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

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber)

14 December 2006 (*)

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Directive 2002/49/EC - Assessment and management of environmental noise - Non-transposition within the prescribed period)

In Case C-138/06,

ACTION for failure to fulfil obligations under Article 226 EC, brought on 10 March 2006,

Commission of the European Communities, represented by M.A. Alcover San Pedro and D. Lawunmi, acting as Agents, with an address for service in Luxembourg,

applicant,

v

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by V. Jackson, acting as Agent,

defendant,

THE COURT (Fifth Chamber),

composed of R. Schintgen, President of the Chamber, A. Tizzano and E. Levits (Rapporteur), Judges,

Advocate General: V. Trstenjak,

Registrar: R. Grass,

having regard to the written procedure,

having decided, after hearing the Advocate General, to proceed to judgment without an Opinion,

gives the following

Judgment

1 By its application, the Commission of the European Communities seeks a declaration from the Court that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise (OJ 2002 L 189, p. 12; -˜the Directive'), or, in any event, by not informing the Commission of those provisions, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.

2 The first subparagraph of Article 14(1) of the Directive provides that the Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply therewith no later than 18 July 2004 and to inform the Commission thereof.

3 Having sent, on 15 December 2004, a letter of formal notice to the United Kingdom, the Commission, on 13 July 2005, issued a reasoned opinion in which it concluded that, by omitting to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary for the transposition of the Directive into its national law, that Member State had infringed its obligations under that directive. The Commission also requested the United Kingdom to adopt the measures necessary to comply with that reasoned opinion within a period of two months from its notification.

4 The United Kingdom authorities replied to that opinion by a letter of 13 September 2005, indicating the state of progress of the transposition of the Directive in England, Scotland, Wales and Gibraltar.

5 Since it received no further information enabling it to conclude that the provisions intended to effect the full transposition of the Directive in the United Kingdom had been adopted within the prescribed period, the Commission brought this action.

6 The United Kingdom Government admits that the Directive was not transposed within the prescribed period, but states that the laws and regulations intended to effect such transposition should have been adopted, at the latest, during November 2006

7 It follows from the Court's settled case-'law that the question whether a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be determined by reference to the situation obtaining in the Member State at the end of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion and the Court cannot take account of any subsequent changes (see, in particular, Case C-'394/00 Commission v Ireland [2002] ECR I-'581, paragraph 12, and Case C-'428/04 Commission v Austria [2006] ECR I-'3325, paragraph 38).

8 In this case, it is common ground that, on the expiry of the period of two months laid down in the reasoned opinion, the measures necessary to effect the Directive's transposition into law in the United Kingdom had not been adopted.

9 In those circumstances, the Commission's action must be held to be well founded.

10 Therefore, it must be declared that, by failing to adopt, within the prescribed period, the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive, the United Kingdom has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive.

Costs

11 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 has applied for costs and the United Kingdom has been unsuccessful in its pleas in law, the United Kingdom 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 2002/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under that directive;

2. Orders the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to pay the costs.

[Signatures]

* Language of the case: English.