Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2006:707
Date: 2006-11-09
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Third Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Fisheries policy
Concepts: General;Defences
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 1. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations – Subject-matter of the dispute – Determination during the procedure prior to the action (Art. 226 EC) 2. Member States – Obligations – Failure to fulfil obligations – Justification based on operating difficulties – Not permissible (Art. 226 EC) 1. The subject-matter of an action to fulfil obligations, brought under Article 226 EC, is determined by the Commission’s reasoned opinion, so that the action must be based on the same grounds and pleas as that opinion. That requirement cannot be extended, however, so as to mean that in every case the statement of the complaints set out in the operative part of the reasoned opinion and the form of order sought in the application must be exactly the same, provided that the subject-matter of the proceedings as defined in the reasoned opinion has not been extended or altered. In particular, the Court has held that the subject-matter of the dispute may be extended to events which took place after the reasoned opinion was delivered in so far as they are of the same kind and constitute the same conduct as the events to which the opinion referred. (see paras 10-12) 2. A Member State may not plead internal circumstances, such as difficulties of implementation which emerge at the stage when a Community measure is put into effect, to justify failure to comply with obligations and time-limits laid down by Community law. A Member State cannot therefore rely on operating difficulties in order to avoid obligations arising from Community law. (see paras 28-29)