11 It is true that the effect of the national provision referred to in paragraph 4 above is to subject traders to different procedural rules according to whether they supply goods within the Member State concerned or export them to other Member States. However, as the French and Austrian Governments have rightly pointed out, the possibility that nationals would therefore hesitate to sell goods to purchasers established in other Member States is too uncertain and indirect for that national provision to be regarded as liable to hinder trade between Member States (see, in a different context, Case C-69/88 Krantz v Ontvanger der Directe Belastingen [1990] ECR I-583, paragraph 11, Case C-339/89 Alsthom Atlantique v Sulzer [1991] ECR I-107, paragraphs 14 and 15, and Case C-93/92 CMC Motorradcenter v Baskiciogullari [1993] ECR I-5009, paragraph 12).

39 As the Court has consistently held (see, in particular, the judgment in Case C-339/89 Alsthom Atlantique v Compagnie de Construction Mécanique [1991] ECR I-107), Article 2 of the Treaty, referred to in the ninth and tenth preliminary questions, describes the task of the European Economic Community. The aims stated in that provision are concerned with the existence and functioning of the Community and are to be achieved through the establishment of a common market and the progressive approximation of the economic policies of Member States.

46      With regard to Articles 2 EC and 4(1) EC, suffice it to state that, according to settled case‑law, those provisions set out general objectives and principles which are necessarily applied in combination with the respective chapters of the EC Treaty intended to give effect to those principles and objectives. They cannot therefore in themselves have the effect of creating for Member States clear and unconditional legal obligations (see, to that effect, concerning Article 2 EC, Case C‑339/89 Alsthom Atlantique [1991] ECR I‑107, paragraph 9, and, with regard to Article 4(1) EC, Case C‑9/99 Échirolles Distribution [2000] ECR I‑8207, paragraph 25).

14 As the Court has consistently held (see, most recently, the judgment in Case C-9/89 Spain v Council [1990] ECR 1383, at paragraph 21), Article 34 of the Treaty concerns only those measures which have as their specific object or effect the restriction of patterns of exports and thereby the establishment of a difference in treatment between the domestic trade of a Member State and its export trade in such a way as to provide a particular advantage for national production or for its domestic market at the expense of the production or of the trade of other Member States.