CELEX: C1998/234/38
Language: en
Date: 1998-07-25 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 29 May 1998 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Hellenic Republic (Case C-204/98)

C 234/20               EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                     25.7.98
Action brought on 29 May 1998 by the Commission of                   on 29 May 1998 by the Commission of the European
 the European Communities against the Hellenic Republic              Communities, represented by Laura Pignataro, of its Legal
                        (Case C-204/98)                              Service, and Dr Andreas Buschmann, a national expert
                                                                     with its Legal Service, with an address for service in
                         (98/C 234/38)                               Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of
                                                                     its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
An action against the Hellenic Republic was brought
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities
on 29 May 1998 by the Commission of the European                     The applicant claims that the Court should:
Communities, represented by M. Patakia and B. Mongin,
both of its Legal Service, with an address for service in
Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, of
its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.                         1. Declare that, by raising from 1 July 1995 and from
                                                                          1 February 1996 the tolls for the whole Brenner
The Commission claims that the Court should:                              motorway, a transit route through Austria used
                                                                          predominantly by goods vehicles of over 12 tonnes
                                                                          from other Member States, the Republic of Austria
Ð declare that, by not adopting, and by not                               has infringed Article 7(b) of Directive 93/89/EEC (1);
     communicating to the Commission, within the
     prescribed period the laws, regulations and
     administrative provisions necessary to comply with
     Commission Directive 94/38/EC of 26 June 1994                   2. Declare that the Republic of Austria has infringed
     amending Annexes C and D to Council Directive 92/                    Article 7(h) of Directive 93/89/EEC, since it has not
     51/EEC of 18 June 1992 on a second general system                    imposed the said tolls only to cover the costs of
     for the recognition of professional education and                    constructing, operating and developing the Brenner
     training (1), the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its         motorway;
     obligations under the EC Treaty and that directive;
Ð order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.
                                                                     3. Order the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
Under the third paragraph of Article 189 of the EC Treaty,           Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
directives are binding, as to the result to be achieved,
upon each Member State to which they are addressed.
Under the first paragraph of Article 5 of the EC Treaty,             By judgment of 5 July 1995 in Case C-21/94 (2) the Court
Member States are to take all appropriate measures,                  of Justice annulled Directive 93/89/EEC but preserved its
whether general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the           effects until the adoption of a new directive by the
obligations arising out of the Treaty or resulting from              Council.
action taken by the institutions of the Community. Those
provisions require the Member States to make their
legislation consistent with Community directives within
the periods which those directives lay down. The period              Ð Infringement of Article 7(b) of the directive: Raising
laid down by Article 3(1) of Directive 94/38/EC expired                   the tolls only for the whole Brenner motorway
on 1 October 1994 without the Hellenic Republic having                    (Innsbruck to the Brenner frontier) and only for goods
adopted the laws, regulations and administrative                          vehicles with more than three axles, while the rates for
provisions necessary to comply with that directive.                       the part sections and short section and for goods
                                                                          vehicles with not more than three axles have remained
(1) OJ L 217 of 23.8.1994, p. 8.                                          unchanged, constitutes an indirect difference of
                                                                          treatment on the grounds of the nationality of the
                                                                          road user. It affects primarily transit traffic, 94 % of
                                                                          which is carried out by foreign-registered goods
                                                                          vehicles and only 6 % by Austrian-registered goods
                                                                          vehicles. According to the Austrian Government, c.
Action brought on 29 May 1998 by the Commission of                        82 % of goods vehicles affected by the abolition of the
                                                                          reduced rates for the whole route on the occasion of
the European Communities against the Republic of
                             Austria                                      the first toll increase were registered in other EU
                                                                          States. For heavy goods traffic as a whole (transit and
                        (Case C-205/98)                                   bilateral traffic), the heavy goods vehicles affected by
                         (98/C 234/39)                                    the toll increases consist, according to Austrian
                                                                          information, of c. 84 % foreign vehicles. The part
                                                                          sections of the Brenner motorway and the section
An action against the Republic of Austria was brought                     from Innsbruck to Matrei and back, on the other
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities                   hand, which are not affected by the toll increases, are