EN Official Journal of the European Union C 107/3

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 6 March 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgericht Köln, Germany) — Deutsche Post AG (C-287/06, C-288/06 and C-291/06), Magdeburger Dienstleistungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH (MDG) (C-289/06), Marketing Service Magdeburg GmbH (C-290/06), Vedat Deniz (C-292/06) v Bundesrepublik Deutschland

(Joined Cases C-287/06 to C-292/06) (1)

(Postal services - Directive 97/67/EC - Field reserved to universal postal service provider - Special tariffs for the deposit by business customers, at fixed points of the postal network, of minimum quantities of pre-sorted items - Refusal of such tariffs to intermediaries who consolidate, on a commercial basis and in their own name, postal items from various senders)

(2008/C 107/04)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgericht Köln

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Deutsche Post AG (C-287/06, C-288/06 and C-291/06), Magdeburger Dienstleistungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH (MDG) (C-289/06), Marketing Service Magdeburg GmbH (C-290/06), Vedat Deniz (C-292/06)

Defendant: Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Intervening parties: Marketing Service Magdeburg GmbH (C-287/06), Citipost Gesellschaft für Kurier- und Postdienstleistungen mbH (C-288/06), Deutsche Post AG (C-289/06, C-290/06 and C-292/06), Magdeburger Dienstleistungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH (MDG) (C-291/06),

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Verwaltungsgericht Köln — Interpretation of Articles 47(2) EC and 95 EC and of the fifth indent of Article 12, and Article 7(1) of Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service (OJ 1998 L 15, p. 14), as amended by Directive 2002/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 June 2002 amending Directive 97/67/EC with regard to the further opening to competition of Community postal services (OJ 2002 L 176, p. 21) — Obligation on a universal postal service supplier also to offer special tariffs, applied to business customers who themselves transport pre-sorted postal items to the sorting offices of dispatch, to professional suppliers of postal services who collect the postal items from the senders and then, like the business customers, pre-sort and deliver them to a sorting office of dispatch

Operative part of the judgment

The fifth indent of Article 12 of Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, as amended by Directive 2002/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 June 2002, must be interpreted as precluding refusal to apply to businesses which consolidate, on a commercial basis and in their own name, postal items from various senders the special tariffs which the national universal postal service provider grants, within the scope of its exclusive licence, to business customers for the deposit of minimum quantities of pre-sorted mail at its sorting offices.

(1) OJ C 261, 28.10.2006.