Action brought on 23 June 2017 — European Commission v Federal Republic of Germany

(Case C-377/17)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: W. Mölls, H. Tserepa-Lacombe and L. Malferrari, Agents)

Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

1.    declare that, in so far as it has maintained compulsory fees for architects and engineers under the HOAI (Fee Ordinance for Architects and Engineers), the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 15(1), 15(2)(g) and 15(3) of Directive 2006/123/EC and under Article 49 TFEU;

2.    order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The German Fee Ordinance for Architects and Engineers (Honorarordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure — ‘HOAI’) contains a system of minimum and maximum prices for the services of that group of professionals. That system makes it more difficult for architects and engineers who wish to compete with established providers by way of offers outside the permitted price range to become established. Those providers, it is submitted, are prevented in that regard from providing services of the same quality at lower prices and from providing services of a higher quality at higher prices.

This constitutes a restriction of the freedom of establishment for the purposes of both Article 15(1), 15(2)(g) and 15(3) of Directive 2006/123/EC and Article 49 TFEU.

That restriction is not justified; in particular it is not justified by the interest of safeguarding the quality of services, which is not directly linked to the price.

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