Case T‑465/11

Globula a.s.

v

European Commission

(Internal market in natural gas — Directive 2003/55/EC — Obligation on natural gas undertakings to organise a system of negotiated third party access to gas storage facilities — Decision of the Czech authorities granting the applicant a temporary exemption for its future underground gas storage facilities in Dambořice — Commission decision ordering the Czech Republic to withdraw the exemption decision — Time at which Directive 2003/55 takes effect)

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber), 6 September 2013

1.      Actions for annulment — Interest in bringing proceedings — Natural or legal persons — Action capable of securing a benefit for the applicant

(Art. 263, fourth para., TFEU)

2.      Approximation of laws — Approximation measures — Common rules for the internal market in natural gas — Directive 2009/73 — Change in the procedure for adopting derogation decisions laid down by Directive 2003/55 — No retroactive effect — Application of old system of derogation procedures pending at the time Directive 2009/73 entered into force

(European Parliament and Council Directives 2003/55, Art. 22, and 2009/73, Arts 36, 53 and 54)

1.      See the text of the decision.

(see paras 21-23)

2.      Procedural rules are generally held to apply to all proceedings pending at the time when those rules enter into force, whereas substantive rules are usually interpreted as not applying to situations existing before their entry into force. However, an exception to that principle has been allowed where the legislation contains both procedural and substantive rules, which form an indivisible whole and the individual provisions of which may not be considered in isolation with regard to the time at which they take effect. In such circumstances, the entirety of the provisions at issue may not be accorded retroactive effect unless sufficiently clear indications lead to such a conclusion.

As regards the substantial procedural changes introduced by Article 36 of Directive 2009/73, concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas and repealing Directive 2003/55 to the rules governing the adoption of an exemption decision by the national authorities, with regard to the time at which they take effect, the latter cannot be considered in isolation from the substantive changes. First, the exemption procedure governed by that article is a single procedure, although it takes place partly at national level and partly at EU level. Accordingly, the changes that affect the national stage of the procedure cannot be assessed separately from those that affect the European Union stage. Secondly, the changes to the distribution of decision-making powers between the various actors involved in the procedure are considerable, and, in particular, are liable to have repercussions on the outcome of the procedure.

Accordingly, such changes form an indivisible whole, with the result that Article 36 as a whole may not be accorded retroactive effect unless sufficiently clear indications lead to such a conclusion. Such indications are not present where Directive 2009/73 provides in a precise manner, in Articles 53 and 54, the date from which the rules it lays down must be applied. By contrast, it contains no rules for the treatment of procedures pending at the time of its entry into force capable of justifying a derogation from the principle.

(see paras 24, 25, 27, 31-33, 36, 37)