Avis juridique important

Judgment of the Court of 9 March 1994. - Commission of the European Communities v Italian Republic. - Failure to fulfil obligations - Failure to comply with a judgment declaring a Member State to have failed to fulfil its obligations. - Case C-291/93. European Court reports 1994 Page I-00859

Summary Parties Grounds Decision on costs Operative part

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Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations - Judgment of the Court declaring that a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations - Period for compliance

(EEC Treaty, Art. 171)

The immediate and uniform application of Community law requires that the process of compliance with a judgment declaring that a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations must be initiated immediately and must be completed as soon as possible.

In Case C-291/93,

Commission of the European Communities, represented by Vittorio Di Bucci, a Member of its Legal Service, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the office of Georgios Kremlis, also a member of the Commission' s Legal Service, Wagner Centre, Kirchberg,

applicant,

v

Italian Republic, represented by Luigi Ferrari Bravo, Head of the Department for Legal Affairs of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting as Agent, assisted by Pier Giorgio Ferri, Avvocato dello Stato, with an address for service in Luxembourg at the Italian Embassy, 5 Rue Marie-Adelaïde,

defendant,

APPLICATION for a declaration that, by failing to take all the measures necessary to comply with the Court' s judgment of 12 July 1988 in Case 322/86 Commission v Italy [1988] ECR 3995, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 171 of the EEC Treaty,

THE COURT,

composed of: G.F. Mancini, President of Chamber, acting as President, J.C. Moitinho de Almeida (Rapporteur) and D.A.O. Edward (Presidents of Chambers), R. Joliet, F.A. Schockweiler, G.C. Rodríguez Iglesias, F. Grévisse, M. Zuleeg and J.L. Murray, Judges,

Advocate General: C.O. Lenz,

Registrar: D. Louterman-Hubeau, Principal Administrator,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing oral argument from the parties at the hearing on 25 January 1994, at which the Italian Republic was represented by Danilo del Gaizo, Avvocato dello Stato, acting as Agent,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 8 February 1994,

gives the following

Judgment

1 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 18 May 1993, the Commission of the European Communities brought an action under Article 169 of the EEC Treaty for a declaration that, by failing to take all the measures necessary to comply with the Court' s judgment of 12 July 1988 in Case 322/86 Commission v Italy [1988] ECR 3995, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 171 of that Treaty.

2 The Court declared in that judgment that "by failing to adopt within the prescribed period the measures necessary in order to comply with Council Directive 78/659/EEC of 18 July 1978 on the quality of fresh waters needing protection or improvement in order to support fish life, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Treaty".

3 Since it had received no notification of the measures which should have been taken by the Italian Republic in order to comply with that judgment, the Commission initiated the procedure provided for in Article 169 of the Treaty.

4 In the course of that procedure, on 25 January 1992, the Italian Republic adopted Legislative Decree No 130 (Ordinary Supplement No 34 to the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic ("GURI") No 41 of 19 February 1992, as amended in GURI No 121 of 25 May 1992 and GURI No 175 of 27 July 1992), implementing the above directive.

5 Since it took the view that the legislative decree in question was insufficient to give full effect to the Court' s judgment, the Commission brought the present action for failure to fulfil obligations.

6 As the Commission points out, the Court has consistently held (see in particular the judgment in Case C-101/91 Commission v Italy [1993] ECR I-191, paragraph 20) that even though Article 171 of the EEC Treaty does not specify the period within which a judgment must be complied with, the interest in the immediate and uniform application of Community law requires that the process of compliance with a judgment must be initiated immediately and must be completed as soon as possible.

7 The Commission submits that the Italian Republic has still not complied with its obligation to designate certain waters (Article 4 of the directive) or with its obligation to establish programmes in order to reduce water pollution (Article 5 of the directive), the failure to do which was declared in the judgment in Case 322/86, cited above.

8 The Italian Republic does not deny the failure to fulfil its obligations with which it is charged.

9 There must therefore be a declaration of that failure in the terms sought by the Commission.

Costs

10 Under Article 69(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs. Since the Italian Republic has been unsuccessful, it must be ordered to pay the costs.

On those grounds,

THE COURT

hereby:

1. Declares that, by failing to take the measures necessary to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice of 12 July 1988 in Case 322/86 Commission v Italy, the Italian Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 171 of the EEC Treaty;

2. Orders the Italian Republic to pay the costs.