CELEX: C2003/007/32
Language: en
Date: 2003-01-11 00:00:00
Title: Case C-421/02: Action brought on 21 November 2002 by the Commission of the European Communities against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

11.1.2003                EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                           C 7/17
Action brought on 18 November 2002 by the Com-                            Action brought on 21 November 2002 by the Com-
mission of the European Communities against the Repub-                    mission of the European Communities against the United
                            lic of Austria                                       Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
                          (Case C-411/02)                                                            (Case C-421/02)
                            (2003/C 7/31)
                                                                                                      (2003/C 7/32)
An action against the Republic of Austria was brought
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on                An action against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
18 November 2002 by the Commission of the European                        Northern Ireland was brought before the Court of Justice of
Communities, represented by Dr Claudia Schmidt and Michael                the European Communities on 21 November 2002 by the
Shotter of its Legal Service, with an address for service in              Commission of the European Communities, represented by
Luxembourg at the office of Luis Escobar Guerrero, of its legal           Xavier Lewis, acting as agent, with an address for service in
service, Wagner Center C 254, Luxembourg-Kirchberg.                       Luxembourg.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                          The Applicant claims that the Court should:
1.     declare that, as the itemised billing adopted by the Austria
       Republic, which indicates the composition of the charges           1)    declare that by failing to adopt in Wales the laws,
       only according to the type of charge, is not sufficiently                regulations or administrative provisions necessary to
       detailed to ensure efficient control by the consumer, the                comply with Article 4 (2) of Council Directive 85/337/
       Republic of Austria has failed to fulfil its obligations                 EEC on the assessment of the effects of certain public and
       under Article 14(2) of Directive 98/10/EC of the European                private projects on the environment as amended by
       Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 1998 on                     Directive 97/11/EC ( 1) in relation to projects listed in
       the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice                 Annex II, paragraph 1 (b) of that Directive, or, in
       telephony and on universal service for telecommuni-                      any event, by failing to notify such provisions to the
       cations in a competitive environment (1);                                Commission, the United Kingdom has failed to fully fulfil
                                                                                its obligations under that Directive;
2.     order the Republic of Austria to pay the costs.
                                                                          2)    declare that by failing to adopt in England and Wales,
                                                                                Scotland and Northern Ireland the laws, regulations or
                                                                                administrative provisions necessary to comply fully with
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                 Article 4 (2) of Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the
                                                                                assessment of the effects of certain public and private
                                                                                projects on the environment as amended by Directive 97/
                                                                                11/EC in relation to projects listed in Annex II, para-
Article 14(2) of Directive 98/10/EC provides for a basic level
                                                                                graph 1 (c) of that Directive, or, in any event, by failing
of itemised billing to be available at no extra charge to the user
                                                                                to notify such provisions to the Commission, the United
of public telephone services. It is therefore not permissible to
                                                                                Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed
charge a fee for the basic level of itemised billing. Consequently,
                                                                                to fully fulfil its obligations under that Directive;
only a free standard billing which includes a basic level of
itemised billing within the meaning of Article 14(2) of
Directive 98/10/EC can be regarded as complying with the                  3)    order the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
requirements of that directive. That is, however, not the                       Ireland to pay the costs.
situation in Austria. The standard billing which is provided
free of charge under the Austrian Law on telecommunications
contains only the composition of the charges according to the
category of call (regional calls, supra-regional calls, and
international calls). It cannot therefore be accepted as a basic          Pleas in law and main arguments
level of itemised billing, because it is too general to enable the
user actually to verify and control the charges incurred for
each individual call.
                                                                          The Commission considers that it is the duty of the authorities
                                                                          of the United Kingdom to initiate, in due time, the procedures
( 1) (OJ 1981 L 101, p. 24.                                               necessary for incorporating Directive 85/337/EEC into dom-
                                                                          estic law so that such process is complete wihin the time limit
                                                                          laid down, irrespective of the nature of such procedures, and
                                                                          to inform the Commission thereof.
 ---pagebreak--- C 7/18                  EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                   11.1.2003
Since the United Kingdom has not informed the Commission                         Removal from the register of Case C-367/01 ( 1)
of the provisions adopted to comply fully with the Directive,
and since the Commission is in possession of no other                                              (2003/C 7/35)
information enabling it to conclude that the United Kingdom
has adopted the necessary provisions, it is compelled to assume
that the United Kingdom has not yet adopted such provisions              By order of 16 October 2002 the President of the Court of
and has thus failed to fulfil its obligations under the Directive.       Justice of the European Communities ordered the removal
                                                                         from the register of Case C-367/01: Commission of the
( 1) OJ 1997 L 73, p. 5                                                  European Communities v Hellenic Republic.
                                                                         (1 ) OJ C 331 of 24.11.2001.
        Removal from the register of Case C-374/00 ( 1)
                           (2003/C 7/33)                                         Removal from the register of Case C-371/01 ( 1)
                                                                                                   (2003/C 7/36)
By order of 23 October 2002 the President of the Sixth
Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Communities
ordered the removal from the register of Case C-374/00:                  By order of 23 October 2002 the President of the Third
Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic                        Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Communities
Republic.                                                                ordered the removal from the register of Case C-371/01:
                                                                         Commission of the European Communities v Hellenic
                                                                         Republic.
( 1) OJ C 335 of 25.11.2000.
                                                                         (1 ) OJ C 348 of 08.12.2001.
      Removal from the register of Case C-448/00 P (1)
                                                                                 Removal from the register of Case C-158/02 ( 1)
                           (2003/C 7/34)
                                                                                                   (2003/C 7/37)
By order of 4 November 2002 the President of the Court of
Justice of the European Communities ordered the removal                  By order of 25 October 2002 the President of the Court of
from the register of Case C-448/00 P: Commission of the                  Justice of the European Communities ordered the removal
European Communities v BP Chemicals Ltd.                                 from the register of Case C-158/02 (Referral for a preliminary
                                                                         ruling by the Tribunale di Roma): Lidia Marcaletti v Istituto
                                                                         nazionale della previdenza sociale (INPS).
( 1) OJ C 28 of 27.01.2001.
                                                                         (1 ) OJ C 144 of 15.06.2002.