Case C-161/07: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 22 December 2008 — Commission of the European Communities v Republic of Austria (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Article 43 EC — National legislation laying down the conditions for registration of partnerships or companies on application by nationals of the new Member States — Procedure for certification of self-employed status)
Date: 2008-12-22
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Austria, EU national, European Commission, accession to the European Union, action for annulment (EU), right of establishment

21.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 44/9

Re:

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Conseil d'État — Validity,
in the light of the Community principle of equal treatment, of
Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for green-
house gas emission allowance trading within the Community
and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC (OJ 2003 L 275,
p. 32) — Difference in treatment as between, on the one hand,
installations in the steel sector subject to the greenhouse gas
emission allowance trading scheme laid down by the Directive
and, on the other, the aluminium and plastic industries, which
emit identical greenhouse gases and which are not subject to
that system — Objective justification for that difference in treat-
ment?

Operative part of the judgment

Consideration of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for
greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and
amending Council Directive 96/61/EC, as amended by Directive
2004/101/EC of
the Council of
27 October 2004, from the point of view of the principle of equal
treatment has disclosed nothing to affect its validity in so far as it
makes the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme applic-
able to the steel sector without including the chemical and non-ferrous
metal sectors in its scope.

the European Parliament and of

(1) OJ C 117, 26.5.2007.

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 22 December
the European Communities v
2008 — Commission of

Republic of Austria

(Case C-161/07) (1)

of a Member State

obligations —
(Failure
Article 43 EC — National legislation laying down the condi-
tions for registration of partnerships or companies on applica-
tion by nationals of the new Member States — Procedure for
certification of self-employed status)

fulfil

to

(2009/C 44/14)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement
of Article 43 EC — National legislation laying down the condi-
tions for registration of businesses owned by third-country
nationals, applicable also to Czech, Estonian, Latvian, Lithua-
nian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovene and Slovak nationals — Obliga-
tion for all members of partnerships and for minority share-
holders in limited liability companies who perform activities
which are typical of a work relationship to follow a special
procedure for determining the applicant's self-employed status,
in the course of which they must prove their influence on the
management of the business they wish to have registered in the
Member State

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Declares that, by requiring for the registration of partnerships or
companies in the commercial register on application by persons who
are nationals of the Member States which acceded to the European
Union on 1 May 2004 — with the exception of the Republic of
Cyprus and the Republic of Malta — and are members of a part-
nership or have minority holdings in a limited liability company, a
determination by
self-
employed or the presentation of a work permit exemption certificate,
the Republic of Austria has failed to fulfil
its obligations under
Article 43 EC;

the Arbeitsmarktservice

they are

that

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

(1) OJ C 140, 23.6.2007.

Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 22 December
the European Communities v
2008 — Commission of

Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-189/07) (1)

(Failure to fulfil obligations — Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93
— Articles 2(1) and 31(1) and (2) — Regulations (EC)
No 2406/96 and 850/98 — Control system in the fisheries
sector — Common marketing standards for certain fishery
products — Unsatisfactory monitoring, inspection and surveil-
lance — Failure to adopt adequate measures to penalise infrin-
gements — Enforcement of penalties — General failure to
fulfil the provisions of a regulation — Production before the
Court of additional evidence intended to support the proposi-
tion that the failure is general and consistent — Whether
permissible)

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: E. Traversa and G. Braun, Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicant: Republic of Lithuania (repre-
sented by: D. Kriaučiūnas, Agent)

Parties

(2009/C 44/15)

Language of the case: Spanish

Defendant: Republic of Austria (represented by: C. Pesendorfer
and M. Winkler, Agents)

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: P. Oliver and F. Jimeno Fernández, Agents)