CELEX: C2003/135/15
Language: en
Date: 2003-06-07 00:00:00
Title: Case C-121/03: Action brought on 19 March 2003 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Kingdom of Spain

C 135/10               EN                        Official Journal of the European Union                                             7.6.2003
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                     adjusted according to the evolution of the various
                                                                                elements. The completion of the transitional period
                                                                                provided for in the Act of Accession of Spain and,
—     annul Regulation (EC) No 2341/2002 ( 1) of 20 December                    consequently, Spain’s full integration in the Common
      2002 fixing for 2003 the fishing opportunities and                        Fisheries Policy, require that this allocation key be
      associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups                  adjusted in so far as it refers to catches in the Community
      of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for                   waters of the North Sea, and that Spanish vessels be
      Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are                  allowed a percentage of the quotas distributed before
      required, in so far as it does not allocate to Spain quotas               Spain’s accession, account being taken of the criteria of
      in proportion to the fishing opportunities in North Sea                   the 1983 allocation key, namely historical fishing activi-
      waters allocated before its Accession;                                    ties (as the Spanish fleet engaged in significant fishing
                                                                                activities in those waters which were stopped by the
                                                                                transitional prohibition on access contained in the Act of
—     order the Council to pay the costs.                                       Accession), the loss of fishing opportunities in the waters
                                                                                of non-member countries and the special activities of
                                                                                zones especially dependent on fisheries and related
                                                                                activities.
                                                                                In connection with this last criterion for setting the
                                                                                allocation key, account must be taken of the fact that, in
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                accordance with recitals 16, 17 and 18 of the Preamble
                                                                                to Regulation 2371/2002 (2), the concept of relative
                                                                                stability must be extended, account being taken, inter
—     Infringement of the principle of non-discrimination: with
                                                                                alia, of the ‘dependence of certain coastal communities
      the completion of the transitional period on 31 December
                                                                                on fishing’ and the ‘particular needs of regions where
      2002, the situation of Spanish fishermen is the same as
                                                                                local populations are especially dependent on fisheries
      that of fishermen of the rest of the Member States and
                                                                                and related activities as decided by the Council in its
      they must enjoy equal access to waters and resources.
                                                                                Resolution of 3 November 1976’; this means that when
      Although before 2003 Spain could not rely on the fishing
                                                                                allocating quotas, in accordance with the principle of
      activities which Spanish vessels carried out in the waters
                                                                                relative stability, it is necessary only to take into account
      of the North Sea during the reference period 1973-1978,
                                                                                the regions whose local populations are at that time
      as the exceptional rules laid down in the Act of Accession
                                                                                especially dependent on fisheries and related activities,
      applied, those activities must now be taken into consider-
                                                                                but that, owing to developments in the socio-economic
      ation for the purpose of adjusting the allocation key,
                                                                                situation of the Member States, that dependence has now
      since only in this way will the system not be contrary to
                                                                                disappeared.
      the principle of non-discrimination. Thus the fishermen
      of each Member State would be obliged to endeavour to
      limit catches in proportion to what they caught before
      the entry into force of the Community system of conser-            (1 ) OJ L 356, 31.12.2002, p. 12.
      vation of resources.                                               (2 ) Council Regulation of 20 December 2002 on the conservation
                                                                              and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the
                                                                              Common Fisheries Policy, OJ L 358, 31.12.2002, p. 59.
—     Infringement of the Act of Accession of Spain: upon
      completion of the transitional period, Spain is fully
      integrated into the Common Fisheries Policy, so that a
      new allocation key for the resources of the North Sea is
      required, based on the criteria used in 1983: historical
      catches, loss of fishing opportunities in the fishing
      grounds of non-member countries and the concept of
      zones dependent on fisheries. The failure to allocate to
      Spain in the contested regulation a share of the quotas in
      the Community waters of the North Sea allocated before             Action brought on 19 March 2003 by the Commission of
      its accession has the effect of extending the transitional         the European Communities against the Kingdom of Spain
      period beyond that provided for in the Act and of
      infringing the provisions thereof.
