|
PARALLEL TEXTS
La Corte respinge i ricorsi della Spagna e dell’Italia contro la decisione del Consiglio che autorizza la cooperazione rafforzata nel settore del brevetto unitario
Inglese tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-13-47_en.htm
Italiano tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-13-47_it.htm
Data documento: 16-04-2013
1 |
The Court has dismissed the actions brought by Spain and Italy against the Council’s decision authorising enhanced cooperation in the area of the single European patent
|
La Corte respinge i ricorsi della Spagna e dell’Italia contro la decisione del Consiglio che autorizza la cooperazione rafforzata nel settore del brevetto unitario
|
2 |
In the light of it being impossible for the Member States to agree on a common system for the whole EU within a reasonable period, the contested decision contributes to the process of European integration
|
Alla luce dell’impossibilità per gli Stati membri di pervenire a un regime comune per l’insieme dell’Unione entro un termine ragionevole, la decisione impugnata contribuisce al processo di integrazione europea
|
3 |
Enhanced cooperation is aimed at furthering the objectives of the EU, protecting its interests and reinforcing its integration process.
|
Le cooperazioni rafforzate sono intese a promuovere la realizzazione degli obiettivi dell’Unione, a proteggere i suoi interessi e a rafforzare il suo processo di integrazione.
|
4 |
A decision authorising enhanced cooperation is to be adopted by the Council as a last resort, when it has established that the objectives of such cooperation cannot be attained within a reasonable period by the EU as a whole.
|
La decisione che autorizza una cooperazione rafforzata è adottata dal Consiglio in ultima istanza, qualora esso stabilisca che gli obiettivi da essa perseguiti non possono essere conseguiti entro un termine ragionevole dall’Unione nel suo insieme.
|
5 |
The decision is adopted by the Council on a proposal from the Commission and after obtaining the consent of the Parliament.
|
Essa è adottata dal Consiglio, sulla base di una proposta della Commissione e dopo approvazione del Parlamento.
|
6 |
By a decision adopted in 2011, the Council authorised enhanced cooperation, with a view to creating the single European patent, between 25 Member States (out of the 27 in the EU), Spain and Italy having refused to participate.
|
Con decisione del 2011 , il Consiglio ha autorizzato una cooperazione rafforzata con l’intento di istituire una tutela brevettuale unitaria tra 25 Stati membri (sui 27 dell’Unione), avendo la Spagna e l’Italia rifiutato di parteciparvi.
|
7 |
The aim of that cooperation is also to set up centralised EU-wide authorisation, coordination and supervision arrangements.
|
Tale cooperazione mira altresì ad istituire regimi di autorizzazione, di coordinamento e di controllo centralizzati a livello di Unione.
|
8 |
Spain and Italy requested the Court of Justice to annul the Council’s decision, maintaining that it was invalid for several reasons.
|
La Spagna e l’Italia hanno chiesto alla Corte di giustizia di annullare la decisione del Consiglio, adducendone l’invalidità per molteplici ragioni.
|
9 |
The Court has observed, first of all, that the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) authorises the EU, in the context of the internal market, to create European intellectual property rights.
|
La Corte, nell’odierna sentenza, osserva anzitutto che il Trattato sul funzionamento dell’Unione europea (TFUE) autorizza l’Unione, nell’ambito del mercato interno, a creare titoli europei di proprietà intellettuale.
|
10 |
Furthermore, the competence to adopt the language arrangements for those rights is closely bound up with their creation.
|
Peraltro, la competenza a stabilire i regimi linguistici di detti titoli è strettamente legata alla loro istituzione.
|
11 |
As a result, those competences that fall within the sphere of the functioning of the internal market come within the ambit of competences shared between the EU and the Member States.
|
Di conseguenza, tali competenze, che si situano nell’ambito del funzionamento del mercato interno, rientrano in un settore di competenze concorrenti tra l’Unione e gli Stati membri.
|
12 |
The non-exclusiveness of those competences means that the Council is competent to authorise that enhanced cooperation.
|
Il carattere non esclusivo di tali competenze rende il Consiglio competente ad autorizzare tale cooperazione rafforzata.
|
13 |
In their actions, Spain and Italy claimed that the Council, by authorising that enhanced cooperation, circumvented the requirement of unanimity and brushed aside those two Member States’ objections to the Commission’s proposal on the language arrangements for the single European patent.
|
Nei loro ricorsi, la Spagna e l’Italia addebitano in sostanza al Consiglio di avere eluso, autorizzando la cooperazione rafforzata controversa, il requisito dell’unanimità e di aver eliminato l’opposizione di questi due Stati membri alla proposta della Commissione in merito al regime linguistico del brevetto unitario.
