Case C-44/07: Action brought on 2 February 2007 — Commission of the European Communities v Federal Republic of Germany
Date: 2007-03-24
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Germany, access to information, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, environmental protection, national implementing measure, right to information

C 69/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

24.3.2007

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: D.M.M.A. Arens-Sikken

Respondent: Staatssecretaris van Financiën

Questions referred

1. Must Articles 73b and 73d of the EC Treaty (now Articles 56
EC and 58 EC respectively) be interpreted as precluding a
Member State from taxing the inheritance under inheritance
law of immovable property situated in that Member State
and forming part of
in
another Member State at the time of his death on the basis
of the value of the immovable property without account
being taken of overendowment debts owed by the inheritor
by reason of a testamentary parental partition inter vivos?

the estate of a person resident

2. If the answer to the previous question is in the affirmative
and if it must also be determined by means of a comparison
whether and,
if so, to what extent overendowment debts
must be taken into account, what method of comparison —
one of the two methods referred to in 3.6.6 [of the judg-
ment] or another method entirely — must be used in a case
such as the present to determine whether the inheritance
duty which would have been levied if the testator had been
resident in the Netherlands at the time of his death would
have been less than the transfer duty?

3. Does it make any difference to the analysis of the obligation
possibly imposed by the EC Treaty on the Member State in
which the immovable property is situated to permit
the
deduction of the overendowment debts in whole or in part
whether that deduction leads to a smaller concession to
prevent double taxation in the Member State which considers
itself to have authority to tax the estate by virtue of the testa-
tor's place of residence?

information and

Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environ-
mental
repealing Council Directive
90/313/EEC or,
in any event, by failing to communicate
such measures to the Commission, the Federal Republic of
Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under that direc-
tive;

— order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The time-limit for transposition of the directive into national
law expired on 14 February 2005.

(1) OJ L 41, 2003, p. 26.

Action brought on 5 February 2007 — Commission of the
European Communities v Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-50/07)

(2007/C 69/23)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: B. Stromsky and S. Pardo Quintillán, acting as
Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain

Action brought on 2 February 2007 — Commission of the
European Communities v Federal Republic of Germany

Form of order sought

(Case C-44/07)

(2007/C 69/22)

Language of the case: German

Parties

— A declaration that, by failing to adopt all the laws, regula-
tions and administrative provisions necessary to comply
with Directive 2004/24/EC (1) of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 31 March 2004 amending, as regards
traditional herbal medicinal products, Directive 2001/83/EC
on the Community code relating to medicinal products for
human use, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obli-
gations under Article 2 of that directive;

— an order that the Kingdom of Spain should pay the costs.

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: U. Wölker, acting as Agent)

Pleas in law and main arguments

Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany

Form of order sought

The period prescribed for transposition into domestic law of
Directive 2004/24/EC expired on 30 October 2005.

— Declare that, by failing to adopt all the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to transpose Directive
2003/4/EC (1) of
the

the European Parliament and of

(1) OJ L 136, 2004, p. 85.