Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke V De Smedt PVBA
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''Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke v De Smedt PVBA'' (1983
Case 261/81
is an
EU 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 val ...
case, concerning the free movement of goods in the European Union.


Facts

A Belgian law required
margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was orig ...
to be marketed in
cube In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. Viewed from a corner it is a hexagon and its net is usually depicted as a cross. The cube is the only r ...
shaped packages, to avoid confusion with butter. This was applied to all kinds, domestic and imports. Walter Rau argued that the law contravened (what is now)
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 ...
article 34.


Judgment

The ECJ held that the measure was not lawful. In principle packaging requirements to prevents consumers being confused would be justified. But it must be ‘also necessary for such rules to be proportionate to the aim in view.’ Case 261/81 Walter Rau Lebensmittelwerke v De Smedt PVBA
983 Year 983 ( CMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Diet of Verona: Emperor Otto II (the Red) declares war against the Byza ...
ECR 3961


See also

* ''
Canadian Federation of Agriculture v Quebec (AG) ''Reference Re Validity of Section 5(a) of the Dairy Industry Act'' (1949), also known as the ''Margarine Reference'' or as ''Canadian Federation of Agriculture v Quebec (AG)'', is a leading ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada, upheld on appeal ...
'': Canadian case on banning margarine * ''
McCray v. United States ''McCray v. United States'', 195 U.S. 27 (1904), was a 1904 case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that greenlighted the use of the federal Taxing and Spending Clause, taxing power for regulatory purposes. The Court upheld by a 63 ...
'': US case on margarine food coloring *
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 ...


Notes


References

* European Union goods case law 1983 in case law 1983 in Belgium Food law Margarine Food packaging {{Case-law-stub