Case C-428/22: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Varna (Bulgaria) lodged on 28 June 2022 — ‘DEVNIA TSIMENT’ AD v Zamestnik-predsedatel na Darzhavna agentsia ‘Darzhaven rezerv i voennovremenni zapasi’
Date: 2022-06-28
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU energy policy, economic activity, energy law, gas, import (EU), industrial production, intra-EU trade, minimum stock, principle of proportionality, security of supply








C_2022389EN.01000401.xml










10.10.2022   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 389/4






Request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Varna (Bulgaria) lodged on 28 June 2022 — ‘DEVNIA TSIMENT’ AD v Zamestnik-predsedatel na Darzhavna agentsia ‘Darzhaven rezerv i voennovremenni zapasi’
(Case C-428/22)
(2022/C 389/05)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Administrativen sad Varna

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant:‘DEVNIA TSIMENT’ AD

Defendant: Zamestnik-predsedatel na Darzhavna agentsia ‘Darzhaven rezerv i voennovremenni zapasi’

Questions referred







1.


In light of the objective of the directive and Article 2(d) of Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 (1) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 on energy statistics, and in light of the principle of proportionality laid down in Article 52(1) in conjunction with Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must the 33rd recital, Article 1, Article 3, Article 8 and Article 2(i) and (j) of Council Directive 2009/119/EC (2) of 14 September 2009 imposing an obligation on Member States to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, according to which persons who have made intra-Community acquisitions of petroleum coke for production purposes in accordance with point 3.4.23 of Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 may be required to build up emergency stocks?










2.


Must the 33rd recital, Article 1, Article 3, Article 8 and Article 2(i) and (j) of the directive be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which restricts the types of products in respect of which emergency stocks must be built up and held to some of the types of products in Article 2(i) of the directive in conjunction with Chapter 3.4 of Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008?










3.


Must the 33rd recital, Article 1, Article 3, Article 8 and Article 2(i) and (j) of the directive be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, according to which the realisation by a person of intra-Community acquisitions or imports of a type of product referred to in Article 2(i) of the directive, read in conjunction with Chapter 3.4 of Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 entails an obligation on that person to build up and hold emergency stocks of another, different type of product?










4.


Must the 33rd recital in the preamble, Article 1, Article 3, Article 8 and Article 2(i) and (j) of the directive be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, according to which a person is obliged to build up and hold stocks of a product that they do not use in the course of their economic activity and that is unrelated to that activity and where that obligation also entails a significant financial burden (leading, in practice, to compliance being impossible) because the person is neither in possession of the product nor are they its importer and/or holder?










5.


In the event that one of the above questions is answered in the negative: Having regard to the aim of the directive and in light of the principle of proportionality laid down in Article 52(1) in conjunction with Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must the 33rd recital, Article 1, Article 3, Article 8 and Article 2(i) and (j) of Council Directive 2009/119/EC of 14 September 2009 imposing an obligation on Member States to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products be interpreted as meaning that the importer of a particular type of product can only be required to build up and hold emergency stocks of the same type of product as the product that was imported?






(1)  OJ 2008 L 304, p. 1.

(2)  OJ 2009 L 265, p. 9.