Judgment;Summary — ECLI:EU:C:2019:762
Date: 2019-09-19
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Second Chamber
Subject matter: Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

summary, the EU legislation on RMI implicitly mandates the access to 
vehicle component data to be provided in a way that allows for their 
automatic processing and facilitates the identification of alternative spare 
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parts by independent operators, so that they can continue to provide 
competitive products and services to multi-brand and authorised repairers. 
30 In a further letter of 15 April 2015 (ref. GROW/G3/ES/ip — [2015]1661999), 
however, the European Commission concedes that the obligation to provide 
information in a form amenable to onward electronic processing is only implicit 
and not explicitly provided for: 
Furthermore, in the absence of definitions of the terms “readily accessible” 
and “prompt manner”, there is no explicit requirement in the EU Regulations 
that the OBD and the RMI should be provided by vehicle manufacturers in 
such a way that the data can be “automatically processed” by independent 
operators. 
31 (4)  The appellant on a point of law further claims that the appeal court failed 
to take adequate account of the significance of recital 18 of Regulation (EU) 
No 566/2011 when interpreting the first sentence of Article 6(1) of Regulation 
(EC) No 715/2007. 
32 Recital 18 of Regulation (EU) No 566/2011 states that, in the absence of a 
common structured process for the exchange of vehicle component data, it is 
appropriate to develop principles for such an exchange of data. That recital goes 
on to say that a future common structured process on the standardised format of 
the data exchanged should be developed by the European Committee for 
Standardisation (CEN) formally, and that that committee’s work should reflect the 
interests [Or. 12] and needs of vehicle manufacturers and independent operators 
alike and should investigate solutions such as open data formats described by well 
defined meta-data to accommodate existing IT infrastructures. 
33 That recital almost certainly does not support the inference that the duty to 
provide information under the first sentence of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) 
No 715/2007 must be satisfied by making available an electronic interface. It 
does, however, show that there is currently no common structured process for the 
exchange of vehicle component data between vehicle manufacturers and 
independent operators, and principles for such an exchange of data must first be 
developed. Furthermore, the appeal court was probably right to assume that the 
term ‘exchange of data’ says nothing about the technical arrangements for 
exchanging data. 
34 (5)  Contrary to the view expressed in the appeal on a point of law, the second 
paragraph of point 2.1 of Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 does not 
seem to be capable of supporting the inference of a duty to provide information in 
a form amenable to onward electronic processing either. According to that 
provision, information on all parts of the vehicle is to be made available in a 
database easily accessible to independent operators. 
35 The fact that information is to be provided ‘in’ a database almost certainly does 
not support the conclusion — as drawn in the appeal on a point of law — that read 
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access ‘to’ a database is not in itself sufficient and electronic access ‘within’ the 
database must be allowed. The legal definition of the term ‘database’ contained in 
Directive 96/9/EC (Database Directive) does not appear to indicate otherwise. 
According to Article 1(2) of that directive, ‘database’ is to mean a collection of 
independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodical 
way and ‘individually accessible by electronic or other means’. [Or. 13] It does 
not follow from that definition that no database is present where — as in the case 
at issue here — data can be retrieved by read access only. 
36 (6)  The wording of the first and fourth sentences of the first paragraph of 
point 2.1 of Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 and the drafting history 
of point 2.1 of Annex XIV to that regulation might mitigate against an obligation 
on the part of the manufacturer to make information available in a form amenable 
to onward electronic processing. 
37 The wording of the first and fourth sentences of the first paragraph of point 2.1 of 
Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 supports the inference that 
information is to be provided in such a way that it can be viewed and printed but 
cannot be duplicated or re-published. The first sentence of the first paragraph of 
point 2.1 of Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 states that, in the case of 
vehicle OBD and vehicle repair and maintenance information available through 
websites, only open text and graphic formats or formats which can be viewed and 
printed using only standard software plug-ins that are freely available, easy to 
install, and which run under computer operating systems commonly in use may be 
used. The fourth sentence of the first paragraph of point 2.1 of Annex XIV to 
Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 states that those requiring the right to duplicate or 
re-publish the information should negotiate directly with the manufacturer 
concerned. Those provisions say nothing about the obligation to provide 
information in a form amenable to onward electronic processing. 
