Case C-176/06 P: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 29 November 2007 — Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall GmbH, Stadtwerke Tübingen GmbH, Stadtwerke Uelzen GmbH v Commission of the European Communities, E.ON Kernkraft GmBH, RWE Power AG, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy GmbH, formerly Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke AG (Appeal — Aid allegedly granted by the German authorities to nuclear power stations — Provisions for closure of power stations and disposal of radioactive waste — Inadmissibility of the action before the Court of First Instance — Absolute bar)
Date: 2007-11-29
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: General Court (EU), Germany, State aid, action for annulment (EU), control of State aid, decommissioning of power stations, nuclear power station, tax exemption, waste disposal

C 22/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.1.2008

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 29 November
2007 — Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall GmbH, Stadtwerke
Tübingen GmbH, Stadtwerke Uelzen GmbH v Commission
of the European Communities, E.ON Kernkraft GmBH,
RWE Power AG, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG,
formerly
Vattenfall Europe Nuclear

Energy GmbH,
Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke AG

(Case C-176/06 P) (1)

(Appeal — Aid allegedly granted by the German authorities
to nuclear power stations — Provisions for closure of power
stations and disposal of radioactive waste — Inadmissibility
of the action before the Court of First Instance — Absolute
bar)

(2008/C 22/14)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Appellants: Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall GmbH, Stadtwerke
Tübingen GmbH, Stadtwerke Uelzen GmbH (represented by: D.
Fouquet and P. Becker, Rechtsanwälte)

Other parties to the proceedings: Commission of the European
Communities
(represented by: V. Kreuschitz, Agent), E.ON
Kernkraft GmBH, RWE Power AG, EnBW Energie Baden-Würt-
temberg AG, Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy GmbH, formerly
Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke AG (represented by: U.
Karpenstein and D. Sellner, Rechtsanwälte)

Re:

Appeal against the judgment of
the Court of First Instance
(Fourth Chamber) of 26 January 2006 in Case T-92/02 Stadt-
werke Schwäbisch Hall GmbH and Others v Commission in which
the Court dismissed the action seeking annulment of Commis-
sion Decision C(2001) 3967 final of 11 December 2001
declaring that the German tax exemption scheme applied to the
reserves established by nuclear power stations for the purpose
of disposal of their radioactive waste and the permanent closure
of their plants does not constitute State aid as referred to in
Article 87(1) EC — Obligation of the Commission to initiate
the inter partes procedure provided for in Article 88(2) EC
where there are difficulties of assessment or doubts

3. Orders Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall GmbH, Stadtwerke Tübingen
GmbH and Stadtwerke Uelzen GmbH to pay the costs of the two
sets of proceedings.

(1) OJ C 131 of 3.6.2006.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 22 November
2007 (reference for
a preliminary ruling from the
Bundesverwaltungsgericht — Germany) — Deutsche
Telekom AG v Bundesrepublik Deutschland

(Case C-262/06) (1)

(Telecommunications sector — Universal service and users'
rights — Definition of ‘obligations’ which are to be provision-
ally maintained — First paragraph of Article 27 of Directive
2002/21/EC (Framework Directive) and Article 16(1)(a) of
Directive 2002/22/EC (Universal Service Directive) — Tariffs
for the supply of voice telephony services — Requirement for
administrative authorisation)

(2008/C 22/15)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesverwaltungsgericht

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Deutsche Telekom AG

Defendant: Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Re:

1. Annuls the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European
Communities of 26 January 2006 in Case T-92/02 Stadtwerke
Schwäbisch Hall GmbH and Others v Commission;

seeking

2. Dismisses as inadmissible the action brought by Stadtwerke Schwä-
bisch Hall GmbH, Stadtwerke Tübingen GmbH and Stadtwerke
Uelzen GmbH before the Court of First Instance of the European
Communities
of Commission Decision
C(2001) 3967 final of 11 December 2001 declaring that the
German tax exemption scheme applied to the reserves established
by the operators of nuclear power stations for the purpose of the
safe disposal of their radioactive waste and the permanent closure
of
their plants does not constitute State aid as referred to in
Article 87(1) EC;

annulment

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Bundesverwaltungsgericht
— Interpretation of the first sentence of Article 27 of Directive
2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for elec-
tronic communications networks and services
(Framework
Directive) (OJ 2002 L 108, p. 33) and Article 16(1)(a) of Direc-
tive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating
to electronic communications networks and services (Universal
Service Directive) (OJ 2002 L 108, p. 51) — Meaning of ‘obliga-
tions’ to be provisionally maintained by the Member States —
Pre-existing requirement for authorisation of charges for the
supply of voice telephony services to end-users by an under-
taking with a dominant position