CELEX: C1997/181/07
Language: en
Date: 1997-06-14 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 14 April 1997 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Italian Republic (Case C-139/97)

No C 181 /4           EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                          14 . 6 . 97
     States and have as their object and effect the                    Republic having brought into force the necessary
     prevention, restriction or distortion of competition              provisions in order to comply with the Directive referred
     within the common market ?                                        to in the Commission's application .
                                                                       (') OJ No L 45 , 17 . 2 . 1994 , p . 1 .
4 . What effects any finding of incompatibility in                     ( 2 ) OJ No L 297, 13 . 10 . 1992 , p . 16 .
     accordance with Question 3 may have on the
     corresponding clauses of the ' all-embracing' guarantee
     agreements and on the agreements themselves
     concluded ' downstream' by individual banks, since, as
     a group, the banks belonging to the ABI may be
     regarded, within the meaning and for the purposes of
     Article 86 of the Treaty, as holding a joint dominant             Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Landesgericht
     position in the national credit market, whose specific            Linz, by order of that court of 26 March 1997, in the case
     application of the rules in question is regarded as an                 of Walter Rechberger and Others v. Republic of Austria
     abuse ?                                                                                       ( Case C-140/97 )
                                                                                                     ( 97/C 181 /08 )
(') Italian Banking Association .
                                                                       Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                       European Communities by an order of the Landesgericht
                                                                       ( Regional Court) Linz of 26 March 1997, which was
                                                                       received at the Court Registry on 15 April 1997, for a
                                                                       preliminary ruling in the case of Walter Rechberger and
Action brought on 14 April 1997 by the Commission of                   Others v. Republic of Austria on the following questions :
   the European Communities against the Italian Republic
                         ( Case C-139/97 )                              1 . Does the protective purpose of Article 7 of Council
                                                                              Directive 90/314/EEC (') of 13 June 1990 on package
                           ( 97/C 181 /07 )                                   travel , package holidays and package tours
                                                                               ( hereinafter 'the Directive ') extend also to trips for
                                                                              which, on the basis of the contract, the main
An action against the Italian Republic was brought before                     contracting party must pay:
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on
14 April 1997 by the Commission of the European                                ( a ) as a single traveller, in addition to the airport­
Communities, represented by Paolo Stancanelli , of its                               security charge ( departure tax ), only a single room
Legal Service, acting as Agent, assisted by Massimo                                  supplement, or
Merola, of the Rome Bar, with an address for service in
Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gomez de la Cruz, of                        ( b ) where accompanied by at least one additional
its Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg .                                        passenger paying the full price, only the airport­
                                                                                     security charge ( departure tax ),
The applicant claims that the Court should :
                                                                               while he does not have to pay anything in respect of
                                                                               the flight and accommodation in a double room ?
— find and declare that, by failing to adopt the laws,
     regulations or administrative provisions necessary to             2 . Do such trips also fall within the scope of the
     comply with Commission Directive 94/2/EC (') of                           Directive where they are offered by the highest­
     21 January 1994 implementing Council 92/75/EEC ( 2 )                      circulation daily paper of a Member State, exclusively
     with regard to energy labelling of household electric                     for its subscribers, as a ' gift' in an anti-competitive
     freezers and their combinations, the Italian Republic                     advertising campaign ?
     has failed to fulfil its obligations under that Directive,
                                                                               If Questions 1 and 2 are to be answered in the
                                                                               affirmative :
— order the Italian Republic to pay the costs .
                                                                        3 . Has Article 7 of the Directive been transposed within
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                            the period fixed, where the national rules announced
                                                                               on 15 November 1994 were to be applied only to
                                                                               package holidays booked after 1 January 1995 with a
Under Article 189 of the EC Treaty, according to which a                       fixed departure date of 1 May 1995 at the earliest,
directive is to be binding, as to the result to be achieved,                   and indeed
upon each Member State to which it is addressed,
Member States are required to observe the time-limits laid                     ( a ) in view of the fact that Austria was part of the
down in directives for their transposition. That time-limit                          European Economic Area from 1 January 1994
expired on 31 December 1994 without the Italian                                      and