1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 17 September 1997, the Commission of the European Communities brought an action under Article 169 of the EC Treaty for a declaration that, by failing to bring into force within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Council Directive 94/80/EC of 19 December 1994 laying down detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal elections by citizens of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals (OJ 1994 L 368, p. 38, hereinafter `the directive'), the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.
2 Under the first paragraph of Article 14 of the directive, Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply therewith before 1 January 1996 and inform the Commission thereof forthwith.
3 Since it had not received any notification concerning the transposition of the directive into Belgian law and had no other information enabling it to conclude that the Kingdom of Belgium had complied with that obligation, the Commission gave that State formal notice by letter of 27 February 1996 to submit its observations within two months.
4 Having received no reply from the Belgian authorities, the Commission, by letter of 27 November 1996, issued a reasoned opinion in which it found that, by not adopting the measures necessary to comply with the directive, the Kingdom of Belgium had failed to fulfil its obligations thereunder, and called upon it to take the necessary measures within two months.
5 By letter of 28 March 1997, the Belgian authorities replied that the Government was examining the difficulties raised by the transposition of the directive into national law, which required Article 8 of the Belgian Constitution to be revised first.
6 In view of the fact that, in the meantime, no progress had been made, the Commission decided to bring this action.
7 While not denying that the directive has not been implemented within the prescribed time-limit, the Kingdom of Belgium explains that the delay is due to the need to revise Article 8 of the Belgian Constitution, pursuant to the rules of procedure provided for in Article 195 of the Constitution. The Belgian Government further states that the process of implementing the directive is at a very advanced stage. The implementing law should thus be adopted during the second quarter of 1998 and published in the Moniteur Belge in the fourth quarter of 1998.
8 The Court has consistently held that a Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances existing in its internal legal system in order to justify a failure to comply with the obligations and time-limits laid down in a directive (see, in particular, Case C-107/96 Commission v Spain [1997] ECR I-3193, paragraph 10).
9 Since the directive has not been transposed into national law within the prescribed period, the Commission's action must be considered to be well founded.
10 Accordingly, it must be held that, by failing to bring into force within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the directive, the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under the first paragraph of Article 14 thereof.