Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2013:869
Date: 2013-12-19
Language of the case: Italian
Subject matter: Freedom to provide services;Transport
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 27 March 2014 1. Transport — Maritime transport — Freedom to provide services — Maritime cabotage — The term ‘sea’ (Council Regulation No 3577/92) 2. Transport — Maritime transport — Freedom to provide services — Maritime cabotage — Definition — Cruise service within a Member State which starts and ends, with the same passengers, in the same port — Included (Council Regulation No 3577/92, Art. 1(1) and (2), point 1(a) to (c)) 1. The term ‘sea’ referred to by Regulation No 3577/92 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within Member States (maritime cabotage) is not limited to territorial sea within the meaning of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (Montego Bay Convention), but also covers internal maritime waters which are on the landward side of the baseline of the territorial sea. (see para. 19) 2. A maritime transport service consisting of a cruise which starts and ends, with the same passengers, in the same port of the Member State in which it takes place, is covered by the term ‘maritime cabotage’ within the meaning of Regulation No 3577/92 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within Member States (maritime cabotage). Since Regulation No 3577/92 concerns ‘maritime cabotage’ alone, only cruises covered by that concept fall within the ambit of that regulation. That concept being defined, in Article 1(1) and Article 2(1) of Regulation No 3577/92, by the phrase ‘maritime transport services within a Member State’, all cruise services normally provided for remuneration in the maritime waters of a Member State fall within the ambit of that regulation. When such a cruise starts and ends, with the same passengers, in the same port, the fact that the departure and arrival ports are one and the same and that the passengers are the same throughout the itinerary cannot render Regulation No 3577/92 inapplicable. It is true that the transport services listed in Article 2(1)(a) to (c) of Regulation No 3577/92 are described as having different departure and arrival ports. However, that list, which is introduced by the term ‘in particular’, is not exhaustive and cannot have the effect of excluding from the scope of that regulation transport services having all the essential characteristics of maritime cabotage contained in the above-mentioned phrase ‘maritime transport services within a Member State’. (see paras 25-29, operative part)