Rewe-Zentral AG v Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein

Cassis de Dijon
Submitted 22 May 1978
Decided 20 February 1979
Full case nameRewe-Zentral AG v Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein
CaseC-120/78
CelexID61978CJ0120
ECLIECLI:EU:C:1979:42
Language of proceedingsGerman
Court composition
Judge-Rapporteur
Pierre Pescatore
President
Hans Kutscher
Judges
Advocate General
Francesco Capotorti
Legislation affecting
Art 34 TFEU
Keywords
Quantitative restriction on trade, Measures of equivalent effect

Rewe-Zentral AG v Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein (1979) Case C-120/78, popularly known as Cassis de Dijon after its subject matter, is an EU law decision of the European Court of Justice. The case is a seminal judicial interpretation of article 34 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It established the EU principle of mutual recognition for goods.

The Court held that a regulation applying to both imported and to domestic goods (an "indistinctly applicable measure") that produces an effect equivalent to a quantitative import restriction is an unlawful restriction on the free movement of goods.

In the same ruling, the Court established the so-called rule of reason, allowing non-discriminatory restrictive measures to be justified on grounds other than those listed in article 36 TFEU.