Case C-164/03: Action brought on 9 April 2003 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Republic of Austria
Date: 2003-06-21
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Austria, European Commission, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, environmental protection, industrial project, private sector, project evaluation, public sector

21.6.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 146/31

— in the call for applications for the position of
Secretary to the General Administration, as con-
dition No 9: ‘Thorough knowledge of English and
French would be an asset, as well as a satisfactory
knowledge of other Community languages’.

— in the call for applications for the position of IT-
informatics expert (webmaster) of the European
judicial network, as condition No 6: ‘Good know-
ledge of English is essential; in particular, the ability
to speak at least two additional official European
Community languages, including French, would be
an asset’.

2.

order the defendant body to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Action brought on 9 April 2003 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Republic of
Austria

(Case C-164/03)

(2003/C 146/51)

An action against the Republic of Austria was brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 9 April
2003 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Dr Ulrich Wölker, Commission Legal Adviser,
and Florence Simonetti, a national civil servant available to the
Commission Legal Service under an exchange scheme, with an
address for service in Luxembourg.

— Breach of the Staff Regulations and of the Conditions
the European

of Employment of Other Servants of
Communities

The Commission claims that the Court should:

According to Article 30 of Council Decision 2002/
187/JHA of 28 February 2002 establishing Eurojust to
strengthen the fight against serious forms of crime (1),
Eurojust staff are to be subject to the rules and regulations
applicable to the officials and other servants of the
European Communities.

Under Article 12 of the Conditions of Employment,
candidates are only required to have a thorough know-
ledge of one language and a satisfactory knowledge of
another.

1.

declare that, by failing to adopt, or to communicate to
the Commission, the laws, regulations and administrative
provisions necessary in order to implement Council
Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive
85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain
public and private projects on the environment (1) in the
provinces of Burgenland and Salzburg, the Republic of
its obligations under that
Austria has failed to fulfil
directive;

2.

order the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.

— Breach of the linguistic rules of Eurojust

Article 31 of Council Decision 2002/187/JHA provides
that the official linguistic arrangements of the Union are
to apply to Eurojust proceedings. No provision of the
decision expressly states that the working languages of
Eurojust are to be English and French.

— Breach of the principle of non-discrimination

the documents to be
The requirement that part of
submitted should be drawn up in English and, most of
all, the requirement of excellent knowledge of English
and French amounts to clear discrimination grounds of
nationality, prohibited by Article 12 EC.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In accordance with the third paragraph of Article 249 EC,
which provides that a directive is binding as to the result to be
achieved upon each Member State, the Member States are
obliged to comply with the time-limit for implementation laid
down in directives. The period for implementation laid down
in Article 3(1) of Directive 97/11/EC expired on 14 March
1999 without the Republic of Austria having adopted the
necessary provisions for the provinces of Burgenland and
Salzburg.

( 1) OJ 2002 L 63, p. 1.

(1) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.