Case C-307/07: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 10 July 2008 — Commission of the European Communities v Portuguese Republic (Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Directive 89/48/EEC — Recognition of diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years' duration — Failure to recognise diplomas which give access to the profession of pharmacist specialising in medical biology — Failure to transpose)
Date: 2008-07-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Portugal, action for failure to fulfil an obligation, biology, pharmacist, recognition of diplomas, recognition of vocational training qualifications

30.8.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 223/15

Re:

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Breach of Arti-
cles 43 EC and 56 EC — National law making the acquisition
of certain shareholdings in undertakings which carry on regu-
lated activities in the energy sector subject to prior approval of a
special commission

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, by adopting the first indent of the second paragraph
of the single article of the fourteenth function of the National
Energy Commission provided for
in Supplementary Provision
No 11, part 3, point 1 of Law 34/1998 of 7 October 1998 on
the hydrocarbon sector (Ley 3471998, del sector de hidrocarburos),
as amended by Royal Decree-Law 4/2006 of 24 February 2006
(Real Decreto-Ley 4/2006),
in order to make the acquisition of
certain shareholdings in undertakings which carry on certain regu-
lated activities in the energy sector and the acquisition of the assets
necessary to carry on such activities subject to the prior approval of
the National Energy Commission, the Kingdom of Spain has failed
to fulfil its obligations under Articles 43 EC and 56 EC;

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

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Finanzgericht Düsseldorf
— Interpretation of Article 14(1)(a) of Council Directive
2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003 restructuring the Community
framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity
(OJ 2003 L 283, p. 51) — Direct effect — National legislation
not exempting gas oil used to produce electricity from mineral
oil tax

Operative part of the judgment

Article 14(1)(a) of Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October
2003 restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of
energy products and electricity, in so far as it provides for the exemp-
tion from taxation under that directive of energy products used to
produce electricity, has direct effect in the sense that it may be relied
upon by an individual before national courts — in relation to a period
of time during which the Member State concerned was in default of its
obligation to transpose that directive into its national law within the
prescribed period — in a dispute, such as that in the main proceedings,
between that individual and the customs authorities of that State, for
the purpose of having national legislation which is incompatible with
that provision disapplied and, consequently, obtaining a refund of tax
which infringed that provision.

(1) OJ C 140, 23.6.2007.

(1) OJ C 155, 7.7.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 17 July 2008
(reference for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht
Düsseldorf — Germany) — Flughafen Köln/Bonn GmbH v
Hauptzollamt Köln

Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 10 July 2008 —
Commission of the European Communities v Portuguese
Republic

(Case C-226/07) (1)

(Case C-307/07) (1)

(Directive 2003/96/EC — Community framework for the
taxation of energy products and electricity — Article 14(1)(a)
— Exemption for energy products used to produce electricity
— Option to impose taxation for reasons of environmental
policy — Direct effect of the exemption)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Directive
89/48/EEC — Recognition of diplomas awarded on comple-
tion of professional education and training of at least three
years' duration — Failure to recognise diplomas which give
access to the profession of pharmacist specialising in medical
biology — Failure to transpose)

(2008/C 223/23)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Finanzgericht Düsseldorf

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Flughafen Köln/Bonn GmbH

Defendant: Hauptzollamt Köln

(2008/C 223/24)

Language of the case: Portuguese

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: H. Støvlbæk and P. Andrade, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Portuguese Republic (represented by: L. Fernandes,
Agent)

C 223/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

30.8.2008

Re:

Re:

Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Failure to
transpose Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988
on a general system for the recognition of higher-education
diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and
training of at least three years' duration (OJ 1989 L 19, p. 16)
in relation to the profession of pharmacist specialising in
medical biology

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. declares that, by failing to adopt the measures necessary to trans-
pose Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a
general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas
awarded on completion of professional education and training of at
least three years' duration, as amended by Directive 2002/19/EC
of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 May 2001, in
relation to the profession of pharmacist specialising in medical
biology, the Portuguese Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations
under that directive;

2. orders the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 199, of 25.8.2007.

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement
of Article 6(1) of Council Directive 89/105/EEC of 21 December
1988 relating to the transparency of measures regulating the
pricing of medicinal products for human use and their inclusion
in the scope of national health insurance systems (OJ 1989 L 40,
p. 8) — National legislation on social security establishing a list
of medicinal products covered by the health insurance system
comprising three categories of medicinal products differing
according to their conditions of reimbursement — Failure to
have set a time-limit as required by Article 6(1) of Directive
89/105/EEC for decisions relating to the inclusion of medicinal
products in the most favourable categories

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, by failing to lay down a time-limit, in accordance
with Article 6(1)
of Council Directive 89/105/EEC of
21 December 1988 relating to the transparency of measures regu-
lating the pricing of medicinal products for human use and their
inclusion in the scope of national health insurance systems, for the
adoption of decisions relating to applications for inclusion of medic-
inal products in the yellow or green categories of the medicinal
products reimbursement code provided for by the general Law on
social
as
amended by the Law of 2003 amending social insurance (Sozial-
versicherungs-Änderungsgesetz 2003), the Republic of Austria has
failed to fulfil its obligations under that provision.

Sozialversicherungsgesetz),

(Allgemeines

insurance

2. Order the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.

Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 17 July 2008
— Commission of the European Communities v Republic
of Austria

(1) OJ C 211, 8.9.2007.

(Case C-311/07) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
89/105/EEC — Inclusion of medicinal products for human
use in the national health insurance system — Article 6(1) —
List of medicinal products covered by the national health
insurance system establishing three different categories of
reimbursement
for
adopting a decision on an application for inclusion of a medi-
cinal product in the categories of that list offering the most
favourable reimbursement conditions)

to conditions — Time-limit

subject

(2008/C 223/25)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 17 July 2008
(reference for a preliminary ruling from the Wojewódzki
Sąd Administracyjny w Białymstoku — Republic of
Poland) — Dariusz Krawczyński v Dyrektor Izby Celnej w
Białymstoku

(Case C-426/07) (1)

(Internal taxation — Taxes on motor vehicles — Excise duty
— Second-hand vehicles — Importation)

(2008/C 223/26)

Language of the case: Polish

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

Referring court

Defendant: Republic of Austria (represented by: C. Pesendorfer,
Agent)

Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny w Białymstoku