Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1998:334
Date: 1998-07-02
Language of the case: Italian
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Right of establishment;Freedom to provide services
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment
1. Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Freedom to provide services
— Doctors — Acquisition of specialist qualifications — Obligation to provide remuneration
during training only in the case of medical specialties common to all Member States or to two
or more Member States and listed in Articles 5 or 7 of Directive 75/362
(Council Directives 75/362, Arts 5 and 7, 75/363, Art. 2(1)(c), and 82/76)
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SUMMARY — CASE C-131/97
2. Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Freedom to provide services
— Doctors — Acquisition of specialist qualifications — Obligation to provide remuneration
during training — Whether directly effective — No direct effect — Obligations of national
courts
(Council Directives 75/363, Art. 2(1)(c) and Annex, point 1, and 82/76)
3. Community law — Rights conferred on individuals — Breach by a Member State of the
obligation to implement a directive — Obligation to make good the damage caused to indi­
viduals — Scope — Retroactive application in full of the measures implementing the directive
— Sufficient reparation — Conditions
1. The obligation to provide appropriate
remuneration for periods of training in
specialised medicine — laid down in Article
2(1)(c) of Directive 75/363 concerning the
coordination of provisions laid down by
law, regulation or administrative action in
respect of activities of doctors and in point
1 of the Annex thereto — applies only to
medical specialties common to all Member
States or to two or more Member States
and listed in Articles 5 or 7 of Directive
75/362 concerning the mutual recognition
of diplomas, certificates and other evi­
dence of formal qualifications in medicine,
including measures to facilitate effective
exercise of the right of establishment and
freedom to provide services, as amended
by Directive 82/76.
2. The obligation to provide appropriate
remuneration during periods of training in
specialised medicine — laid down in Article
2(1)(c) of Directive 75/363 concerning the
coordination of provisions laid down by
law, regulation or administrative action in
respect of activities of doctors and in point
1 of the Annex thereto, as amended by
Directive 82/76 — is unconditional and
sufficiently precise in so far as it requires,
for a medical specialist to be able to ben­
efit from the system of mutual recognition
established by Directive 75/362 concerning
the mutual recognition of diplomas, cer­
tificates and other evidence of formal quali­
fications in medicine, including measures
to facilitate effective exercise of the right
of establishment and freedom to provide
services, as amended by Directive 82/76,
that, where his training is full-time in
accordance with the requirements of the
directives, it must be remunerated. That
obligation in itself does not, however,
enable the national court to determine
which body is liable to pay the appro­
priate remuneration or the level thereof.
The national court is required, however,
when it applies provisions of national law
adopted either before or after a directive,
to interpret them as far as possible in the
light of the wording and the purpose of
that directive.
3. Retroactive application in full of the mea-
st. res implementing a directive enables the
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CARBONARI AND OTHERS v UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI BOLOGNA AND OTHERS
harmful consequences of belated transpo­
sition to be remedied, provided that the
directive has been properly transposed.
However, it is for the national court to
ensure that reparation of the loss or damage
sustained by the beneficiaries is adequate.
Retroactive and proper application in full
of the measures implementing the direc­
tive will suffice for that purpose unless the
beneficiaries establish the existence of com­
plementary loss sustained on account of
the fact that they were unable to benefit at
the appropriate time from the financial
advantages guaranteed by the directive
with the result that such loss must also be
made good.
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