substance (ureaformaldehyde) from Germany into the Netherlands. According to the then
valid Dutch law, this import was to be charged with an import duty. On 20 September 1960
Van Gend & Loos lodged an objection with the Inspector of Customs and Excise against the
application of this duty in the present case. To this purpose, the company invoked the
precursor of the present Article 28 TFEU. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided that
the duty could not be applied.“Other Measures” Another approach to facilitate the free movement of goods is
to ban other measures that may hamper this movement. Such measures may, for
instance, concern the specific characteristics of a good that tend to differ from one
country to another.
Cassis de Dyon (CJEU Case C-120/78)
The German firm Rewe-Zentral AG wanted to import a fruit liqueur from France, which
was named “Cassis de Dyon”. The firm applied to the Bundesmonopolverwaltung fu ̈r
Branntwein (a section of the German Federal Ministry of Finance) for a permit to import
this liqueur, but the permit was refused. The reason for the refusal was that the marketing of
fruit liqueurs such as Cassis de Dijon is conditional upon a minimum alcohol content of
25 % in Germany, whereas the alcohol content of the product in question, which is freely
marketed in France, is between 15 and 20 %. According to the CJEU this was not allowed
because it violated the precursor of the present Article 34 TFEU.
The CJEU has decided that all trading rules enacted by Member States of the EU
that are capable of hindering trade within the Union are to be considered as
measures that have an effect that is equivalent to quantitative restrictions. This
means that the scope of Article 34 TFEU is much broader than the formulation
(quantitative restrictions) suggests.
10.5.3 Free Movement of Persons
For economic integration between different countries, a single internal market for
goods is required, but it is also important that persons can freely move from one
country to the other and are allowed to provide services in another country than
where they originally came from. The free movement of persons and of services is
meant to safeguard these possibilities within the Union. The core provisions of the
TFEU that deal with the free movement of persons are as follows:
Article 44 TFEU:- Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Union.
- Such freedom of movement shall entail the abolition of any discrimination based on
nationality between workers of the Member States as regards employment, remunera-
tion and other conditions of work and employment...
Article 49 TFEU:
Within the framework of the provisions set out below, restrictions on the freedom of
establishment of nationals of a Member State in the territory of another Member State
shall be prohibited. Such prohibition shall also apply to restrictions on the setting-up of
224 J. Hage