# C_2004300EN.01001902.xml

| 4.12.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 300/19 |
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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(First Chamber)

of 7 October 2004

in Case C-189/03: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of the Netherlands( 1 )

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Freedom to provide services - Restrictions - Private security firms)

(2004/C 300/39)

Language of the case: Dutch

In Case C-189/03: Action under Article 226 EC for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 5 May 2003, Commission of the European Communities (Agents: M. Patakia and W. Wils) v Kingdom of the Netherlands (Agents: H.G. Sevenster, C. Wissels and N.A.J. Bel) — the Court (First Chamber), composed of: P. Jann (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, A. Rosas, S. von Bahr, R. Silva de Lapuerta and K. Lenaerts, Judges; J. Kokott, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 7 October 2004, in which it:

| 1. | Declares that, by adopting, in the framework of the Law on private security firms and detective agencies of 24 October 1997, provisions which require that:
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undertakings that wish to provide services in the Netherlands and their managers must have a permit, without taking into account the obligations to which foreign service providers are already subject in the Member State where they are established, and by charging fees for this permit, and —
members of the staff of these firms seconded from the Member State where they are established to work in the Netherlands have a proof of identity card issued by the Netherlands authorities, in so far as the checks to which cross-frontier providers of services are already subject in their Member State of origin are not taken into account for the requirement in question, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 49 EC; | — | undertakings that wish to provide services in the Netherlands and their managers must have a permit, without taking into account the obligations to which foreign service providers are already subject in the Member State where they are established, and by charging fees for this permit, and | — | members of the staff of these firms seconded from the Member State where they are established to work in the Netherlands have a proof of identity card issued by the Netherlands authorities, in so far as the checks to which cross-frontier providers of services are already subject in their Member State of origin are not taken into account for the requirement in question, |
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| — | undertakings that wish to provide services in the Netherlands and their managers must have a permit, without taking into account the obligations to which foreign service providers are already subject in the Member State where they are established, and by charging fees for this permit, and | | | | |
| — | members of the staff of these firms seconded from the Member State where they are established to work in the Netherlands have a proof of identity card issued by the Netherlands authorities, in so far as the checks to which cross-frontier providers of services are already subject in their Member State of origin are not taken into account for the requirement in question, | | | | |

| 2. | Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay three quarters of the costs of the Commission of the European Communities. For the rest, each party is ordered to bear its own costs. |
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( 1 )  OJ C 158 of 5.7.2003.

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