CELEX: C2002/323/05
Language: en
Date: 2002-12-21 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court of 5 November 2002 in Case C-471/98: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium (Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Conclusion and application by a Member State of a bilateral "open skies" agreement with the United States of America — Secondary legislation governing the internal air transport market (Regulations (EEC) Nos 2299/89, 2407/92, 2408/92, 2409/92 and 95/93) — External competence of the Community — Article 52 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 43 EC) — Article 5 of the EC Treaty (now Article 10 EC))

21.12.2002               EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                            C 323/5
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                           agreements previously concluded, the Kingdom of
                                                                                  Belgium has, by not rescinding those provisions of
                                                                                  the said previously concluded agreements which are
                        of 5 November 2002                                        incompatible with the EC Treaty, especially Article 52
                                                                                  thereof, and with secondary law, or by failing to take all
                                                                                  legally possible steps to that end, failed to comply with
in Case C-471/98: Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                                  its obligations under Article 5 of the Treaty and under
                  ties v Kingdom of Belgium (1)
                                                                                  secondary law,
(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations —
Conclusion and application by a Member State of a bilateral                 the Court, composed of: J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Sixth
                                                                            Chamber, acting for the President, R. Schintgen (President of
‘open skies’ agreement with the United States of America —
Secondary legislation governing the internal air transport                  Chamber), C. Gulmann, D.A.O. Edward, A. La Pergola, P. Jann,
market (Regulations (EEC) Nos 2299/89, 2407/92, 2408/                       V. Skouris (Rapporteur), F. Macken, N. Colneric, S. von Bahr
92, 2409/92 and 95/93) — External competence of the                         and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; A. Tizzano, Advocate
Community — Article 52 of the EC Treaty (now, after                         General; H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, and D. Louterman-
                                                                            Hubeau, Head of Division, has given a judgment on 5 Novem-
amendment, Article 43 EC) — Article 5 of the EC Treaty
                        (now Article 10 EC))                                ber 2002, in which it:
                           (2002/C 323/05)                                  1.    Declares that, by entering into or maintaining in force, despite
                                                                                  the renegotiation of the air transport agreement between the
                                                                                  Kingdom of Belgium and the United States of America of
                     (Language of the case: French)
                                                                                  23 October 1980, international commitments with the United
                                                                                  States of America
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)
                                                                                  —     concerning air fares and rates charged by carriers desig-
                                                                                        nated by the United States of America on intra-Com-
                                                                                        munity routes,
In Case C-471/98, Commission of the European Communities
(Agent: F. Benyon) v Kingdom of Belgium (Agent: A. Snoecx,                        —     concerning computerised reservation systems offered for
assisted by J. H. J. Bourgeois and N. F. Köhncke), supported by                         use or used in Belgian territory, and
Kingdom of the Netherlands (Agents: M.A. Fierstra and J. van
Bakel): Application for:
                                                                                  —     recognising the United States of America as having the
                                                                                        right to withdraw, suspend or limit traffic rights in cases
—     as its principal claim, a declaration that, by having                             where air carriers designated by the Kingdom of Belgium
      individually negotiated, initialled and concluded, in 1995,                       are not owned by the latter or by Belgian nationals, the
      and applied an ‘open skies’ agreement with the United                             Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations
      States of America in the field of transport, the Kingdom                          under Article 5 of the EC Treaty (now Article 10 EC) and
      of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC                      Article 52 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment,
      Treaty, and in particular Articles 5 (now Article 10 EC)                          Article 43 EC) and under Council Regulation (EEC)
      and 52 (now, after amendment, Article 43 EC) thereof,                             No 2409/92 of 23 July 1992 on fares and rates for air
      and also under secondary law adopted pursuant to                                  services and Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 of
      that Treaty, and in particular Council Regulation (EEC)                           24 July 1989 on a code of conduct for computerised
      No 2407/92 of 23 July 1992 on licensing of air carriers                           reservation systems, as amended by Council Regulation
      (OJ 1992 L 240, p. 1), Council Regulation (EEC) No 2408/                          (EEC) No 3089/93 of 29 October 1993;
      92 of 23 July 1992 on access for Community air carriers
      to intra-Community air routes (OJ 1992 L 240, p. 8),
      Council Regulation (EEC) No 2409/92 of 23 July 1992                   2.    Dismisses the remainder of the application;
      on fares and rates for air services (OJ 1992 L 240, p. 15),
      Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89 of 24 July 1989
      on a code of conduct for computerised reservation                     3.    Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs;
      systems (OJ 1989 L 220, p. 1), as amended by Council
      Regulation (EEC) No 3089/93 of 29 October 1993 (OJ
      1993 L 278, p. 1), and Council Regulation (EEC) No 95/                4.    Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands to bear its own costs.
      93 of 18 January 1993 on common rules for the
      allocation of slots at Community airports (OJ 1993 L 14,
      p. 1); and,
                                                                            (1 ) OJ C 71 of 13.3.1999.
—     in the alternative and, in part, in addition, a declaration
      that, in so far as the 1995 agreement cannot be regarded
      as having radically amended and thus replaced the