''Eugen Schmidberger, Internationale Transporte und Planzüge v Austria'' (2003) C-112/00 is an
EU law case, concerning the
free movement of goods in the European Union.
Facts
Schmidberger, who ran a trucking company, claimed damages for loss caused by a protest group that had prevented it taking goods to Austria by lorry.
Transitforum Austria Tirol The Transitforum Austria Tirol is an Austrian all-party non-governmental organization, which advocates for a reduction of international through traffic on Austrian roads, for environmental, economic, and medical reasons. The initiative is primarily ...
organised a demonstration to block the
Brenner Autobahn
The Brenner Autobahn ( it, Autostrada del Brennero or it, AutoBrennero, en, Brenner motorway) refers to a major European truck route that connects Innsbruck in Austria to Verona in northern Italy.
Numbered as the A13 in the Austrian section, th ...
, A13, a transit between Northern Europe and Italy. It did so for 30 hours, in protest against the environment and health problems from the increase in movement of heavy goods on the motorway.
Judgment
The
Court of Justice held that Austria's failure to ban the demonstration infringed article 34 and 35
TFEU
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously known as the Treaty Establishi ...
, and TEU art 4(3). However this was justified by the fundamental right of demonstrators to freedom of expression and assembly under the
ECHR, national constitution and principles that were an integral part of EU law. Human rights were a fundamental principle in EU law, and free expression and association among the 'fundamental pillars of a democratic society'. They could only be restricted if 'the restrictions in fact correspond to objectives of general interest and do not, taking account of the aim of the restrictions, constitute disproportionate and unacceptable interference, impairing the very substance of the rights guaranteed.’
See also
*
European Union law
European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...
References
{{reflist, 2
European Union goods case law
2003 in case law
2003 in Austria
Road transport in Austria