Opinion of Mr Advocate General Jacobs delivered on 9 March 1995. - Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain. - Failure to fulfil obligations - Failure to transpose a directive. - Case C-147/94.



European Court reports 1995 Page I-01015



Opinion of the Advocate-General

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1. In these proceedings the Commission seeks a declaration under Article 169 of the Treaty that Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty by not adopting and bringing into force the provisions necessary to implement Council Directive 90/618/EEC of 8 November 1990 amending, particularly as regards motor vehicle liability insurance, Directive 73/239/EEC and Directive 88/357/EEC which concern the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life assurance, (1) and by not informing the Commission thereof.

2. Article 12 of Directive 90/618 provides as follows:

"Member States shall amend their national provisions to comply with this Directive within 18 months of the date of its notification and shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

The provisions amended pursuant to the first subparagraph shall be applied within 24 months of the date of the notification of this Directive."

The directive was notified to the Member States on 20 November 1990.

3. Having received no information about the implementation of Directive 90/618 in Spain, the Commission addressed a letter to the Spanish Government on 6 August 1992 inviting it to submit observations within two months. Having received no reply, the Commission issued a reasoned opinion on 24 May 1993 in which Spain was requested to take the necessary measures within two months. That too failed to elicit any response from the Spanish authorities. Accordingly, the Commission lodged an application with the Court on 30 May 1994.

4. The Spanish Government states in its defence that the bill which would have implemented the directive lapsed as a result of the dissolution of the Spanish legislature. It states that another bill has been prepared and is currently in the course of completing its passage through the Spanish Parliament. The bill will, according to the Spanish Government, achieve the full implementation of the directive.

5. It is clear from the Spanish Government' s defence that the directive was not implemented within the prescribed period and had still not been implemented by 8 August 1994, the date of the defence. As the Court has consistently held, a Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances in its internal legal system in order to justify a failure to comply with its obligations under Community law. The Commission' s principal submission must therefore be upheld. Since however Spain failed to take the necessary measures, it is unnecessary for the Court to make a declaration that Spain failed to notify them to the Commission.

Conclusion

6. I therefore conclude that the Court should:

(1) declare that Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty by not adopting and bringing into force the provisions necessary to implement Council Directive 90/618/EEC;

(2) order Spain to pay the costs.

(*) Original language: English.

(1) ° OJ 1990 L 330, p. 44.