Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Third Chamber)

5 April 2001 (1)

(Failure by a Member State to fulfil its obligations - Failure to transpose Directive 94/56/EC)

In Case C-494/99,

Commission of the European Communities, represented by M. Patakia and F. Benyon, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg,

applicant,

v

Hellenic Republic, represented by N. Dafniou and D. Tsagkaraki, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg,

defendant,

APPLICATION for a declaration that, by failing to adopt and, in the alternative, to communicate to the Commission, within the prescribed period, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply in full with Council Directive 94/56/EC of 21 November 1994 establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of civil aviation accidents and incidents (OJ 1994 L 319, p. 14), the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty and under that directive,

THE COURT (Third Chamber),

composed of: C. Gulmann (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, F. Macken and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges,

Advocate General: F.G. Jacobs,

Registrar: R. Grass,

having regard to the Report of the Judge-Rapporteur,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 22 February 2001,

gives the following

Judgment

1. By application lodged at the Court Registry on 21 December 1999, the Commission of the European Communities brought an action under Article 226 EC for a declaration that, by failing to adopt and, in the alternative, to notify to the Commission, within the prescribed period, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply in full with Council Directive 94/56/EC of 21 November 1994 establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of civil aviation accidents and incidents (OJ 1994 L 319, p. 14, hereinafter 'the Directive), the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the EC Treaty and under that directive.

2. 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 not later than 21 November 1996, and immediately to inform the Commission thereof.

3. On 30 May 1997, having received from the Greek Government no notification of measures transposing the Directive, the Commission formally requested it to submit its observations in that regard within two months.

4. By letter received by the Commission on 14 August 1997, the Greek authorities replied that the measures necessary to transpose the Directive into national law were being drawn up.

5. After establishing that the Hellenic Republic had still not adopted the measures it was required to take in order to implement the Directive, the Commission, by letter of 24 September 1998, sent that Member State a reasoned opinion reiterating the observations set out in the formal letter and requesting it to comply with the opinion with two months of its notification.

6. On 30 November 1998, the Greek authorities responded to the reasoned opinion and informed the Commission that, although the fundamental principles of the Directive had already been adopted and implemented, the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications was preparing a new Presidential Decree for the purpose of transposing the Directive in full.

7. Since it did not receive any information from which it might conclude that the Hellenic Republic had fulfilled its obligations under the Directive, the Commission decided to bring the present action.

8. In its defence, the Greek Government claims that a new Presidential Decree making a number of changes to the existing system is being prepared, with a view to complying in full with the spirit and purpose of the Directive. The Government goes on to state that, because it is necessary to repeal certain articles of Law No 1815/88 on accident investigations, the responsible authorities decided to lay a Bill on the implementation of the Directive before Parliament and to resolve in a Presidential Decree the various questions raised, in particular as regards the functioning of the body to be set up.

9. In its rejoinder, the Greek Government states that the Bill on the implementation of the Directive is at present being considered by the Council of State.

10. In that regard, it must be pointed out that, according to settled case-law, 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-479/98 Commission v Greece [2000] ECR I-4657, paragraph 11).

11. In the present case, since the Directive was not transposed within the period prescribed by it, the action brought by the Commission must be considered well founded.

12. Accordingly, it must be held that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply in full with the Directive, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Directive.

    Costs

13. 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 (Third Chamber),

hereby:

1. Declares that, by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply in full with Council Directive 94/56/EC of 21 November 1994 establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of civil aviation accidents and incidents, the Hellenic Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.

GulmannMacken Cunha Rodrigues

Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 5 April 2001.

R. Grass C. Gulmann

Registrar President of the Third Chamber

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1: Language of the case: Greek.