CELEX: C2004/085/15
Language: en
Date: 2004-04-03 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 12 February 2004 in Case C-406/02: Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium (Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Failure to communicate reports required under Directives 76/464/EEC, 78/659/EEC and 80/68/EEC — Standardising and rationalising reports on the implementation of certain directives relating to the environment)

C 85/10                  EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                               3.4.2004
Article 5(1) of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on jurisdiction          of initiating a procedure for that purpose without having
and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters,            shown that it is necessary and proportionate, the Italian
as amended by the Convention of 9 October 1978 on the accession              Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 28
of the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom of                 EC and 30 EC, the Court (Third Chamber), composed of:
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, by the Convention of 25 October          C. Gulmann, acting for the President of the Chamber, J.-
1982 on the accession of the Hellenic Republic and by the Convention         P. Puissochet and F. Macken (Rapporteur), Judges; J. Mischo,
of 26 May 1989 on the accession of the Kingdom of Spain and the              Advocate General; R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment
Portuguese Republic, must be interpreted as follows:                         on 5 February 2004, in which it:
                                                                             1.    Declares that, by maintaining in force legislation which subjects
‘matters relating to a contract’ do not cover the obligation which a
                                                                                   the marketing of food products for sportsmen and women
guarantor who paid customs duties under a guarantee obtained by
                                                                                   lawfully manufactured and marketed in other Member States to
the forwarding agent seeks to enforce in legal proceedings by way of
                                                                                   a requirement of applying for prior authorisation and of
subrogation to the rights of the customs authorities and by way of
                                                                                   initiating a procedure for that purpose without having shown
recourse against the owner of the goods, if the latter, who was not a
                                                                                   that it is necessary and proportionate, the Italian Republic has
party to the contract of guarantee, did not authorise the conclusion of
                                                                                   failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 28 EC and 30 EC;
that contract.
                                                                             2.    Orders the Italian Republic to pay the costs.
(1) OJ C 233 of 28.9.2002.
                                                                             (1) OJ C 219 of 14.9.2002.
                  JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                                                                                                JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
                          (Third Chamber)
                                                                                                         (Third Chamber)
                         of 5 February 2004
                                                                                                       of 12 February 2004
in Case C-270/02: Commission of the European Communi-
                      ties v Italian Republic (1)                            in Case C-406/02: Commission of the European Communi-
                                                                                                ties v Kingdom of Belgium (1)
(Measures having equivalent effect — Foodstuffs for sports-
men and women lawfully manufactured and marketed in                          (Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations — Failure
   other Member States — Prior marketing authorisation)                      to communicate reports required under Directives 76/464/
                                                                             EEC, 78/659/EEC and 80/68/EEC — Standardising and
                                                                             rationalising reports on the implementation of certain direc-
                            (2004/C 85/14)
                                                                                              tives relating to the environment)
                     (Language of the case: Italian)                                                      (2004/C 85/15)
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published                             (Language of the case: French)
                    in the European Court Reports)
                                                                             (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                                                                                                  in the European Court Reports)
In Case C-270/02, Commission of the European Communities
(Agents: C.-F. Durand and R. Amorosi) v Italian Republic
(Agent: I. M. Braguglia, assisted by G. Aiello, avvocato dello
Stato) with an address for service in Luxembourg: Application                In Case C-406/02, Commission of the European Communities
for a declaration that, by maintaining in force legislation which            (Agent: B. Stromsky) with an address for service in Luxem-
subjects the marketing of food products for sportsmen and                    bourg, v Kingdom of Belgium (Agent: E. Dominkovitz) with
women lawfully manufactured and marketed in other Member                     an address for service in Luxembourg: Application for a
States to a requirement of applying for prior authorisation and              declaration that, by failing to communicate to it, within the
