Case C-771/18: Action brought on 7 December 2018 — European Commission v Hungary
Date: 2018-12-07
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: electrical energy, electricity supply, energy grid, energy transport, gas pipeline, gas supply, infringement of EU law, natural gas, single market, trans-European network








C_2019139EN.01002002.xml










15.4.2019   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 139/20






Action brought on 7 December 2018 — European Commission v Hungary
(Case C-771/18)
(2019/C 139/20)
Language of the case: Hungarian

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: O. Beynet and K. Talabér-Ritz, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Hungary

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






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declare that Hungary has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1228/2003, (1) and Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1775/2005, (2) by failing to take account of the costs actually incurred by network operators;










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declare that Hungary has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 37(17) of Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC, (3) and Article 41(17) of Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55/EC, (4) by failing to establish a suitable mechanism guaranteeing the right to appeal against the decisions of the national regulatory authority, as provided for under the abovementioned provisions of Directives 2009/72/EC and 2009/73/EC;










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order Hungary to pay the costs.





Pleas in law and main arguments

Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No 714/2009 and Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2009 establish the principle that tariffs for the use of networks must be cost-oriented.
However, the Law on electricity and the Law on natural gas currently in force in Hungary do not allow the national regulatory authority, when setting tariffs for the use of networks, to take into account all the costs actually incurred by system operators, such as excise duty on energy networks and commission costs related to banking operations.
The Commission claims that there is no objective reason for preventing the national regulatory authority from taking into account the abovementioned costs when setting tariffs for the use of the networks.
In addition, under Article 37(17) of Directive 2009/72/EC and Article 41(17) of Directive 2009/73/EC, Member States must ensure that suitable mechanisms exist at national level under which a party affected by a decision of a regulatory authority has a right of appeal to a body independent of the parties involved and of any government.
According to the Commission, Hungary has failed to establish a suitable mechanism guaranteeing the right to appeal against the decisions of the national regulatory authority.


(1)  OJ 2009 L 211, p. 15.

(2)  OJ 2009 L 211, p. 36.

(3)  OJ 2009 L 211, p. 55.

(4)  OJ 2009 L 211, p. 94.