CELEX: C2004/007/18
Language: en
Date: 2004-01-10 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 20 November 2003 in Case C-340/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof): Carlito Abler and Others v Sodexho MM Catering Gesellschaft mbH, intervener Sanrest Großküchen Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (Social policy — Approximation of laws — Transfers of undertakings — Safeguarding of workers' rights — Directive 77/187/EEC — Scope — Definition of transfer)

C 7/12                   EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                             10.1.2004
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                      available to it by the contracting authority, even where the second
                                                                             contractor has expressed the intention not to take on the employees of
                                                                             the first contractor.
                          (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                             (1) OJ C 331 of 24.11.2001.
                       of 20 November 2003
in Case C-340/01 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Oberster Gerichtshof): Carlito Abler and Others
v Sodexho MM Catering Gesellschaft mbH, intervener                                             JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
      Sanrest Großküchen Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (1)
                                                                                                        (Sixth Chamber)
(Social policy — Approximation of laws — Transfers of
undertakings — Safeguarding of workers’ rights — Direc-                                              of 20 November 2003
     tive 77/187/EEC — Scope — Definition of transfer)
                                                                             in Case C-356/01: Republic of Austria v Commission of
                                                                                               the European Communities (1)
                            (2004/C 7/18)
                                                                             (System of ecopoints for heavy goods vehicles transiting
                                                                             through Austria — Refusal by the Commission to reduce the
                   (Language of the case: German)                                        number of ecopoints for 2001 — Legality)
                                                                                                          (2004/C 7/19)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)                                               (Language of the case: German)
                                                                             (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                                                                                                  in the European Court Reports)
In Case C-340/01: Reference to the Court under Article 234
EC by the Oberster Gerichtshof (Austria) for a preliminary
ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between                  In Case C-356/01, Republic of Austria (Agent: H. Dossi) v
Carlito Abler and Others and Sodexho MM Catering Gesell-                     Commission of the European Communities (Agents:
schaft mbH, intervener Sanrest Großküchen Betriebsgesell-                    C. Schmidt and M. Wolfcarius), supported by Federal Republic
schaft mbH, on the interpretation of Council Directive 77/                   of Germany (Agents: W.-D. Plessing, acting as Agent, assisted
187/EEC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of the                      by J. Sedemund, Rechtsanwalt): Application for annulment of
laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of                    the Commission’s decision of 25 July 2001 refusing to submit
employees’ rights in the event of transfers of undertakings,                 a draft regulation reducing the number of ecopoints for 2001
businesses or parts of businesses (OJ 1977 L 61, p. 26), the                 and, in the alternative, of the Commission’s decision of the
Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann, acting as                    same date to distribute all the remaining ecopoints for 2001,
President of the Sixth Chamber, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, J.-                    the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: V. Skouris, acting
P. Puissochet (Rapporteur), F. Macken and N. Colneric, Judges;               for the President of the Sixth Chamber, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues
L.A. Geelhoed, Advocate General; L. Hewlett, Principal Admin-                (Rapporteur), J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen and F. Macken,
istrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 20 Novem-               Judges; J. Mischo, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal
ber 2003, in which it has ruled:                                             Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
                                                                             20 November 2003, in which it:
Article 1 of Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977                1.     Dismisses the application.
on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to
the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the event of transfers of           2.     Orders the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.
undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses must be interpreted as
applying to a situation in which a contracting authority which had           3.     Orders the Federal Republic of Germany to bear its own costs.
awarded the contract for the management of the catering services in a
hospital to one contractor terminates that contract and concludes a
contract for the supply of the same services with a second contractor,       (1) OJ C 317 of 10.10.2001.
where the second contractor uses substantial parts of the tangible
assets previously used by the first contractor and subsequently made