CELEX: C2001/028/24
Language: en
Date: 2001-01-27 00:00:00
Title: Case C-409/00: Action brought on 10 November 2000 by Kingdom of Spain against Commission of the European Communities

27.1.2001              EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                         C 28/13
Action brought on 8 November 2000 by the Commission                     Action brought on 8 November 2000 by the Commission
of the European Communities against the Republic of                     of the European Communities against the Federal Repub-
                             Austria                                                                lic of Germany
                                                                                                   (Case C-408/00)
                         (Case C-407/00)
                                                                                                    (2001/C 28/23)
                                                                        An action against the Federal Republic of Germany was
                          (2001/C 28/22)                                brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
                                                                        ties on 8 November 2000 by the Commission of the European
                                                                        Communities, represented by Götz zur Hausen, Commission
                                                                        Legal Adviser, with an address for service in Luxembourg at
An action against the Republic of Austria was brought                   the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service,
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on              Wagner Centre C 254, Kirchberg.
8 November 2000 by the Commission of the European
Communities, represented by Götz zur Hausen, Legal Adviser,
of its Legal Service, with an address for service in Luxembourg         The applicant claims that the Court should:
at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its Legal Service,
Wagner Centre C 254, Kirchberg.                                         1.    declare that, by not adopting in full, or in any event not
                                                                              communicating in full to the Commission, the laws,
                                                                              regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
                                                                              comply with Council Directive 97/11/EC (1) of 3 March
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                   1997 amending Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment
                                                                              of the effects of certain public and private projects on the
                                                                              environment, the Federal Republic of Germany has failed
(1) declare that, by failing within the time-limit prescribed to              to fulfil its obligations under that directive;
      take all necessary measures in order to comply with
      Council Directive 96/82/EC of 9 December 1996 (1)                 2.    order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs.
      on the control of major-accident hazards involving
      dangerous substances, and in particular Articles 11
      and 12 thereof, the Republic of Austria has failed to fulfil      Pleas in law and main arguments
      its obligations under the EC Treaty;
                                                                        The pleas in law and main arguments correspond to those in
                                                                        Case C-407/00 (2); the time-limit for implementation expired
(2) order the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.                     on 14 March 1999.
                                                                        (1) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.
                                                                        (2) See p. 13 of this Official Journal.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The mandatory nature of the provisions of the third paragraph
of Article 249 EC and of the first paragraph of Article 10 EC
obliges the Member States to adopt the measures necessary in
order to comply with directives addressed to them within the            Action brought on 10 November 2000 by Kingdom of
time-limit prescribed for so doing. That time-limit expired on          Spain against Commission of the European Communities
3 February 1999 but Austria has not to date taken all the
measures required in order to transpose Articles 11 and 12 of
                                                                                                   (Case C-409/00)
the directive.
                                                                                                    (2001/C 28/24)
(1) OJ 1997 L 10, p. 13.                                                An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                        ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
                                                                        Communities on 10 November 2000 by the Kingdom of
                                                                        Spain, represented by Mónica López-Monı́s Gallego, abogado
                                                                        del Estado, acting as Agent, with an address for service in
                                                                        Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of its
                                                                        Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
 ---pagebreak--- C 28/14                EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                         27.1.2001
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                     Commission is inconsistent in its criteria in this regard,
                                                                                since in paragraph 35 of the contested decision it
                                                                                describes the aid as aid to investment while, on the other
                                                                                hand, in paragraph 38 it describes it as operating aid.
—     annul the Commission decision of 26 July 2000(1); and
                                                                          (1) Commission Decision C(2000) 2465 Final concerning the system
—     order the defendant institution to pay the costs.                       of aid granted by Spain for the purchase of industrial vehicles by
                                                                              means of the ‘Convenio de Colaboración’ of 26 February 1997
                                                                              between the Ministerio de Industria y Energı́a and the Instituto de
                                                                              Crédito Official.
Pleas in law and main arguments
—     Indeterminate nature of the contested decision: delimi-
      tation of the benefits covered respectively by Article 1
      (incompatible aid) and Article 2 (aid incompatible with
                                                                          Action brought on 9 November 2000 by the Commission
      the common market and, accordingly, to be recovered) is
                                                                          of the European Communities against the Kingdom of
      impossible. The whole category of undertakings referred
                                                                                                          Sweden
      to in Article 1 and, in particular, those which are caught
      by the definition of ‘operating at local or regional level
      does not exist as a concept under Spanish law’.                                                (Case C-410/00)
                                                                                                      (2001/C 28/25)
—     Non-selective aid: the measures contained in the Convenio
      do not favour certain undertakings or productions, since
      the subsidies which it envisages are not aimed at a defined         An action against the Kingdom of Sweden was brought
      set of recipients but at all possible beneficiaries in general.     before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on
      The fact of requiring that beneficiaries should be natural          9 November 2000 by the Commission of the European
      persons or small or medium-sized enterprises constitutes            Communities, represented by Marie Wolfcarius and Christina
      an objective condition requiring that they be in an                 Tufvesson, Legal Advisers in the Commission’s Legal Service,
      objectively similar situation.                                      acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at
                                                                          the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, also of that service,
                                                                          Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
—     Absence of discrimination: the implementing rules for
      the Convenio do not require that the vehicle which must             The applicant claims that the Court should:
      be withdrawn from circulation should belong to the
      beneficiary of the subsidy — the vehicle may belong to a            1.    declare that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations
      third party with which the beneficiary may have entered                   and administrative provisions necessary to comply with
      into an agreement to that end. Thus, there is no distortion               Council Directive 96/48/EC (1) of 23 July 1996 on the
      of competition to the detriment of those hauliers not                     interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail
      established in Spain.                                                     system, the Kingdom of Sweden has failed to fulfil its
                                                                                obligations under that directive,
—     Competition is not distorted: the impact at Community               2.    order the Kingdom of Sweden to bear the costs.
      level of the system of aid provided for by the Convenio
      on competition in transport is entirely insignificant —
      the requirements laid down in Article 87(1) EC are not
                                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments
      met.
                                                                          The pleas in law and main arguments are the same as those
—     Infringement of Article 87(3)(c) EC: in the view of the             relied on in Case C-407/00 (2); the period prescribed for
      Kingdom of Spain, concern for the environment and                   transposition of the directive expired on 8 April 1999.
      traffic safety justify application in the present case of
      Article 87(3)(c), since it is clear that the measures
      proposed in those two sectors will have a positive impact,          (1) OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 6.
                                                                          (2) See p. 13 of this Official Journal.
      without resulting in an increase in capacity. The measures
      provided for in the Convenio cannot be characterised as
      operating aid but rather as aid for investment linked to
      the restructuring of the pool of industrial vehicles. The