''Eugen Schmidberger, Internationale Transporte und Planzüge v Austria'' (2003) C-112/00 is an

EU law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

case, concerning the

free movement of goods The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, L ...

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 organised a demonstration to block the Brenner Autobahn, 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 Establish ...

, 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.’

References

{{reflist, 2 European Union goods case law 2003 in case law 2003 in Austria Road transport in Austria

Facts

Judgment

See also

References