Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1997:251
Date: 1997-05-27
Language of the case: Spanish
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (1957)
Subject matter: Health and safety;Euratom matters
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: Spain

Summary of the Judgmen t 
1. Failure to fulfil obligations — Consideration of the merits by the Court of Justice — Relevant 
situation — Situation at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion 
(Euratom Treaty, Art. 141) 
2. EAEC — Health protection — Radiation protection of persons undergoing medical examina­
tion or medical treatment — Directive 84/466 — Implementation not complete 
(Council Directive 84/466/Euratom, Arts 3, 4 and 5) 
1. In the context of an action under Article 
141 of the Euratom Treaty, the question 
whether a Member State has failed to ful­
fil its obligations must be determined by 
reference to the situation in the Member 
State as it stood at the end of the period 
laid down in the reasoned opinion and 
the Court cannot take account of any 
subsequent changes. 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-21/96 
2. A Member State which: 
— fails to establish criteria of acceptability 
for radiological installations and nuclear 
medical installations and to have those 
installations rectified when defective or 
taken out of service where they no longer 
meet the criteria specified; 
— instead of limiting the number of instal­
lations and regulating their siting, merely 
conducts a survey of the installations 
together with a scheme of distribution 
with no legally binding force; 
— instead of making a qualified expert in 
radiophysics available to sophisticated 
departments of radiotherapy and nuclear 
medicine, merely provides, by measures 
that are not in the nature of regulations, 
for notices of competitions with a view to 
the training of such personnel; 
— does not fully implement Directive 
84/466 laying down basic measures for 
the radiation protection of persons under­
going medical examination or treatment 
and, consequently, fails to fulfil its obliga­
tions under the Euratom Treaty. 
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