CELEX: C2002/109/23
Language: en
Date: 2002-05-04 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) 27 February 2002 in Case C-140/01: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium (Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Directive 98/18/EC — Transport by sea — Safety rules and standards for passenger ships)

C 109/14                 EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                           4.5.2002
and amending Directives 79/267/EEC and 90/619/EEC (third                    in Articles 11 and 4(1) of Council Directive 96/59/EC of
life assurance Directive) (OJ 1992 L 360, p. 1) the Court (Sixth            16 September 1996 on the disposal of polychlorinated
Chamber), composed of: N. Colneric, President of the Second                 biphenyls and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCB/PCT) (OJ 1996
Chamber, acting for the President of the Sixth Chamber,                     L 243, p. 31), the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its
C. Gulmann, R. Schintgen, V. Skouris and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues               obligations under those provisions, the Court (Fourth Chamb-
(Rapporteur), Judges; F.G. Jacobs, Advocate General; H.A. Rühl,             er), composed of: S. von Bahr, President of the Chamber,
Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment            D.A.O. Edward and C.W.A. Timmermans (Rapporteur), Judges;
on 5 March 2002, in which it has ruled:                                     P. Léger, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a
                                                                            judgment on 27 February 2002, in which it:
Article 31(3) of Council Directive 92/96/EEC of 10 November
                                                                            1.    Declares that, by failing to draw up and communicate to the
1992 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative
                                                                                  Commission of the European Communities, by 16 September
provisions relating to direct life assurance and amending Directives
                                                                                  1999 at the latest, the summaries of inventories provided for
79/267/EEC and 90/619/EEC (third life assurance Directive)
                                                                                  in Article 4(1) of Council Directive 96/59/EC of 16 September
precludes national legislation which provides that a life-assurance
                                                                                  1996 on the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls and polych-
proposal, or in the absence of a proposal, a life-assurance policy must
                                                                                  lorinated terphenyls (PCB/PCT) and the plans and outlines
inform the policy-holder that cancellation, reduction or surrender of
                                                                                  provided for in Article 11 of the same directive, the Italian
an existing life-assurance contract for the purpose of subscribing to
                                                                                  Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under those
another life-assurance policy is generally detrimental to the policy-
                                                                                  provisions.
holder.
                                                                            2.    Orders the Italian Republic to pay the costs.
(1) OJ C 355 of 9.12.2000.
                                                                            (1) OJ C 108 of 7.4.2001.
                                                                                              JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                     (Second Chamber)
                          (Fourth Chamber)
                                                                                                      27 February 2002
                          27 February 2002
                                                                            in Case C-140/01: Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                                              ties v Kingdom of Belgium (1)
in Case C-46/01: Commission of the European Communi-
                      ties v Italian Republic (1)
                                                                            (Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations —
                                                                            Directive 98/18/EC — Transport by sea — Safety rules and
(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations —                                        standards for passenger ships)
Waste management — Directive 96/59/EC — Disposal of
  polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated terphenyls)
                                                                                                       (2002/C 109/23)
                           (2002/C 109/22)                                                       (Language of the case: French)
                     (Language of the case: Italian)                        (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                                                                                                in the European Court Reports)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                    in the European Court Reports)
                                                                            In Case C-140/01, Commission of the European Communities
                                                                            (Agent: B. Mongin) v Kingdom of Belgium (Agent: A. Snoecx):
                                                                            Application for a declaration that, by failing to notify the
In Case C-46/01, Commission of the European Communities                     Commission of the laws, regulations and administrative pro-
(agents: H. Støvlbaek and R. Amorosi) v Italian Republic                    visions necessary to comply with Council Directive 98/18/EC
(agent: U. Leanza, assisted by M. Fiorilli): Application for a              of 17 March 1998 on safety rules and standards for passenger
declaration that, by failing to draw up and communicate to                  ships (OJ 1998 L 144, p. 1), or to adopt the measures necessary
the Commission by 16 September 1999 the appropriate                         to comply therewith, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to
plans, outlines and summaries of inventories provided for                   fulfil its obligations under that directive and under the EC
 ---pagebreak--- 4.5.2002                 EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                             C 109/15
Treaty, the Court (Second Chamber), composed of: N. Colneric               1.   Council Directive 69/335/EEC of 17 July 1969 concerning
(Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, R. Schintgen and                        indirect taxes on the raising of capital, as amended by Council
V. Skouris, Judges; S. Alber, Advocate General; R. Grass,                       Directive 85/303/EEC of 10 June 1985, must be interpreted
Registrar, has given a judgment on 27 February 2002, in                         as meaning that charges collected in respect of the recordal in a
which it:                                                                       national commercial register of an increase in the capital of a
                                                                                capital company or of any other transaction falling within the
                                                                                scope of that directive constitute a tax within the meaning of
1.    Declares that, by failing to adopt all the measures necessary to
                                                                                that directive.
