Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 7 October 2004 in Case C-189/03: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of the Netherlands (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Freedom to provide services — Restrictions — Private security firms)
Date: 2004-12-04
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Netherlands, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, freedom to provide services, provision of services, recognition of vocational training qualifications, security services, trade licence

4.12.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 300/19

composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber,
C. Gulmann, R. Schintgen, F. Macken (Rapporteur), and N.
Colneric, Judges; D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Advocate General; R.
Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment on 12 October 2004, in
which it has ruled:

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(First Chamber)

of 7 October 2004

1. Dismisses the appeal;

2. Orders Vedial SA to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 146 of 21.6.2003.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(First Chamber)

of 14 October 2004

in Case C-143/03: Commission of the European Commu-
nities against the Italian Republic (1)

(Failure to fulfil obligations — Article 28 EC — National
legislation subjecting alkaline batteries to a marking scheme)

(2004/C 300/38)

(Language of the case: German)

In Case C-143/03: Commission of the European Communities
(Agents: L. Visaggio and R. Amorosi) v the Italian Republic
(Agent: I.M. Braguglia, assisted by P. Gentili) — action under
Article 226 EC for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 28
March 2003 — the Court (First Chamber), composed of P.
Jann, President of
the Chamber, N. Colneric (Rapporteur),
J. N. Cunha Rodrigues, M. Ilešič and E. Levits, Judges; Advocate
General: D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Registrar: R. Grass, has given
a judgment on 14 October 2004, in which it:

1) Declares

by

that,

batteries
subjecting manganese
containing less than 0.0005 % mercury by weight to a marking
scheme which requires,
in particular, an indication as to the
presence of heavy metals, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil
its obligations under Article 28 EC.

alkaline

2) Orders the Italian Republic to pay the costs.

in Case C-189/03: Commission of the European Commu-
nities v Kingdom of the Netherlands (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Freedom
to provide services — Restrictions — Private security firms)

(2004/C 300/39)

(Language of the case: Dutch)

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

In Case C-189/03: Action under Article 226 EC for failure to
fulfil obligations, brought on 5 May 2003, Commission of the
European Communities (Agents: M. Patakia and W. Wils) v
Kingdom of the Netherlands (Agents: H.G. Sevenster, C. Wissels
and N.A.J. Bel) — the Court (First Chamber), composed of: P.
Jann (Rapporteur), President of
the Chamber, A. Rosas,
S. von Bahr, R. Silva de Lapuerta and K. Lenaerts, Judges; J.
Kokott, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal Adminis-
trator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 7 October
2004, in which it:

1. Declares that, by adopting,

the Law on
private security firms and detective agencies of 24 October 1997,
provisions which require that:

in the framework of

— undertakings that wish to provide services in the Netherlands
and their managers must have a permit, without taking into
account the obligations to which foreign service providers are
already subject in the Member State where they are established,
and by charging fees for this permit, and

— members of the staff of these firms seconded from the Member
State where they are established to work in the Netherlands
have a proof of identity card issued by the Netherlands autho-
rities, in so far as the checks to which cross-frontier providers
of services are already subject in their Member State of origin
are not taken into account for the requirement in question,

the Kingdom of the Netherlands has failed to fulfil its obligations
under Article 49 EC;

2. Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay three quarters of
the costs of the Commission of the European Communities. For
the rest, each party is ordered to bear its own costs.

(1) OJ C 135 of 7.6.2003.

(1) OJ C 158 of 5.7.2003.