CELEX: C2002/219/18
Language: en
Date: 2002-09-14 00:00:00
Title: Case C-280/02: Action brought on 30 July 2002 by the Commission of the European Communities against the French Republic

C 219/10               EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                       14.9.2002
purview of the Member States. However, the contested regu-              Action brought on 30 July 2002 by the Commission of
lation concerns, as evidenced by its title, exclusively adminis-         the European Communities against the French Republic
trative cooperation in the field of indirect taxation (VAT) in
the internal market and not the VAT system properly speaking.
                                                                                                 (Case C-280/02)
( 1) OJ 2002 L 128, p. 1.
                                                                                                 (2002/C 219/18)
                                                                        An action against the French Republic was brought before the
                                                                        Court of Justice of the European Communities on 30 July
Action brought on 29 July 2002 by the Kingdom of Spain                  2002 by the Commission of the European Communities,
   against the Commission of the European Communities                   represented by M. Nolin, acting as Agent, with an address for
                                                                        service in Luxembourg.
                          (Case C-276/02)
                                                                        The Commission of the European Communities claims that
                          (2002/C 219/17)                               the Court should:
                                                                        —     Declare that, by not identifying certain areas as sensitive
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                     areas with respect to eutrophication, in the catchment
ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European                  areas of Seine-Normandie, Loire-Bretagne, Artois-Picardie
Communities on 29 July 2002 by the Kingdom of Spain,                          and Rhône-Méditerranée-Corse, and not subjecting to
represented by Santiago Ortiz Vaamonde, Abogado del Estado,                   more stringent treatment discharges of urban waste water
with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Spanish                      from agglomerations with a population equivalent (p.e.)
Embassy, 4-6 boulevard E. Servais.                                            of more than 10 000 into sensitive areas or areas which
                                                                              should have been identified as sensitive, the French
                                                                              Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations pursuant to
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                   Article 5(1) and (2) of and Annex II to Directive 91/271/
                                                                              EEC (1);
—     declare the decision of the Commission of 14 May 2002
      null and void in so far as the Commission therein declared        —     Order the French Republic to pay the costs.
      that the continued failure of GEA (Grupo de Empresas
      Álvarez) to pay taxes and social security contributions
      amounts a grant of State aid incompatible with the
      common market, and
                                                                        Pleas in law and main arguments
—     order the defendant institution to pay the costs.
                                                                        —     Incomplete identification of sensitive areas: The French
                                                                              authorities wrongly limited themselves to identifying
                                                                              bodies of water where they consider eutrophication to be
Pleas in law and main arguments                                               established; they thus did not take account of the
                                                                              obligation also to identify as sensitive, in accordance with
                                                                              Annex II to the Directive, bodies of water ‘which in the
The only thing that has happened is the liquidation of an                     near future may become eutrophic if protective action is
undertaking in crisis, preceded by a general procedure for the                not taken’. For that reason, or because eutrophication
suspension of payments. That procedure, initiated and directed                should already have been identified, the Commission
by the court, enables creditors to reach agreements with the                  considers that the French Republic has failed to identify,
debtor undertaking which, in comparison with an immediate                     in breach of its obligations pursuant to Article 5(1) of
liquidation, increase the likelihood of the undertaking’s recov-              and Annex II to the Directive:
ery and the payment of some of its debts. The same procedure
for the suspension of payments may, of course, be sought
and obtained by any competing undertakings which bring                        —     in Seine-Normandie: the Seine bay, the Seine and its
complaints, should they to find themselves in a situation of                        tributaries downstream from its confluence with the
cessation of payments. The Commission has thus failed to                            Andelle;
demonstrate that there has been any State aid subject to
Article 87 EC.