                                                                                                     (Case C-121/03)
—     Infringement of the principle of relative stability: The
      principle of relative stability is something distinct from                                     (2003/C 135/15)
      the allocation key fixed by the Council in 1983 in order
      to apply that principle. The principle of relative stability
      is of general scope and applies to the allocation in
      national quotas of all catch opportunities subject to a
      TAC available to the Community, while the allocation               An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before
      balance established in the 1983 allocation key may be              the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 19 March
 ---pagebreak--- 7.6.2003                EN                        Official Journal of the European Union                                           C 135/11
2003 by the Commission of the European Communities,                            handling of waste from pig farms (particularly animal
represented by Gregorio Valero Jordana, of its Legal Service,                  carcasses and slurry) is subject to that directive since there
acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg.                    is no specific Community legislation to cover all aspects
                                                                               relating to the handling of such waste.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                               Pollution of waters in the Baix Ter catchment area caused
                                                                               by the increasing volume of slurry generated by the pig
—     Declare that
                                                                               farms in that area constitutes a result contrary to the
                                                                               requirements of Article 4 of Directive 75/442/EEC and is
                                                                               thus a clear infringement of that provision. The Spanish
      (a)   by failing to adopt the measures necessary to comply
            with Articles 4, 9 and 13 of Council Directive 75/                 authorities themselves in their documents have acknowl-
            442/EEC ( 1), amended by Directive 91/156/EEC ( 2),                edged such pollution, which may also be ascertained
                                                                               from the results of analyses provided by the Spanish
            inasmuch as it failed to take the necessary measures
            to ensure that waste from the pig farms located in                 authorities to the Commission.
            the Baix Ter area, Gerona, is recovered or disposed
            of without endangering human health and without
            harming the environment and in so far as the farms
            were not covered by the permit required under the                  On 26 September 2001, the date on which expired
            directive and by failing to carry out the requisite                the period prescribed by the reasoned opinion for the
            regular checks in respect of such installations;                   Kingdom of Spain to comply, many of the pig farms
                                                                               operating in the Baix Ter area were not covered by the
                                                                               permit required under Article 9 of Directive 75/442/EEC.
      (b) by failing to carry out an impact assessment prior to
            the construction or modification of the project,
            contrary to the requirements of Articles 2 and 4(2)
            of Council Directive 85/337/EEC (3), either in its
            original wording or as amended by Directive 97/11/                 The Spanish authorities have not been able to provide
            EC (4);                                                            evidence of the appropriate periodic inspections having
                                                                               taken place in all (over 220, according to the list of pig
                                                                               farms transmitted by document of 3 December 2001) or
      (c)   by failing to carry out the requisite hydrogeological              most of the existing installations, as provided for in
            studies in the area affected by pollution, in relation             Article 13 of Directive 75/442/EEC. So far as concerns
            to the pig farms which are the subject of these                    the pig farms which are the subject of the present case,
            proceedings, contrary to Articles 3(b), 5(1) and 7 of              Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 2
            Council Directive 80/68/EEC (5);                                   and 4(2) of Directive 85/337/EEC, both in the original
                                                                               wording and as amended by Directive 97/11/EEC. The
                                                                               Spanish authorities themselves acknowledge, essentially
      (d) by exceeding, on various public water distribution                   in their reply to the reasoned opinion, that the pig farms
            networks in the Baix Ter area, the maximum admiss-                 with which these proceedings are concerned have not
            ible concentration for the nitrate parameters laid                 been the subject of an impact assessment prior to their
            down in Annex I(c)(20) to Directive 80/778/EEC (6),                construction or expansion.
            contrary to Article 7(6) of that directive;
      the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations
      under the abovementioned directives; and                                 The argument put forward by the Spanish authorities that
                                                                               Directive 80/68/EEC has not been infringed ‘since all pig
                                                                               farms are subject to an administrative procedure aimed
—     Order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.                             at ensuring that such farms are handling correctly the
                                                                               waste they produce and not affecting groundwater’ does
                                                                               not prove that the necessary hydrogeological studies have
                                                                               been carried out. Furthermore, on the final date of the
                                                                               period prescribed for Spain to comply, many of the pig
                                                                               farms in the Baix Ter area had still not been subjected to
                                                                               the abovementioned administrative procedure.
Pleas in law and main arguments
—     Infringements (a) to (c) relate to the construction, exten-
      sion and running of a large number of intensive pig farms
      situated in the area of Baix Ter, Gerona. Although
      the Spanish authorities claim that agricultural waste is            —    According to the information provided by the complain-
      excluded from the scope of Directive 75/442/EEC, the                     ant and to the replies and reports forwarded by the
 ---pagebreak--- C 135/12                EN                           Official Journal of the European Union                                         7.6.2003
       Spanish authorities to the Commission, it is clear that               Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale
       various municipalities in the Baix Ter area have exceeded             Ordinario di Torino — Sezione del giudice per le indagini
       on several occasions the maximum nitrate parameters                   preliminari by order of that Court of 25 February 2003 in
       laid down in Directive 80/778/EEC, in some cases                      the criminal proceedings against Alessandro Nizza and
       reaching extremely elevated concentrations.                                                    Giacomo Pizzi
( 1) Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste (OJ 1975
                                                                                                     (Case C-133/03)
     L 194, p. 39).
