Action brought on 13 September 2011 - European Commission v Kingdom of Spain

(Case C-468/11)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: G. Braun and S. Pardo Quintillán, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Kingdom of Spain

Form of order sought

Declare that :

by imposing on undertakings which supply a service or provide a network under the general authorisation a charge intended to finance the Spanish radio and television broadcasting corporation (Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española 'RTVE'), establishing in that regard a series of conditions and exceptions as well as certain mechanisms for the transfer of surplus income, and

by failing to give notice in an appropriate manner of its intention to make amendments relating to general authorisations and by failing to allow interested parties, including users and consumers, a sufficient period of time to express their views on the proposed amendments,

the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil its obligations under Articles 12 and 14(1) of Directive 2002/20/EC¹ of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive);

order the Kingdom of Spain to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The Commission maintains that Article 5 of the RTVE Law is not compatible with the provision made in Article 12 of the Authorisation Directive. Under Article 5 of the RTVE Law, the Spanish authorities have established a charge (which they call a contribution ("aportación")), which is levied on gross receipts of operators of electronic communications with a given geographic scope, without paying due regard to the principles and requirements laid down in Article 12 of the Authorisation Directive.

The Commission considers that, in failing to give notice in an appropriate manner of its intention to make amendments relating to general authorisations and by failing to allow interested parties, including users and consumers, a sufficient period of time to express their views on the proposed amendments, the Kingdom of Spain has failed to fulfil the obligations laid down by Article 14(1) of the Authorisation Directive.

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¹ - OJ 2002 L 108, p. 21.