CELEX: C2001/245/20
Language: en
Date: 2001-09-01 00:00:00
Title: Case C-254/01: Action brought on 3 July 2001 by Commission of the European Communities against Republic of Finland

1.9.2001               EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                        C 245/11
security of the coast and of its inhabitants, is designed to               Pleas in law and main arguments
acquire an appropriate insight into the dynamics of the coastal
area. The contract thus comes under the categories indicated
by CPC Reference No 86753 (‘surface surveying services’) and
No 86754 (‘map making services’), and thus under the services              The third paragraph of Article 249 EC states that a directive is
indicated in Category No 12 in Annex I A to the directive:                 binding, as to the result to be achieved, on each Member State
‘architectural services; engineering services and integrated               to which it is addressed.
engineering services; urban planning and landscape architec-
tural services; related scientific and technical consulting services ...’
Pursuant to Article 8 of the directive, contracts having as their          The first paragraph of Article 10 EC states that Member States
object services listed in Annex I A are to be awarded in                   are to take all appropriate measures, whether general or
accordance with the provisions of Titles III to VI (which                  specific, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of
include the placing of an indicative notice and a notice in the            the Treaty or resulting from actions taken by the institutions
Official Journal and the following of an open or restricted                of the Community.
procedure).
                                                                           This obligation deriving directly from the Treaty is repeated
Finally, the Commission is unable to accept the invocation of              expressly in Article 23 of Directive 96/48/EC, according to
Article 11(3(b) of the directive, in particular the technical
                                                                           which the Member States are to amend and adopt their laws,
reasons referred to therein. It is extremely unlikely that there           regulations and administrative provisions so as to authorise
would, in other Member States with a seacoast, not be any                  the use of constituents of interoperability of the trans-
undertakings in a technical and financial position to perform
                                                                           European high-speed rail system and the putting into service
the contract.                                                              and operation of subsystems which comply with the directive,
                                                                           no later than 30 months after entry into force of the directive.
                                                                           They are to inform the Commission thereof forthwith. In this
(1) OJ 1992 L 209, p. 1.                                                   connection, it should be emphasised that even in the absence
                                                                           of the technical specifications for interoperability under Chap-
                                                                           ter II of the directive, Chapters III and IV of the directive are
                                                                           fully in force and applicable.
                                                                           Finland refers to the decision of the Ministry of Transport of
                                                                           3 March 1999, in which the ministry decided to designate
                                                                           Ratahallintokeskus (Rail Administration Centre) as the control
Action brought on 3 July 2001 by Commission of the                         body under Article 20 of Directive 96/48/EC on the interop-
    European Communities against Republic of Finland                       erability of the trans-European high-speed rail system. The
                                                                           Ministry of Transport also invited the Ratahallintokeskus to
                                                                           take account when making technical decisions of the technical
                          (Case C-254/01)                                  specifications of interoperability adopted on the basis of the
                                                                           above directive.
                         (2001/C 245/20)
                                                                           Apart from that decision, Finland has not notified any other
                                                                           legislative or administrative measures on the basis of which
An action against the Republic of Finland was brought before               the Commission could find that Finnish legislation together
the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 3 July                 with the administrative measures in force authorise the use of
2001 by the Commission of the European Communities,                        constituents of interoperability of the trans-European high-
represented by M. Huttunen and M. Wolfcarius, with an                      speed rail system and the putting into service and operation of
address for service in Luxembourg.                                         subsystems which comply with the directive. Finland has
                                                                           notified only that it is preparing an overall recasting of railway
                                                                           legislation and that the aim is to include in the amendments
The applicant claims that the Court should:                                adequate provisions for implementation of the directive on
                                                                           high-speed rail systems.
1.    Declare that the Republic of Finland has failed to adopt
      the laws, regulations or administrative provisions required
      to comply with Directive 96/48/EC (1) and has thus failed            (1) Council Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996 on the interoperabi-
      to fulfil its obligations under the directive, other than                lity of the trans-European high-speed rail system (OJ L 235 of
      the obligation to notify the responsible body under                      17.9.1996, p. 6).
      Article 20(1);
2.    Order the Republic of Finland to pay the costs.