Case C-239/07: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 9 October 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas (Republic of Lithuania)) — Proceedings for review of the constitutionality of legislation brought by Julius Sabatauskas and Others (Internal market in electricity — Directive 2003/54/EC — Article 20 — Transmission and distribution systems — Third party access — Obligations of Member States — Open access of third parties to electricity transmission and distribution systems)
Date: 2008-10-09
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: electrical energy, energy distribution, freedom to provide services, interpretation of the law, single market, supplier

C 301/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

22.11.2008

and 29(1) of the Staff Regulations in the version in force until
30 April 2004 — Concept of ‘internal competition’ and the
objective assigned to recruitment of ensuring that the institution
secures the services of persons of the ‘highest standard of ability,
efficiency and integrity’ — Eligibility of auxiliary staff

2. Orders K Swiss Inc. to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 117, 26.5.2007.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Dismisses the appeal;

2. Orders Ms Chetcuti to pay the costs.

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 9 October 2008
(reference for a preliminary ruling from the Lietuvos
Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas (Republic of Lithuania))
— Proceedings for review of the constitutionality of legis-
lation brought by Julius Sabatauskas and Others

(1) OJ C 82, 14.4.2007.

(Case C-239/07) (1)

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 2 October
2008 — K-Swiss Inc. v Office for Harmonisation in the
Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)

(Case C-144/07 P) (1)

(Appeal — Community trade mark — Regulation (EC)
No 2868/95 — Time-limit for instituting proceedings before
the Court of First Instance — OHIM decision — Notification
by express courier — Calculation of
for
bringing an action)

the time limit

(2008/C 301/14)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Appellant: K-Swiss Inc. (represented by: H.E. Hübner, Advocate)

Other party to the proceedings: Office for Harmonisation in the
Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: O.
Mondéjar Ortuño, Agent)

Re:

Appeal against the order of the Court of First Instance (Third
Chamber) of 14 December 2006 in Case T-14/06 K-Swiss v
OHIM dismissing as inadmissible an action for annulment of a
decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM — Time-limit for
instituting proceedings — Notification by express courier —
Date from which the time-limit begins to run

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Dismisses the appeal;

(Internal market in electricity — Directive 2003/54/EC —
Article 20 — Transmission and distribution systems — Third
party access — Obligations of Member States — Open access
of third parties to electricity transmission and distribution
systems)

(2008/C 301/15)

Language of the case: Lithuanian

Referring court

Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucinis Teismas

Parties in the main proceedings

Julius Sabatauskas and Others

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Lietuvos respublikos
konstitucinis teismas — Interpretation of Article 20 of Direc-
tive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal
market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC — State-
ments made with regards
to decommissioning and waste
management activities (OJ 2003 L 176, p. 37) — Compatibility
with the directive of national legislation permitting consumers
to have access to the electricity transmission system only after
refusal by the distribution system operator to grant access to a
distribution system.

Operative part of the judgment

1. Article 20 of Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for
the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC
is to be interpreted as defining the Member States' obligations only
in respect of the access and not the connection of third parties to
the electricity transmission and distribution systems and as not
laying down that the system of network access that the Member
States are required to establish must allow an eligible customer to
choose, at his discretion, the type of system to which he wishes to
connect.

22.11.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 301/9

2. Article 20 must also be interpreted as not precluding national
legislation which lays down that an eligible customer's equipment
may be connected to a transmission system only where the distribu-
tion system operator refuses, on account of established technical or
operating requirements, to connect to its system the equipment of
the eligible customer which is on the territory included in its
licence. It is, however, for national courts to verify that the imple-
mentation and application of
that access system takes place in
accordance with objective and non discriminatory criteria between
the users of the transmission and distribution systems.

(1) OJ C 170, 21.7.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 16 September
2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the High
Court of Justice (Chancery Division) — (United Kingdom))
— The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Revenue and
Customs v Isle of Wight Council, Mid-Suffolk District
Council, South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council,
West Berkshire District Council

(Case C-288/07) (1)

(Sixth VAT Directive — Article 4(5) — Activities engaged in
by bodies governed by public law — Provision of off-street
car-parking facilities for which a charge is made — Distor-
tions of competition — Meaning of ‘would lead to’ and
‘significant’)

(2008/C 301/16)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

public law in its capacity as a public authority — Off-street
parking facilities for which a charge is made — Non-application
of VAT leading to distortions of competition — Concept of
‘distortion of competition’ — Criteria for determination

Operative part of the judgment

1. Article 4(5) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May
1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States
relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax:
uniform basis of assessment is to be interpreted as meaning that
the significant distortions of competition, to which the treatment as
non-taxable persons of bodies governed by private law acting as
public authorities would lead, must be evaluated by reference to the
activity in question, as such, without such evaluation relating to
any local market in particular.

of Article 4(5)

2. The expression ‘would lead to’ is, for the purposes of the second
subparagraph
of Sixth Council Directive
77/388/EEC, to be interpreted as encompassing not only actual
competition, but also potential competition, provided that the possi-
bility of a private operator entering the relevant market is real, and
not purely hypothetical.

3. The word ‘significant’

the second sub-
paragraph of Article 4(5) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC,
to be understood as meaning that the actual or potential distortions
of competition must be more than negligible.

the purposes of

for

is,

(1) OJ C 199, 25.8.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 9 October
2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundes-
gerichtshof, Germany) — Directmedia Publishing GmbH v
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

High Court of Justice (Chancery Division)

(Case C-304/07) (1)

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Revenue and
Customs

Respondents: Isle of Wight Council, Mid-Suffolk District Council,
South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council, West Berkshire
District Council

Re:

(Directive 96/9/EC — Legal protection of databases —
Sui generis right — Concept of ‘extraction’ of the contents of
a database)

(2008/C 301/17)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesgerichtshof

Reference for a preliminary ruling — High Court of Justice of
England and Wales (Chancery Division) — Interpretation of
Article 4(5) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May
1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States
relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added
tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) —
Activities or transactions engaged in by a body governed by

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Directmedia Publishing GmbH

Defendant: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg