European Parliament v Council of the European Union.
Date: 2006-11-28
31. In that regard, it is appropriate to observe that, as the Parliament pointed out, it follows from the wording of Article 57 of the 2003 Act of Accession that that provision authorises the adoption of ‘adaptations’ which are made ‘necessary’ by reason of accession but which were not provided for in the Act of Accession or its annexes.
32. As the Commission rightly argued, it is clear from Articles 20 and 21 of the 2003 Act of Accession, which together make up Title I, entitled ‘Adaptations to acts adopted by the institutions’, of Part Three of that act, itself entitled ‘Permanent provisions’, that the ‘adaptations’ to which those articles refer correspond, in principle, to amendments necessary to ensure the full applicability of acts of the institutions to the new Member States and which are intended, with that in view, to supplement those acts in the long term.
33. Such ‘adaptations’ do not, on the other hand, usually cover temporary derogations from the application of Community acts, which are, for their part, the subject of Article 24 of the 2003 Act of Accession in Title I, entitled ‘Transitional measures’, of Part Four of that act, entitled ‘Temporary provisions’.
34. There is nothing to suggest that the term ‘adaptation’ should be given a different meaning depending on whether it is used in the context of Articles 20 and 21 of the 2003 Act of Accession or of Article 57 of that act. Article 21 moreover itself refers to the provisions of Article 57 as regards the procedure for, and the conditions governing the drawing up of, the adaptations for which it provides, whilst Article 57 which refers to adaptations which have ‘not been provided for in this Act or its Annexes’ suggests, for its part, that the adaptations to be adopted on the basis of that provision are of the same type as those for which, in particular, Articles 20 and 21 of that act provide.
35. Furthermore, the grant of temporary derogations in view of the prospect of imminent accession is, as correctly pointed out by the Parliament and the Commission, the specific subject of another provision of the 2003 Act of Accession, namely Article 55, and it is, in that regard, difficult to imagine that the signatories to that act intended to lay down two distinct provisions for the purpose of enabling the adoption of the same measure.
36. That is all the more true as Article 55 makes the grant of such temporary derogations subject to conditions markedly more restrictive than those which Article 57 prescribes for the adoption of adaptation measures. First, Article 55 authorises derogations only as regards Community acts which were adopted between 1 November 2002 (the date on which the accession negotiations were concluded) and 16 April 2003 (the date of signature of the 2003 Treaty of Accession). Second, such grant is subject to the requirement of unanimity within the Council.
37. It follows from the foregoing that the measures which can be adopted on the basis of Article 57 of the 2003 Act of Accession are limited, in principle, to adaptations intended to render earlier Community measures applicable in the new Member States, to the exclusion of all other amendments (see, by way of analogy, in respect of the identical provision contained in the 1994 Act of Accession, Parliament  v Council , paragraphs 14 and 19), and, particularly, to the exclusion of temporary derogations.
38. Accordingly temporary derogations from the application of the provisions of a Community act, whose sole object and purpose is to delay temporarily the effective application of the Community act concerned as regards a new Member State, cannot, in principle, be described as ‘adaptations’, within the meaning of Article 57 of the 2003 Act of Accession.
43. The provisions set out in Annex VI to the 2003 Act of Accession are thus the subject of an agreement between the Member States and the acceding States and constitute provisions of primary law (see, to that effect, Joined Cases 31/86 and 35/86 LAISA and CPC España  v Council  [1988] ECR 2285, paragraph 12).
62. Contrary to the Council’s submission, it does not, however, follow that there is a legal vacuum in that regard. Once the 2003 Treaty of Accession was signed, and subject to the application of the particular procedures for which that Treaty provides for the purposes of deciding on certain types of transitional measures, such as, for example, those established by Articles 41 or 42 of the 2003 Act of Accession, there is no objection in principle to Community measures adopted after that signature and before the entry into force of the 2003 Treaty of Accession and containing temporary derogations in favour of a future acceding State being adopted directly on the basis of the provisions of the EC Treaty.
66. Rather, as regards acts that must be thus adopted during the period between the date of signature of the Treaty of Accession and the date when the accession takes effect, the Community institutions are fully aware of the imminent accession of new Member States whilst the latter have the opportunity to assert their interests where necessary, in particular through the information and consultation procedure (see, to that effect, Joined Cases 39/81, 43/81, 85/81 and 88/81 Halyvourgiki and Helleniki Halyvourgia  v Commission  [1982] ECR 593, paragraph 10).
67. It is therefore, in principle, in the framework of that procedure and by making use of the observer status which they have in the Council, with the opportunities for dialogue and cooperation which those special mechanisms afford them, that the future Member States may, once informed of the future adoption of new Community acts, assert their interest in obtaining the necessary transitional derogations; these might be needed, for example, because it would be impossible to ensure immediate application of those acts on accession, or because of major socio‑economic problems to which such application might give rise.
72. On that point, none of the parties has provided evidence to suggest that the information and consultation procedure was not properly followed and that the Estonian Government was not in a position to assert its interests as regards the proposal for a directive which led to the adoption of Directive 2003/54, as provided for by that procedure (see, by way of analogy, Halyvourgiki and Helleniki Halyvourgia v Commission , paragraph 15).
75. It follows, in that regard, from the Court’s case‑law that although the principle of legal certainty precludes, in general, a Community measure from taking effect from a point in time before its publication, it may exceptionally be otherwise where the purpose to be achieved so demands and where the legitimate expectations of those concerned are duly respected (see Case C‑331/88 Fedesa and Others [1990] ECR I‑4023, paragraph 45, and Parliament  v Council , paragraph 21).
81. In that regard, it has consistently been held that the statement of reasons required by Article 253 EC must be adapted to the nature of the act in question. Whilst that statement of reasons must show clearly and unequivocally the reasoning of the Community institution which adopted the measure in such a way as to enable the persons concerned to ascertain the reasons for it and the competent court to exercise its power of review, the institution is not required to go into every relevant point of fact and law. The question as to whether the statement of reasons for a measure satisfies the requirements of Article 253 EC must be assessed with reference not only to the wording of the measure but also to its context and to the whole body of legal rules governing the matter in question (see, in particular, Case C-15/00 Commission  v EIB  [2003] ECR I‑7281, paragraph 174).
86. In that regard, it must be borne in mind that, in accordance with settled case-law, partial annulment of a Community act is possible only if the elements the annulment of which is sought may be severed from the remainder of the act (see, in particular, Case C-244/03 France  v Parliament and Council  [2005] ECR I-4021, paragraph 12, and the case‑law there cited).