Case C-382/01: Action brought on 4 October 2001 by the Commission of the European Communities against the United Kingdom
Date: 2001-11-24
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU control, European Commission, United Kingdom, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, financial solvency, insurance company

24.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 331/15

period for compliance laid down in the Directive. That period
expired on 1 January 2000 without the United Kingdom
having enacted the provisions necessary to comply with the
Directive referred to in the conclusions of the Commission.

Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Østre Landsret
by order of 26 September 2001 in the case of De Danske
Bilimportører v Skatteministeriet, Told- og Skattesty-
relsen

(1) OJ L 001, 5.1.1999, p. 1-2.

(Case C-383/01)

(2001/C 331/25)

Action brought on 4 October 2001 by the Commission of
the European Communities against the United Kingdom

(Case C-382/01)

(2001/C 331/24)

An action against the United Kingdom was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 4 October
2001 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Christina Tufvesson, acting as agent, with an
address for service in Luxembourg.

The Applicant requests that the Court should:

— declare that by failing to adopt the laws, regulations or
administrative provisions necessary to comply with the
European Parliament and Council Directive 98/78/EC of
27 October 1998 on the supplementary supervision of
insurance undertakings in an insurance group (1), or, in
any event, by failing to inform the Commission of
those measures, the United Kingdom has failed fulfil its
obligations under that Directive,

— order the United Kingdom to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Article 249 EC under which a directive shall be binding as to
the result to be achieved, upon each Member State, carries by
implication an obligation on the Member States to observe the
period for compliance laid down in the directive. That period
expired on 5 June 2000 without the United Kingdom having
enacted the provisions necessary to comply with the directive
referred to in the conclusions of the Commission.

(1) OJ L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 1-12.

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by order of 26 September 2001 by
the Østre Landsret
(Eastern Regional Court), which was
received at the Court Registry on 5 October 2001, for a
preliminary ruling in the case of De Danske Bilimportører v
Skatteministeriet, Told- og Skattestyrelsen (Duty and Taxation
Authority of the Ministry of Fiscal Affairs), on the following
questions:

1.

2.

Can an indirect duty (registration duty) charged by a
Member State, which in the case of new cars amounts to
105 % of DKK 52 800 and 180 % of the remainder of
the taxable value, be a measure having an effect equivalent
to a quantitative restriction on imports and for that
reason prohibited under Article 28 EC (reference is made
in this connection to the Court’s judgment in Case
C-47/88 Commission v Denmark [1990] ECR I-4509,
paragraph 13)?

If the answer to Question 1 is ‘yes’: can that registration
duty be justified on the grounds that are mentioned in
Article 30 EC or follow from the Court’s case-law on
Article 28 EC (reference is made to Case 120/78 Rewe-
Zentral [1979] ECR 649)?

Action brought on 9 October 2001 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Kingdom of
Spain

(Case C-392/01)

(2001/C 331/26)

An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 9 Octo-
ber 2001 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Isabel Martı´nez del Peral, of its Legal Service,
acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg at
the office of Luis Escobar Guerrero, also of the Commission’s
Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.