CELEX: C1996/180/26
Language: en
Date: 1996-06-22 00:00:00
Title: JUDGMENT OF THE COURT of 30 April 1996 in Case C-308/93 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Centrale Raad van Beroep): Bestuur van de Sociale Verzekeringsbank v. J. M. Cabanis-Issarte (Social security for migrant workers - Voluntary old-age insurance - Surviving spouse of a worker - Equal treatment)

22 . 6 . 96            EN                Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 180/ 13
Belgium (Agent: Jan Devadder, assisted by Michel                                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
Waelbroeck and Denis Waelbroeck ) — application for a                                    of 30 April 1996
declaration that, by taking into account, in the procedure
for the award of a public contract by the Société régionale         in Case C-308/93 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
wallonne du transport, amendments made to one of the                the Centrale Raad van Beroep ): Bestuur van de Sociale
tenders after the opening of those tenders, by admitting to                Verzekeringsbank v. J. M. Cabanis-Issarte ( 1 )
the procedure for the award of the contract a tenderer who          (Social security for migrant workers — Voluntary old-age
did not meet the selection criteria laid down in the contract       insurance — Surviving spouse of a worker — Equal
documents and by accepting a tender which did not meet the                                    treatment)
criteria for the award of the contract laid down in the                                    ( 96/C 180/26 )
contract documents, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to
fulfil its obligations under Council Directive 90/53 1 /EEC of
17 September 1990 on the procurement procedures of
entities operating in the water, energy, transport and
telecommunications sectors ( OJ No L 297, 1990, p. 1 ) and                         (Language of the case: Dutcb)
to comply with the principle of equal treatment, which
underlies all the rules on procedures for the award of public
contracts — the Court ( Fifth Chamber), composed of D. A.
O. Edward ( Rapporteur ), President of the Chamber, J. C.           (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
Moitinho de Almeida, C. Gulmann, P. Jann and L. Sevon ,                     published in the European Court Reports)
Judges; Advocate-General : C. O. Lenz; Registrar: H. A.
Riihl, Principal Administrator, gave a judgment on 25 April
1996, in which it:
                                                                    In Case C-308/93 : reference to the Court under Article 177
                                                                    of the EC Treaty from the Centrale Raad van Beroep for a
                                                                    preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
1 . Declares that, by taking into account, in the procedure         court between Bestuur van de Sociale Verzekeringsbank and
     for the award of a public contract by the Société              J. M. Cabanis-Issarte on the interpretation of Articles 2 and
     régionale wallonne du transport, information on fuel           3 of Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971
     consumption submitted by EMI in its supplementary              on the application of social security schemes to employed
     note of24 August 1 993 and, therefore, after the opening       persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their
     offenders, by awarding the contract to EMI on the basis        families moving within the Community, as amended and
     of figures which did not correspond to the prescriptive        updated by Council Regulation ( EEC ) No 2001 /83 of 2 June
     requirements of Annex 23 of the special conditions for         1983 ( OJ No L 230, 1983 , p. 6 ), the Court, composed of
     calculating the notional penalty ofEMI for maintenance         G. C. Rodriguez Iglesias, President, D. A. O. Edward, J. -P.
     costs in respect of engine and gearbox replacement, by         Puissochet and G. Hirsch, Presidents of Chambers ), G. F.
     taking into account, when comparing the tenders for            Mancini, F. A. Schockweiler, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida ,
     Lots Nos 4, 5 and 6, the cost-saving features suggested        P. J. G. Kapteyn, C. Gulmann, J. L. Murray, P. Jann, H.
     by EMI without having referred to them in the contract         Ragnemalm and M. Wathelet ( Rapporteur ), Judges; G.
     documents or in the tender notice, by using them to            Tesauro,    Advocate-General;     D.    Louterman-Hubeau,
     offset the financial differences between the tenders in        Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a
     first place and those of EMI placed second, and by             judgment on 30 April 1996 in which it ruled :
     accepting some of EMI's tenders as a result of taking
     those features into account, the Kingdom ofBelgium has
     failed to fulfil its obligations under Council Directive
     90/531 /EEC of 17 September 1990 on the procurement            1 . Articles 2 and 3 of Council Regulation (EEC)
     procedures of entities operating in the water, energy,             No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application ofsocial
     transport and telecommunications sectors.                          security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed
                                                                        persons and to members of their families moving within
                                                                        the Community, as amended and updated by Council
                                                                        Regulation (EEC) No 2001 /83 of2 June 1983, are to be
                                                                        interpreted as meaning that they may be relied on by the
2 . Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.                     surviving spouse ofa migrant worker for the purpose of
                                                                        determining the rate of contribution in relation to a
                                                                        period of voluntary insurance completed under the
                                                                        old-age pension scheme of the Member State in which
P ) OJ No C 132 , 14 . 5 . 1994 .                                       the worker was employed.
