Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 6 November 2003 in Case C-293/00: Kingdom of the Netherlands v Commission of the European Communities (Annulment of Commission Decision 2000/362/EC of 25 May 2000 on the total amount of Community aid for the eradication of classical swine fever in the Netherlands in 1997)
Date: 2004-01-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU aid, European Commission, Netherlands, action for annulment (EU), animal plague, financial aid, indemnification, swine

C 7/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

10.1.2004

taking the necessary measures to ensure that the quality of
inshore bathing water in Spanish territory conforms to the
limit values set in accordance with Article 3 of Council
Directive 76/160/EEC of 8 December 1975 concerning the
quality of bathing water (OJ 1976 L 31, p. 1), notwithstanding
its obligations under Article 4 of that directive, the Kingdom
of Spain has not complied with the judgment of the Court of
Justice in Case C-92/96 Commission v Spain [1998] ECR I-
505, and has accordingly failed to fulfil its obligations under
Article 228 EC and, second, for an order that the Kingdom of
Spain be required to pay to the Commission, into the account
‘European Community own resources’, a penalty payment of
EUR 45 600 per day of delay in adopting the measures
necessary to comply with the said judgment in Commission v
Spain, from the date on which judgment is delivered in this
case until the date on which the said judgment in Commission
v Spain is complied with, the Court, composed of: V. Skouris,
President, C.W.A. Timmermans, C. Gulmann and J.N. Cunha
Chambers),
Rodrigues
D.A.O. Edward, A. La Pergola, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen,
F. Macken, N. Colneric and S. von Bahr, Judges; J. Mischo,
Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal Administrator, for the
Registrar, has given a judgment on 25 November 2003, in
which it:

(Rapporteur)

(Presidents

of

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Fifth Chamber)

of 6 November 2003

in Case C-293/00: Kingdom of the Netherlands v Com-
mission of the European Communities (1)

(Annulment of Commission Decision 2000/362/EC of
25 May 2000 on the total amount of Community aid for the
eradication of classical swine fever in the Netherlands in
1997)

(2004/C 7/12)

(Language of the case: Dutch)

1. Declares that, by not taking the measures necessary to ensure
that the quality of inshore bathing water in Spanish territory
conforms to the limit values set in accordance with Article 3 of
Council Directive 76/160/EEC of 8 December 1975 concern-
ing the quality of bathing water, notwithstanding its obligations
under Article 4 of that directive, the Kingdom of Spain has not
taken all the measures necessary to comply with the Court’s
judgment of 12 February 1998 in Case C-92/96 Commission
v Spain and has accordingly failed to fulfil its obligations under
Article 228 EC.

2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay to the Commission of the
European Communities, into the account ‘European Community
own resources’, a penalty payment of EUR 624 150 per year
and per 1 % of bathing areas in Spanish inshore waters which
have been found not to conform to the limit values laid down
under Directive 76/160 for the year in question, as from the
time when the quality of bathing water achieved in the first
bathing season following delivery of this judgment is ascertained
until the year in which the judgment in Commission v Spain is
fully complied with.

(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
in the European Court Reports)

In Case C-293/00, Kingdom of the Netherlands (Agents:
A. Fierstra, C. Wissels and J. G. M. van Bakel) v Commission of
the European Communities (Agent: T. van Rijn): Application
for annulment of Commission Decision 2000/362/EC of
25 May 2000 on the total amount of Community aid for the
eradication of classical swine fever in the Netherlands in 1997
(OJ 2000 L 129, p. 33), in so far as the financial aid granted to
the Netherlands by the Community for the eradication of
classical swine fever in 1997 is reduced by 25 % of the
amounts paid to farmers by way of compensation, the Court
(Fifth Chamber), composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans, President
the Fifth
of
Chamber, D.A.O. Edward (Rapporteur) and S. von Bahr,
Judges; C. Stix-Hackl, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
6 November 2003, in which it:

the Fourth Chamber, acting as President of

3. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

1. Dismisses the application.

(1) OJ C 245 of 1.9.2001.

2. Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 335 of 25.11.2000.