## Facts

- The European Commission brought an infringement action against Greece under former Article 169 EEC, alleging breach of Article 30 EEC (free movement of goods).
- Greek legislation reserved the retail sale of processed milk for infants (infant formula) in principle exclusively to pharmacies, subject only to limited exceptions.
- Greece had no domestic production of infant formula; the products were imported from other Member States.
- After the administrative phase (formal notice and reasoned opinion), the Commission filed suit seeking a declaration that the pharmacy-only rule was a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction.

## Issues

1. Whether a national rule reserving the sale of infant formula in principle to pharmacies constitutes a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction under Article 30 EEC.
2. Whether such a rule should instead be treated as a nondiscriminatory “selling arrangement” that falls outside Article 30 when it applies equally in law and in fact.
3. Whether the absence of domestic production affects the Article 30 analysis.

## Decision

- The Court dismissed the Commission’s action.
- The Court held that the Greek rule regulated selling arrangements (the permitted points of sale), not product requirements.
- Because the rule applied to all traders in Greece without distinction and affected domestic and imported products in the same manner in law and in fact, it fell outside Article 30 EEC.
- The Court treated the absence of domestic production as irrelevant to the classification under Article 30.
- Costs were awarded against the Commission as the unsuccessful party.

## Legal Principles

- National provisions restricting or prohibiting certain selling arrangements do not fall within Article 30 EEC if they (1) apply to all affected traders operating in the territory and (2) affect the marketing of domestic and imported products in the same manner in law and in fact.
- Rules determining where goods may be sold (outlet restrictions) may qualify as selling arrangements when they limit traders’ commercial freedom regardless of the goods’ characteristics.
- The lack of domestic production does not, by itself, convert an indistinctly applicable selling arrangement into an Article 30 restriction.

## Conclusion

The Court held that Greece’s pharmacy-only distribution rule for infant formula was an indistinctly applicable selling arrangement that did not hinder intra-EU trade differently for imports, and therefore fell outside Article 30 EEC, defeating the Commission’s infringement claim.


Comm'n v. Hellenic Republic, Case C-391/92, 1995 E.C.R. I-1621 (C.J. 1995)