# C_2008301EN.01000802.xml

| 22.11.2008 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 301/8 |
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22.11.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 301/8

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Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 9 October 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas (Republic of Lithuania)) — Proceedings for review of the constitutionality of legislation brought by Julius Sabatauskas and Others

(Case C-239/07) (1)

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(Internal market in electricity - Directive 2003/54/EC - Article 20 - Transmission and distribution systems - Third party access - Obligations of Member States - Open access of third parties to electricity transmission and distribution systems)

(2008/C 301/15)

Language of the case: Lithuanian

Referring court

Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas

Parties in the main proceedings

Julius Sabatauskas and Others

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Lietuvos respublikos konstitucinis teismas — Interpretation of Article 20 of Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC — Statements made with regards to decommissioning and waste management activities (OJ 2003 L 176, p. 37) — Compatibility with the directive of national legislation permitting consumers to have access to the electricity transmission system only after refusal by the distribution system operator to grant access to a distribution system.

Operative part of the judgment

| 1. | Article 20 of Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC is to be interpreted as defining the Member States' obligations only in respect of the access and not the connection of third parties to the electricity transmission and distribution systems and as not laying down that the system of network access that the Member States are required to establish must allow an eligible customer to choose, at his discretion, the type of system to which he wishes to connect. |
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1.

Article 20 of Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC is to be interpreted as defining the Member States' obligations only in respect of the access and not the connection of third parties to the electricity transmission and distribution systems and as not laying down that the system of network access that the Member States are required to establish must allow an eligible customer to choose, at his discretion, the type of system to which he wishes to connect.

| 2. | Article 20 must also be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which lays down that an eligible customer's equipment may be connected to a transmission system only where the distribution system operator refuses, on account of established technical or operating requirements, to connect to its system the equipment of the eligible customer which is on the territory included in its licence. It is, however, for national courts to verify that the implementation and application of that access system takes place in accordance with objective and non discriminatory criteria between the users of the transmission and distribution systems. |
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2.

Article 20 must also be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which lays down that an eligible customer's equipment may be connected to a transmission system only where the distribution system operator refuses, on account of established technical or operating requirements, to connect to its system the equipment of the eligible customer which is on the territory included in its licence. It is, however, for national courts to verify that the implementation and application of that access system takes place in accordance with objective and non discriminatory criteria between the users of the transmission and distribution systems.

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(1)  OJ C 170, 21.7.2007.

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