Die Warenverkehrsfreiheit zwischen unbeschränktem Marktzugang und mitgliedstaatlicher Autonomie

This work provides a comprehensive analysis of the question as to whether the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has developed jurisprudence relating to the scope and limits of fundamental freedoms within the European Union, and if so, what that jurisprudence might be. There exist numerous critical commentaries on the jurisprudence of the ECJ in the area of fundamental freedoms, and, in particular, on the free movement of goods. Attempts at analysing how the ECJ examines these issues are, however, rare. This is where this work plays an important role. It examines the court’s jurisprudence chronologically in order to highlight the interplay between legal, political and social developments in the European Union, the ECJ’s jurisprudence, and academic legal discussion. This is of crucial importance for understanding the ECJ's method of analysis and reasoning. This work uses the example of the ECJ’s jurisprudence on rules restricting the use of products to show how the ECJ has been very reluctant to develop its own jurisprudence on this issue which then demonstrates why it might have taken this position.