CELEX: C2003/112/16
Language: en
Date: 2003-05-10 00:00:00
Title: Case C-60/03: Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Bundesarbeitsgericht by order of that Court of 6 November 2002 in the case of Wolff & Müller GmbH & Co.KG against José Filipe Pereira Félix

10.5.2003              EN                        Official Journal of the European Union                                           C 112/9
4.     If Question 2 is answered in the negative:                        Action brought on 26 February 2003 by the Commission
                                                                         of the European Communities against the Italian Republic
       Does the content of the reference for a preliminary ruling,
       together with the supporting documents, afford the
       Court, in the light of its judgment in Case C-392/93
                                                                                                    (Case C-83/03)
       British Telecommunications [1996] ( 2), sufficient infor-
       mation to answer the question of whether the
       implementing provisions described fall within the scope
       for discretion afforded to the national legislator under                                    (2003/C 112/17)
       Council Directive 89/105/EEC of 21 December 1998
       relating to the transparency of measures regulating the
       prices of medicinal products for human use and their
       inclusion in the scope of national health insurance
       systems or does the Court leave it to the referring court
       to answer this question?                                          An action against the Italian Republic was brought before the
                                                                         Court of Justice of the European Communities on 26 February
                                                                         2003 by the Commission of the European Communities,
( 1) European Court Reports 2001 p. I-09285.                             represented by Antonio Aresu and Roberto Amorosi, acting as
( 2) European Court Reports 1996 p. I-01631.                             Agents.
                                                                         The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                         a)     find that the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its
                                                                                obligations under Article 4(2) of Council Directive 85/
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Bundesarbeits-                        337/EEC (1) of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the
gericht by order of that Court of 6 November 2002 in the                        effects of certain public and private projects on the
case of Wolff & Müller GmbH & Co.KG against José Filipe                         environment in as much as it failed properly to determine
                           Pereira Félix                                        whether a project for the construction of a tourist port at
                                                                                Fassacesia (Chieti) — a project covered by Annex II to the
                                                                                directive — warranted the commencement of a procedure
                          (Case C-60/03)                                        to assess its impact on the environment, and
                         (2003/C 112/16)                                 b)     order the Italian Republic to pay the costs.
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by order of the Bundesarbeitsgericht
(Federal Labour Court) of 6 November 2002, received at the               Pleas in law and main arguments
Court Registry on 14 February 2003, for a preliminary ruling
in the case of Wolff & Müller GmbH & Co.KG against José
Filipe Pereira Félix on the following question:
                                                                         The Italian authorities have given the Commission no expla-
                                                                         nation of the reasons for which they took the view that there
Does Article 49 EC (formerly Article 59 of the EC Treaty)                was no need for an environmental impact assessment, in
preclude a national system whereby, when subcontracting the              accordance with Article 4(2) of Directive 85/337/EEC, to be
conduct of building work to another undertaking, a building              carried out in relation to a project for the construction of a
contractor becomes liable, in the same way as a guarantor who            tourist port in Fassacesia (Chieti).
has waived benefit of execution, for the obligation on that
undertaking or that undertaking’s subcontractors to pay the
minimum wage to a worker or to pay contributions to a
communal scheme for parties to a collective agreement where              It is therefore unclear whether the characteristics of the project
the minimum wage means the sum payable to the worker                     were considered with reference to its possible impact on fauna
after tax, social security contributions, payments towards the           and flora and on the landscape. The fact that the area in
promotion of employment or other such social insurance                   question has not been proposed as a Site of Community
payments have been deducted (net pay), if the safeguarding of            Importance is all the more reason why the project’s impact on
workers’ pay is not the primary objective of the legislation or          fauna and flora and on the landscape should have been taken
is merely a subsidiary objective?                                        into consideration. Moreover, the fact that this point was
                                                                         considered only after building permission had already been
                                                                         granted is further indication that the procedure followed was
                                                                         incoherent, to say the least.