1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 18 August 1998, the Commission of the European Communities brought an action under Article 169 of the EC Treaty in which it sought a declaration that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 October 1994 on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of the right to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis (OJ 1994 L 280, p. 83) (hereinafter `the Directive'), the Kingdom of Belgium has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.
2 Under Article 12 of the Directive, Member States were required to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive by no later than 30 months after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities, that is by 30 April 1997, and immediately to inform the Commission thereof.
3 Since it had not received any communication relating to the transposition of the Directive into Belgian law and had no other information to show that the Kingdom of Belgium had fulfilled that obligation, the Commission gave formal notice to that State by letter of 9 September 1997, calling on it to submit its observations within a period of two months.
4 In the absence of any reply from the Belgian authorities, on 19 February 1998 the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to the Kingdom of Belgium, calling on it to take the measures necessary to comply with its obligations under the Directive within two months of notification of the opinion.
5 In response, the Belgian Government informed the Commission, by letter of 20 April 1998, that its Council of Ministers had adopted a draft law, but that the process of transposition had been somewhat delayed. The Belgian law implementing the Directive would be sent to the Commission as soon as it was finally adopted.
6 In the absence of any further communication from the Belgian authorities, the Commission brought the present action.
7 In its defence, the Belgian Government does not deny that the measures necessary to implement the Directive were not taken within the prescribed period; it states that a draft implementing law was officially filed on 18 August 1998 at the House of Representatives with a view to its adoption at the earliest opportunity and that the Court would be informed as soon as the law entered into force.
8 Since the Directive was not transposed within the period prescribed, the Commission's action must be considered well founded.
9 Accordingly, it must be held that, by failing to adopt 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 Directive.