Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2017:816
Date: 2017-10-26
Language of the case: Bulgarian
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Subject matter: Energy;Right of establishment;Approximation of laws;Freedom to provide services
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling;Reference for a preliminary ruling - inadmissible
Origin: Bulgaria

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber), 26 October 2017 1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Admissibility — Limits — Clearly irrelevant questions and hypothetical questions put in a context not permitting a useful answer — Need to provide the Court with sufficient information on the factual and legislative context (Art. 267 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 23; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 94) 2. Approximation of laws — Measures of approximation — Common rules for the internal market in electricity — Directive 2009/72 — Operation of the transmission system — Certification and designation of an operator — National legislation limiting the number of holders of electricity transmission licences for a Member State — Lawfulness (European Parliament and Council Directive 2009/72, Arts 9, 10, 13 and 14; European Parliament and Council Regulations No 714/2009, Art. 3, and No 1227/2011, recital 3 and Art. 2(3); Commission Regulation No 2015/1222, Art 1(3)) 3. Competition — EU rules — Obligations of the Member States — Legislation intended to reinforce the effects of pre-existing agreements, decisions and concerted practices — Concept (Art. 4(3) TEU; Arts 101 and 102 TFEU) 4. Competition — Public undertakings and undertakings enjoying special or exclusive rights granted by the Member States — Creation of a dominant position — Not incompatible in itself with Article 102 TFEU (Arts 102 TFEU and 106(1) TFEU) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 30, 31, 56-59) 2. Articles 9, 10, 13 and 14 of Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC, Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003, Article 2(3) in conjunction with recital 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency, and Article 1(3) of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1222 of 24 July 2015 establishing a guideline on capacity allocation and congestion management do not preclude, in circumstances such as those of the main proceedings, national legislation limiting the number of holders of electricity transmission licences for a particular territory. (see para. 50, operative part) 3. See the text of the decision. (see paras 52, 53) 4. See the text of the decision. (see para. 54)