Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 11 July 2013 – European Commission v Czech Republic
(Case C-545/10) 1
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Transport – Directive 91/440/EEC – Development of the Community’s railways – Article 10(7) – Regulatory body – Competences – Directive 2001/14/EC – Allocation of railway infrastructure capacity – Article 4(1) – Charging framework – Article 6(2) – Measures intended to provide the infrastructure manager with incentives to reduce the costs of provision of infrastructure and the level of access charges – Article 7(3) – Setting charges for the minimum access package and track access to service facilities – Cost directly incurred as a result of operating the railway service – Article 11 – Performance scheme – Article 30(5) – Regulatory body – Competence – Administrative appeal against the decisions of the regulatory body)
Language of the case: Czech
Parties
Applicant: European Commission (represented by: M. Šimerdová and H. Støvlbæk, Agents)
Defendant: Czech Republic (represented by: M. Smolek, T. Müller and J. Očková, Agents)
Intervener in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: S. Centeno Huerta, Agent)
Re:
Failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligations – Failure to adopt, within the prescribed period, all provisions necessary to comply with Article 10(7) of Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community’s railways (OJ 1991 L 237, p. 25), and with Articles 4(1), 6(2), 7(3), 11 and 30(5) of Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure (OJ 2001 L 75, p. 29).
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Declares that, by failing to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Articles 4(1), 6(2), 11 and 30(5) of Directive 2001/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2001 on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure, as amended by Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004, the Czech Republic has failed to fulfil its obligations under those provisions;
Dismisses the remainder of the action;
Orders the Commission, the Czech Republic and the Kingdom of Spain to bear their own costs.
____________1 OJ C 38, 5.2.2011.