OPINION OF ADVOCATE GENERAL COSMAS

delivered on 8 June 1995 (*1)

1.In this application brought under Article 169 of the EEC Treaty, the Commission seeks a declaration by the Court that Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligation to transpose into national law Council Directive 89/336/EEC of 3 May 1989 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to electro-magnetic compatibility (1) and Council Directive 92/31/EEC of 28 April 1992 amending Directive 89/336/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility (2) (hereinafter ‘the directives’).

2.Article 12(1) of Directive 89/336/EEC, in its original version, provided as follows:

‘By 1 July 1991, Member States shall adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall inform the Commission thereof.

They shall apply these provisions as from 1 January 1992.’

Article 1(2) of Directive 92/31/EEC supplemented Article 12(1) with the following paragraph:

‘However, Member States shall for the period up to 31 December 1995, authorize the placing on the market and/or the putting into service of apparatus referred to in this Directive conforming to the national regulations in force in their territory on 30 June 1992.’

Article 2(1) of Directive 92/31/EEC of 28 April 1992 provides as follows:

‘Member States shall adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than three months after its adoption. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such a reference shall be laid down by the Member States.

Member States shall apply these provisions not later than six months after the adoption of this Directive.’

3.Following the expiry of the abovementioned time-limits, the Commission on 14 October 1992 sent the Irish Government a letter of formal notice drawing its attention to the fact that no information concerning the measures taken to transpose the directives into national law, or any other information relating thereto, had been received, and requesting it to submit its observations within two months of receipt of the formal letter.

4.On 2 July 1993, the Commission issued a reasoned opinion, requesting Ireland to take the measures necessary to comply with the directives within two months following notification thereof.

5.On 30 August 1994 the Commission instituted the present proceedings by application lodged at the Registry of the Court.

6.In its defence Ireland does not deny that it has not brought into force the measures necessary to transpose the directives into national law. It merely points out that ministerial regulations governing the matter are under preparation.

7.According to the settled case-law of the Court, a Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances existing in its internal system in order to justify a failure to comply with obligations and time-limits resulting from the EC Treaty and Community directives. (3)

8.In the light of the foregoing, since Ireland has not transposed the directives into national law the infringement pleaded by the Commission is substantiated.

9.The opening part of the application appears to refer also to an infringement consisting in a failure to notify the Commission of the measures necessary to transpose the directives. Even if the application could be construed as seeking a declaration of an infringement in that respect too, it is otiose to examine that question since in any event Ireland has failed to adopt the necessary measures within the prescribed period. (4)

Conclusion

I therefore propose that the Court should:

(1)Declare that, by omitting to adopt within the prescribed period the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to transpose into national law Council Directive 89/336/EEC of 3 May 1989 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility and Council Directive 92/31/EEC of 28 April 1992 amending Directive 89/336/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility, Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 12(1) and Article 2(1) of the abovementioned directives respectively and under the third paragraph of Article 189 of the EEC Treaty, and

(2)Order Ireland to pay the costs.

*1 Original language: Greek.

(1) OJ 1989 L 139, p. 19.

(2) OJ 1992 L 126, p. 11.

(3) See judgments in Case C-303/93 Commission v Italy [1994] ECR I-1907, C-65/94 Commission v Belgium [1991] ECR I-4630, C-94/94 Commission v Spam [1994] ECR I-5777, C-66/94 Commission v Belgium [1995] ECR I-149, C-365/93 Commission v Greece [1995] ECR I-499 and in Case C-147/94 Commission v Spam [1995] ECR I-1015.

(4) See in that connection the judgments referred to above in Case G-303/93 Commission ν Italy, paragraph 6, Case C-365/93 Commission ν Greece, paragraph 12 and Case C-147/94 Commission ν Spain, paragraph 7.