Case C-149/07: Action brought on 15 March 2007 — Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Poland
Date: 2007-06-09
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Poland, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, import restriction, pharmaceutical product, plant health product, quantitative restriction

9.6.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 129/5

3) Are the criteria set out in Case C-332/04 (3) Commission v
Spain, and specifically those contained in paragraphs 69
to 88 of the judgment, applicable to the projects which are
the subject-matter of these proceedings, having regard to
their nature, the nature of the road on which they are to be
carried out,
effect on the
characteristics,
surrounding area, budget and the possible splitting up of a
larger project which contemplates similar works on the same
road, such that there was a requirement to submit them to
the prescribed environmental impact assessment procedure?

their

size,

4) Do the relevant administrative records and, specifically, the
studies and reports contained therein, demonstrate that the
Spanish authorities have, in practice, complied with the obli-
gations arising from Council Directive 85/377/EEC, as
amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC, relating to the
environmental assessment of
the projects which are the
subject-matter of these proceedings, even if the project was
not
formally subjected to the prescribed environmental
assessment procedure set out in the Directive?

(1) Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of
the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment
(OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40).

(2) Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive
85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
private projects on the environment (OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5).
(3) Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain [2006]

ECR I-40.

Action brought on 15 March 2007 — Commission of the
European Communities v Republic of Poland

(Case C-149/07)

(2007/C 129/07)

Language of the case: Polish

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: J. Hottiaux and K. Herrmann, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Poland

Form of order sought

Pleas in law and main arguments

Article 28 EC prohibits quantitative restrictions on imports
between Member States and all measures having equivalent
effect. The Commission submits that, by failing to establish a
specific legal framework regarding the grant of authorisations
for the placing on the market of plant protection products
which are imported from other Member States, where those
products have already obtained authorisation to be placed on
the market, and which are identical (within the meaning of the
case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities)
to products already placed on the market
the
in Poland,
its obligations under
Republic of Poland has failed to fulfil
Article 28 EC.

According to the Court of Justice's case-law, in the absence of
trading rules enacted by Member States
harmonisation ‘all
which are capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or
potentially,
intra-Community trade are to be considered as
measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions’.
The Court has also held that national rules or practices which
result in imports being channelled in such a way that only
certain traders can effect
these imports, whereas others are
prevented from doing so, constitute a measure having an effect
equivalent
to a quantitative restriction. A procedure under
which prior authorisation is required for the sale of imported
products must be established by means of rules which are of
general application and which also explicitly bind the national
authorities. That procedure must be easily accessible and carried
out within a reasonable time. It is necessary for such general
rules to exist in national
law because they enable citizens to
exercise the rights accorded to them by Community law.

the two-month period set

While the new proposal
for legislative amendment may be
accepted by the Commission, it had not entered into force on
in the Commission's
expiry of
reasoned opinion calling for elimination of the infringement. In
accordance with settled case-law,
the question whether a
Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be deter-
mined by reference to the legal situation prevailing in that State
at the end of the period laid down by the Commission in the
reasoned opinion. The Court cannot take account of any subse-
quent changes in national law.

a

for

Reference
from the
preliminary
Bundesfinanzhof (Germany) lodged on 21 March 2007 —
Finanzamt für Körperschaften III in Berlin v Krankenheim
Ruhesitz am Wannsee-Seniorenheimstatt GmbH

ruling

(Case C-157/07)

(2007/C 129/08)

Language of the case: German

— declare that, by failing to establish a specific legal framework
import of
for the grant of authorisations for the parallel
the Republic of
plant protection products into Poland,
Poland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 28 EC;

Referring court

— order the Republic of Poland to pay the costs.

Bundesfinanzhof