Case C-561/16: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 7 August 2018 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Supremo — Spain) — Saras Energía SA v Administración del Estado (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 2012/27/EU — Article 7(1), (4) and (9) — Article 20(4) and (6) — Promotion of energy efficiency — Energy efficiency obligation scheme — Other policy measures — Energy Efficiency National Fund — Establishment of such a fund as the main measure implementing energy efficiency obligations — Contribution obligation — Designation of the obligated parties — Energy distributors and/or retail energy sales companies)
Date: 2018-08-07
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy saving, payment, retail trade








C_2018352EN.01000401.xml










1.10.2018   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 352/4






Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 7 August 2018 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Supremo — Spain) — Saras Energía SA v Administración del Estado
(Case C-561/16) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Directive 2012/27/EU - Article 7(1), (4) and (9) - Article 20(4) and (6) - Promotion of energy efficiency - Energy efficiency obligation scheme - Other policy measures - Energy Efficiency National Fund - Establishment of such a fund as the main measure implementing energy efficiency obligations - Contribution obligation - Designation of the obligated parties - Energy distributors and/or retail energy sales companies))
(2018/C 352/04)
Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Tribunal Supremo

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Saras Energía SA

Defendant: Administración del Estado

Interveners: Endesa SA, Endesa Energía SA, Endesa Energía XXI SLU, Viesgo Infraestructuras Energéticas SL, Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico SAU, Nexus Energía SA, Nexus Renovables SLU, Engie España SL, Villar Mir Energía SL, Energya VM Gestión de Energía SLU, Estaciones de Servicio de Guipúzcoa SA, Acciona Green Energy Developments SLU, Fortia Energía SL

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Articles 7 and 20 of Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC must be interpreted as meaning that they do not preclude national legislation which lays down, as the principal method of fulfilling energy efficiency obligations, a mechanism of annual contribution to an Energy Efficiency National Fund, provided, on the one hand, that that legislation ensures the achievement of energy savings to an extent equivalent to the energy efficiency obligation schemes which may be implemented under Article 7(1) of that directive, and, on the other, that the requirements of Article 7(10) and (11) of that directive, are satisfied, which it is for the referring court to ascertain;










2.


Article 7 of Directive 2012/27 must be interpreted as meaning that it does not preclude national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which imposes energy efficiency obligations on only certain specific undertakings in the energy sector, provided that the designation of those companies as obligated parties is actually based on explicitly stated, objective and non-discriminatory criteria, which it is for the referring court to ascertain.






(1)  OJ C 22, 23.1.2017.