Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 31 January 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia - Bulgaria) - Valeri Hariev Belov v CHEZ Elektro Balgaria AD and Others

(Case C-394/11) 

(Request for a preliminary ruling - Article 267 TFEU - Concept of 'national court' - Lack of jurisdiction of the Court)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia, Bulgaria

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Valeri Hariev Belov

Defendants: CHEZ Elektro Balgaria AD, Lidia Georgieva Dimitrova, Roselina Dimitrova Kostova, Kremena Stoyanova Stoyanova, CHEZ Razpredelenie Balgaria AD, Ivan Kovarzhchik, Atanas Antonov Dandarov, Irzhi Postolka,Vladimir Marek, Darzhavna Komisia po energi

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling - Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia - Interpretation of Article 2(1)(a) and (b), Article 3(1)(h) and Article 8(1) of Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (OJ 2000 L 180, p. 22), Article 38 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, recital 29 in the preamble to, and Articles 1 and 13(1) of, Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services and repealing Council Directive 93/76/EEC (OJ 2006 L 114, p. 64), Article 3(5) of Directive 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 96/92/EC - Statements made with regard to decommissioning and waste management activities (OJ 2003 L 176, p. 37), Article 3(7) of Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and repealing Directive 2003/54/EC (OJ 2009 L 211, p. 55) - Administrative practice of granting an electricity distribution undertaking freedom to install in Roma districts electricity meters attached to electricity poles in the streets at a height which is not accessible to users, and which does not enable consumers living in those districts to read their meters, whereas electricity meters are installed at an accessible height outside of Roma districts - Right or interest of the final electricity user to regularly check the electricity meeting reading - Burden of proof in discrimination cases.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court of Justice of the European Union does not have jurisdiction to answer the questions referred by the Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia in its order for reference of 19 July 2011.

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¹ - OJ C 298, 8.10.2011.