Official Journal of the European Union

C 34/7

(Case C-492/14)

(2015/C 034/06)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Essent Belgium NV

Defendants: Vlaams Gewest, Inter-Energa, IVEG, Infrax West, Provinciale Brabantse Energiemaatschappij CVBA (PBE), Vlaamse Regulator van de Electriciteits- en Gasmarkt (VREG)

Other parties: Intercommunale Maatschappij voor Energievoorziening Antwerpen (IMEA), Intercommunale Maatschappij voor Energievoorziening in West- en Oost-Vlaanderen (IMEWO), Intercommunale Vereniging voor Energielevering in Midden-Vlaanderen (Intergem), Intercommunale Vereniging voor de Energiedistributie in de Kempen en het Antwerpse (IVEKA), Iverlek, Gaselwest CVBA, Sibelgas CVBA

Questions referred

1)Should Article 28 and Article 30 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community be interpreted as precluding a regulation of a Member State, in the present case the Flemish Decreet van 17 juli 2000 houdende de organisatie van de elektriciteitsmarkt (Decree of 17 July 2000 on the organisation of the electricity market) read in conjunction with the Decision of the Flemish Government of 4 April 2003‘amending the Decision of the Flemish Government of 28 September 2001 promoting the production of electricity from renewable energy sources’ and restricting free distribution to the feed-in of electricity produced by the generating installations connected to the distribution systems in the Flemish Region and excluding electricity from generating installations which are not connected to distribution systems in the Flemish Region?

2)Should Article 28 and Article 30 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community be interpreted as precluding a regulation of a Member State, in the present case the Flemish Decreet van 17 juli 2000 houdende de organisatie van de elektriciteitsmarkt (Decree of 17 July 2000 on the organisation of the electricity market) read in conjunction with the Decision of 5 March 2004 promoting the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, as applied by the VREG, which restricts free distribution to the electricity in generating installations which feed directly into a distribution system in Belgium and excludes from free distribution the electricity in generating installations which do not feed directly into a distribution system in Belgium?

3)Is a national rule as referred to in sub-question 1 and sub-question 2 above compatible with the principle of equal treatment and the prohibition of discrimination as embodied inter alia in Article 12 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community and [Article 3(1) and Article 3(4)] of the then Directive 2003/54/EC (1) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC?

* Language of the case: Dutch.

(1) OJ 2003 L 176, p. 37.