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Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions)
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Commission v Greece (Approximation of laws) [1999] EUECJ C-401/98 (14 September 1999)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/1999/C40198.html
Cite as:
[1999] EUECJ C-401/98
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IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE - The source of this judgment is the web site of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. The information in this database has been provided free of charge and is subject to a Court of Justice of the European Communities disclaimer and a copyright notice. This electronic version is not authentic and is subject to amendment.
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber)
14 September 1999 (1)
(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Directive 94/47/EC - Non-transposition)
In Case C-401/98,
Commission of the European Communities, represented by Maria Condou-Durande, of its Legal Service, acting as Agent, with an address for service in
Luxembourg at the office of Carlos Gómez de la Cruz, also of its Legal Service,
Wagner Centre, Kirchberg,
applicant,
v
Hellenic Republic, represented by Nana Dafniou and Dimitra Tsagkaraki, of the
Special Legal Service for the European Communities of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, acting as agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Greek
Embassy, 117 Val Sainte-Croix,
defendant,
APPLICATION for a declaration that, by failing to adopt 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), the
Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive,
THE COURT (Fifth Chamber),
composed of: J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Chamber, P. Jann, C. Gulmann
(Rapporteur), D.A.O. Edward and L. Sevón, Judges,
Advocate General: A. Saggio,
Registrar: R. Grass,
having regard to the report of the Judge-Rapporteur,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 17 June 1999,
gives the following
Judgment
- By application lodged at the Court Registry on 10 November 1998, the Commission
of the European Communities brought an action under Article 169 of the EC
Treaty (now Article 226 EC) in which it sought a declaration that, by failing to
adopt 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 Hellenic Republic has
failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.
- Under Article 12(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 no later than 30 months after its publication in the Official Journal
of the European Communities, and immediately to inform the Commission thereof.
- Given that the Directive was published on 29 October 1994, Member States were
required to adopt the measures necessary to implement it before 30 April 1997.
- Having received from the Greek Government no notification concerning the
measures taken to transpose the Directive into Greek law, and in the absence of
any other information from which it could conclude that the Hellenic Republic had
fulfilled its obligation to do so, the Commission gave formal notice to that State by
letter of 9 September 1997, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
169 of the Treaty, calling on it to submit its observations within a period of two
months.
- The Greek Government replied by letter of 11 November 1997, saying that a
proposal for transposing the Directive had been drawn up in the form of a
ministerial decree and had been sent to the Greek Tourist Board for comment.
- In view of the fact that, by 16 January 1998, the Greek authorities had still not sent
a copy of the decree, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to the Hellenic
Republic, requesting it to adopt the necessary measures to fulfil its obligations
under the Directive within two months of notification of the opinion.
- Having received no further information regarding the transposition of the Directive,
the Commission decided to bring the present action.
- In its defence, the Greek Government does not deny that the measures necessary
to transpose the Directive were not taken within the prescribed period. It states,
however, that the Ministry for Development has prepared a draft presidential
decree to which all the necessary signatures ought to be affixed shortly and which
will then be sent to the Council of State for assessment, and that it is endeavouring
to complete the procedure to bring its national law into line with the Directive as
quickly as possible.
- As the Commission has pointed out, it is settled case-law 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-214/96 Commission v Spain [1998]
ECR I-7661, paragraph 18).
- Since the Directive has not been transposed within the period prescribed therein,
the action brought by the Commission must be held to be well founded.
- 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 Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the
Directive.
Costs
12. Under Article 69(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be
ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the successful party's
pleadings. Since the Commission applied for costs and the Hellenic Republic has
been unsuccessful, the latter must be ordered to pay the costs.
On those grounds,
THE COURT (Fifth Chamber),
hereby:
1. Declares 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, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil
its obligations under that directive;
2. Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.
PuissochetJann
Gulmann
EdwardSevón
|
Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 14 September 1999.
R. Grass
J.-P. Puissochet
Registrar
President of the Fifth Chamber
1: Language of the case: Greek.