61983C0279
OPINION OF MR ADVOCATE GENERAL LENZ
DELIVERED ON 10 JULY 1984 (
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Mr President,
Members of the Court,
By an application received at the Court on 19 December 1983 the Commission of the European Communities brought an action under Article 169 of the EEC Treaty for a declaration that the Italian Republic had failed to fulfil its obligations under the EEC Treaty by not adopting within the specified period the requisite provisions to comply with Council Directive No 79/1071/EEC of 6 December 1979 (Official Journal 1979, L 331, p. 10), which extends to valueadded tax the system of mutual assistance between Member States, established by Directive No 76/308/EEC, for the recovery of claims resulting from operations forming part of the system of financing of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and for the recovery of agricultural levies and customs duties.
Under Article 3 of the directive in question the Member States had to adopt the requisite measures no later than 1 January 1981 in order to comply with the directive.
The Italian Republic admits that it did not fulfil that obligation within the period stipulated. It justifies its omission basically on the grounds of the difficulties in the legislative process. It says that a new bill is in preparation for the purpose of implementing the directive.
Those circumstances cannot however exonerate the Italian Republic from the infringement of the Treaty with which it is reproached. The Court has consistently held that a Member State cannot rely on provisions, practices or circumstances of its internal legal order to justify a failure to comply with its obligations under Community directives.
Accordingly, I request the Court to declare that the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty by not adopting within the period prescribed the measures needed to comply with Council Directive No 70/1071/EEC of 6 December 1979. Under Article 69 (2) of the Rules of Procedure the unsuccessful party must be ordered to pay the costs.
(
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)	Translated from the German.