CELEX: C1997/212/29
Language: en
Date: 1997-07-12 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 15 May 1997 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Federal Republic of Germany (Case C-186/97)

No C 212/ 16             EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                         12 . 7. 97
       objectives designed to reduce pollution by the                         (i)      the complainant          was     employed   by     the
       substances in List II of the Annex to the Directive, the                        Respondent;
       Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its
       obligations under the EC Treaty;                                       ( ii ) during her employment, the complainant brought
                                                                                       a claim of sex discrimination against the
                                                                                       Respondent which was compromised;
2 . order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the
       costs of the proceedings.                                              ( iii ) following the end of her employment, the
                                                                                       complainant has made efforts to find full-time
                                                                                       work, but has been unsuccessful ;
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                              ( iv ) the Respondent has caused or contributed to the
It is evident from the wording of Article 7 ( 1 ) of the                               complainant's difficulties in finding work by
Directive, in conjunction with Article 1 thereof, that                                 refusing to provide references to potential
Member States were required to establish programmes                                    employers when requested to do so;
with quality objectives designed to reduce water pollution
within a specified period. The German Federal                                 ( v ) the employer's decision to refuse to provide
                                                                                       references   was    taken    after the  end   of    the
Government, on the other hand, wrongly argues that most
of the substances in question were covered by overall                                  complainant's employment;
parameters, and attempts to demonstrate the equivalence
and/or advantages of these national rules vis-a-vis the                        (vi ) the reason, or a principle reason, for the
emission norms for individual substances. Likewise, the                                employer's decision to refuse to provide a
                                                                                       reference to the complainant was that she had
existence of general programmes for water purification, as
                                                                                       previously brought a claim of sex discrimination
cited by the German Federal Government (2 ), cannot be
                                                                                       against the Respondent.
regarded as constituting an adequate implementation of
Article 7 .
                                                                         2.    Does         Council    Directive     76/207/EEC     on     the
                                                                               implementation of the principle of equal treatment for
O OJ No L 129 , 18 . 5 . 1976 , p . 23 .
( 2 ) Inter alia, the Elbe Action Programme of the 'International
                                                                               men and women as regards access to employment,
      Commission for the Protection of the Elbe ' ( IKSE ) and the             vocational training and promotion, and working
      IKSE's operational plan to the year 2000, the Rhine Action               conditions, require Member States to introduce into
      Programme of the ' International Commission for the                      their national legal systems such measures as are
      Protection of the Rhine ' ( ISKR), and the action programme              necessary to enable persons to pursue a claim by
      anticipating the Danube Convention .                                     judicial process where the circumstances set out under
                                                                               point 1 apply, save that:
                                                                               (i)      the Respondent's decision to refuse to provide a
                                                                                        reference was taken before the termination of the
                                                                                        complainant's employment; but
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Employment                            ( ii ) the actual refusal or refusals to provide a
 Appeal Tribunal, by order of that court of 20 November                                 reference took place after the termination of the
 1996, in the case of Mrs B. J. Coote against Granada                                   complainant's employment.
                             Hospitality Ltd
                           ( Case C-185 /97 )                             (') OJ No L 39 , 14 . 2 . 1976 , p . 40 .
                              97/C 212/28 )
 Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
 European Communities by an order of the Employment                       Action brought on 15 May 1997 by the Commission of
 Appeal Tribunal of 20 November 1996, which was                           the European Communities against the Federal Republic
 received at the Court Registry on 12 May 1997, for a                                                    of Germany
 preliminary ruling in the case of Mrs B. J. Coote against
 Granada Hospitality Ltd, on the following questions:                                                ( Case C-l 86/97)
                                                                                                       ( 97/C 212/29 )
  1 . Does Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 February
        1976 on the implementation of the principle of equal              An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was
        treatment for men and women as regards access to                  brought before the Court of Justice of the European
        employment, vocational training and promotion, and                Communities on 15 May 1997 by the Commission of the
        working conditions (^, require Member States to                   European Communities, represented by Klaus-Dieter
        introduce into their national legal systems such                  Borchardt, of its Legal Service, acting as Agent, with an
        measures as are necessary to enable a complainant to               address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos
        pursue a claim by judicial process where the following             Gomez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service, Wagner Centre
        circumstances apply:                                               C 254, Kirchberg.
