1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 9 October 1998, the Commission of the European Communities brought an action under Article 169 of the EC Treaty (now Article 226 EC) for a declaration that, by failing to adopt and/or by not communicating to the Commission the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Council Directive 93/103/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for work on board fishing vessels (thirteenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (OJ 1993 L 307, p. 1, hereinafter `the Directive'), the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty.
2 Under Article 13(1) of the Directive, Member States were required to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive by 23 November 1995 at the latest.
3 Having received no notification of any provision intended to transpose the Directive into Italian law, and in the absence of any other information from which it could conclude that Italy had fulfilled its obligation to do so, the Commission initiated against that State infringement proceedings as provided for by Article 169 of the Treaty by sending it a letter of formal notice on 27 February 1996.
4 Having received no reply thereto, the Commission sent Italy a reasoned opinion by letter of 23 December 1996, requesting it to adopt the necessary measures to comply with the Directive within two months of notification of the opinion.
5 When no formal reply to that opinion was forthcoming, the Commission brought the present proceedings.
6 In its defence, the Italian Government does not deny the infringement, but states that a law delegating to it the power to transpose the Directive was adopted on 24 April 1998 and that that law entered into force in May 1998. The implementation process had thus been started and would most likely be completed shortly thereafter.
7 Since the Directive was not transposed within the period prescribed, the action brought by the Commission must be held to be well founded.
8 It must therefore be held that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 13(1) thereof.