|
14 |
Examining this argument, the Court stressed that nothing forbids the Member States to establish between themselves enhanced cooperation within the ambit of those competences of the EU that must, in accordance with the Treaties, be exercised unanimously.
|
Nell’esaminare tali argomenti, la Corte sottolinea che nulla vieta agli Stati membri di instaurare tra loro una cooperazione rafforzata nell’ambito delle competenze dell’Unione che, secondo i Trattati, devono essere esercitate all’unanimità.
|
15 |
On the contrary, it follows from the TFEU that, when the conditions laid down in the Treaties have been satisfied, those powers may be used in enhanced cooperation and that, in that case, provided that the Council has not decided to act by qualified majority, it is the votes of only those Member States taking part that constitute unanimity.
|
Al contrario, dal TFUE emerge che siffatte competenze si prestano, al ricorrere dei presupposti stabiliti nei Trattati, a una cooperazione rafforzata e che in tal caso – sempre che il Consiglio non abbia deciso che si deliberi a maggioranza qualificata – l’unanimità sarà costituita dai voti dei soli Stati membri partecipanti.
|
16 |
Consequently, the Council’s decision to authorise enhanced cooperation, having found that the single European patent and its language arrangements could not be established by the EU as a whole within a reasonable period, by no means constitutes circumvention of the requirement of unanimity or exclusion of those Member States that did not join in making requests for enhanced cooperation, but rather, having regard to its being impossible to reach common arrangements for the whole EU within a reasonable period, contributes to the process of integration.
|
Ne consegue che la decisione di autorizzare una cooperazione rafforzata, dopo aver constatato che il brevetto unitario ed il suo regime linguistico non potevano essere instaurati entro un termine ragionevole dall’Unione nel suo insieme, non costituisce affatto un’elusione del requisito dell’unanimità né un’esclusione degli Stati membri che non hanno aderito alle richieste di cooperazione rafforzata, ma stante l’impossibilità di pervenire a un regime comune per l’insieme dell’Unione entro un termine ragionevole, contribuisce al processo di integrazione.
|
17 |
Next, the Court considered Spain and Italy’s argument based on the provision of the Treaty on European Union under which the Council may not authorise enhanced cooperation except ‘as a last resort, when it has established that the objectives of such cooperation cannot be attained within a reasonable period by the EU as a whole.
|
La Corte esamina poi l’argomento di Spagna e Italia basato sulla disposizione del Trattato sull’Unione europea secondo cui il Consiglio può autorizzare una cooperazione rafforzata solamente «in ultima istanza, qualora esso stabilisca che gli obiettivi ricercati da detta cooperazione non possono essere conseguiti entro un termine ragionevole dall’Unione nel suo insieme».
|
18 |
In this regard, the Court emphasised that the EU’s interests and the process of integration would, quite clearly, not be protected if all fruitless negotiations could lead to one or more instances of enhanced cooperation, to the detriment of the search for a compromise enabling the adoption of legislation for the EU as a whole.
|
La Corte sottolinea, a tale riguardo, che è evidente che gli interessi dell’Unione ed il processo di integrazione non sarebbero protetti se qualunque negoziato infruttuoso potesse condurre ad una o più cooperazioni rafforzate a scapito della ricerca di un compromesso che consenta di adottare una normativa per l’Unione nel suo insieme.
|
19 |
However, in this case it has been shown that the Council did carefully and impartially ascertain whether the condition of ‘last resort’ had been met.
|
Tuttavia, nella fattispecie risulta che il Consiglio ha verificato con cura e imparzialità la sussistenza del presupposto dell’«ultima istanza».
|
20 |
In this connection the Council took into consideration the fact that the legislative process undertaken with a view to the establishing of a unitary patent at EU level was begun during the year 2000 and carried out in several stages.
|
Esso ha pertinentemente tenuto conto del fatto che l’iter legislativo avviato in vista dell’istituzione di un brevetto unitario a livello dell’Unione ha avuto inizio nel 2000 e ha percorso varie tappe.
|
21 |
It is apparent too that a considerable number of different language arrangements for the unitary patent were discussed among all the Member States within the Council and that none of those arrangements found support capable of leading to the adoption at EU level of a full ‘legislative package’ relating to that patent.
|
Risulta altresì che in sede di Consiglio è stato discusso tra tutti gli Stati membri un numero considerevole di regimi linguistici differenti per il brevetto unitario e che nessuno di detti regimi ha ottenuto un sostegno idoneo a condurre all’adozione, a livello dell’Unione, di un «pacchetto legislativo» completo relativo a detto brevetto.
