TV10 SA contra Commissariaat voor de Media.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:1994:362
• Date: 05 October 1994
• Celex Number: 61993CJ0023
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Docket Number: C-23/93

Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 5 October 1994. - TV10 SA v Commissariaat voor de Media. - Reference for a preliminary ruling: Raad van State - Netherlands. - Freedom to provide services - National legislation designed to maintain a pluralist, non-commercial broadcasting network. - Case C-23/93.

European Court reports 1994 Page I-04795
Swedish special edition Page I-00159
Finnish special edition Page I-00161

Summary Parties Grounds Decision on costs Operative part

Keywords

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1. Freedom to provide services ° Provisions of the Treaty ° Matters covered ° Cable broadcasting of television programmes supplied by an undertaking established in another Member State ° Included regardless of the aim pursued by broadcasting from abroad

(EEC Treaty, Arts 59 and 60)

2. Freedom to provide services ° Restrictions aimed at providers of services seeking only to avoid compliance with the relevant rules ° Permissible

(EEC Treaty, Arts 59 and 60)

Summary

1. The concept of "provision of services" referred to in Articles 59 and 60 of the Treaty covers the transmission, via cable network operators established in one Member State, of television programmes supplied by a broadcasting body established in another Member State, even if that body established itself there in order to avoid the legislation applicable in the receiving State to domestic broadcasters.

2. A Member State cannot be denied the right to take measures to prevent the exercise by a person providing services whose activity is wholly or principally directed towards its territory of the freedoms guaranteed by the Treaty for the purpose of avoiding the rules which would be applicable to him if he were established within that State.

The Treaty provisions on freedom to provide services cannot therefore be interpreted as precluding a Member State from treating as a domestic broadcaster a broadcasting body constituted under the law of another Member State and established in that State but whose activities are wholly or principally directed towards the territory of the first Member State, if that broadcasting body was established there in order to avoid the rules adopted by the first Member State as part of a cultural policy intended to establish a pluralist and non-commercial radio and television broadcasting system.

Parties

In Case C-23/93,

REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by the Afdeling Rechtspraak of the Netherlands Raad van State for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

TV10 SA

and

Commissariaat voor de Media,

on the interpretation of the provisions of the EEC Treaty on the provision of services,

THE COURT (Fifth Chamber),

composed of: J.C. Moitinho de Almeida, President of the Chamber, R. Joliet (Rapporteur), G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias, F. Grévisse and M. Zuleeg, Judges,

Advocate General: C.O. Lenz,

Registrar: L. Hewlett, Administrator,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

° TV10 SA, by M. van Empel and A.J.H.W.M. Versteeg, of the Amsterdam Bar,

° the Commissariaat voor de Media, by G.H.L. Weesing, of the Amsterdam Bar,

° the German Government, by E. Roeder, Ministerialrat in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, acting as Agent,

° the French Government, by P. Pouzoulet, Deputy Director in the Legal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and J.-L. Falconi, Foreign Affairs Secretary in the Legal Affairs Directorate of that Ministry, acting as Agents,

° the Netherlands Government, by A. Bos, Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent,

° the Commission of the European Communities, by H. Etienne, Principal Legal Adviser, and P. Van Nuffel, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of TV10 SA, the Commissariaat voor de Media, the French Government, the Netherlands Government, represented by J.W. De Zwaan, Assistant Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, and the Commission at the hearing on 14 April 1994,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 16 June 1994,

gives the following

Judgment

Grounds

1 By order of 11 May 1992, received at the Court on 26 January 1993, the Afdeling Rechtspraak (Administrative Appeals Section) of the Netherlands Raad van State (Council of State) referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty two questions on the interpretation of the Treaty provisions on the freedom to provide services, in order to assess the compatibility with Community law of rules of a Member State restricting the activities of broadcasters established in other Member States.

2 Those questions were raised in proceedings between TV10...