CELEX: C2001/061/20
Language: en
Date: 2001-02-24 00:00:00
Title: Case C-27/01: Action brought on 23 January 2001 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

24.2.2001              EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                         C 61/11
Action brought on 16 January 2001 by the Commission                    Action brought on 23 January 2001 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Federal Repub-                 of the European Communities against the French Republic
                         lic of Germany
                                                                                                 (Case C-26/01)
                          (Case C-20/01)
                                                                                                 (2001/C 61/19)
                         (2001/C 61/18)
                                                                       An action against the French Republic was brought before the
An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was                  Court of Justice on 23 January 2001 by the Commission of
brought before the Court of Justice on 16 January 2001 by the          the European Communities, represented by G. Berscheid,
Commission of the European Communities, represented by                 acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg.
Josef Christian Schieferer, of the Legal Service of the Com-
mission of the European Communities, with an address for
service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la             The Commission of the European Communities claims that
Cruz, of the Legal Service of the Commission of the European           the Court should:
Communities, Wagner Centre C 254, Kirchberg.
                                                                       —     declare that, by failing to bring into force within the
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                  prescribed time-limit the laws, regulations and adminis-
                                                                             trative measures necessary in order to comply with
                                                                             Council Directive 98/56/EC of 20 July 1998 on the
(1) declare that, by failing to invite tenders for the award of              marketing of propagating material of ornamental
      the contract for the treatment of waste water in the                   plants (1), the French Republic has failed to comply with
      Municipality of Bockhorn and to arrange for notice of                  its obligations under Article 19 of that directive;
      the results of the procedure for the award of the contract
      to be published in the S Series of the Official Journal of
      the European Communities, the Federal Republic of                —     order the French Republic to pay the costs.
      Germany has failed to comply with its obligations under
      Article 8 in conjunction with Article 15(2) and Article
      16(1) of Council Directive 92/50/EEC (1) of 18 June 1992         Pleas in law and main arguments
      relating to the coordination of procedures for the award
      of public service contracts;
                                                                       The mandatory nature of the provisions of Articles 10 and
(2) order the defendant to pay the costs.                              249 EC is such as to oblige Member States to adopt the
                                                                       measures necessary in order to transpose directives which are
                                                                       addressed to them into their national legal order prior to the
                                                                       expiry of the time-limit prescribed for so doing. The time-limit
Pleas in law and main arguments                                        fixed in Article 19 of the directive expired on 1 July 1999.
The German Government concedes that a Community-wide
invitation to tender for the award of the contract for the             (1) OJ L 226 of 13.8.1998, p. 16.
treatment of waste water in the Municipality of Bockhorn
should have been issued in accordance with the provisions
of Directive 92/50/EEC; notwithstanding that concession,
however, and despite the fact that an instruction was issued by
the Government of the Land requiring subordinate authorities
to ensure in a suitable manner that the contracting authorities
within that Land complied to the letter with the rules prescribed
by Community law for the award of contracts, the fact remains
that a definite infringement of the Treaty has been committed.         Action brought on 23 January 2001 by the Commission
Moreover, the Municipality of Bockhorn has committed a                 of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy
further infringement of EC law by maintaining the waste-water                                    of Luxembourg
contract and continuing to apply that contract in the same
way as before. Since the conduct contrary to the directive is
thus subsisting, it is undeniable that the defendant has failed                                  (Case C-27/01)
to take, within the time-limit laid down in the reasoned
opinion, all the national measures required in order to comply
                                                                                                 (2001/C 61/20)
with the directive.
                                                                       An action against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was
(1) OJ 1992 L 209, p. 1.                                               brought before the Court of Justice on 23 January 2001 by the
                                                                       Commission of the European Communities, represented by
                                                                       G. Berscheid, acting as Agent, with an address for service in
                                                                       Luxembourg.
 ---pagebreak--- C 61/12                EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                       24.2.2001
The Commission of the European Communities claims that                (2) order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs.
the Court should:
—     declare that, by failing to bring into force within the         Pleas in law and main arguments
      prescribed time-limit the laws, regulations and adminis-
      trative measures necessary in order to comply with
      Council Directive 98/56/EC of 20 July 1998 on the               Although, under Article 3(k) of the (former version of the) EC
      marketing of propagating material of ornamental                 Treaty, the activities of the Community include a policy in the
      plants (1), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has failed to         sphere of the environment, an environmental policy forms
      comply with its obligations under Article 19 of that            part of the task of establishing a common market, as described
      directive;                                                      in Article 2 of the (former version of the) EC Treaty, only in so
                                                                      far as the achievement of the tasks in question is designed to
—     order the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to pay the costs.           promote ‘growth respecting the environment’. It follows from
                                                                      this that, in the implementation of Community policies,
                                                                      reasonable regard must be had to environmental aspects, but
                                                                      it does not follow that environmental considerations must be
Pleas in law and main arguments                                       given precedence over the implementation of the other policies
                                                                      specified. For the purposes of the present case, this means that,
The pleas in law and main arguments are similar to those in           in the context of the award of a public service contract, lengthy
Case C-26/01.                                                         transportation routes, or the avoidance of such routes, may
                                                                      not constitute a factor the effect of which is totally to preclude
                                                                      from the outset, by reference to an environmental argument,
(1) OJ L 226 of 13.8.1998, p. 16.                                     the issuing of an invitation to tender for the provision of the
                                                                      services in question and thereby to create an obstacle to trade
                                                                      in services within the Community. Consequently, the City of
                                                                      Braunschweig was not entitled, by having recourse to an
                                                                      environmental argument, illegally to evade the duty imposed
                                                                      by Community law to issue a Community-wide invitation to
                                                                      tender for a contract for refuse disposal.
                                                                      It is irrelevant that the German Government has conceded that
Action brought on 23 January 2001 by the Commission                   there has been an infringement of the Community rules
of the European Communities against the Federal Repub-                governing the award of public contracts and that the German
                         lic of Germany                               authorities concerned have been instructed to comply with the
                                                                      provisions of EC law governing the award of public contracts,
                                                                      since, by maintaining the contract and continuing to apply it,
                         (Case C-28/01)
                                                                      the City of Braunschweig is persisting in its infringement of
                                                                      Community law.
                         (2001/C 61/21)
                                                                      (1) OJ 1992 L 209, p. 1.
An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was
brought before the Court of Justice on 23 January 2001 by the
Commission of the European Communities, represented by
Josef Christian Schieferer, of the Legal Service of the Com-
mission of the European Communities, with an address for
service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la
Cruz, of the Legal Service of the Commission of the European
Communities, Wagner Centre C 254, Kirchberg.
                                                                      Action brought on 24 January 2001 by the Commission
The applicant claims that the Court should:                           of the European Communities against the Kingdom of
                                                                                                     Spain
(1) declare that, by virtue of the fact that the City of
      Braunschweig awarded a contract for refuse disposal by
      negotiated procedure without prior publication of a                                       (Case C-29/01)
      contract notice, notwithstanding that the criteria laid
      down in Article 11(3) of Directive 92/50/EE (1) for an                                    (2001/C 61/22)
      award by negotiated procedure without a Community-
      wide invitation to tender were not fulfilled, the Federal
      Republic of Germany has failed to comply with its               An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before
      obligations in respect of the award of public service           the Court of Justice on 24 January 2001 by the Commission
      contracts under Article 8 and Article 11(3)(c) of that          of the European Communities, represented by Gregorio Valero
      directive;                                                      Jordana, with an address for service in Luxembourg.