'Limited and temporary benefit' to come from ruling in veterinary medicine language case

The ruling this week by the European Court of Justice that veterinary medicines in Ireland should be labelled both in the Irish and English language will have “only a limited and temporary benefit”.

On St. Patrick’s Day, the court gave its first judgement in Irish – with it determining that Ireland’s legislation on the labelling and package leaflet of veterinary medicinal products “did not comply with the language requirements” set out in Directive 2001/82/EC and, therefore, infringed Article 288 TFEU.

The applicant, a native Irish speaker from a Gaeltacht village in Co. Galway, had brought a complaint that the information accompanying veterinary medicinal products is solely in English and not in both official languages of the state – Irish and English.

He speaks Irish at home and at work, and conducts all his official business as gaeilge as far as the resources are available to allow for him to do so. He has a pet dog, so he requires veterinary medicinal products.

‘Failure to transpose the directive’

In 2016, the applicant went to the High Court seeking leave to take a judicial review regarding what he claimed was the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s “failure to transpose the directive correctly in respect of its language requirements”.

That leave was granted and the case was heard in the court in the summer of 2018.

The applicant sought relief “arising from the failure of the minister and the state to transpose the directive”, this relief being a declaration that Irish law must ensure that the “appropriate particulars on the package leaflets and packaging in question” are placed on veterinary medicinal products on the market in both Irish and English, and that both are given equal priority in terms of font size and clarity.

In 2019, the High Court decided to refer this case to European Court of Justice.

‘Could entail serious consequences for animal health’

Despite this week’s ruling, the court noted that Regulation 2019/6, which is to apply from January 28, 2022, allows for information which must appear on the outer packaging, inner packaging and the package leaflet for veterinary medicinal products to be provided in the Irish or the English language.

The court, therefore, took the view that the applicant “would obtain only a limited and temporary benefit from any amendment to Irish law in order to comply with the directive, while the suppliers and distributors of veterinary medicinal products would be faced with difficulties that could entail serious consequences for animal health and for the economic and social circumstances in Ireland”.