38 The drafting history of point 2.1 of Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 
indicates that, as the law currently stands, data does not have to be made available 
in a form amenable to onward electronic processing. A first draft of Regulation 
(EU) No 566/2011 of 4 February 2009 (ref. ENTR.F1/KS D[2009]) shows that a 
form of words was to be inserted at the end of point 2.1 of Annex XIV to 
Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 [Or. 14] to the effect that raw data must be made 
available in a format which allows independent operators to process it within their 
own systems. The introduction to a second draft of 23 March 2009 states that raw 
data on the parts of certain vehicles constitutes essential vehicle repair and 
maintenance information the use of which by independent operators requires that 
data to be made available in a consistent format which allows independent 
operators to process it within their own systems. A further draft of Regulation 
(EU) No 566/2011 of 1 July 2009 shows that a form of words was to be inserted at 
the end of point 2.1 of Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 692/2008 to the effect 
that raw data must be made available as ‘bulk data’ in a machine-readable format 
amenable to onward electronic processing by generally available data processing 
systems. Those provisions and recitals, which provided for the making available 
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of data amenable to onward electronic processing, did not, however, find their 
way into the final version of Regulation (EU) No 566/2011. 
39 (7)  A further factor that appears to militate against the interpretation of the 
first sentence of Article 6(1) of Regulation No 715/2007 set out in the appeal on a 
point of law is the Commission’s intention to lay down an obligation to provide 
information in the form of machine-readable datasets amenable to onward 
electronic processing in the new Type Approval Framework Regulation (see 
Article 65(1) of the draft of 15 December 2017). In so doing, the Commission 
might be introducing a new obligation rather than clarifying an existing one. 
40 (8)  If, then, there is no clear rule as to how information is to be provided, there 
are, in the light of the spirit and purpose of the rule contained in Article 6(1) of 
Regulation (EC) No 715/2007, sufficient doubts as to interpretation to call for an 
answer from the Court of Justice of the European Union to the first question 
referred for a preliminary ruling. [Or. 15] 
41 4.  Also requiring an answer is the question of the scope of the prohibition on 
discrimination laid down in the first sentence of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) 
No 715/2007 (Question 2). 
42 This states that manufacturers are to provide the access to vehicle repair and 
maintenance information which that provision requires to be afforded to 
independent operators in a manner which is non-discriminatory by comparison 
with the access granted or information made available to authorised dealers and 
repairers. 
43 a)  The appeal court assumed that the information system put in place by the 
defendant did not discriminate against independent operators because the 
defendant also supplies all the information it makes available to its authorised 
workshops by providing them, for a charge, with read access to the ‘KIA Global 
Service Way’. 
44 The appellant on a point of law, on the other hand, claims that the defendant 
makes its original parts catalogue available to the undertaking LexCom, which 
enables independent workshops to search for original KIA replacement parts, by 
vehicle identification number, on its internet portal ‘partslink24’. This constitutes 
indirect discrimination against independent operators because the ‘partlink24’ 
portal permits only the purchase of original spare parts from authorised dealers, 
thus giving the defendant’s distributors a competitive advantage. 
45 The respondent on a point of law counters the foregoing by stating that LexCom’s 
role is confined to assistance with the sale of original KIA replacement parts and 
is therefore different from that of authorised dealers and repairers, by comparison 
with whom independent operators may not be discriminated against. [Or. 16] 
46 b)  This raises the question, to be answered by reference to EU law, whether 
discrimination against independent operators as prohibited under the first sentence 
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of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 is present in the case where a 
manufacturer, by engaging an information service provider, opens a further 
channel for information on the sale of original replacement parts by authorised 
dealers and repairers. 
47 aa)  The purpose of the prohibition on discrimination laid down in the first 
sentence of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 is to prevent 
independent operators from being discriminated against by comparison with 
authorised dealers and repairers in the context of the provision of vehicle repair 
and maintenance information. For that reason, there can be no objection to the 
appeal court’s assumption that, in so far as the defendant shares its database with 
LexCom, the applicant’s members are not discriminated against by comparison 
with dealers and workshops contracted to the defendant. The applicant has not 
claimed that the information system operated by LexCom provides authorised 
dealers and authorised workshops with access to more or better information than 
that which independent operators can obtain by using the defendant’s system. 
48 bb)  What is not sufficiently clear, however, is whether the first sentence of 
Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 also prohibits independent operators 
from being discriminated against by comparison with authorised dealers and 
repairers as a result of the fact that, by engaging an information service provider, 
the manufacturer opens a further channel for information on the sale of original 
replacement parts. In the view of this Chamber, the prohibition on discrimination 
appears not to extend beyond guaranteeing independent operators the same access 
to information as authorised dealers and repairers. The engagement of an 
information service provider objected to by the appellant on a point of law, on the 
other hand, is arguably a measure which is neutral from the point of view of the 
provision of information to independent operators and authorised dealers and [Or. 
17] repairers, and, as such, not caught by the prohibition of discrimination laid 
down in the first sentence of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007. 
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