Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2002:422
Date: 2002-07-04
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Competition;Agreements, decisions and concerted practices;Telecommunications
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Luxembourg

Summary of the Judgment 
Acts of the institutions — Directives — Implementation by the Member States — Need 
for clear and precise transposition — Directive 90/388 on competition in the markets for 
telecommunications services — Member States' obligation to designate clearly the 
competent authority for the grant of rights of way for the provision of networks and to 
establish transparent administrative procedures 
(Art. 249 EC, third para.; Commission Directive 90/388, Art. 4d) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-97/01 
In respect of the transposition of a directive 
into the legal order of a Member State, it is 
essential that the national legislation in 
question effectively ensures that the direc­
tive is fully applied, that the legal position 
under national law is sufficiently precise 
and clear and that individuals are made 
fully aware of their rights. 
In particular, in relation to the designation 
of the authority competent to implement 
the directive, even if the Member States are 
free to delegate powers to their domestic 
authorities as they consider fit and to 
implement directives by means of measures 
adopted by various authorities, the fact 
remains that individuals must be made fully 
aware of their rights. 
Thus, as regards the effective transposition 
of the first subparagraph of Article 4d of 
Directive 90/388 on competition in the 
markets for telecommunications services, 
as amended by Directive 96/19, under 
which Member States are not to discrimi­
nate between providers of public telecom­
munications networks with regard to the 
granting of rights of way for the provision 
of such networks, the competent national 
authority for the grant of such rights must 
be clearly designated and transparent 
administrative procedures must be estab­
lished to implement them. Lack of trans­
parency is capable of discouraging under­
takings wishing to provide public telecom­
munications networks from making appli­
cations for rights of way. 
(see paras 32, 36-37, 39) 
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