|
22 |
The Court has held to be unfounded Spain and Italy’s argument that the protection conferred by that unitary patent would not be advantageous in terms of uniformity, and so of integration, compared to the situation created by the operation of the rules laid down by the EPC.
|
La Corte ritiene infine infondata l’argomentazione di Spagna e Italia secondo cui la tutela conferita da tale brevetto unitario non apporterebbe benefici in termini di uniformità, e dunque di integrazione, rispetto alla situazione derivante dall’attuazione delle norme previste dalla CBE .
|
23 |
European patents granted in accordance with the rules of the EPC do not confer uniform protection in the Contracting States to that convention but rather, in every one of those States, guarantee protection whose extent is defined by national law.
|
Infatti, i brevetti europei rilasciati conformemente alle norme della CBE non conferiscono una protezione uniforme negli Stati aderenti a tale convenzione, ma garantiscono, in ciascuno di tali Stati, una tutela la cui portata è definita dal diritto nazionale.
|
24 |
In contrast, the single European patent contemplated by the contested decision would confer uniform protection in the territory of all the Member States taking part in the enhanced cooperation.
|
Il brevetto unitario delineato dalla decisione impugnata conferirebbe invece una tutela uniforme sul territorio di tutti gli Stati membri partecipanti alla cooperazione rafforzata.
|
25 |
Furthermore, contrary to what has been claimed, the contested decision does not damage the internal market or the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the EU.
|
Peraltro, contrariamente a quanto asserito, la decisione impugnata non arreca pregiudizio al mercato interno né alla coesione economica, sociale e territoriale dell’Unione.
|
26 |
What is more, according to the Court, the contested decision does not prejudice any competence, right or obligation of those Member States not participating in this enhanced cooperation.
|
Inoltre, secondo la Corte, essa non lede le competenze, i diritti e gli obblighi degli Stati membri non partecipanti alla cooperazione rafforzata.
|
27 |
While it is, admittedly, essential for enhanced cooperation not to lead to the adoption of measures that might prevent the non-participating Member States from exercising their competences and rights or shouldering their obligations, it is, in contrast, permissible for those taking part in this cooperation to prescribe rules with which those non-participating States would not agree if they did take part in it.
|
Pur essendo certamente essenziale che una cooperazione rafforzata non conduca all’adozione di misure che impediscano agli Stati membri non partecipanti di esercitare le loro competenze ed i loro diritti e di assumere i loro obblighi, gli Stati partecipanti a tale cooperazione sono per contro legittimati a stabilire norme sulle quali gli Stati non partecipanti non concorderebbero in caso di adesione a detta cooperazione.
|
28 |
The prescription of such rules does not, in any case, render ineffective the opportunity for non-participating Member States of joining in the enhanced cooperation in future.
|
D’altronde, l’adozione di norme siffatte non priva gli Stati membri non partecipanti della possibilità di aderire in futuro alla cooperazione rafforzata.
|
29 |
NOTE:
|
IMPORTANTE:
|
30 |
An action for annulment seeks the annulment of acts of the institutions of the European Union that are contrary to European Union law.
|
Il ricorso di annullamento mira a far annullare atti delle istituzioni dell’Unione contrari al diritto dell’Unione.
|
31 |
The Member States, the European institutions and individuals may, under certain conditions, bring an action for annulment before the Court of Justice or the General Court.
|
A determinate condizioni, gli Stati membri, le istituzioni europee e i privati possono investire la Corte di giustizia o il Tribunale di un ricorso di annullamento.
|
32 |
If the action is well founded, the act is annulled.
|
Se il ricorso è fondato, l’atto viene annullato.
|
33 |
The institution concerned must fill any legal vacuum created by the annulment of the act.
|
L’istituzione interessata deve rimediare all’eventuale lacuna giuridica creata dall’annullamento dell’atto.
|
|
LISTEN WITH READSPEAKER
The Court has dismissed the actions brought by Spain and Italy against the
Council’s decision authorising enhanced cooperation in the area of the single
European patent
In the light of it being impossible for the Member States to
agree on a common system for the whole EU within a reasonable period, the
contested decision contributes to the process of European integration
Enhanced cooperation is aimed at furthering the objectives of the EU,
protecting its interests and reinforcing its integration process.
A decision authorising enhanced cooperation is to be adopted by the
Council as a last resort, when it has established that the objectives of such
cooperation cannot be attained within a reasonable period by the EU as a whole.
The decision is adopted by the Council on a proposal from the
Commission and after obtaining the consent of the Parliament.
