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C-249/81. The Irish government set up an organization to run a campaign to advertise and promote the purchase of Irish products. The question for the ECJ was whether this campaign constituted a measure having equivalent effect to a quota (see abolition of quantitative restrictions), in breach of Art. 28.

It was held that it did, even though the campaign was aimed at increasing the consumption of domestic products, and not restricting imports. Since, it was reasoned, there was only a market of a particular size for a particular product, encoraging consumption of domestic products would have the practical effect of restricting importation. The fact that the campaign was not implemented by any legally binding measures, or conducted directly by the state, was relevant only to the campaign's form, not to its substance. The campaign was therefore unlawful.

As an aside, the campaign actually failed -- consumption of domestically-produced goods actually fell by 6% during the campaign period. [[Category:UK