CELEX: C1995/299/19
Language: en
Date: 1995-11-11 00:00:00
Title: Action brought on 25 September 1995 by the Commission of the European Communities against the Hellenic Republic (Case C-304/95)

No C 299/ 12               EN                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                    11 . 11 . 95
     — failing to adopt all the measures necessary to comply                     Action brought on 25 September 1995 by the Commission
          with Article 5 ( 2 ) of the Directive , and                            of the European Communities against the Hellenic
                                                                                                                Republic
     — authorizing the creation of a disposal site for special
          waste in Mainhausen and the construction of a                                                   ( Case C-304/95 )
          motorway near Luneburg without observing the                                                      ( 95/C 299/ 19 )
          procedure prescribed in the Directive ,
     — the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil                      An action against the Hellenic Republic was brought before
          its obligations under Article 5 and the third                          the Court of Justice of the European Communities on
          paragraph of Article 189 of the EC Treaty and under                    25 September 1995 by the Commission of the European
          Articles 2 , 3 , 5 ( 2 ), 6 ( 2 ), 8 , 9 and 12(1 ) and ( 2 ) of the   Communities, represented by Maria Kondou Durande, of
          Directive ;                                                            its Legal Service, with an address for service in Luxembourg
                                                                                 at the office of Carlos Gomez de la Cruz, Wagner Centre,
2 . order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the                             Kirchberg.
     costs .
Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:                              The applicant claims that the Court should :
— although the timelimit for the transposition of the
    Directive expired on 3 July 1 988 , the defendant did not                    1 . declare , that by not bringing into force , the laws,
    take any measures until it adopted the 'UVP-Gesetz ' of                           regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
     12 January 1990, which entered into force on 1 August                            comply with Council Directive 92/5/EEC of 10 February
     1990 ,                                                                           1992 amending and updating Directive 77/99/EEC on
                                                                                      health problems affecting intra-Community trade in
— the duty to inform the Commission provided for in                                   meat products and amending Directive 64/433/EEC ('),
    Article 12 ( 2 ) of the Directive also covers rules enacted                       or at least not notifying those provisions to the
    by the Lander and provisions in force prior to the                                Commission within the prescribed period, the Hellenic
    adoption of the Directive; the existence of paragraph 4                           Republic failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty
    of     the    UVP-Gesetz            shows       that   the   defendant            and Directive 92/5/EEC ;
    presupposes that provisions enacted by the Lander are
    applicable to the field covered by the Directive ,
                                                                                2 . order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs .
— paragraph 22 of the UVP-Gesetz provides that
    proceedings already commenced are to be completed in
    accordance with its provisions only where they had not                       Pleas in law and main arguments adduced in support:
    yet been publicly notified when the UVP-Gesetz entered
    into force ,                                                                The mandatory nature of the provisions of Article 189 of the
                                                                                Treaty requires the Member States to bring into force the
— in the Commission 's view, all the projects set out under                      provisions necessary for transposing into national law the
    the various letters in points 1 to 1 1 of Annex II to the                   directives of which they are the addressees before the expiry
    Directive are to be regarded as 'classes ' within the                       of the period provided therefor and immediately to notify
    meaning of Article 4 of the Directive . Paragraph 3 of the                  those provisions to the Commission . That period expired on
    UVP-Gesetz sets threshold values or criteria for some ,                      1 January 1993 without the Hellenic Republic bringing into
    but not all , of such classes; for the remaining classes , the               force the necessary provisions or indeed notifying those
    UVP-Gesetz does not make any provision for project                           provisions to the Commission .
    assessment in individual cases ,
— although the defendant has specified , in accordance with                      (') OJ No L 57 , n . 1 .
    the Directive, the documents to be submitted by the
    developer, the provisions in question are applicable only
    ' in so far as the . . . said documents are not defined in
    detail in a legislative provision '. The Commission does
    not share the defendant's view that on a proper
    interpretation of the UVP-Gesetz the rules laid down by
    the specific technical legal provisions are to be applied
    only where their requirements at least correspond to
    those of the UVP-Gesetz,                                                     Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour du Travail,
                                                                                 Mons , by judgment of that Court of 21 September 1995 in
— it cannot be deduced from the documents submitted by                          the case of Universite Catholique de Louvain v. Francine
    the defendant that the obligations imposed by Articles 2 ,                                    Plapied and Danielle Gallez
    3 , 5 ( 2 ), 6 ( 2 ), 8 and 9 of the Directive were complied                                           Case C-305 /95 )
    with in the case of the Mainhausen and Luneburg
                                                                                                            ( 95 /C 299/20 )
    projects .
(') OJ No L 175 , 5 . 7 . 1985 , p . 40 .
                                                                                 Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
                                                                                 European Communities by a judgment of the Cour du