By a decision adopted in 2011, the Council authorised enhanced
cooperation, with a view to creating the single European patent, between 25
Member States (out of the 27 in the EU), Spain and Italy having refused to
participate.
The aim of that cooperation is also to set up centralised EU-wide
authorisation, coordination and supervision arrangements.
Spain and Italy requested the Court of Justice to annul the Council’s
decision, maintaining that it was invalid for several reasons.
The Court has observed, first of all, that the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) authorises the EU, in the context of
the internal market, to create European intellectual property rights.
Furthermore, the competence to adopt the language arrangements for
those rights is closely bound up with their creation.
As a result, those competences that fall within the sphere of the
functioning of the internal market come within the ambit of competences shared
between the EU and the Member States.
The non-exclusiveness of those competences means that the Council is
competent to authorise that enhanced cooperation.
In their actions, Spain and Italy claimed that the Council, by
authorising that enhanced cooperation, circumvented the requirement of unanimity
and brushed aside those two Member States’ objections to the Commission’s
proposal on the language arrangements for the single European patent.
Examining this argument, the Court stressed that nothing forbids the
Member States to establish between themselves enhanced cooperation within the
ambit of those competences of the EU that must, in accordance with the Treaties,
be exercised unanimously.
On the contrary, it follows from the TFEU that, when the conditions
laid down in the Treaties have been satisfied, those powers may be used in
enhanced cooperation and that, in that case, provided that the Council has not
decided to act by qualified majority, it is the votes of only those Member
States taking part that constitute unanimity.
Consequently, the Council’s decision to authorise enhanced cooperation,
having found that the single European patent and its language arrangements could
not be established by the EU as a whole within a reasonable period, by no means
constitutes circumvention of the requirement of unanimity or exclusion of those
Member States that did not join in making requests for enhanced cooperation, but
rather, having regard to its being impossible to reach common arrangements for
the whole EU within a reasonable period, contributes to the process of
integration.
Next, the Court considered Spain and Italy’s argument based on the
provision of the Treaty on European Union under which the Council may not
authorise enhanced cooperation except ‘as a last resort, when it has established
that the objectives of such cooperation cannot be attained within a reasonable
period by the EU as a whole.
In this regard, the Court emphasised that the EU’s interests and the
process of integration would, quite clearly, not be protected if all fruitless
negotiations could lead to one or more instances of enhanced cooperation, to the
detriment of the search for a compromise enabling the adoption of legislation
for the EU as a whole.
However, in this case it has been shown that the Council did carefully
and impartially ascertain whether the condition of ‘last resort’ had been met.
In this connection the Council took into consideration the fact that the
legislative process undertaken with a view to the establishing of a unitary
patent at EU level was begun during the year 2000 and carried out in several
stages.
It is apparent too that a considerable number of different language
arrangements for the unitary patent were discussed among all the Member States
within the Council and that none of those arrangements found support capable of
leading to the adoption at EU level of a full ‘legislative package’ relating to
that patent.
The Court has held to be unfounded Spain and Italy’s argument that the
protection conferred by that unitary patent would not be advantageous in terms
of uniformity, and so of integration, compared to the situation created by the
operation of the rules laid down by the EPC.
European patents granted in accordance with the rules of the EPC do not
confer uniform protection in the Contracting States to that convention but
rather, in every one of those States, guarantee protection whose extent is
defined by national law.
In contrast, the single European patent contemplated by the contested
decision would confer uniform protection in the territory of all the Member
States taking part in the enhanced cooperation.
Furthermore, contrary to what has been claimed, the contested decision
does not damage the internal market or the economic, social and territorial
cohesion of the EU.
What is more, according to the Court, the contested decision does not
prejudice any competence, right or obligation of those Member States not
participating in this enhanced cooperation.
While it is, admittedly, essential for enhanced cooperation not to lead
to the adoption of measures that might prevent the non-participating Member
States from exercising their competences and rights or shouldering their
obligations, it is, in contrast, permissible for those taking part in this
cooperation to prescribe rules with which those non-participating States would
not agree if they did take part in it.
The prescription of such rules does not, in any case, render
ineffective the opportunity for non-participating Member States of joining in
the enhanced cooperation in future.
NOTE:
An action for annulment seeks the annulment of acts of the institutions
of the European Union that are contrary to European Union law.
The Member States, the European institutions and individuals may, under
certain conditions, bring an action for annulment before the Court of Justice or
the General Court.
If the action is well founded, the act is annulled.
The institution concerned must fill any legal vacuum created by the
annulment of the act.
|