Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 8 September 2005 in Joined Cases C-544/03 and C-545/03: References for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d'État Mobistar SA v Commune de Fléron, and Belgacom Mobile SA v Commune de Schaerbeek (Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49 EC) — Telecommunications services — Directive 90/388/EEC — Article 3c — Lifting of all restrictions — Municipal taxes on transmission pylons, masts and antennae for GSM)
Date: 2005-10-29
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: interpretation of the law, mobile phone, tax system, telecommunications

C 271/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.10.2005

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Fifth Chamber)

of 8 September 2005

in Case C-500/03: Commission of the European Commu-
nities v Portuguese Republic (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
standards and regulations —
98/34/EC — Technical

National rules applicable to recreational craft)

(2005/C 271/10)

(Language of the case: Portuguese)

In Case C-500/03 Commission of the European Commu-
nities (Agent: A. Caeiros) v Portuguese Republic (Agents: L. I.
Fernandes and M. J. Lois) — action under Article 226 EC for
failure to fulfil obligations, brought on 26 November 2003 —
the Court (Fifth Chamber), composed of R. Silva de Lapuerta,
President of
the Chamber, R. Schintgen and P. Kűris
(Rapporteur), Judges; F. G. Jacobs, Advocate General; R. Grass,
Registrar, gave a judgment on 8 September 2005, in which it:

the draft stage,

1. Declares that, by adopting Ministerial Decree No 783/98 of 19
September 1998 without having notified it to the Commission of
the European Communities at
the Portuguese
its obligations under Article 8 of
Republic has failed to fulfil
Directive 98/34/EC of
the
Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provi-
sion of information in the field of technical standards and regula-
tions and the rules on information society services, as amended by
Directive 98/48/EC of
the
Council of 20 July 1998;

the European Parliament and of

the European Parliament and of

2. Orders the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 21 of 24.1.2004.

(First Chamber)

of 8 September 2005

in Joined Cases C-544/03 and C-545/03: References for a
preliminary ruling from the Conseil d'État Mobistar SA v
and Belgacom Mobile SA v
Commune de Fléron,

Commune de Schaerbeek (1)

(Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article
49 EC) — Telecommunications
services — Directive
90/388/EEC — Article 3c — Lifting of all restrictions —
Municipal taxes on transmission pylons, masts and antennae
for GSM)

(2005/C 271/11)

(Language of the case: French)

In Joined Cases C-544/03 and C-545/03: references for a preli-
minary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Conseil d'État
(Belgium), made by decisions of 8 December 2003, received at
the Court on 23 December 2003, in the proceedings between
Mobistar SA (C-544/03) v Commune de Fléron, and Belgacom
Mobile SA (C-545/03) v Commune de Schaerbeek — the Court
(First Chamber) composed of P. Jann, President of the Chamber,
K. Lenaerts, N. Colneric (Rapporteur), E. Juhász and M. Ilešič,
Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General, M.-F. Contet, Principal
Administrator,
the Registrar, gave a judgment on 8
September 2005, the operative part of which is as follows:

for

1. Article 59 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 49
EC) must be interpreted as not precluding the introduction, by
legislation of a national or local authority, of a tax on mobile and
personal communications infrastructures used to carry on activities
provided for in licences and authorisations, which applies without
distinction to national providers of services and to those of other
Member States and affects in the same way the provision of
services within one Member State and the provision of services
between Member States.

covered

by Article 3c

2. Tax measures applying to mobile communications infrastructures
are not
of Commission Directive
90/388/EEC of 28 June 1990 on competition in the
markets for telecommunications services, as amended,
with regard to the implementation of full competition in telecom-
munications markets, by Commission Directive 96/19/EC of 13
March 1996, except where those measures favour, directly or
indirectly, operators which have or have had exclusive or special
rights to the detriment of new operators and appreciably affect the
competitive situation.

(1) OJ C 47, 21.02.2004.