 ---pagebreak--- 12 . 7. 97             EN                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 212/17
The applicant claims that the Court should :                               users in its area, if the purpose is to protect the supply
                                                                           undertaking which it owns itself from competition in
— declare that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed                  its area arising from use of the transit main ?
      period the measures necessary to comply with
      Commission Directive 93/71 /EEC ( ] ), the Federal               3 . If Questions 1 and 2 are answered in the affirmative:
      Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations
      under the EC Treaty and under that Directive, and                    Is a local authority or a legally independent supply
                                                                           undertaking owned by it ( with which the local
— order the defendant to pay the costs .                                   authority has concluded an exclusive agreement for
                                                                           the use of its roads ) to be regarded, in relation to the
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                        local distribution of natural gas to end-users , as
                                                                           entrusted with the operation of a service of general
                                                                           economic interest within the meaning of Article 90 ( 2 )
The binding nature of the third paragraph of Article 189                    of the EC Treaty, where such distribution is not a task
and the first paragraph of Article 5 of the EC Treaty                       assigned by the State — and is equally open to purely
requires the Member States to transpose the provisions of                   private undertakings — where the local authority may
a Directive into internal law so that they produce their full
                                                                            nevertheless carry out the task as a local community
effect by the expiry of the period prescribed for that                      matter and where, in providing such supplies, that
purpose . That period came to an end on 3 August 1994                       local authority ( or its supply undertaking ) is — like
without Germany having enacted the necessary provisions .                   private undertakings — subject to State supervision
                                                                            and under a general obligation to provide connections
(') OJ No L 221 , 31 . 8 . 1993 , p. 27 .                                   and to supply gas ?
                                                                       4 . If Questions 1 , 2 and 3 are answered in the
                                                                            affirmative :
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the                                   When examining whether, pursuant to Article 90 ( 2 )
Bundesgerichtshof by order of that court of 11 March                        of the EC Treaty, agreements of the kind described are
1997 in the case of Wingas GmbH ( formerly Wintershall                      not subject to Article 85 thereof, is account to be
               Gas GmbH) against Stadt Detmold                              taken only of factors relating to ensuring a reliable
                                                                            and reasonably-priced local supply of natural gas, or
                           Case C-187/97 )                                  are factors relating to other matters in the public
                            ( 97/C 212/30 )                                 interest ( in particular environmental protection ) also
                                                                            to be taken into account ?
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                 5 . If Questions 1 , 2 and 3 are answered in the affirmative
European Communities by order of the Kartellsenat                           and if, pursuant to the first sentence of Article 90 ( 2 )
 ( Cartel Chamber ) of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court                 of the EC Treaty, the Treaty rules on competition are
 of Justice ) of 11 March 1997, received at the Court                       not to be applied:
 Registry on 15 May 1997, for a preliminary ruling in the
 case of Wingas GmbH ( formerly Wintershall Gas GmbH )
 against Stadt Detmold on the following questions:                           Are agreements of the kind described in Questions 1
                                                                             and 2 between local authorities and natural gas supply
                                                                             undertakings, eliminating competition in the local
 1 . Does Article 85 of the EC Treaty render invalid an                      supply of natural gas, to be deemed to affect the
       agreement under which a local authority grants a                      development of trade to an extent contrary to the
       supply undertaking, which is legally independent but                  interest of the Community ?
       owned by it, the exclusive right to use its public roads
       to lay and maintain mains for the direct supply of
       natural gas to end-users and thereby de facto
       eliminates competition in supply within its area, where
       that agreement is one of a number of similar
       (concession ) agreements which — also in conjunction
       with demarcation agreements between supply                       Appeal brought on 15 May 1997 by L. B. Rasmussen
       undertakings — partition off entire national supply              against the judgment delivered on 18 March 1997 by the
       markets from competition within the gas sector by                Fifth Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the
       domestic or Community competitors ?                              European Communities in Case T-35/96 between L. B.
                                                                        Rasmussen and the Commission of the European
                                                                                                   Communities
  2 . In the circumstances set out in Question 1 , does
       Article 85 of the EC Treaty render invalid an                                           ( Case C-188/97 P)
       agreement concluded by a local authority with a                                            ( 97/C 212/31 )
       supply undertaking concerning the laying of a natural
       gas transit main through its municipal area, under
       which it obliges that supply undertaking not to use              An appeal against the judgment delivered on 18 March
        that main for the direct supply of natural gas to end­           1997 by the Fifth Chamber of the Court of First Instance