Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2012:690
Date: 2012-11-08
Language of the case: Greek
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Subject matter: Transport
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Greece

Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 8 November 2012 — Commission v Greece (Case C‑528/10) Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Transport — Development of the Community’s railways — Directive 2001/14/EC — Articles 6(2) to (5) and 11 — Railway infrastructure capacity and charges levied for the use of railway infrastructure — Regulatory body — 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. 26) 2. Transport — Rail transport — Directive 2001/14 — Enforcement — Failure to fulfil obligations — National system pleaded as justification — Not permissible (Art. 258 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Directive 2001/14, Arts 6(2) to (5), 11 and 30(1), (4) and (5)) (see paras 27-30) Re: Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement of Articles 6(2) to (5) and 11 of Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (OJ 2001 L 75, p. 29). Operative part The Court: 1. Declares that, by failing to adopt, within the prescribed period, the necessary measures, inter alia so far as concerns the units in which charges are levied for the use of infrastructure in the railways sector, to which Articles 6(2) to (5) and 11 of Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification, as amended by Directive 2007/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007, relate, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under those articles; 2. Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs; 3. Orders the Czech Republic and the Italian Republic to bear their own costs.