Page 156 - Секретаријат за законодавство

Transposition of case law of the Court of Justice
Case law of the Court of Justice plays a signiÞcant part in the elabo-
ration of the EU legal system, and a number of areas are regulated not
just by traditional binding legal instruments, but rather by the Court’s
rulings through which the EU legislation is interpreted.

The Court gives rulings in interpreting EU law, enforcing EU law and
annulling EU legal acts and they have to be taken into account when
transposing EU Acquis or they may require amendments of the nation-
al law transposing EU Acquis if it is applied contrary to the judgment
of the Court. Croatian line institutions with expert assistance from
MFEA follow the developments of the jurisprudence of the Court and
must take implementing measures in line with it. Also in the State-
ment of Compatibility it is always necessary to make a reference to the
Court judgments which have been taken into account in the transposi-
tion of EU secondary legislation.
As an example we can refer to the Test-Achats case (C-236/9) regarding
the Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing
the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access
to and supply of goods and services (Gender Directive). This is a direc-
tive which prohibits both direct and indirect sexual discrimination in the
provision of goods and services in the European Union.

As originally enacted Article 5(2) of the directive allowed Member States
to permit sexual discrimination in the provision of insurance services.
The Test-Achats case was a preliminary reference case made in proceed-
ings brought by the Belgian Consumer Association Test-Achats ASBL,
Mr van Vugt and Mr Basselier against the Council of Ministers of the
Kingdom of Belgium for annulment of the Law regarding the treatment
of gender in insurance matters, which was in line with this exemption
provided in the Directive. The Court of Justice invalidated this provision
on the basis that it potentially permitted the indeÞnite continuance of
discrimination in the provision of insurance contrary to Articles 21 and
23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Court judgment also stated
that this provision of EU Directive (2004/113/EC) currently permitting
such practices should cease to have effect from 21 December 2012.

In Croatia the Directive 2004/113/EC was transposed in the Law on

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