CELEX: C1997/142/09
Language: en
Date: 1997-05-10 00:00:00
Title: JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber) of 20 March 1997 in Case C-96/95: Commission of the European Communities v. Federal Republic of Germany (Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Right of residence - Council Directives 90/364/EEC and 90/365/EEC)

10 . 5 . 97             EN                 Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 142/5
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                              JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                         (Fifth Chamber)                                                      ( Sixth Chamber)
                        of 20 March 1997
                                                                                             of 20 March 1997
in      Case C-96/95 : Commission of the European
        Communities v. Federal Republic of Germany (')                in Case C-295/95 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
                                                                      the Circuit Court, County of Dublin ): Jackie Farrell v.
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations —                                          James Long (')
Right of residence — Council Directives 90/364/EEC and
                            90/365/EEC)                               (Brussels Convention — Article 5 (2) — Definition of
                                                                                         'maintenance creditor')
                           ( 97/C 142/09 )
                                                                                                 ( 97/C 142/10 )
                  (Language of the case: German)
                                                                                     (Language of the case: English)
   (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
            published in the European Court Reports)
                                                                      In Case C-295/95 : reference to the Court under the
In Case C-96/95 : Commission of the European                          Protocol of 3 June 1971 on the interpretation by the
Communities ( Agents : Pieter van Nuffel and Horstpeter               Court of Justice of the Convention of 27 September 1968
Kreppel ) v. Federal Republic of Germany ( Agents: Ernst              on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil
Roder and Bernd Kloke ) — application for a declaration               and Commercial Matters from the Circuit Court, County
that, by not adopting within the prescribed period, or by             of Dublin, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings
not communicating to the Commission forthwith, the                    pending before that court between Jackie Farrell and
laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary             James Long — on the interpretation of Article 5 ( 2 ) of the
for transposing into national law Council Directive 90/               abovementioned Convention of 27 September 1968 ( OJ
365/EEC of 28 June 1990 on the right of residence for                 No L 304, 30 . 10 . 1978 , p. 36 ), as amended by the
employees and self-employed persons who have ceased                   Convention of 9 October 1978 on the Accession of the
their occupational activity ( OJ No L 180, 13 . 7. 1990,              Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom of
p. 28 ) and Council Directive 90/364/EEC of 28 June 1990              Great Britain and Northern Ireland ( OJ No L 304, 30 . 10 .
on the right of residence ( OJ No L 180, 13 . 7. 1990,                 1978 , p. 1 and — in the amended version — p. 77 ) and
p. 26 ), the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to                by the Convention of 25 October 1982 on the Accession
fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty — the Court                of the Hellenic Republic ( OJ No L 388 , 31 . 12 . 1982,
 ( Fifth Chamber ), composed of: L. Sevon, President of the           p. 1 ) — the Court ( Sixth Chamber), composed of: G. F.
First Chamber, acting as President of the Fifth Chamber               Mancini, President of the Chamber, C. N. Kakouris
 ( Rapporteur ), C. Gulmann, D. A. O. Edward, J. -P.                   ( Rapporteur), G. Hirsch, H. Ragnemalm and R.
Puissochet and P. Jann, Judges; A. La Pergola, Advocate­              Schintgen, Judges; P. Leger, Advocate-General; H. A. Riihl,
 General ; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment on               Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a
 20 March 1997, in which it:                                          judgment on 20 March 1997, in which it has ruled:
 1 . declares that, by not adopting within the prescribed
      period the laws, regulations and administrative                  The first limb of Article 5 (2) of the Convention of
      provisions necessary for transposing into national law          27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement
       Council Directive 90/364/EEC of 28 June 1990 on the             of Judgments - in Civil and Commercial Matters, as
       right of residence, or Council Directive 90/365/EEC of          amended by the Convention of 9 October 1978 on the
       28 June 1990 on the right of residence for employees            Accession of the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland and the
      and self-employed persons who have ceased their                   United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
       occupational activity, the Federal Republic of                  and by the Convention of 25 October 1982 on the
       Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under              Accession of the Hellenic Republic, must be interpreted as
       Article 5 of those two Directives;
                                                                       meaning that the term 'maintenance creditor' covers any
                                                                      person applying for maintenance, including a person
                                                                       bringing a maintenance action for the first time.
 2 . orders the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the
       costs .
                                                                       C ) OJ No C 286, 28 . 10. 1995 .
 (M OJ No C 159 , 24 . 6 . 1995 .