CELEX: C2000/316/36
Language: en
Date: 2000-11-04 00:00:00
Title: Case C-366/00: Action brought on 3 October 2000 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

4.11.2000                EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                     C 316/19
Action brought on 25 September 2000 by the Com-                            Action brought on 3 October 2000 by the Commission
mission of the European Communities against the                            of the European Communities against the Grand Duchy
                         Kingdom of Spain                                                             of Luxembourg
                                                                                                      (Case C-366/00)
                          (Case C-354/00)
                                                                                                      (2000/C 316/36)
                          (2000/C 316/35)
                                                                           An action against the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was
                                                                           brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
                                                                           ties on 3 October 2000 by the Commission of the European
An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before                  Communities, represented by Roland Tricot, of its Legal
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 25 Sep-                Service, and Panayotis Panayatopoulos, a national civil servant
tember 2000 by the Commission of the European Communi-                     seconded to the Legal Service, acting as Agents, with an
ties, represented by G. Valero Jordana, of its Legal Service,              address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos
acting as Agent, with an address for service in Luxembourg at              Gómez de la Cruz, also of the Commission’s Legal Service,
the office of C. Gómez de la Cruz, also of its Legal Service,             Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
Wagner Centre.
                                                                           The applicant claims that the Court should:
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                —     Declare that, by failing to adopt, or, in the alternative,
                                                                                 failing to inform the Commission of, the laws, regulations
                                                                                 and administrative provisions which are necessary in
1.    declare that, by failing to classify as special protection
                                                                                 order fully to comply with Council Directive 97/11/EC of
      areas for birds in the Comunidad de Murcia the areas
                                                                                 3 March 1997 amending Directive 85/337/EEC on the
      identified by scientific evidence as most suitable for the
                                                                                 assessment of the effects of certain public and private
      conservation of protected species, the Kingdom of Spain
                                                                                 projects on the environment (1), the Grand Duchy of
      has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 4(1) of
                                                                                 Luxembourg has failed to fulfil its obligations under the
      Council Directive 79/409/EEC (1) on the conservation of
                                                                                 EC Treaty;
      wild birds;
                                                                           —     Order the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to pay the costs.
2.    order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.
                                                                           Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                           The pleas in law and main arguments correspond to those in
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                           Case C-335/00 (2); the period for transposition laid down by
                                                                           Article 3 of Directive 97/11/EC expired on 14 March 1999.
The Commission considers that the judgment of the Court of
Justice in Case C-3/96 (2) supports the use in this instance of            (1) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997, p. 5.
the list drawn up by the Sociedad Española de Ornitologia                 (2) See p. 16 of this Official Journal.
(Spanish Ornithological Society, ‘the SEO’) for the purpose of
deciding which areas must be designated Special Protection
Areas for Birds (SPABs) in Murcia. The Commission therefore
considers classification of the territories of the Comunidad
Autónoma de Murcia as SPABs (3) to be essential, unless the
Spanish authorities had provided, which they did not, scientific
data other than those in the list concerned.                               Action brought on 9 October 2000 by the Kingdom of
                                                                           the Netherlands against the Council of the European
                                                                                                            Union
(1) OJ L 103 of 25 April 1979, p. 1.
(2) Judgment of 19 May 1998 in Case C-3/96 Commission v                                               (Case C-369/00)
    Netherlands [1998] ECR I-3031.
(3) In all, only 31 701 hectares of the 291 083 hectares recognised                                   (2000/C 316/37)
    in the SEO’s inventory, that is to say, only 10,2 % of the area of
    the territories listed as Important Areas for Birds have been
    declared to be SPAPs.                                                  An action against the Council of the European Union was
                                                                           brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communi-
                                                                           ties on 9 October 2000 by the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
                                                                           represented by Marc Fierstra, Head of the European Law
                                                                           Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague,
                                                                           acting as Agent.