( 2) Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991 amending
     Directive 75/442/EEC on waste (OJ 1991 L 78, p. 32).
( 3) Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment                                  (2003/C 135/17)
     of the effects of certain public and private projects on the
     environment (OJ 1985 L 175, p. 40).
( 4) Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/
     EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private
     projects on the environment (OJ 1997 L 73, p. 5).
( 5) Council Directive 80/68/EEC of 17 December 1979 on the                  Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
     protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain           European Communities by order of the Tribunale Ordinario di
     dangerous substances (OJ 1980 L 20, p. 43).
                                                                             Torino — Sezione del giudice per le indagini preliminari
( 6) Council Directive 80/778/EEC of 15 July 1980 relating to the
     quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ 1980                (Turin District Court, Chamber of the Investigating Judge) of
     L 229, p. 11).                                                          25 February 2003, received at the Court Registry on 25 March
                                                                             2003, for a preliminary ruling in the criminal proceedings
                                                                             against Alessandro Nizza and Giacomo Pizzi on the following
                                                                             questions:
                                                                             1.   May Article 6 of Directive 68/151/EEC (1) be interpreted
                                                                                  as imposing an obligation upon the Member States to
                                                                                  establish appropriate penalties not only for failure on the
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Consiglio di                            part of commercial companies to publish their balance
Stato, Sezione Quarta by decision and order of that Court                         sheet and profit and loss statement but also for publishing
of 28 January 2003 in the case of Ministry of Health                              inaccurate versions of those statements or of other
against Codacons and Federconsumatori, and concerning                             company information addressed to shareholders or the
                      Lega delle Cooperative                                      public or of any other information concerning their
                                                                                  economic, asset or financial position which they are
                                                                                  required to provide and which concern the company
                           (Case C-132/03)
                                                                                  itself or the group of companies to which it belongs?
                           (2003/C 135/16)
                                                                             2.   With reference to the obligation upon each Member State
                                                                                  to adopt ‘appropriate penalties’ for the infringements
                                                                                  provided for in the First Directive 68/151/EEC and the
                                                                                  Fourth Directive 78/660/EEC ( 2), must those directives
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the                            and, in particular, the combined provisions of
European Communities by decision and order of the Consiglio                       Article 44(2)(g) of the Treaty Establishing the European
di Stato, Sezione Quarta (Council of State, Fourth Chamber) of                    Community, Article 2(1)(f) and Article 6 of the First
28 January 2003, received at the Court Registry on 25 March                       Directive and Article 2(2), (3) and (4) of the Fourth
2003, for a preliminary ruling in the case of Ministry of Health                  Directive, as amended by Directive 83/349/EEC ( 3) and
against Codacons and Federconsumatori, and concerning Lega                        Directive 90/605/EEC ( 4), be interpreted as precluding the
delle Cooperative on the following question:                                      legislation of a Member State under which no penalty
                                                                                  may be imposed for breach of the duty to publish true
Must Article 2(2)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1139/98 ( 1), as                       and fair company documents and which lays down a
amended by Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 49/2000 ( 2), apply                    system of penalties which are not responsive to the
also to baby foods for infants and for young children of up to                    criteria of effectiveness, proportionality and deterrent
three years of age, and, more specifically, in relation to such                   effect?
products, must the adventitious contamination by material
derived from genetically modified organisms in a proportion
                                                                             3.   Must the directives mentioned, and in particular the
of no more than 1 % be indicated on the labelling?                                provisions of Article 44(2)(g) of the Treaty Establishing
                                                                                  the European Community, Article 2(1)(f) and Article 6 of
                                                                                  the First Directive and Article 2 (2), (3) and (4) of the
( 1) OJ L 159 of 03.06.1998, p. 4.
                                                                                  Fourth Directive, as amended by Directive 83/349/EEC
( 2) OJ L 6 of 11.01.2000, p. 13.
                                                                                  and Directive 90/605/EEC, be interpreted as precluding
                                                                                  the legislation of a Member State under which, in the case
                                                                                  of breach of the duty to publish true and fair company