CELEX: C1998/278/47
Language: en
Date: 1998-09-05 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 15 July 1998 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Federal Republic of Germany (Case C-259/98)

C 278/26             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                     5.9.98
European Communities was brought before the Court                       placed in the institution and, as was argued at the oral
of Justice of the European Communities on 15 July                       hearing, the prejudice caused to the appellant's sexual
1998 by Arnaldo Lucaccioni, represented by Georges                      circumstances and to his enjoyment of life. That
Vandersanden, Laure Levi and O. Eben, of the Brussels                   damage is unconnected with the compensation for
Bar, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the                   physical defects' which is covered by Article 14 of the
offices of Fiduciaire Myson, 30 rue de Cessange.                        Rules on the insurance of officials against the risk of
                                                                        accident and of occupational disease.
The appellant claims that the Court should:
                                                                    Ð The Court of First Instance took it upon itself, without
Ð set aside the judgment delivered on 14 May 1998
                                                                        stating any appropriate reasons therefor, to include the
    by the Court of First Instance of the European
                                                                        material and non-material loss suffered by the
    Communities in Case T-165/95 (1), in which it rejected
                                                                        appellant in the capital sum paid to him under the
    the appellant's claims as to their substance,
                                                                        social security scheme of Community officials.
Ð consequently, allow the claims advanced by the
    appellant in the proceedings at first instance, apart           Ð The Court of First Instance failed to penalise the delay
    from his application for compensation for material                  in dealing with the matter by awarding default
    damage in the sum of BEF 12 500 000 corresponding                   interest.
    to the material loss arising from certain sales of
    immovable property,
                                                                    (1) OJ C 209, 4.7.1998, p. 37.
Ð order the defendant to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Ð Infringement of Community law.
                                                                    Action brought on 15 July 1998 by the Commission of the
Ð Although the Court of First Instance acknowledged                 European Communities against the Federal Republic of
    that a compensation scheme based on the ordinary                                            Germany
    law relating to liability may coexist with the scheme
                                                                                           (Case C-259/98)
    recognised by the Staff Regulations of officials of the
    European Communities, providing for the award of                                        (98/C 278/47)
    lump-sum compensation by the social security system,
    it omitted to consider the factors giving rise to liability
    under the ordinary law, as incurred by the
                                                                    An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was
    Commission, namely: fault, damage and the
                                                                    brought before the Court of Justice of the European
    relationship of cause and effect existing as between the
                                                                    Communities on 15 July 1998 by the Commission of the
    fault and the damage.
                                                                    European Communities, represented by Michael Niejahr
                                                                    and Bernard Mongin, of its Legal Service, with an address
Ð The Court of First Instance failed to carry out a                 for service at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz,
    correct assessment of the material and non-material             Wagner Centre C 254, Kirchberg, Luxembourg.
    damage suffered by the appellant.
    Contrary to the findings of the Court of First Instance,        The applicant claims that the Court should:
    the lump-sum capital amount which is guaranteed by
    the Staff Regulations and paid under the insurance
    scheme entered into by the Commission Ð to which                Ð declare that, by imposing, for Community nationals
    officials pay contributions Ð cannot include                        who hold a diploma not obtained in Germany
    compensation for material damage equivalent to the                  qualifying them to carry on the profession of dental
    difference between an invalidity pension and the salary             practitioner in accordance with Council Directives 78/
    of an official.                                                     686/EEC (1) and 78/687/EEC (2), an obligatory
                                                                        introductory course as a specific requirement in order
    The non-material damage pleaded by the appellant                    for them to become eligible for appointment as a
    concerns all of the following: the physical and                     dental practitioner of a social security scheme
    professional damage suffered by him, the daily distress             practising independently in Germany, the Federal
    arising from his having had to work for 20 years in an              Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations
    environment which was dangerous to his health and                   under those Directives, in particular under Article 20
    resulting from his illness and future developments                  of Directive 78/686/EEC and Article 5 of Directive 78/
    relating thereto (recurrence and premature death), his              687/EEC,
    physical sufferings due to the illness and the
    consequences of surgical operations, the absence of
    any acknowledgement by the Commission of its                    Ð order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the
    liability and its failure to have regard to the trust               costs.