                                                                              —     in Loire-Bretagne: Lorient harbour, the Elorn estuary,
                                                                                    the bay of Douarnenez, Concarneau bay, the Gulf of
                                                                                    Morbihan, the bay of Vilaine and the Sèvre-Niortaise;
 ---pagebreak--- 14.9.2002               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                     C 219/11
       —     in Artois-Picardie: the coastal waters and, for main-        Removal from the register of Cases C-73/00, C-415/00,
             land waters, the hydrographic system between the               C-420/00, C-123/01, C-237/01, C-238/01 and C-15/02 ( 1)
             canalised Aa and the Escaut on the one hand and
             the Belgian border on the other hand, the Scarpe
             downstream from Arras, the Lens Canal downstream                                      (2002/C 219/20)
             from Lens and the whole of the Somme;
       —     in Rhône-Méditerranée-Corse: the River Vistre and
             Thau lake.                                                   By order of 28 May 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
                                                                          of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
—      Lack of more stringent treatment for urban waste water             register of Cases C-73/00, C-415/00, C-420/00, C-123/01,
       discharges with a population equivalent (p.e.) of more             C-237/01, C-238/01 et C-15/02 (Referral for a preliminary
       than 10 000: The French authorities had admitted that              ruling by the Unabhängiger Verwaltungssenat Salzburg): Hans
       for 130 agglomerations the equipment for treating urban            Oppitz and Others v Bürgermeister der Landeshauptstadt
       waste water was not, by the deadline of 31 December                Salzburg and Grundverkehrsbeauftragter des Landes Salzburg.
       1998, in compliance with the requirements of the
       Directive. While those authorities, in their response to
       the reasoned opinion, specify that the discharges of some          (1 ) OJ C 135 of 13.5.2000, OJ C 28 of 27.1.2001, OJ C 28 of
                                                                               27.1.2001, OJ C 150 of 19.5.2001, OJ C 227 of 11.8.2001, OJ
       of those 130 agglomerations are in fact now subject to
                                                                               C 227 of 11.8.2001, OJ C 84 of 6.4.2002.
       such treatment, only the agglomerations of Vichy, Aix en
       Provence and Mâcon can actually be removed from the
       list of the abovementioned 130 agglomerations. For
       others, the reply states that the necessary equipment will
       only come into service at a future date. That is the case
       for Boulogne-sur-mer (2005), Clermont-Ferrand (2004),
       Saint-Etienne (2005), Mulhouse (2003), Nancy (autumn
       2002), Dijon (2005), Montpellier (2004), Tarare (2003),
       Villefranche sur Saône (2004), Vitrolles (2005) and                        Removal from the register of Case C-128/01 ( 1)
       Auxerre (2004).
       The inadequate identification of sensitive areas has inevi-                                 (2002/C 219/21)
       tably resulted in the obligation in Article 5(2) of the
       Directive not being taken into account in the areas
       concerned.
                                                                          By order of 27 May 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
                                                                          of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
( 1) Council Directive 91/271/EEC of 21.5.1991 concerning urban           register of Case C-128/01: Commission of the European
     waste water treatment (OJ L 135 of 30.5.1991), p. 40.                Communities v Italian Republic.
                                                                          (1 ) OJ C 161 of 2.6.2001.
Removal from the register of Cases C-72/00, C-128/00
                          and C-319/00 ( 1)
                          (2002/C 219/19)
                                                                                  Removal from the register of Case C-143/01 ( 1)
                                                                                                   (2002/C 219/22)
By order of 31 May 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
register of Cases C-72/00, C-128/00 and C-319/00 (Referral
for a preliminary ruling by the Unabhängiger Verwaltungssenat
                                                                          By order of 7 June 2002 the President of the Court of Justice
Salzburg): Neubau Gesellschaft mbH and Others v Grundver-
                                                                          of the European Communities ordered the removal from the
kehrsbeauftragter des Landes Salzburg and Grundverkehrslan-
                                                                          register of Case C-143/01: Commission of the European
deskommission des Landes Salzburg.
                                                                          Communities v Kingdom of Spain.
( 1) OJ C 135 of 13.5.2000, OJ C 163 of 10.6.2000, OJ C 302 of
     21.10.2000.                                                          (1 ) OJ C 150 of 19.5.2001.