ABSTRACT

It follows from those considerations that this argument must be rejected as being incompatible with the operation of the Common Market and with the aims of the Treaty.

24 As the court held in another context in its judgment of 31 October 1974 in Case 15/74 Centrafarm BV and Adriaan De Peijper v Sterling Drug Inc [1974] ECR 1147, the existence of a disparity between national laws which is capable of distorting competition between Member States cannot justify a Member State’s giving legal protection to practices of a private body which are incompatible with the rules concerning free movement of goods.