in the affirmative: ‘Is it contrary to Community law, in particular to the principle of equality, to the prohibition on objectively unjustified restrictions on the freedom to carry on a business and to the prohibition on creating distortions of competition, for the legislation of a Member State to provide, on pain of a penalty, that the producer of packaging materials, particularly of carrier bags, must either accept their return or participate in a collection and recovery system in this regard, unless a party further down the distribution chain takes over that obligation and provides the producer of the packaging materials with a legally valid declaration on the matter?’