Cassis de Dijon case
- Court of Justice (Photo: Court of Justice)
Important EU Court verdict from 1979 stating that as a general rule, products in one EU country are also legal in other EU countries (case 120/78). The verdict forced the Member States to agree on common standards to which they would otherwise not have agreed.
Cassis is a French liqueur with an alcohol level of 16%. Germany would not allow it to be sold as “liqueur” under German law which states that the minimum percentage of alcohol should be 25%.
The verdict paved the way for decisions by qualified majority under the so-called Internal Market, introduced by the Single European Act in 1987.