CELEX: C1997/228/18
Language: en
Date: 1997-07-26 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 4 June 1997 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Portuguese Republic (Case C-213/97)

26 . 7. 97              EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                  No C 228/9
legislation of that Member State, where the company does               — by not providing for limit values for emissions for the
not itself carry on any business but it is desired to set up                 discharge of certain substances by industrial plant not
the subsidiary in order to carry on the entire business in                   listed under heading A of Annex II to the Directive,
the country in which the subsidiary is established, and
where, instead of incorporating a company in the latter                — by not transposing Article 3 ( 5 ) of the Directive
Member State, that procedure must be regarded as having                      concerning the reference method of analysis to be used
been employed in order to avoid paying in company                            in determining the presence of the substances referred
capital of not less than Dkr 200 000 ( at present Dkr                        to in Article 2 ( a ),
125 000 )?
                                                                       — by not transposing point 5 of heading A of Annex I to
                                                                             the Directive on the monitoring procedure to be
                                                                              instituted to check whether the discharges of the
                                                                             substances referred to in Article 2 ( a ) comply with the
                                                                             emission standards,
Action brought on 4 June 1997 by the Commission of the
  European Communities against the Portuguese Republic                 — by not drawing up any specific programme to avoid or
                          ( Case C-213/97 )                                  eliminate pollution arising from the sources of
                            ( 97/C 228/18 )                                   significant discharges which are specifically mentioned
                                                                              in Annex II,
An action against the Portuguese Republic was brought                  the defendant did not bring national law into line with the
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities                Directive, so that its transposition must be considered to
on 4 June 1997 by the Commission of the European                       be erroneous and incomplete .
Communities, represented by Francisco de Sousa Fialho,
of its Legal Service, acting as Agent, with an address for             O OJNoL 181 , 4 . 7. 1986 , p. 16 .
service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gomez de la              ( 2 ) OJ No L 158 , 25 . 6 . 1988 , p . 35 .
Cruz, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.                                        ( 3 ) OJ No L 129, 18 . 5 . 1976 , p . 23 .
The applicant claims that the Court should :
— declare that, by failing to adopt all the laws,
      regulations or administrative provisions necessary to            Action brought on 4 June 1997 by the Commission of the
      comply fully and properly with Council Directive 86/                 European Communities against the Portuguese Republic
      280/EEC (') of 12 June 1986, as amended by Council                                           ( Case C-214/97)
      Directive 88/347/EEC (2 ) of 16 June 1988 , on limit
      values and quality objectives for discharges of certain                                        ( 97/C 228/19 )
      dangerous substances included in List I of the Annex
      to Directive 76/464/EEC (3 ), the Portuguese Republic            An action against the Portuguese Republic was brought
      has failed to fulfil its obligations under the third             before the Court of Justice of the European Communities
      paragraph of Article 189 of the EC Treaty and                    on 4 June 1997 by the Commission of the European
      Articles 7 and 2 of Directives 86/280/EEC and 88/347/            Communities, represented by Francisco de Sousa Fialho,
      EEC respectively,                                                of its Legal Service, acting as Agent, with an address for
                                                                       service in Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gomez de la
— declare, in the alternative, that, by failing forthwith to           Cruz, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg.
      inform the       Commission      of such measures,      the
      Portuguese Republic failed to fulfil its obligations             The applicant claims that the Court should:
      under those provisions,
                                                                       — declare that, by failing to adopt and bring into force
— order the Portuguese Republic to pay the costs.                             within the prescribed period the laws, regulations or
                                                                              administrative provisions necessary to comply with
                                                                              Council Directive 75/440/EEC of 16 June 1975
 Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
                                                                              concerning the quality required of surface water
                                                                              intended for the abstraction of drinking water in the
 The Commission finds that the Portuguese Republic has                        Member States ( ! ), inasmuch as it did not draw up a
 failed to fulfil its obligations inasmuch as :                               systematic plan of action including a timetable for the
                                                                              improvement of surface water, the Portuguese
 — by providing, by virtue of Article 44 ( 3 ) of Decree                      Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the
      Law No 74/90, that the competent authorities for the                    third paragraph of Article 189 of the EC Treaty and
      granting of authorizations may fix emission standards                   the provisions of Directive 75/440/EEC,
      which are less stringent than those set out under
      heading A of the Annexes to the Directive and by not             — declare, in the alternative, that, by failing forthwith to
      providing for any mandatory review of such                               inform the Commission of such measures, the
      authorizations ( infringement of Article 3 ( 3 ) of the                  Portuguese Republic failed to fulfil its obligations
      Directive ),                                                             under those provisions,