Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 9 December 2004 in Case C-56/04: Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Finland (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive 2001/29/EC — Harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society — Failure to transpose within the period prescribed)
Date: 2005-02-05
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Finland, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, approximation of laws, copyright, information society

5.2.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 31/3

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Second Chamber)

of 12 October 2004

in Case C-87/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Giudice di pace di Genova): Roberto Nicoli v Eridania
SpA (1)

(Sugar — Price system — Regionalisation — Deficit areas
— Classification of Italy — Marketing year 1998/99 —
Regulations (EEC) No 1785/81 and (EC) No 1361/98 —
Validity of Regulation No 1361/98)

(2005/C 31/06)

(Language of the case: Italian)

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

In Case C-87/00: reference for a preliminary ruling under
Article 234 EC from the Giudice di pace di Genova (Italy),
made by decision of 28 February 2000, received at the Court
on 7 March 2000, in the proceedings between Roberto Nicoli
and Eridania SpA – the Court (Second Chamber), composed of:
C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann,
R. Schintgen, F. Macken and N. Colneric (Rapporteur), Judges;
M. Poiares Maduro, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 12
October 2004, in which it has ruled:

Consideration of the questions raised has disclosed nothing to affect
the validity of Council Regulation (EC) No 1361/98 of 26 June
1998 fixing, for the 1998/99 marketing year, the derived interven-
tion prices for white sugar, the intervention price for raw sugar, the
minimum prices for A and B beet, and the amount of compensation
for storage costs.

(1) OJ C 149 of 27.5.2000.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Sixth Chamber)

of 9 December 2004

in Case C-219/03: Commission of the European Commu-
nities v Kingdom of Spain (1)

(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Tax on
capital gains)

(2005/C 31/07)

(Language of the case: Spanish)

In Case C-219/03 the Commission of the European Commu-
nities (Agents: M. Diaz-Llanos La Roche and L. Escobar Guer-

rero) v Kingdom of Spain (Agents: L. Fraguas Gadea) –action
under Article 226 EC for failure to fulfil obligations, brought
on 19 May 2003 – the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of:
J.-P. Puissochet,
A. Borg Barthet, President of the Chamber,
(Rapporteur) and S. von Bahr,
J. Kokott, Advocate
General; R. Grass, Registrar, gave a judgment on 9 December
2004, in which it:

Judges;

shares purchased prior

1. Declares that, with regard to the tax on capital gains made since
1 January 1997 on transfers of
to
31 December 1994, by maintaining in force a tax regime which
is less favourable to shares quoted on markets other than Spanish
regulated markets than to shares quoted on the latter markets, the
Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles
49 EC and 56 EC and the corresponding Articles 36 and 40 of
the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

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

(1) OJ C 184 of 2.8.2003.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Sixth Chamber)

of 9 December 2004

in Case C-56/04: Commission of the European Commu-
nities v Republic of Finland (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
2001/29/EC — Harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright
and related rights in the information society — Failure to
transpose within the period prescribed)

(2005/C 31/08)

(Language of the case: Finnish)

In Case C-56/04: Commission of the European Communities
(Agents: K. Banks and H. Huttunen) v Republic of Finland
(Agent: A. Guimaraes-Purokoski) – ACTION under Article 226
EC for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 10 February
2004 – the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: A. Borg
J.-P. Puissochet and J. Male-
Barthet, President of Chamber,
novský (Judge Rapporteur),
Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate
General; R. Grass, Registrar, gave a judgment on 9 December
2004, in which it:

C 31/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

5.2.2005

provisions

administrative

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt the necessary laws, regulations
and
comply with Directive
2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copy-
right and related rights in the information society, the Republic of
Finland has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

to

2. Orders the Republic of Finland to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 85, 3.4.2004.

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Sixth Chamber)

of 9 December 2004

in Case C-333/04: Commission of the European Commu-
nities v Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
1999/92/EC — Protection of workers — Exposure to risk of
explosive atmospheres — Failure to transpose)

(2005/C 31/09)

(Language of the case: French)

In Case C-333/04: Commission of the European Communities
(Agents: D. Martin and H. Kreppel) v Grand Duchy of Luxem-
bourg (Agent: S. Schreiner) – ACTION under Article 226 EC
for failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 2 August 2004 –
the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: A. Borg Barthet,
President of Chamber (Judge Rapporteur), J. Malenovský and U.
Lõhmus, Judges; L.A. Geelhoed, Advocate General; R. Grass,
Registrar, gave a judgment on 9 December 2004, in which it:

to

provisions

administrative

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt the necessary laws, regulations
and
comply with Directive
1999/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
16 December 1999 on minimum requirements for improving the
safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from
(15th individual Directive within the
explosive atmospheres
meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC), the Grand
Duchy of Luxembourg has failed to fulfil its obligations under
that directive;

2. Orders the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 228, 11.9.2004.

Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Corte Suprema
di Cassazione by decision of that court of 11 June 2004 in
the case of Honyvem Informazioni Commerciali S.r.l.
against Mariella De Zotti

(Case C-465/04)

(2005/C 31/10)

(Language of the case: Italian)

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the Euro-
pean Communities by order of the Corte Suprema di Cassa-
zione (Court of Appeal, Milan) (Italy) of 11 June 2004 received
at the Court Registry on 3 November 2004, for a preliminary
ruling in the case of Honyvem Informazioni Commerciali S.r.l.
against Mariella De Zotti on the following questions:

the national

Given the tenor and purpose of Article 17 of the directive and,
where applicable, of the criteria it offers for calculating the
indemnity for which it provides, can Article 19 be interpreted
as meaning that
legislation implementing the
directive can permit that a collective agreement (or contract)
that is binding on the parties to certain contracts provides not
for an indemnity owed to the agent in the set of circumstances
set out in the second paragraph of Article 17 and payable in
accordance with criteria that can be deduced therefrom but for
an indemnity which is owed to the agent without regard to the
conditions set out in the two indents of paragraph 2 a) (and for
part of the indemnity whatever the reason for termination of
the contract) and is calculated not in accordance with the
criteria to be found in the directive (and, where applicable, at
the maximum amount specified therein) but in accordance
with the criteria set in the collective economic agreement. That
is to say an indemnity determined (without any specific refer-
ence to the increase in business generated by the agent) on the
remuneration
basis of predetermined percentages of
received by the agent in the course of the relationship, with the
result that, even if the requirements of the directive for entitle-
ment to the indemnity are met fully or to a high degree, in
many cases the level of the indemnity to be paid would have to
be lower (sometimes much lower) than the ceiling provided for
in the directive and in any event lower than could have been
decided in specific terms by the court if it were not bound by
the calculation parameters laid down in the collective economic
agreement rather than the principles and criteria of the direc-
tive.

the

Should the indemnity be calculated individually by estimating
the further commissions that the agent could presumably have
earned in the years following termination of the contract on
the basis of the new customers he has brought or the substan-
tial growth in business with existing customers that he has
generated, and only then applying any adjustments to the
amount, having in mind the criterion of equity and the ceiling
laid down in the directive; or are other methods of calculation
permitted, in particular composite methods that evaluate the
criterion of equity more broadly and take the ceiling specified
in the directive as their point of departure.