 ---pagebreak--- 5.9.98                EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                                  C 278/27
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                Article 7 of the Directive. However, the Commission
                                                                   also points out that the national decision to adopt an
                                                                   integrated strategy to combat pollution rather than
Under Article 20 of Directive 78/686/EEC, Member States            evaluating the situation substance by substance makes it
which require their own nationals to complete a                    difficult to verify whether Article 7 is being complied
preparatory training period in order to become eligible for        with, in particular as regards the 99 priority substances, if
appointment as a dental practitioner of a social security          the information forwarded to the Commission is not set
scheme could, for a period of eight years following                out in an orderly and transparent or at least non-
notification of the Directive, impose a training period of a       contradictory fashion.
maximum of six months on nationals of other Member
States. That eight-year period expired on 28 July 1986.
However, under Article 17 of the Zulassungsordnung für             In any event, the Commission has reason to conclude that
Vertragszahnärzte (Rules on Admission for Appointed                the Portuguese Republic has not completed identification
Dental Practitioners) the German authorities require               of the substances existing in Portugal which appear on
applicants from other Member States to attend one or               the list of 99 substances and, in relation to those which
three-day courses, in which linguistic proficiency and             it has identified, it has not adopted genuine reduction
knowledge of German social security law are also tested.           programmes and has only partially set quality objectives.
                                                                   In that respect, the Commission considers that the few
(1) OJ L 233, 24.8.1978, p. 1.                                     voluntary agreements with some industrial sectors are
(2) OJ L 233, 24.8.1978, p. 10.                                    not binding and cannot in any event be regarded as
                                                                   programmes within the meaning of Article 7 of the
                                                                   Directive. But even if they were, they do not cover all the
                                                                   industrial sectors and still less do they reduce pollution
                                                                   deriving from various sources.
Action brought on 17 July 1998 by the Commission of the            In addition, as far as the plans for de-pollution of the
  European Communities against the Portuguese Republic             River A Â gueda, Bacia do Guadiana and Bacia de Alcanena
                       (Case C-261/98)                             are concerned, although they may contribute to improving
                                                                   water quality, they do not constitute, from the point of
                        (98/C 278/48)                              view either of geographical cover or of content, timetabled
                                                                   programmes for the reduction of pollution from the 99
                                                                   priority substances, with clear quality objectives and
An action against the Portuguese Republic was brought              emission standards.
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities
on 17 July 1998 by the Commission of the European
Communities, represented by Francisco de Sousa Fialho,             (1) OJ L 129, 18.5.1976, p. 23.
of its Legal Service, acting as Agent, with an address for
service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la
Cruz, also of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
The applicant claims that the Court of Justice should:
                                                                   Action brought on 17 July 1998 by the Commission of the
                                                                     European Communities against the Kingdom of Belgium
Ð declare that, by failing to adopt and/or communicate
    to the Commission summaries of the programmes for                                     (Case C-262/98)
    the reduction of pollution incorporating quality
    objectives and the corresponding results in respect of                                 (98/C 278/49)
    the 99 priority substances mentioned in the first indent
    of List II in the Annex to Council Directive 76/464/
    EEC of 4 May 1976 on pollution caused by certain               An action against the Kingdom of Belgium was brought
    dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic               before the Court of Justice of the European Communities
    environment of the Community (1), the Portuguese               on 17 July 1998 by the Commission of the European
    Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under            Communities, represented by Frank Benyon, Legal
    Article 7 of that Directive and the third paragraph of         Adviser, acting as Agent, with an address for service in
    Article 189 of the EC Treaty,                                  Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz,
                                                                   Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
Ð order the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.
                                                                   The Commission of the European Communities claims
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                that the Court should:
The Commission recognises that the Portuguese                      Ð declare that, by failing to communicate the laws,
authorities have been making efforts to comply with                     regulations and administrative measures necessary in