Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2012:209
Date: 2012-04-18
Language of the case: French
Subject matter: General provisions;Provisions governing the Institutions;Acts of the institutions
Procedure: Action for annulment - successful

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 6 September 2012 1. Acts of the institutions — Choice of legal basis — Criteria — Community measure pursuing a twofold purpose or having a twofold component — Reference to the main or predominant aim or component — Aims or components that are inseparable — Dual legal basis — Limits — Incompatibility of procedures 2. Energy — Notification to the Commission of investment projects in energy infrastructure within the European Union — Regulation No 617/2010 — Choice of legal basis — Articles 337 TFEU and 187 EA — Not permissible — Collection of information incidental to the objectives of the European Union policy on energy — Appropriate legal basis — Article 194 TFEU (Arts 194 TFEU and 337 TFEU; Art. 187 EA) 3. Actions for annulment — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Limitation by the Court — Effects of the contested regulation to be maintained until it has been replaced within a reasonable period — Justification on the grounds of legal certainty (Art. 264, second para., TFEU; Council Regulation No 617/2010) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 44-47) 2. While Regulation No 617/2010 concerning the notification to the Commission of investment projects in energy infrastructure within the European Union has the aim of collection of information, that aim is introduced by the regulation so that the European Union may achieve certain objectives which have been assigned to it in the energy sector. In addition, the content of Regulation No 617/2010 reveals that it relates essentially to the implementation of a system for the collection of information relating to investment projects in energy infrastructure designed to allow the European Union to achieve the objectives laid down in the energy sector, in particular as regards the functioning of the internal energy market, the security of the European Union’s energy supply and the development of new and renewable energies. Given its aim and content, the regulation cannot be based on Article 337 TFEU. That provision forms the legal basis for the acts concerning the general activity of collecting information carried out by the Commission, without requiring that such collection be necessary for the purpose of achieving the objectives of a given European Union policy. Accordingly, Regulation No 617/2010 must be based on Article 194 TFEU which, as is apparent from its wording, in particular that of Article 194(2), constitutes the legal basis for European Union acts which are ‘necessary’ to achieve the objectives assigned to the European Union policy on energy. The aim and content of the regulation relate closely to the objectives of the European Union policy on energy and that collection of information can be justified only by an objective consistent with achieving some of the specific tasks entrusted to the European Union by Article 194(1) TFEU, concerning energy policy. Finally, although Regulation No 617/2010 also covers the notification to the Commission of investment projects in certain nuclear infrastructures, the fact remains that the regulation, as regards its aim and content, concerns the implementation, not of European Union policy in the specific sector of nuclear energy as defined by the EAEC Treaty, but of the European Union policy on energy in general. It follows that the contested regulation does not fall under Article 187 EA either. (see paras 52, 61, 64, 66, 69, 73, 82, 85) 3. See the text of the decision. (see paras 89, 91-93, operative part 2)