Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2018:813
Date: 2018-10-04
Language of the case: Spanish
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Subject matter: Approximation of laws
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Spain

Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 4 October 2018 – Commission v Spain (Case C‑599/17) (1) (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Implementing Directive (EU) 2015/2392 — Reporting to competent authorities of actual or potential infringements of the market abuse regulation — Failure to communicate or failure to transpose within the prescribed period) 1. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations — Examination of the merits by the Court — Situation to be taken into consideration — Situation on expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion (Art. 258 TFEU) (see para. 14) 2. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Implementation by Member States — Need for clear and precise transposition — Directive intended to create rights for individuals — Publication, in the national official journal, of a resolution of the competent authority without providing further information as to its legal value — Not permissible (Art. 288, third para., TFEU; Commission Directive 2015/2392) (see paras 19, 20) 3. Acts of the institutions — Directives — Implementation by Member States — Transposition of a directive without legislative action — Not permissible in the case of an express requirement that reference be made to a directive (Art. 288, third para., TFEU; Commission Directive 2015/2392, Art. 13) (see para. 21) 4. Member States — Obligations — Failure to fulfil obligations — National system pleaded as justification — Not permissible/unlawful (Art. 258 TFEU) (see para. 23) Operative part The Court: 1. Declares that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Commission Implementing Directive (EU) 2015/2392 of 17 December 2015 on Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards reporting to competent authorities of actual or potential infringements of that regulation, and by failing to communicate to the European Commission the text of the provisions adopted to transpose that implementing directive, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under that implementing directive, in particular under the first paragraph of Article 13 thereof; 2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs. 1 OJ C 5, 8.1.2018.