Case C-337/05: Action brought on 15 September 2005 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Italian Republic
Date: 2005-11-12
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Italy, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, helicopter, supplies contract

12.11.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 281/9

Action brought on 15 September 2005 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Italian Republic

77/62/EEC, Directive 80/767/EEC and 88/295/EEC, and has
thereby failed to fulfil its obligations under the abovementioned
directives.

(Case C-337/05)

(2005/C 281/16)

(Language of the case: Italian)

Justice of

An action against the Italian Republic was brought before the
Court of
the European Communities on 15
September 2005 by the Commission of the European Commu-
nities, represented by D. Recchia and X. Lewis, acting as
Agents.

The Commission claims that the Court should:

— Declare that, since the Italian Government and, in particu-
lar, the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, Economics and
Finance, for Agricultural and Forestry Policy, and for Infra-
structure and Transport, and the Department of Civil
Protection of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers,
have adopted a procedure, which has been in existence for
a long time and is still followed, of directly awarding to the
firm ‘Agusta’ contracts for the purchase of helicopters
manufactured by ‘Agusta’ and ‘Agusta Bell’ to meet the
requirements of the military corps of the fire brigade, the
Carabinieri, the State Forestry Corps, the Coastguard, the
Revenue Guard Corps, the State Police and the Department
of Civil Protection, without any tendering procedure,
in
particular without complying with the procedures provided
for by Directive 93/36/EEC (1) and, earlier, by Directive
77/62/EEC, (2) Directive 80/767/EEC (3) and 88/295/EEC, (4)
the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under
the abovementioned directives;

— Order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Government of the Italian Republic and, in particular, the
Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, Economics and Finance,
for Agricultural and Forestry Policy, and for Infrastructure and
Transport, and the Department of Civil Protection of the Presi-
dency of the Council of Ministers, have adopted a procedure,
which has been in existence for a long time and is still
followed, of directly awarding to the firm ‘Agusta’ contracts for
the purchase of helicopters manufactured by ‘Agusta’ and
‘Agusta Bell’ to meet the requirements of the military corps of
the fire brigade, the Carabinieri, the State Forestry Corps, the
Coastguard, the Revenue Guard Corps, the State Police and the
Department of Civil Protection, without any tendering proce-
dure,
in particular without complying with the procedures
provided for by Directive 93/36/EEC and, earlier, by Directive

Following receipt of a complaint, the Commission acquired
information from which it appears that the Italian Government
has operated that procedure for a long time.

The Commission takes the view that that practice is incompa-
tible with the directives on public supply contracts referred to
above in so far as none of the conditions to which recourse to
the negotiated procedure without publication of a contract
notice is subject appears to have been satisfied.

The Commission considers, moreover, that Italy has not shown
that the practice in question is justified on the basis of Article
2 of Directive 93/36/EEC, according to which the directive is
not to apply to supply contracts which are declared secret or
the execution of which must be accompanied by special
security measures in accordance with the laws, regulations or
administrative provisions
in force in the Member States
concerned or when the protection of the basic interests of the
Member State's security so requires.

(1) OJ L 199 of 09.08.1993, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 13 of 15.01.1977, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 215 of 18.08.1980, p. 1.
(4) OJ L 127 of 20.05.1988, p. 1.

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Landesgericht
Innsbruck by order of that court of 22 June 2005 in
Zentralbetriebsrat der Landeskrankenhäuser Tirols v Land
Tirol

(Case C-339/05)

(2005/C 281/17)

(Language of the case: German)

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the Euro-
pean Communities by order of the Landesgericht Innsbruck
(Austria) of 22 June 2005, received at the Court Registry on 19
September 2005, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings
between Zentralbetriebsrat der Landeskrankenhäuser Tirols and
Land Tirol on the following question: