EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 155/43

(Case C-149/23)

(2023/C 155/55)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: J. Baquero Cruz and L. Mantl, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany

Form of order sought

The Commission claims that the Court should:

—Declare that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary for the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (1) and by failing in any event to communicate those provisions to the Commission, the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 26(1) and (3) of that directive;

—Order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the Commission a lump sum, corresponding to the higher of the following two sums: (i) a daily rate of EUR 61 600 multiplied by the number of days between the date following that of the expiry of the transposition period laid down in that directive and the date on which the infringement is remedied, or, in the event that it is not remedied, the date of delivery of the judgment in the present proceedings; (ii) a minimum lump sum of EUR 17 248 000;

—In the event that the failure to fulfil obligations referred to in point 1 persists until the date of delivery of the judgment in the present proceedings, order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the Commission a penalty payment of EUR 240 240 per day from the date of delivery of the judgment in the present proceedings until the date on which the Federal Republic of Germany fulfils its obligations under that directive; and

—Order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By its action, the Commission claims that the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which aims to create an effective system for the protection of persons who work in a private or public organisation or are in contact with such an organisation when they notify an infringement of EU law in certain areas. Pursuant to Article 26(1) of the Directive, Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with that directive by 17 December 2021. Under Article 26(3) of that directive, the Member States were also obliged to communicate to the Commission forthwith the text of those provisions.

The Commission claims that the measures for the complete transposition of the directive have not yet been adopted and have not been communicated to the Commission more than 13 months following the expiry of the transposition period.

Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (OJ 2019 L 305, p. 17).