Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1998:89
Date: 1998-03-05
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Transport
Concepts: Defences
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgmen t 
Member States — Obligations — Implementation of directives — Failure — Justification — Not 
permissible 
(EC Treaty, Art. 169) 
In justifying failure to comply with the obli­
gations and time-limits laid down by a direc­
tive, a Member State may not rely either on 
mere apprehension of internal difficulties or 
the fact that the failure to adopt measures to 
transpose the directive has had no adverse 
consequences on other Member States. 
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