                                                                    2 . This judgment may not be relied on in support of claims
                                                                        concerning benefits relating to periods prior to the date
                                                                        ofdelivery ofthe judgment, except by persons who have,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 180/ 14              EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                   22 . 6 . 96
      prior to that date, initiated proceedings or raised an                              JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
      equivalent claim.                                                                             ( Sixth Chamber)
(M OJ No C 196 , 20 . 7 . 1993 .
                                                                                                     of 2 May 1996
                                                                            in Case C- 1 8/94 ( reference to the Court for a preliminary
                                                                            ruling from the High Court ofJustice of England and Wales,
                                                                            Queen's Bench Division ): Barbara Hopkins and Others v.
                                                                            National Power pic, Powergen pic, third party: British Coal
                                                                                                      Corporation ( 1 )
               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                        (ECSC Treaty — Discrimination between producers —
                           of 30 April 1996                                 Application of Articles 4 and 63 of the Treaty — Direct
in Case C-58/94 : Kingdom of the Netherlands v. Council of                  effect — EC Treaty — Abuse of dominant position —
                       the European Union (')                               Article 86 of the Treaty — Compensation for damage
                                                                            resulting from infringement of those provisions — Powers
 (Action for annulment — Rules on public access to Council                         of the Commission and of the national court)
                               documents)
                                                                                                      ( 96/C 180/28 )
                             ( 96/C 180/27 )
                (Language of tbe case: Dutch)
                                                                                           (Language of the case: English)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
          published in the European Court Reports)
In Case C-58/94 : Kingdom of the Netherlands ( Agents : A.                  In Case C- 1 8/94 , reference to the Court by the High Court
Bos and J. W. de Zwaan ), supported by the European                         of Justice of England and Wales, Queen's Bench Division,
Parliament ( Agents : G. Garzón Clariana , C. Pennera and E.                for a preliminary ruling under Article 177 of the EC Treaty
Vandenbosch ) v. Council of the European Union ( Agents :                   and Article 41 of the ECSC Treaty in the proceedings
J. -P. Jacqué and G. Houttuin ), supported by the                           pending before that court between Barbara Hopkins and
Commission of the European Communities ( Agents : P.                        Others v. National Power pic, Powergen pic, third party:
Vaan Nuffel and S. Van Raepenbusch ) and the French                         British Coal Corporation — on the interpretation of
Republic ( Agents : C. de Salins and H. Renié ) — application               Articles 4 and 63 of the ECSC Treaty and Article 86 of the
for the annulment of Council Decision 93/73 1 /EC of                        EC Treaty — the Court ( Sixth Chamber ) composed of C. N.
20 December 1993 on public access to Council documents                      Kakouris , President of the Chamber, G. Hirsch, G. F.
( OJ No L 340, 1993 , p . 43 ), Article 22 of the Rules of                  Mancini ( Rapporteur ), F. A. Schockweiler and P. J. G.
Procedure of the Council as amended by Council Decision                     Kapteyn, Judges, Advocate-General : N. Fennelly, Registrar:
93/662/EC of 6 December 1993 ( OJ No L 304, 1993 , p . 1 )                  L. Hewlett, Administrator, gave a judgment on 2 May 1 996 ,
and the Code of Conduct ( 93/730/EC ) concerning public                     the operative part of which is as follows :
access to Council and Commission documents ( OJ No
L 340, 1 993 , p . 4 1 ) in so far as that act is to be regarded as an
act having legal effects — the Court, composed of G. C.
Rodriguez Iglesias, President, C. N. Kakouris, D. A. O.                     1 . The provisions of the ECSC Treaty, and in particular
Edward, J. -P. Puissochet and G. Hirsch ( Presidents of                         Articles 4 (b) and 63 (1 ) thereof, constitute the legal
Chambers ), G. F. Mancini , F. A. Schockweiler, J. C.                           framework for dealing with discrimination practised by
Moitinho de Almeida ( Rapporteur ), P. J. G. Kapteyn,                           purchasers against producers as regards price, volume
C. Gulmann, J. L. Murray, P. Jann, H. Ragnemalm, L. Sevón                       and other terms and conditions for the purchase of
and M. Wathelet, Judges; G. Tesauro, Advocate-General;                          coal.
H. A. Rühl , Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, gave
a judgment on 30 April 1996 , the operative part of which is
as follows :
                                                                           2 . Articles 4 (b) and 63 (1 ) of the ECSC Treaty do not
I. The application is dismissed.                                                create rights which individuals may rely on directly
                                                                                before national courts. However, wherever the
2 . The Kingdom of the Netherlands is ordered to pay the                        provisions ofa recommendation based on Article 63 (1 )
     costs .
                                                                                appear, as regards their subject-matter, to be
                                                                                unconditional and sufficiently precise, those provisions
                                                                                may be relied upon directly by individuals before the
3 . The French Republic, the European Parliament and the                        national court.
     Commission of the European Communities are ordered
     to bear their own costs .
() OJ No C 90, 26. 3 . 1994.                                               3 Commission decisions based on Articles 65 and 66 (7) of
                                                                                the ECSC Treaty, which are binding in their entirety
                                                                                pursuant to Article 14 of the ECSC Treaty, are binding