CELEX: C2003/101/31
Language: en
Date: 2003-04-26 00:00:00
Title: Case C-61/03: Action brought on 14 February 2003 by the Commission of the European Communities against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

26.4.2003              EN                        Official Journal of the European Union                                           C 101/19
      2.2. Is an approach entailing the balancing of interests           Action brought on 14 February 2003 by the Commission
            appropriate, and, if so, what are the interests to be        of the European Communities against the United
            compared? In particular:                                            Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
            (a)  is the answer affected by the fact that the
                 ultimate consumer/patient derives limited                                          (Case C-62/03)
                 financial advantage from the parallel trade and
                                                                                                   (2003/C 101/32)
            (b)  is account to be taken, and to what extent, of
                 the interests of social insurance bodies in
                 cheaper medicinal products?
      2.3. What other criteria and approaches are considered             An action against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
            appropriate in the present case?                             Northern Ireland was brought before the Court of Justice of
                                                                         the European Communities on 14 February 2003 by the
                                                                         Commission of the European Communities, represented by
                                                                         X. Lewis and M. Konstantinidis, acting as agents, with an
                                                                         address for service in Luxembourg.
Action brought on 14 February 2003 by the Commission
                                                                         The Applicant claims that the Court should:
of the European Communities against the United
      Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
                                                                         1)    declare that, by failing to adopt all the measures necessary
                                                                               to comply with its obligations under Articles 1(a), 1(e),
                          (Case C-61/03)
                                                                               1(f), 2(1)(b), 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14 of Council
                                                                               Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste ( 1), as
                         (2003/C 101/31)                                       amended by Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March
                                                                               1991 ( 2), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
                                                                               Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under
An action against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and                      the Directive and under the Treaty establishing the
Northern Ireland was brought before the Court of Justice of                    European Community;
the European Communities on 14 February 2003 by the
Commission of the European Communities, represented by                   2)    order the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
L. Ström and X. Lewis, acting as agents, with an address for                   Ireland to pay the costs.
service in Luxembourg.
The Applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                         Pleas in law and main arguments
—     declare that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
      Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under
      Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty by failing to provide the         Directive 91/156/EEC required Member States to bring into
      Commission with general data relating to any plan for              force such laws, regulations and administrative provisions as
      the disposal of radioactive waste in whatever form                 are necessary to comply with that directive no later than
      resulting from the decommissioning operations of the               1 April 1993, and to inform the Commission forthwith.
      JASON reactor; and                                                 Article 2(2) thereof provides that Member States shall commu-
                                                                         nicate to the Commission the texts of the main provisions of
—     order the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern             national law that they adopt in the field governed by the
      Ireland to pay the costs.                                          directive.
Pleas in law and main arguments                                          As a result of an assessment of the national legislation
                                                                         communicated as transposing the directive the Commission
                                                                         found a number of inconsistencies and gaps in the United
The Commission is of the opinion that the United Kingdom                 Kingdom’s transposition and concludes that Articles 1(a), 1(e),
has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 37 of the             1(f), 2(1)(b), 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13 and 14 of the directive have
Euratom Treaty to provide the Commission with general data               not been correctly transposed into the United Kingdom
relating to any plan for the disposal of radioactive waste in            legislation.
whatever form resulting from the decommissioning operations
of the JASON reactor, thus making it impossible for the
Commission to determine whether the implementation of                    (1 ) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39.
such a plan is liable to result in the radioactive contamination         (2 ) OJ L 78, 26.3.1991, p. 32.
of the water, soil or airspace of another Member State.