CELEX: C1996/077/13
Language: en
Date: 1996-03-16 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 11 January 1996 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Kingdom of Spain (Case C-5/96)

16 . 3 . 96             EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                          No C 111
Pleas in law and main arguments:                                         The applicant claims that the Court should :
It is clear from Article 4 ( 1 ) of Directive 79/409/EEC that the        1 . declare that, by failing to adopt and bring into force or,
designation of special protection areas is the primary means                   in the alternative, to notify within the prescribed period
whereby the Member States must ( seek to ) ensure the                          the laws, regulations or administrative provisions
survival and reproduction of the bird species mentioned in                     necessary to comply with Council Directive
Annex I thereto . The fact that in a Member State some                         90/658/EEC (') of 4 December 1990, in particular
populations of such species are declining justifies the                        Article 8 thereof, and those necessary to comply with
suspicion that the Member State has not complied with its                      Directive 93/16/EEC ( 2 ) of 5 April 1993 , in particular
obligation to achieve the appropriate result. In fact, in the                  Articles 3 and 9(3 ) and ( 4 ) thereof, which correspond to
Netherlands, populations of nine of the bird species                           Articles 3 and 9 ( a ) ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) respectively of Directive
mentioned in Annex I have fallen by over 50% .                                 75/362/EEC ( 3 ) as amended by Article 1 of Directive
                                                                               90/568/EEC, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its
Under the last subparagraph of Article 4(1 ), Member States                    obligations under Articles 5 and 189 of the Treaty
must classify the most suitable territories in number and size                 establishing the European Community .
as special protection areas . With a view to a coherent general
system of special protection areas, the Commission had                   2 . order the defendant to pay the costs .
scientific surveys carried out by the Secretariat de la flore et
de la faune of the Musee national d'histoire naturelle in                Pleas in law and main arguments:
Paris, which drew up an inventory of habitats which should
be classified, on ornithological criteria , as special protection        The mandatory nature of the third paragraph of Article 189
areas; that list was updated in 1989 and 1994 by the                     and the first paragraph of Article 5 of the EC Treaty requires
International Council for Bird Preservation ('Inventory of               Member States to adopt the measures necessary to comply
Important Bird Areas in the European Community' —                        with the directives which are addressed to them within the
IBA89 and IBA94 ). As regards the legal relevance of IBA89               period prescribed therein. That period expired on 1 July
and IBA94, the Commission considers that the objectives of               1991 without the Kingdom of Spain having brought into
Article 4(1 ) would be best served if the Member States were             force the necessary provisions.
in fact to classify all the areas mentioned in the inventory as
special protection areas . Since, however, the Member States             (') OJ No L 353 , 17. 12 . 1990 , p . 73 .
enjoy a certain discretionary power in this field, it does not           ( 2 ) OJ No L 165 , 7. 7 . 1993 , p . 1 .
seem to the Commission to be possible to impose that                     ( 3 ) OJ No L 167, 30 . 6 . 1975 , p . 1 .
maximum result by law. On the other hand, there may be a
breach of the obligation of classification if a Member State
manifestly disregards the number and size of the IBA89 and
IBA94 areas. This is particularly so if a Member State
classifies as special protection areas under half, in terms
both of number and of total size, of the areas listed in IBA89           Reference for preliminary ruling from the Bundes­
and IBA94 . Special protection areas must, moreover, be                  verwaltungsgericht by order of that court of 3 1 August 1995
sufficiently varied and representative to offer protection for           in the case of Badische Erfrischungs-Getranke GmbH 8t Co.
all the bird species listed in Annex I. The number and size of                           KG v. Land Baden-Wiirttemberg
the special protection areas classified by the Netherlands are                                      ( Case C- 17/96 )
not sufficient to meet those requirements .
                                                                                                      ( 96/C 77/ 14
                                                                         Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of
                                                                         the European Communities by order of the
                                                                         Bundesverwaltungsgericht ( Federal Administrative Court)
                                                                         — Third Senate — of 3 1 August 1 995 , received at the Court
Action brought on 11 January 1996 by the Commission of                   Registry on 19 January 1996 , for a preliminary ruling in the
the European Communities against the Kingdom of                          case of Badische Erfrischungs-Getranke GmbH & Co . KG
                                 Spain                                   v. Land Baden-Wurttemberg on the following questions :
                          ( Case C-5/96
                            ( 96/C 77/ 13 )                              1 . Is Article 1 ( 1 ) of Council Directive 80/777/EEC of
                                                                                15 July 1980 { l ) in conjunction with Annex I thereto
                                                                               ( Section I. Definition ) to be interpreted as meaning that
                (Language of the case: Spanish)                                water — apart from ' old water' covered by the second
                                                                               subparagraph of paragraph 2 of Section I. Definition of
An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before                      Annex I — is to be recognized as being natural mineral
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on                            water only if it has properties favourable to health and,
11 January 1996 by the Commission of the European                              if so, are those provisions to be interpreted as meaning
Communities, represented by B. J. Drijber and J. R. Vidal                      that those properties must be proved ?
Puig, of its Legal Service, acting as Agents, with an address
for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gomez de               2 . May the properties favourable to health which may be
la Cruz, of its Legal Service .                                                necessary also ensue from the absence or low content of