Case C-274/06: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 14 February 2008 — Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain (Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Article 56 EC — National provision limiting the voting rights of shareholders in undertakings in the energy sector — Limitation applicable to public bodies)
Date: 2008-02-14
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, Spain, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, board of management, energy industry, energy supply, free movement of capital, public administration, security of supply, shareholding

C 79/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.3.2008

2. In a procedural situation such as that in the main proceedings, the
obligation, arising from the last sentence of Article 88(3) EC, to
remedy the consequences of the aid's unlawfulness extends also, for
the purposes of calculating the sums to be paid by the recipient,
and save for exceptional circumstances, to the period between a deci-
sion of the Commission of the European Communities declaring the
aid to be compatible with the common market and the annulment
of that decision by the Community court.

(1) OJ C 154, 1.7.2006.

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 14 February
2008 (reference
a preliminary ruling from the
Landgericht Koblenz — Germany) — Dynamic Medien
Vertriebs GmbH v Avides Media AG

for

storage media not labelled as having been declared available to
young persons by the competent authority of the Member State
— Image storage media imported from another Member State
having been declared available to young persons above a certain
age limit by the competent authority of that Member State —
Principle of proportionality

Operative part of the judgment

Article 28 EC does not preclude national rules, such as those at issue
in the main proceedings, which prohibit the sale and transfer by mail
order of image storage media which have not been examined and clas-
sified by a higher regional authority or a national voluntary self-regu-
lation body for the purposes of protecting young persons and which do
not bear a label from that authority or that body indicating the age
from which they may be viewed, unless it appears that the procedure
for examination, classification and labelling of image storage media
established by those rules
readily accessible or cannot be
completed within a reasonable period, or that a decision of refusal is
not open to challenge before the courts.

is not

(Case C-244/06) (1)

(1) OJ C 178, 29.7.2006.

(Free movement of goods — Article 28 EC — Measures
having equivalent effect — Directive 2000/31/EC — National
rules prohibiting the sale by mail order of image storage
media which have not been examined and classified by the
competent authority for the purpose of protecting children and
which do not bear a label from that authority indicating the
age from which they may be viewed — Image storage media
imported from another Member State which have been exam-
ined and classified by the competent authority of that State
and bear an age-limit label — Justification — Child protection
— Principle of proportionality)

(2008/C 79/05)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landgericht Koblenz

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 14 February
the European Communities v
2008 — Commission of

Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-274/06) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil
its obligations —
Article 56 EC — National provision limiting the voting rights
of shareholders in undertakings in the energy sector —
Limitation applicable to public bodies)

(2008/C 79/06)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties to the main proceedings

Parties

Applicant: Dynamic Medien Vertriebs GmbH

Defendant: Avides Media AG

Re:

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: H. Stovlbæk and R. Vidal Puig, Agents, acting as
Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: N. Díaz Abad,
acting as the Agent)

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Landgericht Koblenz —
Interpretation of Articles 28 EC and 30 EC and the provisions
of Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information
society services,
in the
internal market (OJ 2000 L 178, p. 1) — National legislation
on the protection of youth prohibiting mail order sales of image

in particular electronic commerce,

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Infringe-
ment of Article 56 EC — National provision which provides, in
certain cases, for the limitation of voting rights in undertakings
in the energy sector

29.3.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 79/5

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, by maintaining in force measures such as those laid
down in the Supplementary Provision No 27 to Law 55/1999 of
29 December 1999 on fiscal, administrative and social measures,
in the version of that provision in Article 94 of Law 62/2003 of
30 December 2003, which limits the voting rights of shares held
by public bodies in Spanish undertakings operating in the energy
sector, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil
its obligations
under Article 56 EC.

2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 212 of 2.9.2006.

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 14 February
the European Communities v
2008 — Commission of

Hellenic Republic

(Case C-419/06) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — State aid
— Obligation to recover)

(2008/C 79/07)

Language of the case: Greek

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: E. Righini, M. Konstantinidis, D. Triantafyllou and I.
Chatzigiannis, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Hellenic Republic (represented by: A. Samoni-Rantou,
P. Mylonopoulos, acting as Agents, V. Christianos and P. Anestis,
dikigoroi)

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Failure to take
measures to comply with Commission Decision C(2005) 2706
of 14 September 2005 on the recovery of aid granted to
Olympic Airlines

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, by not

taking, within the prescribed period, all
measures necessary to put an end to aid declared unlawful and

incompatible with the common market by the Commission Decision
of 14 December 2005 concerning State aid granted by Greece to
Olympic Airways and Olympic Airlines, and to recover that aid
its
from the recipients, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil
obligations under Articles 2 to 4 of that decision.

2. Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 310, 16.12.2006.

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 14 February
2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal
du travail de Bruxelles (Belgium)) — Sophiane Gysen v
Groupe S-Caisse d'Assurances sociales pour indépendants

(Case C-449/06) (1)

(Officials — Remuneration — Staff Regulations — Family
allowances — Calculation of the amount of national family
allowances — Determination of the ranking of the children —
Child giving rise to entitlement to family allowances under the
Staff Regulations)

(2008/C 79/08)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Tribunal du travail de Bruxelles (Belgium)

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Sophiane Gysen

Defendant: Groupe S-Caisse d'Assurances sociales pour indépen-
dants

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Tribunal du travail de
Bruxelles — Interpretation [of Article 67] of Regulation (EEC,
Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 of the Council of 29 February
1968 laying down the Staff Regulations of Officials and the
Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European
Communities (OJ 1968 L 56, p. 1) — Family allowances —
Permissibility of a national
family allowance system which
excludes, from the calculation of the order of the beneficiary
children, children in respect of whom there is entitlement to
family allowances under the Staff Regulations — Legal classifica-
tion of the Staff Regulations of Officials under national law