Opinion of Mr Advocate General Geelhoed delivered on 12 July 2001. - Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic Republic. - Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Directive 96/48/EC - Interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system. - Case C-460/00.



European Court reports 2001 Page I-08255



Opinion of the Advocate-General

1. In this case the Commission of the European Communities is seeking a declaration pursuant to Article 226 EC that, by not adopting, or, alternatively, by not communicating to the Commission, within the prescribed period, the legislative and administrative provisions necessary to comply fully with Council Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996 on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system (hereinafter the directive), the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty.

2. Under the terms of Article 23 of the directive, the Member States were required to adopt the legislative and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the directive no later than 8 April 1999, and immediately inform the Commission of them.

3. By letter of 5 August 1999 the Commission gave the Hellenic Republic formal notice to submit its observations on the ground that it had not received any information from the Greek Government about the measures adopted by it to implement the directive. The Greek authorities did not respond to the formal notice. As a result the Commission, on 24 January 2000, sent them a reasoned opinion, in which it called upon the Hellenic Republic to adopt the measures necessary to comply with the reasoned opinion within a period of two months from its notification. As the Greek Government did not respond to that opinion, the Commission brought this action before the Court of Justice on 20 December 2000.

4. In its application the Commission asserts that the Hellenic Republic had not, by 8 April 1999, adopted all the legislative and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the obligations resulting from the directive. The Commission also points out that the Hellenic Republic has not fulfilled its obligations under the first paragraph of Article 10 EC and the third paragraph of Article 249 EC.

5. The Greek Government makes reference to a draft Presidential Decree intended to implement the directive. The procedure for the enactment of that draft has not yet been completed. According to the Greek Government, the delay in implementing the directive is caused by questions connected to the fulfilment of essential requirements and by the choice of the agencies responsible for carrying out the procedure for making the EC declaration of conformity. I observe on this point that, according to the settled case-law of the Court, a Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances existing in its internal legal system in order to justify a failure to comply with the obligations and time-limits arising from Community directives.

Conclusion

In the light of the above remarks, I propose that the Court should:

(1) declare that, by not adopting the legislative and administrative provisions necessary to comply fully with Council Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996 on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system, or, alternatively, by not informing the Commission of them, within the prescribed period, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty;

(2) order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs in accordance with Article 69(2) of the Rules of Procedure.