CELEX: C2001/289/04
Language: en
Date: 2001-10-13 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 12 July 2001 in Case C-262/99 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Trimeles Diikitiko Protodikio Irakliou): Paraskevas Louloudakis v Elliniko Dimosio (Directive 83/182/EEC — Means of transport temporarily imported — Tax exemptions — Normal residence in a Member State — Fine for improperly importing exempt from tax — Principle of proportionality — Good faith)

C 289/2                  EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                         13.10.2001
of Germany (Agents: W.-D. Plessing and C.-D. Quassowski) —                  Republic (Agents: K. Rispal-Bellanger and D. Colas) — appli-
application for a declaration that, by failing to transmit to the           cation for a declaration that, by failing to transmit to the
Commission the full list of sites mentioned in the first                    Commission the full list of sites mentioned in the first
subparagraph of Article 4(1) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC                 subparagraph of Article 4(1) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC
of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and                  of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and
of wild fauna and flora (OJ 1992 L 206, p. 7), together                     of wild fauna and flora (OJ 1992 L 206, p. 7), together
with the information on each site required by the second                    with the information on each site required by the second
subparagraph of Article 4(1) thereof, the Federal Republic of               subparagraph of Article 4(1) thereof, the French Republic has
Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive           failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive — the Court
— the Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann                        (Sixth Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann (Rapporteur),
(Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, V. Skouris, R. Schint-              President of the Chamber, V. Skouris, R. Schintgen, F. Macken
gen, F. Macken and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; P. Léger,                  and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General;
Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment                 H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar, for the Registrar, has given
on 11 September 2001, in which it:                                          a judgment on 11 September 2001, in which it:
1.    Declares that, by failing to transmit to the Commission, within       1.    Declares that, by failing to transmit to the Commission, within
      the prescribed period, the list of sites mentioned in the first             the period prescribed, the list of sites mentioned in the first
      subparagraph of Article 4(1) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC                 subparagraph of Article 4(1) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC
      of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and                  of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and
      of wild fauna and flora, together with the information on those             of wild fauna and flora, together with the information on those
      sites required by the second subparagraph of Article 4(1)                   sites required by the second subparagraph of Article 4(1)
      thereof, the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its           thereof, the French Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations
      obligations under that directive;                                           under that directive;
2.    Orders the Federal Republic of Germany to bear the costs.             2.    Orders the French Republic to bear the costs.
                                                                            (1) OJ C 226 of 7.8.1999.
(1) OJ C 160 of 5.6.1999.
                                                                                              JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                       (Sixth Chamber)
                           (Sixth Chamber)
                                                                                                         of 12 July 2001
                        of 11 September 2001
                                                                            in Case C-262/99 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
in Case C-220/99: Commission of the European Communi-                       the Trimeles Diikitiko Protodikio Irakliou): Paraskevas
                      ties v French Republic (1)                                           Louloudakis v Elliniko Dimosio (1)
(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations —                      (Directive 83/182/EEC — Means of transport temporarily
Directive 92/43/EEC — Conservation of natural habitats —                    imported — Tax exemptions — Normal residence in a
Conservation of wild fauna and flora — Article 4(1) — List                  Member State — Fine for improperly importing exempt from
                    of sites — Site information)                                   tax — Principle of proportionality — Good faith)
                           (2001/C 289/03)                                                              (2001/C 289/04)
                     (Language of the case: French)                                               (Language of the case: Greek)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published      (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)                                               in the European Court Reports)
In Case C-220/999: Commission of the European Communi-                      In Case C-262/99: reference to the Court under Article 234
ties (Agents: P. Stancanelli and O. Couvert-Castéra) v French               EC from the Trimeles Diikitiko Protodikio Irakliou (Greece),
 ---pagebreak--- 13.10.2001                EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                            C 289/3
for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that                     difficulties, account must be taken of the good faith of the
court between Paraskevas Louloudakis and Elliniko Dimosio                           offender when determining the penalty actually imposed on
— on the interpretation of Council Directive 83/182/EEC of                          him.
