CELEX: C1996/370/13
Language: en
Date: 1996-12-07 00:00:00
Title: Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale Civile di Genova by order of that court of 7 October 1996 in the case of Ignazio Messina & Co. SPA v. Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato (Case C-338/96)

No C 370/6            1 EN 1                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                       7 . 12 . 96
     account the exact amount of the tax paid in another                          Kingdom conforms to the requirements of Directive
     State but only a tax credit which may be lower meets                         80/778/EEC           in    that   maximum   admissible
     the objective assigned to the Member States of                               concentrations for several parameters in the
     abolishing double taxation,                                                  Directive are exceeded,
— Whether Article 48 must be interpreted as meaning that                     the United Kingdom has failed to fulfil its obligations
     nationals of a Member State who are frontier workers                    under the Treaty;
     in another Member State may not, by reason of a tax
     credit mechanism of the type provided for by the                   — order the United Kingdom to pay the costs .
     Franco-German Convention , be taxed more heavily
     than persons whose occupational activity is pursued in             Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
     their State of residence .
                                                                        The grounds on which the Commission considers that the
                                                                        United Kingdom 's application of the Directive is defective
                                                                        may be summarised as follows :
                                                                        — by the acceptance of ' undertakings' from the water
Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale Civile                 companies, failure to enforce their compliance with the
di Genova by order of that court of 7 October 1996 in the                    requirements of the Directive, and
case of Ignazio Messina & Co. SPA v. Amministrazione
                     delle Finanze dello Stato                          — failure to ensure that the quality of water supplied in
                         ( Case C-338/96 )                                   several parts of the United Kingdom conforms to the
                                                                             requirements of the Directive.
                            ( 96/C 370/ 13 )
                                                                        (') Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 relating to the
                                                                            quality of water intended for human consumption ( OJ No
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                      L 229 , 30 . 8 . 1980, p. 11 ).
European Communities by an order of the Tribunale Civile
di Genova ( Genoa District Court) of 7 October 1996 ,
which was received at the Court Registry on 14 October
1996 , for a preliminary ruling in the case of Ignazio
Messina & Co., SPA v. Amministrazione delle Finanze dello
Stato on the questions which are identical to those in Cases            Action brought on 15 October 1996 by the Commission of
C-279/96 , C-280/96 and C-281 /96 (')•                                  the European Communities against the Federal Republic of
                                                                                                          Germany
(•) OJ No C 318 , 26 . 10 . 1996 , p . 3 .                                                          ( Case C-341/96 )
                                                                                                      ( 96/C 370/ 15 )
                                                                        An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was
                                                                        brought before the Court of Justice of the European
Action brought on 15 October 1996 by the Commission of                  Communities on 15 October 1996 by the Commission of
   the European Communities against the United Kingdom                  the European Communities, represented by Claudia
                         ( Case C-340/96 )                              Schmidt, of the Commission's Legal Service, with an
                                                                        address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos
                            ( 96/C 370/ 14                              Gomez de la Cruz, of the Legal Service of the European
                                                                        Commission, Wagner Centre C254, Kirchberg.
An action against the United Kingdom was brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 15                  The applicant claims that the Court should :
October 1996 by the Commission of the European
Communities, represented by Mr Richard Wainwright,                      — declare that, by failing to adopt within the period
Principal Legal Adviser, acting as Agent, with an address for                prescribed the laws, regulations and administrative
service in Luxembourg at the office of Mr Carlos Gomez de                    measures necessary in order to comply with Council
la Cruz, member of the Legal Service, Centre Wagner.                         Directive 93/36/EEC of 14 June 1993 coordinating
                                                                             procedures for the awards of public supply
                                                                             contracts ('), the Federal Republic of Germany has
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                  failed to fulfil its obligations under the third paragraph
                                                                             of Article 189 of the EC Treaty in conjunction with
— declare that:                                                              Article 34 ( 1 ) of the said Directive,
     — by failing, by the acceptance of undertakings, to                — declare, in the alternative, that the Federal Republic of
         enforce compliance by water companies with the                      Germany has failed to fulfil its obligation forthwith to
         requirements of Directive 80/778/EEC ( : ), and                     inform the Commission of the relevant measures
                                                                             adopted to transpose the Directive,
     — by failing, thereby, to ensure that the quality of
         water supplied in several parts of the United                  — order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs.