Case C-56/05: Action brought on 9 February 2005 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Hellenic Republic
Date: 2005-04-16
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Greece, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, interest, savings, tax on income, tax system

C 93/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

16.4.2005

Pleas in law and main arguments

in force in Finland,

It follows from the provisions of Regulation 1598/1995 on the
registration of vehicles,
that a person
in Finland is obliged to apply for a
permanently resident
temporary transfer licence for a vehicle previously lawfully
registered and insured in another Member State when the
vehicle is imported or transferred through Finland to another
Member State or a non-member country. A person perma-
nently resident in Finland may not thus use a vehicle previously
registered and insured in another Member State in Finland
without a transfer licence. Obtaining a transfer licence requires
for its part that a person living in Finland importing a vehicle
registered in another Member State stops at
the frontier
crossing point, where he can apply for the transfer licence and
pay the fees for the licence. He cannot use the vehicle in
Finland until the transfer licence is granted. A transfer licence is
usually granted for seven days, after which the importer of the
vehicle must register the vehicle in the Finnish vehicle traffic
register if he wishes to use the vehicle in Finland other than
temporarily under the transfer licence.

Under Article 28 EC, quantitative restrictions on imports and
all measures having equivalent effect are prohibited between
Member States.

Since a person living in Finland, when importing a vehicle
registered in another Member State or transferring it through
Finland to another Member State or a non-member country,
has to stop at the Finnish frontier in order to apply for a
transfer licence for the vehicle, the vehicle becomes the object
of systematic frontier checks which clearly satisfy the character-
istics of the quantitative restrictions on imports or measures
having equivalent effect referred to in Article 28 EC.

Finland has not adduced any grounds to show that the only
method of ensuring the effectiveness of monitoring is the appli-
cation of a transfer licence system which in practice means, for
a person permanently resident in Finland, a systematic obliga-
tion to comply with special frontier formalities, that is, an obli-
gation to stop at the nearest frontier crossing point and apply
for a transfer licence without any statutory guarantee that it
will be possible for a vehicle lawfully registered, insured and
tested in another Member State to be used in Finland. Such
systematic frontier formalities are a fundamental restriction on
the free movement of goods.

Having regard to the above points of view, the Commission
submits that the transfer licence system in force in Finland
under Regulation 1598/1995 is contrary to Articles 28 EC and
30 EC. Should the Court of Justice consider that the transfer
licence system could in general be based on Article 30 EC, the
Commission submits that the seven-day period of validity of
the transfer licence in accordance with the main provision of
the regulation is in any event contrary to Articles 28 EC and
30 EC.

Action brought on 9 February 2005 by the Commission of
the European Communities against the Hellenic Republic

(Case C-56/05)

(2005/C 93/22)

(Language of the case: Greek)

An action against the Hellenic Republic was brought before the
Court of Justice of the European Communities on 9 February
2005 by the Commission of the European Communities, repre-
sented by Dimitris Triandafillou, Legal Adviser, with an address
for service in Luxembourg.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

1. declare that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to comply with Council
Directive 2003/48/EC (1) of 3 June 2003 on taxation of
savings income in the form of interest payments or, in any
event, by failing to inform the Commission of
such
measures, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obliga-
tions under Article 17 of that directive.

2. order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The period prescribed for
national law expired on 1 January 2004.

transposing the directive into

Should the Court of Justice consider that the transfer licence
system could in general be based on Article 30 EC (quod non),
the Commission submits that the seven-day period of validity
of the transfer licence in accordance with the main provision of
the regulation is in any event unreasonably short.

(1) OJ L 157 of 26.06.2003, p. 38.