28 March 1983 on tax exemptions within the Community for
certain means of transport temporarily imported into one
Member State from another (OJ 1983 L 105, p. 59) — the                        (1) OJ C 314 of 30.10.1999.
Court (Sixth Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann (Rappor-
teur), President of the Chamber, V. Skouris, J.-P. Puissochet,
R. Schintgen and F. Macken, Judges; S. Alber, Advocate
General; L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar, has given
a judgment on 12 July 2001, in which it has ruled:
1.    Article 7(1) of Council Directive 83/182/EEC of 28 March                                   JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
      1983 on tax exemptions within the Community for certain
      means of transport temporarily imported into one Member
      State from another must be interpreted as meaning that, where                                        of 12 July 2001
      a person has both personal and occupational ties in two
      Member States, his normal residence, determined in the context
      of an overall assessment by reference to all the relevant facts, is     in Joined Cases C-302/99 P and C-308/99 P: Commission
      that where the permanent centre of interests of that person is          of the European Communities v Télévision Française 1
      located; in the event that such an overall assessment does not                                         SA (TF1) (1)
      result in its determination, primacy must be given to personal
      ties.
                                                                              (Appeal — Inoperative plea — Challenge to the grounds of
                                                                              a judgment that has no effect on the operative part of the
                                                                                                 judgment — Liability for costs)
2.    National legislation which provides, in the event of infringement
      of the temporary importation arrangements laid down by                                              (2001/C 289/05)
      Directive 83/182, for a series of penalties including, in
      particular:
                                                                                                    (Language of the case: French)
                                                                              (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
      —      fines set at a flat rate on the basis of the sole criterion of                        in the European Court Reports)
             the vehicle’s cubic capacity, without taking its age into
             account,
                                                                              In Joined Cases C-302/99 P and C-308/99 P: Commission
                                                                              of the European Communities (Agents: G. Marenco and
                                                                              K. Wiedner) and French Republic (Agents: K. Rispal-Bellanger
                                                                              and F. Million), supported by Kingdom of Spain (Agent:
      —      increased duty which can amount to up to ten times the           R. Silva de Lapuerta) — appeal against the judgment of the
             taxes in question,                                               Court of First Instance of the European Communities (Third
                                                                              Chamber, Extended Composition) of 3 June 1999 in Case
                                                                              T-17/96 TF1 v Commission [1999] ECR II-1757, seeking to
                                                                              have that judgment partially set aside, the other party to the
                                                                              proceedings being: Télévision Française 1 SA (TF1), established
      is compatible with the principle of proportionality only in so far      in Paris, France, (lawyers: G. Vandersanden, J.-P. Hordies and
      as it is made necessary by overriding requirements of enforcement       A. Maqua), the Court, composed of: G.C. Rodrı́guez Iglesias,
      and prevention, when gravity of the infringement is taken into          President, C. Gulmann, A. La Pergola, M. Wathelet, V. Skouris
      account.                                                                (Presidents of Chambers), D.A.O. Edward, J.-P. Puissochet,
                                                                              P. Jann, L. Sevón (Rapporteur), R. Schintgen, F. Macken,
                                                                              N. Colneric, S. von Bahr, J.N. Cunha Rodrigues and
                                                                              C.W.A. Timmermans, Judges; J. Mischo, Advocate General;
                                                                              D. Louterman-Hubeau, Head of Division, for the Registrar, has
3.    In proceedings concerning infringements relating to temporary           given a judgment on 12 July 2001, in which it:
      importation of certain means of transport, neither Directive
      83/182 nor other rules of Community law prevent its being
                                                                              1.    Dismisses the appeals;
      excluded that ignorance of the applicable rules should lead to
      automatic exoneration from all penalties. None the less, where
      determination of the arrangements applicable has given rise to          2.    Orders the Commission to pay the costs of Case C-302/99 P;