Case C-280/02: Action brought on 30 July 2002 by the Commission of the European Communities against the French Republic
Date: 2002-09-14
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: France, action for annulment (EU), eutrophication, sensitive area, wastewater, water treatment

C 219/10

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14.9.2002

purview of the Member States. However, the contested regu-
lation concerns, as evidenced by its title, exclusively adminis-
trative cooperation in the field of indirect taxation (VAT) in
the internal market and not the VAT system properly speaking.

Action brought on 30 July 2002 by the Commission of
the European Communities against the French Republic

( 1) OJ 2002 L 128, p. 1.

(Case C-280/02)

(2002/C 219/18)

Action brought on 29 July 2002 by the Kingdom of Spain
against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case C-276/02)

(2002/C 219/17)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Communities on 29 July 2002 by the Kingdom of Spain,
represented by Santiago Ortiz Vaamonde, Abogado del Estado,
with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Spanish
Embassy, 4-6 boulevard E. Servais.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— declare the decision of the Commission of 14 May 2002
null and void in so far as the Commission therein declared
that the continued failure of GEA (Grupo de Empresas
A´ lvarez) to pay taxes and social security contributions
amounts a grant of State aid incompatible with the
common market, and

— order the defendant institution to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The only thing that has happened is the liquidation of an
undertaking in crisis, preceded by a general procedure for the
suspension of payments. That procedure, initiated and directed
by the court, enables creditors to reach agreements with the
debtor undertaking which, in comparison with an immediate
liquidation, increase the likelihood of the undertaking’s recov-
ery and the payment of some of its debts. The same procedure
for the suspension of payments may, of course, be sought
and obtained by any competing undertakings which bring
complaints, should they to find themselves in a situation of
cessation of payments. The Commission has thus failed to
demonstrate that there has been any State aid subject to
Article 87 EC.

An action against the French Republic was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 30 July
2002 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by M. Nolin, acting as Agent, with an address for
service in Luxembourg.

The Commission of the European Communities claims that
the Court should:

— Declare that, by not identifying certain areas as sensitive
areas with respect to eutrophication, in the catchment
areas of Seine-Normandie, Loire-Bretagne, Artois-Picardie
and Rhône-Méditerranée-Corse, and not subjecting to
more stringent treatment discharges of urban waste water
from agglomerations with a population equivalent (p.e.)
of more than 10 000 into sensitive areas or areas which
should have been identified as sensitive, the French
Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations pursuant to
Article 5(1) and (2) of and Annex II to Directive 91/271/
EEC (1);

— Order the French Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

take account of

they thus did not

— Incomplete identification of sensitive areas: The French
authorities wrongly limited themselves to identifying
bodies of water where they consider eutrophication to be
established;
the
obligation also to identify as sensitive, in accordance with
Annex II to the Directive, bodies of water ‘which in the
near future may become eutrophic if protective action is
not taken’. For that reason, or because eutrophication
should already have been identified, the Commission
considers that the French Republic has failed to identify,
in breach of its obligations pursuant to Article 5(1) of
and Annex II to the Directive:

— in Seine-Normandie: the Seine bay, the Seine and its
tributaries downstream from its confluence with the
Andelle;

— in Loire-Bretagne: Lorient harbour, the Elorn estuary,
the bay of Douarnenez, Concarneau bay, the Gulf of
Morbihan, the bay of Vilaine and the Sèvre-Niortaise;

14.9.2002

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 219/11

— in Artois-Picardie: the coastal waters and, for main-
land waters, the hydrographic system between the
canalised Aa and the Escaut on the one hand and
the Belgian border on the other hand, the Scarpe
downstream from Arras, the Lens Canal downstream
from Lens and the whole of the Somme;

— in Rhône-Méditerranée-Corse: the River Vistre and

Thau lake.

in compliance with the requirements of

— Lack of more stringent treatment for urban waste water
discharges with a population equivalent (p.e.) of more
than 10 000: The French authorities had admitted that
for 130 agglomerations the equipment for treating urban
waste water was not, by the deadline of 31 December
1998,
the
Directive. While those authorities, in their response to
the reasoned opinion, specify that the discharges of some
of those 130 agglomerations are in fact now subject to
such treatment, only the agglomerations of Vichy, Aix en
Provence and Mâcon can actually be removed from the
list of the abovementioned 130 agglomerations. For
others, the reply states that the necessary equipment will
only come into service at a future date. That is the case
for Boulogne-sur-mer (2005), Clermont-Ferrand (2004),
Saint-Etienne (2005), Mulhouse (2003), Nancy (autumn
2002), Dijon (2005), Montpellier (2004), Tarare (2003),
Villefranche sur Saône (2004), Vitrolles (2005) and
Auxerre (2004).

The inadequate identification of sensitive areas has inevi-
tably resulted in the obligation in Article 5(2) of the
Directive not being taken into account in the areas
concerned.

( 1) Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21.5.1991 concerning urban

waste water treatment (OJ L 135 of 30.5.1991), p. 40.

Removal from the register of Cases C-73/00, C-415/00,
C-420/00, C-123/01, C-237/01, C-238/01 and C-15/02 (1)

(2002/C 219/20)

By order of 28 May 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
register of Cases C-73/00, C-415/00, C-420/00, C-123/01,
C-237/01, C-238/01 et C-15/02 (Referral for a preliminary
ruling by the Unabhängiger Verwaltungssenat Salzburg): Hans
Oppitz and Others v Bürgermeister der Landeshauptstadt
Salzburg and Grundverkehrsbeauftragter des Landes Salzburg.

(1) OJ C 135 of 13.5.2000, OJ C 28 of 27.1.2001, OJ C 28 of
27.1.2001, OJ C 150 of 19.5.2001, OJ C 227 of 11.8.2001, OJ
C 227 of 11.8.2001, OJ C 84 of 6.4.2002.

Removal from the register of Case C-128/01 (1)

(2002/C 219/21)

By order of 27 May 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
register of Case C-128/01: Commission of the European
Communities v Italian Republic.

(1) OJ C 161 of 2.6.2001.

Removal from the register of Cases C-72/00, C-128/00
and C-319/00 (1)

(2002/C 219/19)

Removal from the register of Case C-143/01 (1)

By order of 31 May 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
register of Cases C-72/00, C-128/00 and C-319/00 (Referral
for a preliminary ruling by the Unabhängiger Verwaltungssenat
Salzburg): Neubau Gesellschaft mbH and Others v Grundver-
kehrsbeauftragter des Landes Salzburg and Grundverkehrslan-
deskommission des Landes Salzburg.

(2002/C 219/22)

By order of 7 June 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
register of Case C-143/01: Commission of the European
Communities v Kingdom of Spain.

( 1) OJ C 135 of 13.5.2000, OJ C 163 of 10.6.2000, OJ C 302 of

21.10.2000.

(1) OJ C 150 of 19.5.2001.