Official Journal of the European Union

C 414/4

(Case C-185/14) (<span class="super">1</span>)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Money order service - Directive 97/67/EC - Scope - National legislation granting an exclusive right to provide a money order service - State aid - Economic activity - Services of general economic interest))

(2015/C 414/05)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: ‘EasyPay’ AD, ‘Finance Engineering’ AD

Defendants: Ministerski savet na Republika Bulgaria, Natsionalen osiguritelen institut

Operative part of the judgment

1.Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, as amended by Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008, must be interpreted as meaning that a money order service by which the sender, in this case the State, transfers sums of money to a beneficiary through the postal operator entrusted with providing the universal postal service does not fall within the scope of that directive.

2.Article 107(1) TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that, if the activity of money order operations enabling the payment of retirement pensions constitutes an economic activity, the grant by a Member State of an exclusive right to pay retirement pensions by money order to an undertaking such as that at issue in the main proceedings is not, however, caught by that provision, in so far as that service constitutes a service of general economic interest, the remuneration for which represents compensation for the services carried out by that undertaking to discharge its public service obligation.

Language of the case: Bulgarian

(OJ C 194, 24.6.2014)

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(1) Language of the case: Bulgarian.