Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:489
Date: 2000-09-21
Language of the case: Italian
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Telecommunications
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment 
Member States — Obligations — Implementation of directives — Failure — 
justification — Not permissible 
(Art. 226 EC) 
A Member State may not plead provisions, 
practices or circumstances existing in its 
internal legal system in order to justify a 
failure to comply with the obligations and 
time-limits laid down in a directive. 
(see para. 10) 
I - 11167