Case C-86/03: Action brought on 26 February 2003 by the Hellenic Republic against the Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2003-05-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Greece, action for annulment (EU), air quality, derogation from EU law, environmental protection, fuel oil, pollution control

C 112/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

10.5.2003

Despite the absence from the directive of guidelines and
criteria for determining whether there is any need to conduct
an assessment of the environmental impact of a given project,
Article 4(2) cannot be regarded as having been correctly
applied where there is no reasonable justification for a decision
not to subject a project to that procedure.

4.

If the answer is in the negative, may the courts of the
Member States extend the meaning of a commercial agent
to cover the foregoing person, by analogical application
of
legislation which incorporated the
directive into their domestic law, or is that impermissible
because it runs counter to the uniformity of Community
law?

their national

( 1) OJ L 175 of 5.7.1985, p. 40.

(1) OJ L 372 of 31.12.1986, p. 1.

Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Polimeles
Protodikio Athinon by judgment of that Court of 27 April
2001 in the case of Anastasia Mavrona kai Sia O.E. against
Delta Etairia Simmetokhon Anonimos Etairia

(Case C-85/03)

(2003/C 112/18)

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by judgment of the Polimeles Protodi-
kio Athinon (Court of First Instance, Athens) of 27 April 2001,
received at the Court Registry on 26 February 2003, for a
preliminary ruling in the case of Anastasia Mavrona kai Sia
O.E. against Delta Etairia Simmetokhon Anonimos Etairia on
the following questions:

1. Does the definition of a commercial agent in Article 1(2)
of Council Directive 86/653/EEC (1) extend to a self-
employed intermediary who purchases in his own name
goods from the principal, deducting his commission from
the purchase price, and subsequently sells those goods to
third parties, but acting on behalf of the principal?

2.

3.

If the answer is in the negative, in the present instance
has the definition of commercial agent laid down by
that article been laid down in contradistinction to the
foregoing person (that
is to say to a self-employed
intermediary who purchases in his own name goods
from the principal, deducting his commission from the
purchase price, and subsequently sells those goods to
third parties, but acting on behalf of the principal), or is
there in fact a lacuna?

If there is a lacuna, is it possible, on the basis of the
principles of equity,
for the foregoing definition in
Article 1(2) of the directive to be applied by analogy to a
self-employed intermediary who purchases in his own
name goods from the principal, deducting his com-
mission from the purchase price, and subsequently sells
those goods to third parties, but acting on behalf of the
principal?

Action brought on 26 February 2003 by the Hellenic
Republic against the Commission of the European Com-
munities

(Case C-86/03)

(2003/C 112/19)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Communities on 26 February 2003 by the Hellenic Republic,
represented by Ekaterini Samoni-Radou and Panayiotis Milon-
opoulos, acting as Agents, with an address for service in
Luxembourg.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

1.

2.

annul Commission Decision C(2002) 2575 final of
17 December 2002 on a request by Greece for authoris-
ation to use heavy fuel oils with a maximum sulphur
content of 3 % by mass in part of its territory; (1)

declare Directive 1999/32/EC inapplicable on the basis
of Article 241 of the EC Treaty; and

3.

order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

— Infringement of rights of defence;

— Infringement of the principle of effectiveness (effet utile);

— Infringement of the principle of protection of legitimate

expectations;

— Infringement of the principle of proportionality;

— Infringement of Article 252 EC.

(1) OJ L 4, 9.1.2003, p. 16.