Case C-304/02: Action brought on 27 August 2002 by the Commission of the European Communities against the French Republic
Date: 2002-10-12
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: France, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, conservation of fish stocks, fishing controls, fishing regulations, technical regulations

12.10.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 247/9

Action brought on 27 August 2002 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the French Republic

(Case C-304/02)

(2002/C 247/14)

An action against the French Republic was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 27 August
2002 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by M. van Lier and M. van Rijn, acting as Agents,
with an address for service in Luxembourg.

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

— Declare that, by continuing to fail to undertake control
activities
technical
ensuring compliance with the
measures for the conservation of fishery resources laid
down in Council Regulation (EEC) No 171/83 of 25 Janu-
ary 1983 (1) and Council Regulation (EEC) No 3094/86
of 7 October 1986 (2), and by thus failing to comply
with the obligations laid down in Article 1 of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 2057/82 of 29 June 1982 estab-
lishing certain control measures for fishing activities by
vessels of the Member States (3) and Article 1 of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 2241/87 of 23 July 1987 estab-
lishing certain control measures for fishing activities (4),
the French Republic has failed to apply all the measures
necessary to implement the judgment of 11 June 1991,
Commission v France (C-64/88) (5) and has failed to fulfil
its obligations under Article 228 of the EC Treaty;

— Order the French Republic to pay to the Commission
of the European Communities, into the account ‘own
resources of the EC’, a penalty of EUR 316 500 per day
of delay in implementing the necessary measures to
comply with the judgment in Commission v France cited
above, starting from the delivery of the present judgment
and until the implementation of the judgment in Com-
mission v France, cited above;

— Order the French Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

— Infringement of Community law, Article 228 EC:

The Commission states that France did not act on the
judgment of 11 June 1991 in Case C-64/88, in that it

— failed to ensure compliance with technical conser-
vation measures relating to the minimum size of
fish, in particular hake, and

— failed to record infringements which the national
authorities could have found to exist and to charge
offenders.

The apparent absence of control activities was recorded
during frequent inspections over several years and not-
withstanding the improvements in methods of control
and the number of inspections which the French auth-
orities pointed out in their correspondence with the
Commission services. In addition, the Commission never
denied that there had been findings of infringements.
it determined, and complained to the
None the less,
French authorities, that the inspections were insufficient
in number and lacking in thoroughness and that there
are indications that turning a blind eye to breaches related
to certain undersized fish is generally tolerated.

— Penalty

The Commission, referring to its communications of
21 August 1996 (6) and 28 February 1997 (7), is applying
to the basic amount of EUR 500 a factor of 10 (out of a
possible maximum of 20) for the seriousness of the
infringement,
the
reduction of complaints in relation to the initial infringe-
ment, a factor of 3 (possible maximum: 3) for its duration
and a factor of 2.1 for France’s ability to pay.

in particular of

taking account

(1) OJ L 24 of 27.01.1983, p. 14.
(2) OJ L 288 of 11.10.1986, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 220 of 29.7.1982, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 207 of 29.7.1987, p. 1.
(5) ECR [1991] I-2748.
(6) OJ C 242, p. 6.
(7) OJ C 63, p. 2.

Action brought on 28 August 2002 by the Commission of
the European Communities against the United Kingdom

(Case C-305/02)

(2002/C 247/15)

An action against the United Kingdom was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 28 August
2002 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Lena Ström, acting as agent, with an address
for service in Luxembourg.