Case C-353/06: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 14 October 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Amtsgericht Flensburg, Germany) — Proceedings brought by Stefan Grunkin, Dorothee Regina Paul (Right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States — Private international law relating to surnames — Applicable law determined by nationality alone — Minor child born and resident in one Member State with the nationality of another Member State — Non-recognition in the Member State of which he is a national of the surname acquired in the Member State of birth and residence)
Date: 2008-10-14
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: censorship, discrimination on the basis of nationality, free movement of persons, interpretation of the law

6.12.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 313/3

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 23 October
the European Communities v
2008 — Commission of

Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-286/06) (1)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Directive
89/48/EEC — Workers — Recognition of diplomas —
Engineer)

(2008/C 313/03)

Language of the case: Spanish

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 14 October
2008 (reference for
a preliminary ruling from the
Amtsgericht Flensburg, Germany) — Proceedings brought
by Stefan Grunkin, Dorothee Regina Paul

(Case C-353/06) (1)

(Right to move and reside freely within the territory of the
Member States — Private international
law relating to
surnames — Applicable law determined by nationality alone
— Minor child born and resident in one Member State with
the nationality of another Member State — Non-recognition
in the Member State of which he is a national of the surname
acquired in the Member State of birth and residence)

Parties

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

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: M. Muñoz Pérez,
Agent)

Referring court

(2008/C 313/04)

Language of the case: German

Re:

Failure by a Member State to fulfil obligations — Breach of
Article 3 of Council Directive 89/48/EEC of 21 December 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) — Profes-
sional qualification of engineer obtained in Italy not recognised
in Spain

Operative part of the judgment

1. The Kingdom of Spain,

— by refusing to recognise the professional qualifications of engi-
neer obtained in Italy on the basis of university education and
training provided solely in Spain, and

— by making admission to internal exams for promotion in the
civil service subject in the case of engineers with professional
qualifications obtained in another Member State to academic
recognition of those qualifications,

failed to fulfil

has
its obligations under 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 2001/19/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 14 May 2001, and in particular Article 3
thereof.

2. The Kingdom of Spain is ordered to pay the costs.

Amtsgericht Flensburg

Parties to the main proceedings

Stefan Grunkin, Dorothee Regina Paul

Other parties: Leonhard Matthias Grunkin-Paul, Standesamt
Niebüll,

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Amtsgericht Flensburg
(Germany) — Interpretation of Articles 12 and 18 of the EC
Treaty — National rule on conflict of laws connecting the law
governing the determination of a person's surname to nation-
ality alone — Refusal by the Member State of which he is a
national to recognise the surname of a child, made up of the
respective surnames of his parents, where the child was born
and is resident in another Member State in which he has been
registered under that double-barrelled name

Operative part of the judgment

In circumstances such as those of the case in the main proceedings,
Article 18 EC precludes the authorities of a Member State, in applying
national law, from refusing to recognise a child's surname, as deter-
mined and registered in a second Member State in which the child —
like his parents, has only the nationality of the first Member
who,
State — was born and has been resident since birth.

(1) OJ C 212, 2.9.2006.

(1) OJ C 281, 18.11.2006.