Case C-389/01: Action brought on 9 October 2001 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Portuguese Republic
Date: 2001-12-08
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Portugal, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, health legislation, ionising radiation, public health

C 348/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

8.12.2001

States or of persons who are not resident in such areas,
despite fulfilling the same age requirement, the Italian
its obligations under
Republic has
Articles 12 and 49 of the EC Treaty.

failed to fulfil

— Order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.

administrative provisions necessary to comply with
Council Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996 laying
down basic safety standards for the protection of the
health of workers and the general public against the
dangers arising from ionising radiation (1), the Portuguese
Republic has
its obligations under
failed to fulfil
Articles 55(1) of that Directive,

Pleas in law and main arguments

Granting advantageous admission charges only to Italian
nationals constitutes a restriction on the right to have access
to services to which tourists visiting Italian archaeological and
cultural sites are entitled.

The granting of advantageous admission charges to certain
categories of visitors, in this case to those aged over 60 or
65 years, on the basis of their residence within the municipality
in which the cultural site is located, constitutes indirect
discrimination on grounds of nationality since in the end it
affects mainly non-Italian Community tourists, whose
exclusion from benefiting from the lower charges constitutes
the disguised objective.

The lower charges offered by the municipal museums thus
infringe Articles 12 and 49 of the EC Treaty inasmuch as they
constitute discrimination on grounds of nationality.

— in the alternative, declare that, by failing to inform
the Commission immediately of such measures,
the
Portuguese Republic failed to fulfil its obligations under
that Directive,

— order the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The provisions of the third paragraph of Article 161 and the
first paragraph of Article 192 of the EAEC Treaty require
Member States to adopt the measures necessary to transpose
directives addressed to them into their domestic law before the
expiry of the period prescribed for doing so. Despite that
period having expired (13 May 2000) the Portuguese Republic
has still not brought into force the provisions necessary to
transpose Directive 96/29/Euratom into its legal system.

(1) OJ 1996 L 314, p. 20.

Action brought on 9 October 2001 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Portuguese
Republic

(Case C-389/01)

(2001/C 348/29)

Action brought on 9 October 2001 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Portuguese
Republic

An action against
the Portuguese Republic was brought
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities
on 9 October 2001 by the Commission of the European
Communities, represented by Anto´ nio Caeiros, acting as
Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office
of Luis Escobar Guerrero, Wagner Centre.

(Case C-390/01)

(2001/C 348/30)

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— declare that, by failing to adopt and bring into force
within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and

An action against the Portuguese Republic as brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 9 Octo-
ber 2001 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Anto´ nio Catiros, acting as Agent, with an
address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Luis Escobar
Guerrero, Wagner Centre.