Casis de Dijon case

Fact

The case concerned the sale of "cassis de Dijon" (a type of crème de cassis) in Germany by an importer and retailer (Rewe). Crème de cassis is a blackcurrant liqueur produced in France containing 15% to 20% alcohol by volume. The German government had a law stipulating that products sold as fruit liqueur had to contain at least 25% alcohol by volume. Therefore, the Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein (a section of the German Federal Ministry of Finance) told Rewe that the cassis de Dijon might be imported: on the other hand, it advised the importer that its marketing wasn't allowed in Germany. The importer argued that this represented a quantitative restriction on trade in breach of article 34 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union.

Judgement

The ECJ held that the German legislation represented a measure having an effect equivalent to a quantitative restriction on imports and was thus in breach of article 28 of the Treaty:

“ The concept of measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions on imports contained in article 30 [now 34 TFEU (former article 28 EC)] of the EEC treaty is to be understood to mean that the fixing of a minimum alcohol content for alcoholic beverages intended for human consumption by the legislation of a member state also falls within the prohibition laid down in that provision where the importation of alcoholic beverages lawfully produced and marketed in another member state is concerned. ”
The major outcome of this case is the principle of mutual recognition: the court held that there was no valid reason that a product lawfully marketed in one member state should not be introduced in another member state.

To soften this wide opening of the gates for intra-Community trading, the court went on to provide four mandatory requirements that might be accepted as necessary for restricting trading in addition to the fixed derogations of TFEU 36 of the Lisbon Treaty:

“ ...the effectiveness of fiscal supervision, the protection of public health, the fairness of commercial transactions, and the defense of the consumer. ”