Case C-108/03: Action brought on 7 March 2003 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Kingdom of Spain
Date: 2003-05-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU national, European Commission, Spain, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, identity document, penalty, residence permit

C 112/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

10.5.2003

Action brought on 7 March 2003 by the Commission of
the European Communities against the Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-108/03)

(2003/C 112/23)

An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 7 March
2003 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Carmel O’Reilly, Legal Adviser, and Luis
Escobar Guerrero, of its Legal Service, with an address for
service in Luxembourg.

The applicant claims that the Court should :

— Declare that the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its
obligations under Articles 39, 43 and 49 of the EC Treaty
and Article 4 of Council Directive 68/360/EEC (1) of
15 October 1968 on the abolition of restrictions on
movement and residence within the Community for
workers of Member States and their families and Article 4
of Council Directive 73/148/EEC (2) of 21 May 1973 on
the abolition of restrictions on movement and residence
within the Community for nationals of Member States
with regard to establishment and the provision of services
inasmuch as non-Spanish Community nationals in the
Kingdom of Spain are treated, as regards the degree of
fault and scale of fines for infringement of provisions
relating to residence permits, disproportionately differ-
ently from Spanish nationals who commit the compar-
able infringement of the obligation to obtain or renew
national identity documents;

— Order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

are liable to a maximum fine of PTE 50 000 whereas Spanish
nationals who fail to apply in time for their identity documents
are liable to a fine of PTE 50 for every month of delay. The
Commission gives an outline of some of the complaints which
gave rise to the reasoned opinion and to the present application
which, in its view, clearly show the difference in the scale of
fines and their disproportionate nature.

(1) OJ English Special Edition 1968 (II), p 485.
(2) OJ 1973 L 172, p. 14.

Action brought on 10 March 2003 by the Kingdom
of Belgium against the Commission of the European
Communities

(Case C-110/03)

(2003/C 112/24)

An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Communities on 10 March 2003 by the Kingdom of Belgium,
represented by A. Snoecx, acting as Agent, assisted by D. Wael-
broeck and D. Brinckman, lawyers.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— declare the application admissible and well founded;

Failure to fulfil requirements relating to residence permits —
failure to submit the requisite documents, failure to apply for
or renew permits — may be the subject of fines provided that
the amount of the fine is not disproportionate to the degree of
seriousness of the infringement. The Commission acknowl-
edges that the situation of non-Spanish nationals, as regards
residence permits, and that of Spanish nationals, as regards
identity documents, are not identical. However, that has not
precluded,
in the Commission’s view, the Court of Justice
considering those two situations in order to arrive at the
concept of comparability of fines (see the judgment in Case
C-24/97 Commission v Germany [1998] ECR I-2133). The
Commission regrets that, for delaying up to three months
before applying for a residence permit, non-Spanish nationals

— annul Commission Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002 of
12 December 2002 on the application of Articles 87 and
88 of the EC Treaty to State aid for employment (1);

— so far as necessary, by virtue of Article 241 of the EC
Treaty, declare inapplicable Council Regulation (EC) No
994/98 of 7 May 1998 on the application of Articles 92
and 93 of the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity to certain categories of horizontal State aid (2) as
the legal basis for the regulation at issue;

— order the Commission to pay the costs.