      comply with Council Directive 98/18/EC of 17 March 1998
      on safety rules and standards for passenger ships, the Kingdom
      of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that
      directive;
                                                                           2.   The charges payable in respect of recordal in a national
2.    Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.                           commercial register of an increase in the capital of a capital
                                                                                company or of any other transaction covered by Directive
                                                                                69/335, as amended by Directive 85/303, are, inasmuch as
(1) OJ C 161 of 2.6.2001.                                                       they constitute a tax within the meaning of the directive,
                                                                                prohibited in principle by Article 10(c) of that directive.
                                                                           3.   Charges levied in respect of the recordal in a national commercial
                                                                                register of an increase in the capital of a capital company or of
                     ORDER OF THE COURT                                         any other transaction covered by Directive 69/335, as amended
                                                                                by Directive 85/303, the amount of which increases directly
                         (Fourth Chamber)                                       and without restriction in proportion to the paid-up capital of
                                                                                the company are not duties paid by way of fees or dues.
                         of 24 January 2002
in Case C-45/00 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
                                                                           4.   Charges paid by way of fees or dues, within the meaning of
the Supremo Tribunal Administrativo): Sonae Turismo,
                                                                                Article 12(1)(e) of Directive 69/335, as amended by Directive
              SGPS, SA, against Fazenda Pública (1)
                                                                                85/303, include only those fees paid the amount of which is
                                                                                calculated on the basis of the cost of the service provided.
(Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure — Directive
69/335/EEC — Mandatory recordal in a commercial register
of the act relating to amendments to company statutes —
                 Duties paid by way of fees or dues)
                                                                           5.   In order to calculate the amount of such charges, a Member
                                                                                State is entitled to take into account not only the costs in
                           (2002/C 109/24)                                      materials and salary terms which are directly linked to the
                                                                                registration operations in consideration of which they are paid,
                  (Language of the case: Portuguese)                            but also the portion of the relevant general administrative costs
                                                                                which are attributable to those operations. It is permissible for
                                                                                a Member State to levy a charge only in respect of major
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published          registration operations and for it to pass on to them the cost of
                    in the European Court Reports)                              minor operations carried out free of charge.
In Case C-45/00: reference to the Court under Article 234 EC
from the Supremo Tribunal Administrativo (Portugal) for a                  6.   The cost of registration in the commercial registration may be
preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that                       assessed at a flat rate and must be established by reasonable
court between Sonae Turismo, SGPS, SA, and Fazenda Pública,                    means taking into account, in particular, the number and the
Ministério Público, intervener — on the interpretation of                      type of agents, the time employed by those agents and the
Articles 4, 10 and 12(1)(e) of Council Directive 69/335/EEC of                  various materials necessary to the completion of that operation.
17 July 1969 concerning indirect taxes on the raising of capital                However, a Member State is entitled to fix in advance, on the
(OJ English Special Edition, 1969(II) p. 412), as amended by                    basis of the average foreseeable registration costs, standard
Council Directive 85/303/EEC of 10 June 1985 (OJ 1985                           charges for the completion of the formalities for registering
L 156, p. 23) — the Court (Fourth Chamber), composed of:                        capital companies. There is nothing to prevent the amount of
D.A.O. Edward (Rapporteur), acting as President of the Fourth                   those charges being established for an indeterminate period
Chamber, and A. La Pergola and C.W.A. Timmermans, Judges;                       provided that the Member State satisfies itself, at regular
L.A. Geelhoed, Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has made                  intervals, for instance every year, that they continue not to
an order on 24 January 2002, in which it has ruled:                             exceed its registration costs.