 ---pagebreak--- 3.4.2004                EN                           Official Journal of the European Union                                          C 85/11
prescribed period, the reports in respect of the Bruxelles-                  The appellants claim that the Court should:
Capitale Region required under Council Directive 76/464/EEC
of 4 May 1976 on pollution caused by certain dangerous
                                                                             —     reverse the order of the Court of First Instance of the
substances discharged into the aquatic environment of the
                                                                                   European Communities made on 23 April 2003;
Community (OJ 1976 L 129, p. 3), Council Directive 78/659/
EEC of 18 July 1978 on the quality of fresh waters needing
protection or improvement in order to support fish life (OJ                  —     declare the respondent liable for the harm suffered by the
1978 L 222, p. 1) and Council Directive 80/68/EEC of                               appellants as a result of the attack on 27 March 2002 at
17 December 1979 on the protection of groundwater against                          the Park Hotel, Netanya (Israel);
pollution caused by certain dangerous substances (OJ 1980
L 20, p. 43) as amended by Council Directive 91/692/EEC of
                                                                             —     order the respondent, in respect of the harm suffered by
23 December 1991 standardising and rationalising reports on
                                                                                   the appellants to pay the following amounts:
the implementation of certain Directives relating to the
environment (OJ 1991 L 377, p. 48), the Kingdom of Belgium
has failed to fulfil its obligations under the said directives, the                —     to Lucien Zaoui, EUR 1 million in compensation for
Court (Third Chamber), composed of: C. Gulmann, acting for                               non-material damage;
the President of the Third Chamber, J. P. Puissochet (Rappor-
teur) and F. Macken, Judges; C. Stix-Hackl, Advocate General;
                                                                                   —     to B. Zaoui, EUR 1.5 million, in compensation for
R. Grass, Registrar, has given a judgment on 12 February
                                                                                         non-material damage;
2004, in which it:
                                                                                   —     to D. Stain, née Zaoui:
1.    Declares that, by failing to communicate to the Commission,
      within the prescribed period, the report in respect of the
      Bruxelles-Capitale Region required under Article 2(1) of                           —    EUR 1 million in respect of physical injury;
      Council Directive 91/692/EEC of 23 December 1991 stan-
      dardising and rationalising reports on the implementation of                       —    EUR 2 million in respect of non-material
      certain Directives relating to the environment, the Kingdom of                          damage;
      Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;
                                                                                         —    an amount to be settled in the course of
2.    Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.                                         proceedings for material damage
(1) OJ C 7 of 11.1.2003.                                                     —     order the respondent to pay all the costs.
                                                                             Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                             The unlawful conduct of the Commission, namely the grant of
Appeal brought on 3 July 2003 by B. Zaoui, L. Zaoui and                      funds to the Palestinian Authority, in total contradiction with
D. Stain, née Zaoui, against the order made on 23 April                      the fundamental values of the Community, has directly
2003 by the Court of First Instance of the European                          contributed to the harm suffered by the appellants as a result
Communities (First Chamber) in Case T-73/03 between                          of the attack carried out by a Palestinian terrorist in Netanya
B. Zaoui and Others and the Commission of the European                       (Israel), for which they now seek compensation.
                            Communities
                         (Case C-288/03 P)                                   The application of Article 111 of the Rules of Procedure of the
                                                                             Court of First Instance was manifestly unlawful, since it was
                                                                             by error of law and by distorting the clear sense of the pleas
                           (2004/C 85/16)                                    put forward by the appellants that the Court of First Instance
                                                                             held that the existence of a causal link was not established in
                                                                             this case and that the application was manifestly lacking any
                                                                             foundation in law:
An appeal against the order made on 23 April 2003 by the
Court of First Instance of the European Communities (First                   —     the Court of First Instance dismissed the application
Chamber) in Case T-73/03 between B. Zaoui and Others and                           brought at first instance by the appellants as manifestly
the Commission of the European Communities was brought                             lacking any foundation in law, holding that one of the
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on                         conditions necessary for the Commission to incur non-
3 July 2003 by B. Zaoui, L. Zaoui and D. Stain, née Zaoui,                         contractual liability, within the meaning of the second
represented by J. A. Buchinger, advocat.                                           paragraph of Article 288 EC, was not established in this