Case C-411/02: Action brought on 18 November 2002 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Republic of Austria
Date: 2003-01-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Austria, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, consumer information, invoicing, telecommunications, telephone

11.1.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 7/17

Action brought on 18 November 2002 by the Com-
mission of the European Communities against the Repub-
lic of Austria

Action brought on 21 November 2002 by the Com-
mission of the European Communities against the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

(Case C-411/02)

(2003/C 7/31)

(Case C-421/02)

(2003/C 7/32)

An action against the Republic of Austria was brought
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on
18 November 2002 by the Commission of the European
Communities, represented by Dr Claudia Schmidt and Michael
Shotter of its Legal Service, with an address for service in
Luxembourg at the office of Luis Escobar Guerrero, of its legal
service, Wagner Center C 254, Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

1.

declare that, as the itemised billing adopted by the Austria
Republic, which indicates the composition of the charges
only according to the type of charge, is not sufficiently
detailed to ensure efficient control by the consumer, the
Republic of Austria has failed to fulfil
its obligations
under Article 14(2) of Directive 98/10/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 1998 on
the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice
telephony and on universal service for telecommuni-
cations in a competitive environment (1);

2.

order the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Article 14(2) of Directive 98/10/EC provides for a basic level
of itemised billing to be available at no extra charge to the user
of public telephone services. It is therefore not permissible to
charge a fee for the basic level of itemised billing. Consequently,
only a free standard billing which includes a basic level of
itemised billing within the meaning of Article 14(2) of
Directive 98/10/EC can be regarded as complying with the
requirements of that directive. That is, however, not
the
situation in Austria. The standard billing which is provided
free of charge under the Austrian Law on telecommunications
contains only the composition of the charges according to the
category of call
(regional calls, supra-regional calls, and
international calls). It cannot therefore be accepted as a basic
level of itemised billing, because it is too general to enable the
user actually to verify and control the charges incurred for
each individual call.

( 1) (OJ 1981 L 101, p. 24.

An action against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland was brought before the Court of Justice of
the European Communities on 21 November 2002 by the
Commission of the European Communities, represented by
Xavier Lewis, acting as agent, with an address for service in
Luxembourg.

The Applicant claims that the Court should:

1)

2)

in Wales the laws,
declare that by failing to adopt
regulations or administrative provisions necessary to
comply with Article 4 (2) of Council Directive 85/337/
EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
private projects on the environment as amended by
Directive 97/11/EC (1) in relation to projects listed in
Annex II, paragraph 1 (b) of
in
any event, by failing to notify such provisions to the
Commission, the United Kingdom has failed to fully fulfil
its obligations under that Directive;

that Directive, or,

declare that by failing to adopt in England and Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland the laws, regulations or
administrative provisions necessary to comply fully with
Article 4 (2) of Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the
assessment of the effects of certain public and private
projects on the environment as amended by Directive 97/
11/EC in relation to projects listed in Annex II, para-
graph 1 (c) of that Directive, or, in any event, by failing
to notify such provisions to the Commission, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed
to fully fulfil its obligations under that Directive;

3)

order the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Commission considers that it is the duty of the authorities
of the United Kingdom to initiate, in due time, the procedures
necessary for incorporating Directive 85/337/EEC into dom-
estic law so that such process is complete wihin the time limit
laid down, irrespective of the nature of such procedures, and
to inform the Commission thereof.