Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2011:351
Date: 2011-05-26
Language of the case: Dutch
Subject matter: Right of establishment;Approximation of laws;Freedom to provide services
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment 1. Freedom to provide services – Postal services – Directive 97/67 – Obligation for providers of postal services within the scope of universal service to establish external procedures for dealing with complaints from users (European Parliament and Council Directive 97/67, as amended by Directives 2002/39 and 2008/6, Art. 19) 2. Freedom of movement for persons – Freedom of establishment – Restrictions – National legislation requiring providers of postal services which are outside the scope of the universal service to establish an external procedure for dealing with complaints from users (Art. 49 TFEU) 1. Directive 97/67 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, in its original version and in the versions as amended by Directive 2002/39 and by Directive 2008/6, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which imposes on providers of postal services outside the scope of the universal service a mandatory external procedure for dealing with complaints from users of those services. Directive 97/67 does not carry out a full harmonisation of the complaints procedures for which it provides. In its original version, as in its amended versions, it envisages those procedures as a minimum framework that is to be additional to the means of redress available under national and European Union law. The Member States therefore have freedom of action to lay down exact procedures and choose the system best adapted to their own circumstances, subject to the restrictions and guidelines laid down in that directive and designed to extend the complaints procedures to any provider of postal services. (see paras 35, 40, 47, 52, operative part 1) 2. Article 49 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which imposes on providers of postal services outside the scope of the universal service a mandatory external procedure for dealing with complaints from users of those services. Such legislation does not involve any restriction of freedom of establishment. First, that measure is applied, without discrimination on grounds of nationality, to all providers established in Belgium of postal services outside the scope of the universal service. Secondly, operators cannot expect Member States not to have structures in place that afford legal protection for the interests of their customers and provide out-of-court procedures for settling disputes. Lastly, nearly all Member States have extended the external complaints schemes to providers of postal services outside the scope of the universal service. (see paras 61-62, 64, operative part 2)