CELEX: C2003/112/23
Language: en
Date: 2003-05-10 00:00:00
Title: Case C-108/03: Action brought on 7 March 2003 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Kingdom of Spain

C 112/14               EN                       Official Journal of the European Union                                         10.5.2003
Action brought on 7 March 2003 by the Commission of                     are liable to a maximum fine of PTE 50 000 whereas Spanish
the European Communities against the Kingdom of Spain                   nationals who fail to apply in time for their identity documents
                                                                        are liable to a fine of PTE 50 for every month of delay. The
                                                                        Commission gives an outline of some of the complaints which
                         (Case C-108/03)                                gave rise to the reasoned opinion and to the present application
                                                                        which, in its view, clearly show the difference in the scale of
                                                                        fines and their disproportionate nature.
                         (2003/C 112/23)
                                                                        (1 ) OJ English Special Edition 1968 (II), p 485.
                                                                        (2 ) OJ 1973 L 172, p. 14.
An action against the Kingdom of Spain was brought before
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 7 March
2003 by the Commission of the European Communities,
represented by Carmel O’Reilly, Legal Adviser, and Luis
Escobar Guerrero, of its Legal Service, with an address for
service in Luxembourg.
The applicant claims that the Court should :
                                                                        Action brought on 10 March 2003 by the Kingdom
—     Declare that the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its        of Belgium against the Commission of the European
      obligations under Articles 39, 43 and 49 of the EC Treaty                                     Communities
      and Article 4 of Council Directive 68/360/EEC ( 1) of
      15 October 1968 on the abolition of restrictions on
      movement and residence within the Community for
      workers of Member States and their families and Article 4                                   (Case C-110/03)
      of Council Directive 73/148/EEC (2) of 21 May 1973 on
      the abolition of restrictions on movement and residence
      within the Community for nationals of Member States                                         (2003/C 112/24)
      with regard to establishment and the provision of services
      inasmuch as non-Spanish Community nationals in the
      Kingdom of Spain are treated, as regards the degree of
      fault and scale of fines for infringement of provisions
      relating to residence permits, disproportionately differ-
      ently from Spanish nationals who commit the compar-               An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
      able infringement of the obligation to obtain or renew            ties was brought before the Court of Justice of the European
      national identity documents;                                      Communities on 10 March 2003 by the Kingdom of Belgium,
                                                                        represented by A. Snoecx, acting as Agent, assisted by D. Wael-
                                                                        broeck and D. Brinckman, lawyers.
—     Order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.
                                                                        The applicant claims that the Court should:
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                        —     declare the application admissible and well founded;
Failure to fulfil requirements relating to residence permits —          —     annul Commission Regulation (EC) No 2204/2002 of
failure to submit the requisite documents, failure to apply for               12 December 2002 on the application of Articles 87 and
or renew permits — may be the subject of fines provided that                  88 of the EC Treaty to State aid for employment (1);
the amount of the fine is not disproportionate to the degree of
seriousness of the infringement. The Commission acknowl-
edges that the situation of non-Spanish nationals, as regards           —     so far as necessary, by virtue of Article 241 of the EC
residence permits, and that of Spanish nationals, as regards                  Treaty, declare inapplicable Council Regulation (EC) No
identity documents, are not identical. However, that has not                  994/98 of 7 May 1998 on the application of Articles 92
precluded, in the Commission’s view, the Court of Justice                     and 93 of the Treaty establishing the European Com-
considering those two situations in order to arrive at the                    munity to certain categories of horizontal State aid (2) as
concept of comparability of fines (see the judgment in Case                   the legal basis for the regulation at issue;
C-24/97 Commission v Germany [1998] ECR I-2133). The
Commission regrets that, for delaying up to three months
before applying for a residence permit, non-Spanish nationals           —     order the Commission to pay the costs.