Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2008:344
Date: 2008-06-12
Language of the case: Lithuanian
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Energy;Right of establishment;Approximation of laws;Freedom to provide services
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Lithuania

Summary of the Judgment Approximation of laws – Measures for the establishment and proper functioning of the internal market in electricity – Directive 2003/54 – Third-party access to electricity transmission and distribution systems (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/54, Art. 20) Article 20 of Directive 2003/54 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92 is to be interpreted as defining the Member States’ obligations only in respect of the access and not the connection of third parties to the electricity transmission and distribution systems and as not laying down that the system of network access that the Member States are required to establish must allow an eligible customer to choose, at his discretion, the type of system to which he wishes to connect. Article 20 must also be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which lays down that an eligible customer’s equipment may be connected to a transmission system only where the distribution system operator refuses, on account of established technical or operating requirements, to connect to its system the equipment of the eligible customer which is on the territory included in its licence. It is, however, for national courts to verify that the implementation and application of that access system takes place in accordance with criteria which are objective and do not discriminate between the users of the transmission and distribution systems. (see para. 49, operative part)