Commission of the European Communities v Ireland.
Date: 2006-05-30
82. The Convention was signed by the Community and subsequently approved by Decision 98/392. It follows that, according to settled case-law, the provisions of that convention now form an integral part of the Community legal order (see, inter alia, Case C-344/04 IATA and ELFAA  [2006] ECR I-0000, paragraph 36).
84. The Court has already ruled that mixed agreements have the same status in the Community legal order as purely Community agreements, as these are provisions coming within the scope of Community competence (Case C-13/00 Commission  v Ireland , paragraph 14).
85. From this the Court has concluded that, in ensuring respect for commitments arising from an agreement concluded by the Community institutions, the Member States fulfil, within the Community system, an obligation in relation to the Community, which has assumed responsibility for the due performance of that agreement (Case C-13/00 Commission  v Ireland , paragraph 15).
93. However, the question as to whether a provision of a mixed agreement comes within the competence of the Community is one which relates to the attribution and, thus, the very existence of that competence, and not to its exclusive or shared nature.
94. It follows that the existence of the Community’s external competence in regard to protection of the marine environment is not, in principle, contingent on the adoption of measures of secondary law covering the area in question and liable to be affected if Member States were to take part in the procedure for concluding the agreement in question, within the terms of the principle formulated by the Court in paragraph 17 of the AETR judgment.
95. The Community can enter into agreements in the area of environmental protection even if the specific matters covered by those agreements are not yet, or are only very partially, the subject of rules at Community level, which, by reason of that fact, are not likely to be affected (see, in that regard, Opinion 2/00, paragraphs 44 to 47, and Case C-239/03 Commission  v France  [2004] ECR I-9325, paragraph 30).
100. Ireland submits that Article 4(3) of Annex IX to the Convention, in particular the notion of ‘transfer of competence’ which features there, and the Declaration of Community competence must be construed as meaning that, in regard to shared competence, the only areas of competence transferred and exercised by the Community when it became a party to the Convention are those which have become exclusive as a result of having been affected, within the meaning of the principle set out in paragraph 17 of the AETR judgment.
121. It follows that the provisions of the Convention relied on by Ireland in the dispute relating to the MOX plant and submitted to the Arbitral Tribunal are rules which form part of the Community legal order. The Court therefore has jurisdiction to deal with disputes relating to the interpretation and application of those provisions and to assess a Member State’s compliance with them (see, in that connection, Case C‑13/00 Commission  v Ireland , paragraph 20, and Case C-239/03 Commission  v France , paragraph 31).
123. The Court has already pointed out that an international agreement cannot affect the allocation of responsibilities defined in the Treaties and, consequently, the autonomy of the Community legal system, compliance with which the Court ensures under Article 220 EC. That exclusive jurisdiction of the Court is confirmed by Article 292 EC, by which Member States undertake not to submit a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the EC Treaty to any method of settlement other than those provided for therein (see, to that effect, Opinion 1/91 [1991] ECR I-6079, paragraph 35, and Opinion 1/00 [2002] ECR I-3493, paragraphs 11 and 12).
137. Even if they were assumed to have been demonstrated, such advantages could not in any event justify a Member State in avoiding its Treaty obligations with regard to judicial proceedings intended to rectify an alleged breach of Community law by another Member State (see, to that effect, Case 232/78 Commission  v France  [1979] ECR 2729, paragraph 9).
174. The Court has pointed out that, in all the areas corresponding to the objectives of the EC Treaty, Article 10 EC requires Member States to facilitate the achievement of the Community’s tasks and to abstain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the objectives of the Treaty (see, inter alia, Opinion 1/03 [2006] ECR I-0000, paragraph 119). The Member States assume similar obligations under the EAEC Treaty by virtue of Article 192 EA.
175. The Court has also emphasised that the Member States and the Community institutions have an obligation of close cooperation in fulfilling the commitments undertaken by them under joint competence when they conclude a mixed agreement (see Dior and Others , paragraph 36).